REGNAUD DE SAINT-JEAN-D'ANGÉLY (Michel-Louis-Étienne). Set o - Lot 85

REGNAUD DE SAINT-JEAN-D'ANGÉLY (Michel-Louis-Étienne). Set of 2 autograph letters. United States, 1815 and 1816. INTERESTING LETTERS ALSO EVOKING JOSEPH BONAPARTE'S STAY IN AMERICA. From 1815 to 1832, he lived near Philadelphia under the name of Comte de Survilliers, maintaining good relations with the American authorities. His estate at Point Breeze, New Jersey, became a rallying point for Bonapartists in the United States. Winter trip to Long Island with Joseph Bonaparte - To his wife Laure. New York, December 14, 1815. "I am writing to you, my love, by a ship bound for Bordeaux.... Since my last [letter], I have made two trips. The 1st with Mr. Morris to go to Paterson [north of New York] to see factories, one of which is operated by his brother, the second to GO WITH THE C[OM]TE OF SURVILLIERS [JOSEPH BONAPARTE] TO SEE A PROPERTY HE WANTED TO BUY.... I will speak here only of the 2d [trip]. The c[om]te had intended to hunt, as much to take pleasure in it as to ensure himself of the extent of this reserve to which he puts much price, before acquiring. Heaven has put an obstacle in the way of the execution of these plans. The snow [fell] with abundance, we did not go less than 20 miles to visit the house, it was very pretty, but it is horribly degraded: a wood pierced with 5 alleys surrounds it. It has a tenure of 400 acres in all, and is a mile from a very pretty lake - it offers an example of the mistakes one can make in buying with little thought. It was purchased by Scottish refugees. They put all their equity into their purchase, & had no capital for cultivation. In addition, they have done so at a disadvantage, for lack of knowledge of the country & the people, they have reduced themselves to poverty; everything in this dwelling presents the same aspect. Beside the traces of a faded luxury, we find a hot greenhouse in ruins, broken windows, debris of mahogany furniture, a general disorder, & only one inhabited room where the few dilapidated pieces of furniture would shame a thatched cottage. An old negro is, with the Scotsman, the only inhabitant of the place, the only cultivator of these 400 acres or arpens, for it's more or less the same thing. We want 15,000 gourdes [the old transaction currency in the French colonies of the West Indies] or 75,000 [francs]. On leaving this sad azile of misery, WE RETURNED TO JAMAICA, CHEF-LIEU DE LONG-ISLAND. WE HAD A GOOD DINNER THANKS TO OUR PROVISIONS, for the host could only provide us with ham and onions: the village could not provide him with eggs or a salad - and besides, he didn't have a drop of oil - BUT WE HAD TWO DINDONS, A PASTA & LANGUES, AND WITH WINE FROM BORDEAUX, WE EATEN LIKE FOUR. Le c[om]te, M. [James] Carret son secr[étai]re interprète, Auguste [fils de Michel-Louis-Étienne, ancien officier d'ordonannce de Napoléon Ier et futur maréchal du Second Empire] & moi, NOUS AVES ENSUITE TROUVER DES LITS COMPOSES D'UNE PAILLASSE DE MAIS & D'UN LIT DE PLUMES - nous avions de précaution porté des couvertures, & avec cela nous n'avons pas gelé & nous avons dormi. ON THE FRIDAY, THAT WAS YESTERDAY, WE WENT 8 MILES AWAY TO SEE ANOTHER HOUSE, very close to the one I described to you. It's impossible to find a more perfect contrast. The tenure of this one is only 130 acres, but the house, without being larger, is a little miracle of good keeping, preservation, order & cleanliness, a large vestibule downstairs, a sallon, a dining room, a bedroom, offices, & a people's room with a kitchen, tidied up wonderfully. Cows, heifers, calves, oxen, horses, colts, merino vaguans in the grounds around the house, and the stables, barns, sheds, attics, well everything we call servitudes, kept to delight. THE MAITRE DE LA MAISON WITH A FRIEND, HIS WIFE & HIS BELLE-SOEUR, DEJEUNOIENT AVEC UN MORCEAU DE PORC ROTI & FROID, DES GALETTES DE BLED NOIR OU SARRASIN, METS FAVORI DU PAIS, ET DU THE - peu après, à une table presque aussi propre, nous avons vu les gens manger la même chose. The wife no longer wants to stay in the country, she wants to live in New York, and the husband is reluctantly selling the estate he created... There is only one chance for peril & success, well-being & ruin in the purchase of land. May we not be forced to run any of these in the country. I don't want to keep you away from it in the event that it would be our resource, but I don't want you to see it too well either, because THE HABITATIONS ARE CABINS IN DESERTS. YOU HAVE THE NECESSITIES IN ABUNDANCE, BUT YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP ALL THE LITTLE PLEASURES OF LIFE, THAT ELEGANCE OF MANNERS THAT MAKES IT SO CHARMING, EVERYTHING THAT THE HABITS OF A PARISIAN LIFE HAVE TO OFFER.