((There is no reason why Ab can IC about my servants and what happens to them, I would also appreciate if I could not be kicked off IRC every twenty minutes...))
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We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
((And there is no reason you can just flounce into my palace, bypass the Royal Secretary and everyone else, and deliver your letter to a fugitive. As for the IRC, Max has been reprimanded and I am in the process of lifting the ban.))
((I assumed the National Guard was also at the Palace, and if the servant can't give the letter to La Fayette then he'll just rip it up, not let someone else take it.))
Luxembourg Palace
Kingdom of France
Aulard sat quietly reading various military reports when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
One of his aides entered followed by a man bearing the King's seal. Aulard stood and nodded to both of them. The Servant twisted uneasily.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Uh, Monsieur Secretary, His Majesty's Secretary has asked you to send a representative to the palace immediately."
"Why? What for?"
"He did not say, only stated that it was urgent."
"Fine, Pierre, go with this man and see what the King and his secretary want."
"Oui General, it will be done."
Both of them quickly left the room and Aulard sat down once again to look at the reports, but he found himself too concerned with what the King's secretary wanted.
((as issued with mederation and what not have surged a new un-official channel #DotR have been created by: actually not sure who))
Realizing he would not be shown to La Fayette Pierre told the Secretary that if he would not be allowed to deliver his letter he would return to his master, assuming the Secretary would not let him leave he prepared himself to rip it up and throw it into the fireplace.
((He didn't "just let someone else take it." It was quite forcibly taken from him.))
((Okay, we have all calmed down from earlier. I have spoken with Spectre and if Ab is also willing, we are welcoming and hoping to just have the whole letter thing and the ICs following that related to it just be deleted and have as they never existed.))
Name: Alexandre de Villefranche
Date of Birth: July 24, 1759
Estate: Third
Religion: Catholic
Culture: Catalonian
Biography: Born in Villefranche-de-Conflent, Alexandre was raised by well of parents. His family has had a long history of military service (for multiple nations), and political activism. His family has long been a driving force in local politics. Alexandre was able to use his families influence to acquire a commission in the Artillery. Alexandre has managed to achieve the rank of Colonel, and has been stationed through out all of France. Alexandre is currently located in a small village north of Paris, awaiting orders along with several other officers.
Political Faction: Cordelier
Date of Birth: July 24, 1759
Estate: Third
Religion: Catholic
Culture: Catalonian
Biography: Born in Villefranche-de-Conflent, Alexandre was raised by well of parents. His family has had a long history of military service (for multiple nations), and political activism. His family has long been a driving force in local politics. Alexandre was able to use his families influence to acquire a commission in the Artillery. Alexandre has managed to achieve the rank of Colonel, and has been stationed through out all of France. Alexandre is currently located in a small village north of Paris, awaiting orders along with several other officers.
Political Faction: Cordelier
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RICHELIEU
VÉRITÉ SANS PEUR
THE TROYES PROPOSAL
Written by the Duc de Richelieu shortly before departing for the Vendée
Cher General Aulard,
A cursory study of current military deployment reveals that at present we have over ten times more artillerymen defending the city of Lyon than we have on the frontlines waging war against the Austrians at Rheims. Bearing in mind the repeated despatches from General-de-Brigade Augereau calling for more guns, and taking into account the supreme importance of his defence of Rheims, the last obstacle before Paris, I submit for your consideration a course of action that aims to either provides Monsieur Augereau with his long-awaited artillery or, should we face defeat at Rheims, makes artillery available for a last stand in Paris.
Recommendation: March a significant portion of the Armée du Centre to Troyes.
From Troyes, the Army can continue to march towards the battlefield at Rheims (in the unlikley but fortunate event that the Austrian High Commands opts to delay engaging French forces at Rheims, while waiting for their own artillery to make the slow journey through the Forests of Ardennes) However, if the day has been lost at Rheims, a courier can carry word to Troyes with instructions for the Army to turn towards Paris.
The city of Lyon, the current location of the Armée du Centre, is, after Paris, amongst the most populous cities in France. Lyon has a radical government in place, headed by a man by the name of Monsieur Chalier, but one which lacks popular support.
Preliminary reports indicate that despite her urban population, the prevailing sentiment in Lyon is Royalist. To withdraw the entirety of the Armée du Centre would ensure the overthrow of Chalier and a royalist take-over of the city. By the same token, to maintain the entirety of the Centre Garrison in Lyons not only under-utilises our already stretched resources (handicapping General Augereau and jeopardizing Paris itself), but also serve as a source of growing resentment amongst the local inhabitants.
Therefore, the proposed advance of a portion of the Armée du Centre to Troyes is one that requires striking a delicate balance. One that retains an appropriate number of soldiers in Lyons to ensure order (including and orderly transition of power in the local legislature through peaceful elections if necessary), while also keeping in mind the immediate need to effectively deploy French forces against the Austrians.
Cher General, I am sure you agree that we must maximise the limited military resources available to the French State. We are being pressed hard by the Austrian invader and are faced with growing unrest in the Capital itself. It is advisable that we adopt a strategy that gives us great flexibility in addressing a wide variety of circumstances. Therefore I submit for your consideration and capable judgement the Troyes Proposal.
Sincerely:
DUC DE RICHELIEU
Prince de Montagne
Duc de Fronsac
Marquis du Pont-Courlay
Comte de Cosnac, et de Chinon
Baron de Barbezieux, de Cozes, et de Saujon
Pair de France
Sous-Sécretariat d’État à la Guerre
Géneral de Brigade
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Address to the people of Lyon
People of Lyon
I have gathered you here in this beautiful day to present myself to you all. No doubt many of you are curious, suspicious or even fearful of the presence of the army du Center in Lyon. I am here to satisfy your curiosity or dispel your misunderstanding about our presence in lyon.
First of all I am Javert Valjean, a former policeman of low beginnings from the street of paris. No doubt you may have hear, stories, rumors or insults of my person, I tell you most is likely exaggerations, my good, my bad its no bigger or lesser than any of you. I am no better than you, nor i am worse than you i am a simple french citizen with many faults like any other human being created by our god in the heavens.
.Returning to our topic, Why i am here?. I am in Lyon to establish base of operations in case an invasion by our southern neighbors is initiated and much more importantly in my view and of my own will, to try to repair the relations between Lyon and the french south and paris and its government. Recent publications by citizen ferdinand Ignace, well known journalist from this great city, made me realize something i hadn't thought before. Do the rest of the country feel paris is oppressing them? do they feel left out of the revolution...and worse do they think that the revolution is only for Paris?. This though had haunted me the past week and I apologize to all of you for not realizing before. (Javert bows to the crowd in apology).
For this i marched all the way from Blois to this esteemed city, helping as many as i could in the way in their grievances that had not being possible to address by the central government from paris as worries of war and instability haunt them in this trying times. But as we all know, the troubles and trials faced at the moment are nothing but by god's intention to prove our resolve like he proved adam and eve in the garden of Eden, we will prevail the trials because the cause of france is righteous and he will provide us with plenty afterwards.
For this i announce to you this my fellow citizen of france , citizens of the great city of lyon in our blessed nation of france. I announce the creation of the First Revolutionary army, an army made purely from volunteers from the city of lyon and the department of Rhone et loire...no, from the whole of the french southern departments. This will be the first true revolutionary army of our new nation, it will show everyone, specially the central government that not only Paris cares for the nation and the revolution but the rest of the nation is as revolutionary and as desire for a better future as they are. This is not a demand, nor a conscription but a plea to all of you to join to fight the invaders of our beloved nation, to stop the enslaving of the blessed france by the monster from austria always jealous of france and so ready to strike against it as soon as they feel its in change.
I stand before you, not as general or a noble or some sort of hero. No i stand in front of you as a simple man of the name Javert Valjean, born in the streets of Paris, a man that have commited many terrible acts in his youth but repented and changed his way, a man still atoning for his sins. Javert Valjean a man that never wanted to achieve any real power , content of doing his job and living the best live he could. But sometimes in history people are call to go against their desires and goals and abandon it all for something bigger than they, such is the case in our time, such is the revolution an Ideal that surely originated from god himself and given to france as his most blessed nation.
Yes it is scary, the change is sudden but it cannot be stopped for it would only mean doom to us all. No we must embrace it all as brothers and sisters and put our life in the line to achieve something bigger than any man or woman. For this i ask you sisters, encourage your brothers to join, Lovers encourage your beloved ones, mothers make your sons view the necessity of it. I know i am asking something hard of you, ask your beloved ones to take arms and join the army, to fight for their live and maybe never return, specially you mothers, which are fundamental block of our nation. I javert never had such a mother...a mother that would love me or care for me and think of me as the best give of their live , like we are told they are suppose to be...but i know that many do have them and i will never forgive myself for asking them to send their sons to war and battle with me. I can only pledge you this womans of lyon i will do my best so they do not fight or die for false causes, that they fight for a divine idea, that they fight for you and their childrens future. For a france in which every child will have a mother that will love them, for such things can only exist once we truly prosper. (Javert pause for a second meanwhile a single tear go down his face)
Men that soon will join me i promise you this: Meanwhile i breath and god see fit to let me live i will ensure your families do not suffer and prosper if you may so fall in battle for i am bringing you to war, separating you from a loving family and happiness, to bringing you to hell, no need to sweeten the word as such would be lies and so i am responsible for what may befall you.
I know that a fifteen-thousand strong army of volunteer will be able to be form, from the city of lyon and the whole the department it represent. Many more thousands from nearby departments are to come, for we will form the strongest army in France, a true revolutionary army to show France that all of us are involved on this and fighting for our future, than any Frenchman will gladly fight for the revolution and defend what god has made realize has always been ours, our natural rights.
We MUST! be united as one nation and one people to fight what i call a patriotic war for our very being as frenchmen and frenchwomen, this is a fight to define are we free frenchs or are we the west slaves of the german tyrans. For this we need reconciliation and forgiveness of the ones that repent and redeem themselves of their acts against their own people.For even God forgive those who repents and redeem their actions and so in light of such ideals, i will be holding a general meeting with the merchants, industrialist and affluent people of the city of lyon and nearby cities from the other department of southern France. The meeting will be held in 2 days from today on dinner time.Secondly i call a meeting with all priests, bishops or religious leaders of the area too on two days from today for a meeting to be held in the morning, all that come are swear by me to be no harm and protection to the best of my abilities and will show their willingness to amend and cooperate for the greater good of us all.
lastly i call citizen Louis Vitet and Jean-Marie and their supporters to return to Lyon for have they done nothing wrong they have no need to run. As a former police man i tell you a man that run away from the police with cause means he is hiding something which i do not think such esteemed figure as them are, return to lyon and talk with me. your running to the countryside and not returning can only be seen as you hiding something or trying to do something you not wish anyone observe.
Be sure people of lyon that if you wish to talk with my person i am always open for such occasion, if you come on goodwill to me i will be open to you, for i am not better than any of you, we are all equals in the eyes of the state, god and myself.
i leave you all with this thought: it is our natural right to be free, to be able to prosper, to be equals but are we worth it of it if we will not fight for it? if we will not put our live at risk to defend it when other want to take it from us? for do a man not willing to put everything at risk for its own freedom is worthy of such bless of god?.
End of speech by general Javert Valjean to the crowds in Lyon.
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Date of Birth: 18 October, 1766 (Age 25)
Estate: Second
Religion: Catholic
Culture: Parisian
Biography: Louis-Léon Poiter was born in Paris and spent most of his youth at Versailles with his father and mother. Known by the courtesy title of Duc de Tresmes during his father's life, Louis spent his childhood at Versailles, studying, fencing, and generally living a rather pleasurable life as was befitting for the son of a duke.
At the age of fifteen, after graduating from the École Militaire, his father sent him on a grand tour of Europe with his tutor and a small number of attendants. He developed an interest for liberalism during his time in the cities of Italy, including Florence, Venice, and Rome . During his tour he also visited Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin, taking in the culture and the unique opportunities for education at the academies.
As a child he had hoped to join the Mousquetaires de la garde, only for them to be disbanded in 1776. Instead, when he returned to France at the age of eighteen, he joined the Régiment de Royal Dragons, taking advantage of his father’s connections with the king. While there was little fighting to take part in, he did gain some renown amongst the rest of the regiment as a fairly skilled tactical thinker, achieving the rank of chef d'escadrons in his early twenties, and many expected that he would go on to do well in the army.
His father died just a year before the outbreak of the Revolution, and Louis-Léon, having assumed the title of Duc de Gesvres, initially was resistant to accept any kind of change, despite his usually liberal beliefs. However, after giving it some thought and speaking with his family, he decided that a constitutional monarchy could be beneficial, so long as the nobility was able to maintain it’s honor and some rights. With that in mind, he stayed in France when many nobles fled, hoping to help protect the king and queen from the, in his opinion, more dangerous revolutionaries, even in cases as simple as defending the queen’s honor to strangers.
As the situation in the country continues to turn increasingly radicalized, such as the disbanding of the Feuillant party, which he supported, Louis-Léon has begun to wonder what role he will play in the nation’s future, if any. With the dismissal of the Baron de Loiollac and warrant out for La Fayette, he has lately been considering what a position with the French Royal Army would entail, despite his continued desires for a liberal nation. For now, he is serving quietly in the Armée D’Alsace, hoping that the ‘Great Fear’ won’t spread to him, while he mother and sister do their best to maintain the family’s chateau in these troubled times.
((Hopefully this bio works, if not, just let me know and I'll be happy to change anything wrong with it. This looks like a great game so far
))
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RICHELIEU
VÉRITÉ SANS PEUR
EN ROUTE TO THE VENDÉE
Departing from Paris
In August 1790, a year before the severing of diplomatic ties between France and Austria, the Duc de Richelieu made arrangements with the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, who was then serving as the Austrian ambassador to France (and currently holds the post of the Hapsburg representative in Brussels), for the transfer of the title deeds of the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau from the count to the duke. This new Parisian mansion—one of the first to be built across the tree-adorned cours—was a welcome companion to the Hôtel Richelieu, the duke’s primary residence in the capital city.
Hôtel de Richelieu & Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau
Recent census data reveals that Paris is home to approximately two-percent of the French population. Some within the urban centre struggle to find shelter and others, on account of national economic difficulties, can barely afford to pay rent.
From the window of his carriage as he departed from Paris for the Vendée, the Duc de Richelieu saw a young child, perhaps no more than nine years of age, standing on the corner of the cobble-stone street, begging-bowl in hand. The cavalcade continued swiftly onward, but the Duke was moved by what he saw.
The rapid clicking of horses’ hooves, the gentle patter of raindrops on the carriage window, the constant clamour of the streets of Paris…all these sounds faded as the Duke contemplated the sight. His mind turned to a verse in the Epistle of St. James:
QUID PRODERIT FRATRES MEI SI FIDEM QUIS DICAT SE HABERE OPERA
AUTEM NON HABEAT NUMQUID POTERIT FIDES SALVARE EUM.
SI AUTEM FRATER AUT SOROR NUDI SUNT ET INDIGENT VICTU COTIDIANO.
DICAT AUTEM ALIQUIS DE VOBIS ILLIS ITE IN PACE CALEFACIMINI ET SATURAMINI
NON DEDERITIS AUTEM EIS QUAE NECESSARIA SUNT CORPORIS QUID PRODERI
TU CREDIS QUONIAM UNUS EST DEUS BENE FACIS ET DAEMONES CREDUNT ET CONTREMESCUNT.
VIS AUTEM SCIRE O HOMO INANIS QUONIAM FIDES SINE OPERIBUS OTIOSA EST.
James 2:15-16, 19-20
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has not works? Will faith be able to save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in want of daily food, and one of you says to them:
“Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what use is that?
You may believe that there is one God. You do well. The devils likewise believe and tremble.
But will you realise, o vain man, that faith without works is dead?
The duke instructed his secretary, who was accompanying him in the carriage, to scribe a note of instruction. “By the orders of the Duke,” the note began. The secretary’s fine penmanship was reduced to barely-legible scrawl; taking dictation in a moving carriage is no easy task. ”For the duration of this period of economic instability, the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau shall be opened to the homeless of Paris.” The note was promptly transferred to a member of the duke’s retinue riding alongside the carriage. The herald turned his horse, travelling speedily to the Hôtel bearing the message.
The duke’s confessor, who was also in the carriage, whispered these words: "Qui donne aux pauvres, prête à Dieu."
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Growing increasingly worried by the instability that was spreading through France, Louis-Léon Potier, Duc de Gesvres, sat in his tent and prepared a letter to his mother and sister in Paris.
The duc folded the letter and sealed it carefully before exiting his small tent and handing it to his courtier who rode off immediately to deliver the letter before the Austrians could reach Paris.
---
[1] - The château de Blérancourt was designed in 1619, by de Brosse as the country house for the family of Gesvres some 60 miles outside of Paris. It's design was based on the Luxembourg Palace.
I, Louis Philippe "Egalité", hereby announce that the Palais-Royal will be opened to the homeless of Paris and that bread will be handed out to those who need it. Country estates are to do the same to all homeless people outside Paris.
~Louis Philippe "Egalité"
~Louis Philippe "Egalité"
RICHELIEU
VÉRITÉ SANS PEUR
EN ROUTE TO THE VENDÉE
Passing through Orléans
The duke’s carriage passed through the city of Orléans, whence the retinue would cross the Loire and proceed along the river’s southern bank towards the du Plessis estate at Chinon. As they made their way across the Loire and onto the route along the riverside, they encountered a rider galloping fast apace towards them.
Although La Poste had been authorised, for well over two centuries, to carry private correspondence, many of the men and women who engaged in the frequent writing of letters retained in their employ private couriers to bear their message throughout the country. Thus, usage of La Poste was reserved for those who did not have occasion to frequently send or receive letters, or, more typically, for the transport of the King’s correspondence and the dissemination of royal decrees.
Fastened to his mount was a satchel bearing the unmistakable yellow text and imprinted laurel wreath; the insignia of the postal service. The speed at which the courier travelled suggested most strongly that it was on government business that he had been despatched.
As the courier drew nearer to the carriage he tugged on the reins, calling the horse to an abrupt halt. Had he been accustomed to equitation he would have known the danger of his action, but being from the ranks of the urban poor and only recently elevated to service in the national post, he knew not how close he had come to being thrown from his mount and breaking his neck. The startled horse let out a neigh, half in pain and half in surprise, but nonetheless responded to the rider’s command.
The courier had sighted the onyx fleur-de-lis on the door of the carriage and, assuming that all carriages bearing crests carried passengers of some consequence, and further supposing that all men of consequence were connected, in one form or another, to the Government in Paris, proceeded to deliver the letter which he had been hurriedly carrying to the capital.
The Duke of Richelieu, upon receipt of the letter, was surprised not only by its contents but by the fact that a chance encounter with a courier had brought the information to his attention. The letter read as follows:
Claiming to espouse the ideals of the Legislative Assembly in Paris, but unabashedly soliciting the aid of the ultra-royalists and their many foreign allies, the negro population of the colony of Saint-Domingue have risen in revolt. Acting to quell this rebellion are the wealthy landowners who, though of bourgeois stock, have amassed fortunes of such sums so as to put even the wealthiest nobles in metropolitan France to shame.
Both the slaves and the slave-holding proprietors claim that Liberty is on their side. The former, the slaves, demand their freedom from enslavement with some even insisting on complete independence from France. The latter, the landowners, assert their rights to property and profit, with their black workers regarded as “moveable assets” utilised in the pursuit of gain.
Local authorities are trying as best possible to maintain order amidst the deteriorating situation in the colony. I write seeking direction from the Government in France as to how to proceed in this matter.
Both the slaves and the slave-holding proprietors claim that Liberty is on their side. The former, the slaves, demand their freedom from enslavement with some even insisting on complete independence from France. The latter, the landowners, assert their rights to property and profit, with their black workers regarded as “moveable assets” utilised in the pursuit of gain.
Local authorities are trying as best possible to maintain order amidst the deteriorating situation in the colony. I write seeking direction from the Government in France as to how to proceed in this matter.
Sincerely,
Philippe François Rouxel,
Viscount de Blanchelande
Governor of Saint-Domingue
Philippe François Rouxel,
Viscount de Blanchelande
Governor of Saint-Domingue
Map of the Colony of Saint-Domingue
The duke, after reading the letter, thanked the courier for delivering the document and paid him a few coins for his trouble. The duke then called upon his secretary to take dictation for a message:
Cher General Aulard,
It has been brought to my attention that the situation in Saint-Domingue is quickly escalating with the current authorities stationed in the colony unable to contain the local forces which, in the time since word of unrest crossed the Atlantic, have by now likely begun a civil war.
Cognisant of your forthcoming ascension to the office of First Minister, and, as well, in your current capacity as War Secretary, I have thought it necessary to bring this matter – that is, the ongoing revolt in Saint Domingue – to your attention post-haste. Therefore, adjoining this note I have enclosed a copy of the original letter by which I came to be informed of the events that have transpired in Saint-Domingue alongside a supplementary message containing my thoughts, such as they are, regarding the subject.
It has been brought to my attention that the situation in Saint-Domingue is quickly escalating with the current authorities stationed in the colony unable to contain the local forces which, in the time since word of unrest crossed the Atlantic, have by now likely begun a civil war.
Cognisant of your forthcoming ascension to the office of First Minister, and, as well, in your current capacity as War Secretary, I have thought it necessary to bring this matter – that is, the ongoing revolt in Saint Domingue – to your attention post-haste. Therefore, adjoining this note I have enclosed a copy of the original letter by which I came to be informed of the events that have transpired in Saint-Domingue alongside a supplementary message containing my thoughts, such as they are, regarding the subject.
The original letter is quoted above. The supplementary note to General Aulard read as follows:
With the Austrian Invasion requiring immediate and constant attention, and with the unrest in the Vendée remaining to be resolved, the task of outfitting a military expedition to restore order to the colony of Saint-Domingue is not presently a course available to us.
Notwithstanding the urgent matters of foreign invasion and domestic unrest, the colony of Saint-Domingue is a Caribbean possession that we can ill-afford to lose. I was surprised to learn that the ultra-royalists—members of a reactionary element of French society who are often thought to be more Royalist than the King and more Catholic than the Pope—are in support of the upheaval on the island. While the thought of emancipation for the slaves may be inconsistent with their principles, the alternative—co-operation with the bourgeois—is tantamount to mortal sin for these “ultras.”
However, early Royalist involvement in the slave uprising should not lead us necessarily to bolster the position of the slave-holding bourgeois. Just as the ultra-royalists have displayed a sense of pragmatism, so too can we.
Saint-Domingue is the most valuable of France’s overseas possessions. The revenue from her exports is vital to the French Treasury. Without it we will encounter great difficulty in financing the national debt. The ultra-royalists, aware that France is heavily in debt and dependent on the income from sugar, are, under the guise of emancipation for the slaves, seeking to deliver a severe blow to the nation’s finances.
If I may put forward a recommendation: once you are elected First Minister, perhaps you would consider granting freedom to the slaves of Saint-Domingue. I realise this may seem a radical proposal, but it is one that I feel is consistent with the emancipatory sentiments of the age, in-line with France’s national interests and, most specifically, conducive to preventing the further erosion of France’s already precarious financial state.
Of course, such emancipation would be conditioned upon an understanding that the slaves, once free, would not pursue independence from France. Our finances rely on the maintenance of a mercantile relationship with Saint-Domingue; allowing the colony to trade freely with other states would jeopardise the revenue of the mother-country.
If we can secure a settlement whereby the slaves are granted freedom and awarded the attendant rights that flow from citizenship, with the understanding that Saint-Domingue remains a French colony, then I must very much urge that such a policy is enacted.
If we are unable to secure such reasonable terms–as it may be the case that the zeal for liberty amongst the negroes may have animated them to press for complete independence—then I fear both for our own financial situation, and for the inhabitants of the Saint Domingue, who will surely have to compensate the French people in some manner for their collective decision to unreasonably plunge France into further economic hardship.
Let us hope that a solution, which grants the slaves their freedom but keeps revenue flowing, can be found.
Notwithstanding the urgent matters of foreign invasion and domestic unrest, the colony of Saint-Domingue is a Caribbean possession that we can ill-afford to lose. I was surprised to learn that the ultra-royalists—members of a reactionary element of French society who are often thought to be more Royalist than the King and more Catholic than the Pope—are in support of the upheaval on the island. While the thought of emancipation for the slaves may be inconsistent with their principles, the alternative—co-operation with the bourgeois—is tantamount to mortal sin for these “ultras.”
However, early Royalist involvement in the slave uprising should not lead us necessarily to bolster the position of the slave-holding bourgeois. Just as the ultra-royalists have displayed a sense of pragmatism, so too can we.
Saint-Domingue is the most valuable of France’s overseas possessions. The revenue from her exports is vital to the French Treasury. Without it we will encounter great difficulty in financing the national debt. The ultra-royalists, aware that France is heavily in debt and dependent on the income from sugar, are, under the guise of emancipation for the slaves, seeking to deliver a severe blow to the nation’s finances.
If I may put forward a recommendation: once you are elected First Minister, perhaps you would consider granting freedom to the slaves of Saint-Domingue. I realise this may seem a radical proposal, but it is one that I feel is consistent with the emancipatory sentiments of the age, in-line with France’s national interests and, most specifically, conducive to preventing the further erosion of France’s already precarious financial state.
Of course, such emancipation would be conditioned upon an understanding that the slaves, once free, would not pursue independence from France. Our finances rely on the maintenance of a mercantile relationship with Saint-Domingue; allowing the colony to trade freely with other states would jeopardise the revenue of the mother-country.
If we can secure a settlement whereby the slaves are granted freedom and awarded the attendant rights that flow from citizenship, with the understanding that Saint-Domingue remains a French colony, then I must very much urge that such a policy is enacted.
If we are unable to secure such reasonable terms–as it may be the case that the zeal for liberty amongst the negroes may have animated them to press for complete independence—then I fear both for our own financial situation, and for the inhabitants of the Saint Domingue, who will surely have to compensate the French people in some manner for their collective decision to unreasonably plunge France into further economic hardship.
Let us hope that a solution, which grants the slaves their freedom but keeps revenue flowing, can be found.
Sincerely,
Emmanuel-Philippe du Plessis
DUC DE RICHELIEU
Prince de Montagne
Duc de Fronsac
Marquis du Pont-Courlay
Comte de Cosnac, et de Chinon
Baron de Barbezieux, de Cozes, et de Saujon
Pair de France
Sous-Sécretariat d’État à la Guerre
Géneral de Brigade
Emmanuel-Philippe du Plessis
DUC DE RICHELIEU
Prince de Montagne
Duc de Fronsac
Marquis du Pont-Courlay
Comte de Cosnac, et de Chinon
Baron de Barbezieux, de Cozes, et de Saujon
Pair de France
Sous-Sécretariat d’État à la Guerre
Géneral de Brigade
The secretary then gave the documents to a member of the duke’s cortege, charging the rider with the task to speedily ride to Paris and to deliver the message to General Aulard at Military Headquarters. The horseman turned to make the return journey to the capital while the remainder of the retinue accompanied the duke’s carriage as it journeyed to Chinon.
((I'm not sure if you can just make a colony revolt like that; did you check with Syriana?))
I have noticed something deeply wrong with the nation as present, we proclaim Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood, yet we let slavery in the dominions and colonies of France survive, This cannot stand! We must uphold the revolution and protect those who need protecting. All men were and are created Equal, we must show the world the way to Liberty!
I here by propose this bill:
We have ended Slavery in France, let us end it all over the world, Vive le France, Pour Liberté Égalité et Fraternité.
I here by propose this bill:
We have ended Slavery in France, let us end it all over the world, Vive le France, Pour Liberté Égalité et Fraternité.