Once more, That Book About Le Bas

[montagnarde1793]

Letter from the Conventionnel.

 

                                Paris, 5 October, Year I of the Republic.[1]

 

                I am eager to announce that outside of the news contained in the attached bulletin, we have officially learned that General Custine has taken the city of Spire and taken more than three thousands prisoners. The most beautiful part is that our good army has been carried to no excess in a city taken by ready force, much in contrast with those of the Austrian brigands. Our victory has moreover procured us forage, supplies, arms, munitions.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

                P. S. – My address is thus: To the deputies of the department of Pas-de-Calais to the National Convention, house of the citizen Le Bas, Rue Françoise, n°6.

 

Letter from his father.

 

                                                                                This Saturday, 6 October 1792,

                                                Year I of the Republic, towards evening.[2]

 

                Yesterday evening, my dear friend, I received your letter of the 3^rd of this month; I received one from François from 29 September: the news he gives me is from 29 September; it says about what the papers tell us; he will have shared with you that we have taken Prussian hussars prisoner, with arms and baggage, carts of culottes, vests, shoes, stockings, and other items of clothing, and six coaches full of bread, etc. He tells me that we are strong enough to beat the enemy.

                The enemy seems to have evacuated the siege of Lille and lost many men: we are at present there in force, and I bid the ferocious Austrians adieu willingly. In everything and everywhere I see that our enemies are hungry and that the most desperate famine has taken hold of them. I hope that we will not reach that point.

                I am charmed that you have made Merlin’s acquaintance. I believe him to be decent, frank, and loyal. Many compliments to Duquesnoy. Has Deleville written from Arras? He has not written me for more than a month: I am asking him the reason today; I am persuaded that he will resuscitate. All my children are doing well; your brothers and sisters embrace you. Eugène went to Frévent yesterday; he arrived this evening full of good news. Many people pass coming from Amiens, Abbeville, Boulogne, Calais; the Austrians have lifted the siege of Lille; but they will not be cleared of it. Everyone is crazy with joy. I embrace you.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

From the same.

 

                                This 15 October 1792, Year I of the Republic.[3]

 

                I am quite content, my dear friend, to often have news of you. You tell me that François is doing well; that pleases me greatly; but you do not say where he is. His last letter is from 29 September; but as he did not say from where he was writing, I have been unable to reply to him except at the Army of the North, and perhaps he will not have received my letter. Give me his address.

                Deleville has been charged by our department with the travail of the complement of the army; he is a present a sincere patriot, and that works; he promises to come see us at Toussaint.

                We hope to see a great army enter Brabant soon. Ah! How pleased I will be!

                Mme de Rache has returned to Paris. She has been several times in vain to see Robespierre to engage him to take an interest in ending the substitution that importunes her; she has found no means of speaking to him and I told her that you have not found the time to go see him and that will only be for her first return to Paris.

                Your brothers and sisters are doing well and embrace you. Many compliments to Citizen Merlin on this occasion. Believe me to be your friend.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

Letter from the Conventionnel.

 

                                Paris, 23 October 1792, Year I of the Republic.[4]

 

                I am sending you two bulletins, my dear father; we are occupied with a project concerning the sale of the properties of the émigrés who are already, as you know, banished in perpetuity. It seems too that the substitutions are going to be abolished.

                It his been a long time since I have received news from François; have you received any? I pray you, if you have, to communicate it to me.

                I have nothing new to tell you. We await news from our armies.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

From the same.[5]

.               .               .               .               .               .               .               .               .               .               .               .              

                We hope to place François with the troops of the line.[6] I embrace you.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

                P.-S. – I pray you to send me here François’ baptismal records and a certificate of civisme from the municipality.

                28 October 1792.

 

Letter from his father.

 

                                At Frevent, this 29^th October 1792, Year I of the Republic.[7]

 

                I had received no news from François for a month; he just wrote to me, and I have just sent him the shirts, stockings, culottes, and furniture that he asked for the winter. He is at present in Quesnoy, in Hainaut, near Valenciennes; but everything is setting up in a way that makes one believe that they will not stay there long and that they will enter immediately into Brabant.

                Last Wednesday 4 to 5,000 horses have departed from the districts to go pull the canons in Douai; they are said to be driven to Tournai and Mons, and the rumor has already been heard there; we believe that the siege is already facing one of these places and perhaps both. It seems that the number of our enemies is much diminished and it is not believed that their plans can hold long, for our forces are weighing  on the northern frontiers, and more arrive every day. I saw the battalion of the Hâvre arrive last Saturday as it passed through Saint-Pol. It is better conditioned as much in men as arms, etc. All of this gives us fine hopes and makes us believe that before the winter we will have a large part of the Low Countries, for Belgium seems entirely disposed to join with us.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

From the same.

 

                                                                                This 17 November 1792,

                                                Year I of the French Republic.[8]

 

                François has not written me since the end of October; I do not know if he was at the siege of Mons: this worries me. I wrote him these last days under the cover of the Directory of Valenciennes, praying it to pass him my letter wherever it thinks he is to be found, and, in case they are unaware of it, to pass it to Citizen Delorme, director at the Army of the North. None of our volunteers has written yet since the siege of Mons.

                I am sending you twenty-five francs, for a three-month subscription to the Monitor, starting from the present. Address it to me. Do it immediately, for our subscription ended at the beginning of the month. The extra twenty-five francs will come on something else.

                Our electors have been at Saint-Omer since Sunday. We have had news from nobody.

                The national guards of the last battalion, still incomplete in Saint-Pol, have been here since yesterday to engage Frévent and Bonnière to furnish their contingent; I do not know whether they will succeed, for they are as cold as always here. I am putting up two.

                Adieu. We are all doing well and embrace you.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

 

From the same.

 

In Frévent, 21 November 1792, Year I of the French Rep.[9]

 

                Nothing, my dear friend, can alter the purity and the sincerity of my civic sentiments, whatever loss I may make in the new order of things.

                I would well like to be justice of the peace; but how to succeed in this?

                The elections are going to take place, and the former ones, as mediocre as they are, have already cornered many votes. What can happen will. I hope that providence will not abandon a father of thirteen children, whom he has raised suitably, and that he will lose only as a result of this new order.

                The émigré properties to be sold are immense, notably those of the former nobility. The goods of the manufactures will be more expensive, because the lots will already be made for items of business, and these goods will be rented at high enough prices.

                Madame de R. returns to full ownership of her properties, not having emigrated; but it is certain that she will sell everything. Her brother has committed the folly of emigrating; it is such people who have given place to the extinction of successions.

                I have been named, without having asked it in any way, to the Counsel of the department.

                Adieu. Many compliments and from all my children to Citizen Bonvallet whom we embrace as well as you.

 

                                                                                                                                                LE BAS.

---

[1] Arch. Nat., loc. cit. (gift of Le Bas).

[2] Collection Le Bas.

[3] Collection Le Bas.

[4] Same collection.

[5] Same collection: the beginning of the letter has no interest; in it Le Bas asks his father some questions about procedure.

[6] François Le Bas, brother of the Conventionnel, acquired his ranks quickly: captain in the 21^st chasseurs 14 August 1793, adjutant-squadron leader in the Army of the North, 28 January 1794, adjutant-general brigade leader in the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, 29 April 1794, he was arrested, in Fructidor, for no other reason than his relation to the Conventionnel and “although he had never given place, while he was in the army, for any reproach”’ he passed fifty-six days in prison, then was released without reintegration, “the interest of the patrie being in opposition to he who conspired against it’s brother being employed any longer.” (War Archives, dossier François Le Bas. – Léonce Grasilier : l’Adjudant-général Jean Landrieux, Albert Savine, 1893.)

[7] Collection Le Bas.

[8] Same collection.

[9] Collection Le Bas.

Comments

[josiana.livejournal.com]

I haven't gotten to read this until now, but squee! These are fabulous.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I'm glad at least someone agrees with me. :D

[josiana.livejournal.com]

I don't see how anyone could do otherwise. >.>

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

By failing to comment...? >__

[josiana.livejournal.com]

...I prefer to think they were awed to the point of being unable to type. >__>

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I wish I had such a talent for optimism. :/

[josiana.livejournal.com]

You could fake it like I do? :D

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Um, okay, I'll try... ^_____^

....nope, still not working. >__>

[josiana.livejournal.com]

;___; Sorry.

*offers a frenchboy*

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

It's all right. I'm sure there's a logical reason in any case; like the fact that those of my friends who speak French don't really need this in translation.

But I won't say no to that. :D

[josiana.livejournal.com]

That's probably true. ^^;

Oh, good. I don't think anyone would, actually. >.>

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Yes, and everyone else is probably just to busy to check. Or so I tell myself. -__-;;

You never know. :O

[josiana.livejournal.com]

Probably. Aren't most people getting out of school soon?

But. O_O They're so cuddly and full of republican virtue.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

In a little more than a month or so, yes.

Very true. I'm told there are (very frightening) people who don't like those things though.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

They're probably studying for their final exams, then.

Oh. I keep forgetting them. :(

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Could be. :/

I wish I could.

[josiana.livejournal.com]

^___^

;_; Sorry.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

It's okay, it's not your fault.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Is François the one who later married Babet? I know you told me before, but I forgot. XD;;;

Anyway, Le Bas's father = also ♥. Maybe not quite as cute as Le Bas, but still...apparently being awesome ran in the family. =D

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

It was Charles who married Babet, actually. I don't even remember whether I know what became of François after he got out of prison or not... -__-; I have a feeling it might be mentioned somewhere in this book, but I don't remember that either. >.>

I know: the whole family is awesome. But Le Bas's father's letters are very cute especially. XD