May 05, 2016 - Sale 2413

Sale 2413 - Lot 289

Unsold
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
SUPPORTING A CANDIDATE FOR LEGISLATURE OF NEW REPUBLIC SAND, GEORGE. Autograph Letter Signed, to "Père Magu," in French, encouraging him to support his son-in-law [later French National Assembly member Pierre Jérôme] Gilland in his pursuit of a deputyship, and urging him not to speak of Gilland's misery. 3 1/2 pages, 8vo, written on a single folded sheet; short closed tears at lower corners repaired with tissue, evenly toned, faint scattered foxing. Paris, 7 April 1848
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"I have just written to Monsieur Oscar LaFayette to recommend the candidacy of our dear Gilland to him. . . . Your son-in-law is pleased with his mission in my region. He will ingratiate himself, and it will be worthwhile to support his candidacy for Deputy with all your influence. Gilland is so big-hearted and has such a fine and fair intelligence that he is perhaps the best choice that France could make. . . . He is one of the men which I admire and like the most.
"Allow me, my dear poet, to lecture you a bit . . . . In your letter, you say some things that I beseech you not to talk about to anyone except me. You speak of poor Gilland's misery; Alas! I know it all too well . . . . They say that men of the lower classes want a deputyship so that they can have 25 francs per day. I know Gilland, and if these two notions strike him at once, he would reject the deputyship with horror, and that would be unfortunate since the country needs men like him. . . . You would weaken him in the eyes of the people of the lower classes who have such a correct feeling for human pride, and also in the eyes of the middle classes who seek only to belittle the virtue of a man in the lower classes.
". . . As for the future, rest assured that Deputy or not, Gilland will work for the government because it needs men like him more than men like him need it. The important thing is that hey recognize themselves for what they are worth, and that their modesty doesn't make them ineffectual. . . ."