BARNAVE ANTOINE: (1761-1793) French Politician. Guillotined. One of the most influential orators of the early years ...

BARNAVE ANTOINE: (1761-1793) French Politician. Guillotined. One of the most influential orators of the early years of the French Revolution together with Mirabeau. Best remembered for his clandestine correspondence with Marie Antoinette. Barnave was one of the founding members of the Feuillants. Rare L.S., `Barnave´, one page, 4to, Paris, 27th July 1791, to the Minister of Public contributions, in French. Barnave reminds to his correspondent his request `..to remind you the promise that you kindly granted me of a post of curator for Monsieur Brunet in the Calvados department, whose zeal and behaviour deserve such appointment …´ The present letter was written only a month after the Flight of Varennes, when King Louis XVI attempted to flee secretly with his family. Barnave was arrested and imprisoned for treason and guillotined fifteen months later at the very early age of 32. Paper with watermark. The letter bears to the heading two ink stamps of the reputed Dr. Max Thorek collection. Attractively and professionally matted. G Barnave was condemned for treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal on the evidence of papers detailing his extensive and clandestine correspondence with Marie Antoinette. Barnave, with the unclear sincere support of the Queen, had attempted to set up a Constitutional Monarchy as the most viable solution for ending the revolution with a minimum of further bloodshed. Barnave had been sent on behalf of the National Assembly, along with Petion and the Marquis de Latour-Maubourg, to escort the carriage with the royal family within, from Varennes back to Paris. It was in this setting that Barnave first met Queen Marie Antoinette. The Queen charmed the twenty-nine-year-old politician and earned his favour. On the journey back to Paris, the two were reported to have been seen conversing intently on several occasions. In early July 1791, Marie Antoinette wrote to Barnave the first of a long series of cryptic letters. Referring to him by a code name, Barnave received his letters through an unknown similarly codenamed intermediary. Her instructions were that her letter be read while the intermediary stood by to accept a reply. He then would return both documents to the Queen. She herself never wrote any of the letters, instead, she dictated them so as to avoid embarrassing, and possibly incriminating, documentation. All documents were discovered in Louis XVI´s ''Armoire de fer'' (''iron closet'') at the Tuileries Palace.