Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de CONDÉ (1736-1818) leader - Lot 16

Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de CONDÉ (1736-1818) leader of the Émigrés army. L.A.S. "LJB", Moggio May 24, 1800, to Mgr de LA FARE, Bishop of Nancy; 4 pages in-4 (small hole on 2nd leaf; engraved portrait enclosed). Interesting letter on the situation of the Bourbons and Condé's army three weeks before Marengo. He can make no claims, for "what conditions can the weak make vis a vis the strong! the sold vis a vis the soldant!" Can he condemn "the French nobility, who have been fighting for 9 years for their King, to die of misery? and what's worse, perhaps, to incur the blame of having abandoned him, if ever he is re-established; no, it is better to die with arms in hand"... Condé has no illusions about the usefulness of his army, which is too weak and whose almost naked fighters are exhausted by a 200-league march. "England has abandoned the project of embarkation, the only one that could suit us, [...] the only one that would deliver us to ourselves, and put us in the happy position of winning or dying; political circumstances have undoubtedly determined this; I respect the decisions of the Courts; I would surely admire them, if someone would deign to make them known to me, but that's what hasn't been done until now" .... He asks for a town in the rear where his body can rest and dress, so that he can still be useful during the summer. He points out that he has been forced to fight in a Russian uniform, and if this continues, the Russian Emperor may be shocked...