JOUBERT Barthélémy Catherine Pont-de-Vaux, 1769... Lot 49

JOUBERT Barthélémy Catherine [Pont-de-Vaux, 1769 - Novi, Italy, 1799], French general. Autograph letter signed [addressed to his father]. 24 ventôses an IV (March 11, 1796), 3 folio pages. "It's only 3 months, but two that I've spent at the end, and here I am now in the mountains. I have been at the fact all two months, this fact soured me on the stomach at the end, I left it, and I spat blood, the veal broth stopped the spitting [...]. Mountain air suits me better than sea air, but you'll believe what you like", he goes on to talk about his food. He then talks about the Italian military campaign and a government commissioner asking for 20 million. "The English envoy, who was on the lookout, met with the other envoys of the coalition countries, and they sent a note to the Senate opposing this loan, which was contrary to their neutrality. The Senate's reply was vague, saying it had no money; indeed, the Genoese government is known to be poor, but private individuals are rich, and it authorizes or tolerates supplies or loans made by private individuals. The "coalised" then formally demanded that the fortress of Gavi be delivered to them, a fortress situated in a gorge that defends the important passage of the [Boquetta] through which the living force of the Po can be reached, and from which the Piedmont and the Milanese are threatened, making the guardian-master of the mountains that dominate Genoa. [...] The result of the cabinet's intrigues, which will end in military operations, but without the twenty million, we'll have to maintain the status quo.