Hugues-Bernard MARET, Duc de Bassano (1763-1839)

Autograph Letter Signed (“HB Maret”) to an unidentified correspondent, announcing that “we are leaving in triumph and in peace”, weeks after the French victory at Austerlitz.

Half page 4to in French, with integral blank leaf, Schonbrunn, 6 nivose an 14 [27 December 1805].    

Napoleon’s minister, and one of his closest confidants, accompanied him on many of his travels and campaigns, and participated in the negotiations at Tilsit in 1807.  But here, Maret writes to someone who is obviously a very close friend (he uses the familiar “tu” in this letter), the day after the signing of the Treaty of Pressburg.

Trans: “My dear friend, we are leaving in triumph and in complete peace. I will have no further bulletins to send you. It is now up to you to send us news of Naples. My first letter will be from Paris.”

The Treaty of Pressburg did indeed herald peace between France and Austria, but it was not to last. Although Austria lost considerable territory, it was the Prussians who felt most threatened by the outcome, which saw French gains in Germany. Continued friction with France would result in a Prussian-Russian alliance; war would commence again in the autumn of 1806, only to end in Prussia’s final humiliation at Tilsit a year later.

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