Jean-Charles-Guillaume LE PRÉVÔT DE BEAUMONT... - Lot 78 - Rossini

Lot 78
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Jean-Charles-Guillaume LE PRÉVÔT DE BEAUMONT... - Lot 78 - Rossini
Jean-Charles-Guillaume LE PRÉVÔT DE BEAUMONT (1726-1823) secretary to the clergy of France, he was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1768 for denouncing the "Famine Pact" for wheat hoarding, and remained imprisoned for 21 years; he was released on September 5, 1789. MANUSCRIT autograph signed "Le Prévôt", Des Conjurations, [late 1789?]; notebook of 18 pages in-4, with calligraphic title and decorated in red and blue ink. Rare and important manuscript written after his release, where Le Prévôt de Beaumont talks about his imprisonment and his struggle against the Famine Pact. The manuscript is divided into 4 chapters: I. Are conjurations of all times? II. Where do conjurations come from? III. What are the obligations of those who discover a conspiracy either by seeking it or even without seeking it? IV. What is a conspiracy in itself? After a brief history of the conspiracies of Antiquity, Le Prévôt examines the various kinds of conspiracies, some of which are "so gross and so little hidden that one would be tempted to believe that they are known or ordered by the sovereign [...] such was the one without equal that God made me discover towards the end of the year 1768 on the first need of the Nation. Thus I fought 22 years 7 months alone, to deliver 25 million French from the horrors of famines organized against all the excessively corrupt government in those times". Those who discover a conspiracy are "obliged in conscience and by the duty of citizen to denounce it". Certainly, the leagues or associations of merchants and tradesmen are permitted, "but they would not be any more, if their goal, like that of the ministers of Louis XV, was to monopolize the first subsistances to resell them six months later to the public, for their profit, at the most exhorbitant price, after having rarefied them by deaf maneuvers, in order to provoke their dearness, and to excite disettes, general famines until the times of the most abundant harvests". The Provost explains and denounces the misdeeds of these hoarders who ruined the King and France, and among whom were Beaumarchais, Laverdy, Amelot, Bertin, Breteuil, Terray, the Duke of Orleans, etc. The Provost recalls that his denunciation was worth to him "in 5 infernos of Paris 22 years 7 months of prison by letters of seal"; he denounces the conduct of kings Louis XV and Louis XVI, this last one guilty of the crime of Nationicide. The manuscript closes with a poem written in 1776 in the Donjon of Vincennes, "where the devil Rubermons tortured me for 15 years", protesting against his detention and denouncing the famine pact. Former collection of André Saudemont (15-16 March 1983, n° 258). Attached: Le Prisonnier d'État, ou Tableau historique de la captivité de J.C.G. le prévôt de Beaumont, durant vingt-deux ans deux mois. Written by himself (Paris, 1791; in-8 paperback, engraved portrait in frontispiece). Plus the rare booklet Dénonciation et pétition du Sieur Le Prévôt de Beaumont... Aux Représentans de l'Assemblée de la Seconde Législature, November 1, 1791 (in-4 of 8 p.).
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