Lot n° 54
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4000 - 5000
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Result
: 3 800EUR
Jean-Henri VOULLAND (1751-1801) deputy of the Tiers of the s - Lot 54
Jean-Henri VOULLAND (1751-1801) deputy of the Tiers of the seneschaussée of Nîmes and Beaucaire to the Estates General, Conventional (Gard), member of the Committee of General Safety. 17 L.A. (one signed with his initials), Versailles May-August 1789, to his uncle; 180 pages in-4 (cracks in the fold of one letter).
Remarkable political correspondence, a true chronicle of the Estates General. We can only give here a quick overview, illustrated with a few quotations, of these long letters (sometimes 12 to 16 pages), filled with a small tight but very legible handwriting.
The first letter (May 6) tells of the procession, under a burning sun, "during more than two hours of a very slow march", then the opening of the States, in the room of the Menu, the deputies being convened at seven o'clock in the morning, "called by bailiwicks, and introduced by the great masters of ceremony: "Nothing was more brilliant than the first glimpse of this magnificent hall; on the right and on the left, tribunes divided by columns had been made, where steps had been raised, on which were placed the persons who had obtained admission tickets [...At the back of the hall, and on a sort of closed platform, was placed the King's throne, on his left was an armchair, intended for the Queen; the clergy was on the right, the Nobility on the left, and the Third Estate in front. The King arrived at half past noon, "everyone got up shouting at the top of their lungs, 'Long live the King, long live our good King. He "pronounced with a firm and sonorous voice his speech where the true feelings of his heart came expressed with energy", very applauded and acclaimed. After the speech of the guard of seals, Necker "spoke three hours, or by luy meme, or by the ministry of a secretary". Voulland summarizes his speech, on the financial state of France... Then it is the first session: the deputies go in the room, to learn that "the two privileged orders were locked up each one in their room"; debate on the reunion of the orders, supported by Malouet, Mounier and Mirabeau... The following letter gives a detailed newspaper of the sessions from May 7 to 19, with in particular the interventions of Rabaut Saint-Étienne and Le Chapelier. Another letter gives the newspaper of the meetings of May 26 to 30, where Mounier and Target intervene in particular; the latter goes to the people of the clergy "to adjure them in the name of the God of peace, and in the name of the national interest to join the communes for the general good". Draft address to the King by Le Chapelier; rejection of a motion by Mirabeau. The 5th letter gives the diary of the sessions from June 1 to 7; Dupont [de Nemours] is charged with the minutes of the conferences; intervention of Malouet on the subject of the vote by head; election of Bailly as dean; death of the Dauphin... On June 10, "at ten o'clock in the evening at the exit of the assembly", Voulland reports the intervention of Sieyès and his "summons" to the two other orders to meet with the Third, and the discussions which followed. On 12, he reports the answer of the clergy, and that of the nobility, "short and silly". On the 14th, he announced that six parish priests, including Sr. Grégoire, had come to join them. The letter of the 17 relates in detail the debates on the constitution of the assembly of the Commons, with the motions of Sieyès, Mounier and Mirabeau on its denomination, to finally adopt that of Legrand "to constitute itself quite simply and without circumlocution National Assembly", adopted in "the purest and most patriotic joy", and acclaimed with the cries of "Long live the King, long live the nation, long live our worthy representatives". On 18, Voulland copies the "first arreté taken by the national assembly immediately after its constitution". On June 22, the deputies find the room of the States closed; they go to sit in the church Saint-Louis; many members of the clergy join them. On June 23, the royal session was recounted; the King's speech, in a voice "very weakened, and as if interspersed with sobs that he tried to stifle", moved Voulland: "I would have liked to be able to applaud, but it had been decided the day before that one would keep a silence of concern; when the King appeared, a silence of respect during all the time that he would speak, and a silence of dignity, which would foreshadow improvisation, when he would have finished his speech; never has a project been better executed. The King having ordered the three orders to separate, and having broken the decrees of the Third, M. de Brézé began to have the room dismantled; interventions of Camus and Rabaut Saint-Étienne (there is no question of Mirabeau); movements around the rumors of Necker's resignation. On June 27, the three orders finally meet; popular jubilation; the King goes up to the balcony with his family; touching spectacle of the Queen with her children; general illumination; "the People who were at the door flattened us a lot and started to shout Vive les députés des communes, les Poissardes ont
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