LOUIS XVIII (1755-1824). Autograph manuscript,...

LOUIS XVIII (1755-1824). Autograph manuscript, [Mittau ca. 1805?]; 10 1/2 pages in-4, bound in one vellum volume, title painted on upper board (Le Douarin).
Important political notes written by Mittau in which the Count of Provence outlines a draft Declaration to the French people for the re-establishment of the monarchy (our manuscript begins at 3).
Louis XVIII details the principal elements which he would like to develop and the reasons for which he would give to these remarks the form of an Address. Speaking about the attitude of the allied governments towards him, he says he is convinced to be more competent than his brother, the count d'Artois and lieutenant general of the kingdom, but he has only the force of inertia to defend himself, "it is only by paralyzing what is not me, that I can force to have recourse to me"... While waiting to be able to restore by himself the order in the kingdom, he proposes various measures for the civil and judicial administration: "I do not want to remake a Constituent Assembly and I would put simply in the preamble a touching and skilful sentence, where I would announce that after having delivered France from the worst of its tyrants, I would assemble the Nation to complete to cure the playses of the State"... He also wants to restore the property, the emigration, the Church, the gendarmerie, the privileges... About a project of amnesty, he evokes the "big culprits" among whom he counts Lafayette, and he concludes: "Finally, if it was necessary to publish an Address, a lot of tenderness, promises of future well-being, peace, tranquility, all the liberty that can be reconciled with the latter, rewards for services, preservation of rank and employment for the army, honorable retirements for those who would prefer rest to service, should make the matter and provide the fund. Then follow about sixty questions on the measures to be taken concerning Justice, Administration, Finances and foreign policy.