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THBGeorges Clemenceau Autograph Letter Signed
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About Auction
LiveMay 18, 2023
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- Lot Description
Extraordinary ALS in French, signed “G. Clemenceau,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.25, July 24, 1920. Addressed from Vichy, a handwritten letter to Andre Tardieu, the three-time Prime Minister of France and Clemenceau’s lieutenant during the Treaty of Versailles. The French leader ponders the enforceability of the treaty and conjures up a British-French disagreement with the Italian leader Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Clemenceau opens (translated): “After reading l’Officiel, I feel the need to tell you that you made an admirable speech that cannot fail to carry. Chief, you led the operation. Chief you have spoken! Judging by the Official it seems the Chamber has given you and Loucheur a warm welcome. I welcome it in the interest of public affairs, but that was only a secondary consideration today.” He goes on, with specific reference to the terms of the Versailles Treaty, “So ask Millerand [Alexandre Millerand], if an expert on law shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a guarantee and a sanction. The guarantee must prevent peril. The sanction becomes applicable when evil is consummated. Its alleged guarantee is only a promise of sanction resulting quite simply from the victory—which General Baquet has nothing to do with it. No one would have had the absurd idea of putting after each article of the treaty that in the event of non-execution, force would again become legitimate. This is the primordial and universal condition of any treaty!” He goes on, cryptically, “And the 830,000 tons of‰Û_Austrian? [ostensibly a reference to Vittorio Emanuele Orlando’s desire to secure the partition of the Habsburg Empire], Lloyd George and I had refused Orlando about that, and what do we get for that? Nothing for our pitiful merchant navy, that’s not enough.” Clemenceau concludes, “Loucheur has‰Û_fought back, but he may have gone a little far in saying that his background in coal and industrial manufacturing, when he was in government, made him recently feel the need for an ambassador to the Pope. He should have told me. I’ll send him a note of congratulations. I will be in Paris on Friday 30 at 7.30 in the morning. I’m counting on you, Loucheur, Klotz and Ignace at 11:30 a.m. Please let them know.” In fine condition. An interesting letter that sheds light on some of the tensions that existed between the Big Four in the lead-up to the Versailles Treaty agreement, while also broaching concerns in regard to the accord's enforceability.
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