LA FAYETTE (Gilbert Du Motier de). Autograph letter signed " - Lot 39

LA FAYETTE (Gilbert Du Motier de). Autograph letter signed "L. F." to Henri Grégoire. Château de La Grange-Bléneau [near Courpalay in today's Seine-et-Marne department], August 6, 1821. 3/4 p. in-4, address on spine; small tear to address leaf due to opening but no damage to text; framed under two-sided glass with copper-engraved portrait. A BEAUTIFUL LETTER ILLUSTRATING THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE'S MILITANCY ON BEHALF OF PEOPLES SEEKING EMANCIPATION. Just as he distinguished himself in the American War of Independence, he was very active in supporting the Poles oppressed by Russia, or, as here, the Greeks under the yoke of the Ottomans. "My dear former colleague and friend, I receive your letter today and hasten to reply to Mr. Polychroniades or to Mr. Piccolo, who wrote to me jointly with him: I am sending them a note of introduction for Mr. Gallatin [U.S. Ambassador Albert Gallatin, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and one of those who played a great role in the Louisiana Purchase]. It is with great pleasure that I will receive your Greek friends here, or go to Paris if they think they need me there. But I don't want to lose a moment to send them the letter they are asking me for the Minister of the United States. I HAVE BEEN TOLD OF RETABLISHING THE SOCIETE DES AMIS DES NOIRS: I did not think I was departing from your intentions in replying that the members of the old society would join together with alacrity [both the Marquis de La Fayette and Abbé Grégoire had been members of this society founded in 1788]. Present my respects to Madame Dubois [Marie-Anne Dubois, his faithful governess]. Salutations and sincere friendship..." PICCOLOS AND POLYCHRONIADES, MILITANTS OF THE GREEK CAUSE. Nicolas Savov Hadžiiliev, known as Nicolos Sava Piccolos (1792-1865) was of Bulgarian origin. He studied medicine for a time in Padua, and made a name for himself in Balkan intellectual circles with his translations of French authors such as Descartes, Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. From 1810 to 1816, he taught French at the Princely Academy in Bucharest, then spent time on the island of Chios, then in Odessa, where he was active in political activities, close to the Philiki Hetairia, a "brotherhood" which, on the model of the American Revolution, was at the forefront of the Greek revolt against the Turks. From 1818 to 1822, he continued his medical studies in Paris, promoting the cause of Greek independence, joining the Freemasons (like the Marquis de La Fayette), and frequenting the circle of linguist and activist Adamantios Korais. He took part in the fighting in Greece in 1822, then taught on the island of Corfu, and finally completed his studies in Bologna and Pisa. After practicing medicine in Bucharest in the 1830s, he returned to Paris in 1840, where he died. - Constantinos Polychroniades (d. 1829) was originally from the Janina region, which he left because of the pasha's occupation policy. He became secretary to the politician and warlord Alexandros Mavrokordatos, and came to Paris, where he also frequented the circle of Adamantios Korais. A HERAUT OF REVOLUTIONARY PROGRESSIST PRINCIPLES, ABBE GREGOIRE (1750-1831) led a long political career as a clergy deputy to the Estates General (1789), member of the Constituent Assembly (1789-1791), the Convention (1792-1795), the Council of Five Hundred (1795-1798), the Legislative Body (1799-1801), the Senate (1801-1814) and then the Chamber of Deputies (1819). He was also constitutional bishop of Blois (1791-1801) and a member of the Institut (1795-1816). During the Revolution, he was one of the founders of the Jacobin Club, criticized the introduction of censal suffrage, voted for the abolition of privileges, the civil constitution of the clergy, the abolition of royalty, militated against the death penalty and in favor of the emancipation of Jews and black slaves. Hostile to Napoleon, he opposed the Concordat (1801), the Consulate and the Empire.