[page 144]

104.

104.

This letter[236] also contained an invitation to Mr. de Rochambeau to go to the Court as soon as he executed this order and organized the festivities, which His Majesty decided would take place throughout the whole kingdom as well as with all the troops outside of the country, wherever they may be.

Es ware in diesem Brüff auch Herr von Rochambo gebetten an Hoff zu kommen sobald er diese Orter vollführet hätte und das Jubelfest gehalten welches Seine Majestett beschlossen zu verrichten in Seinem gantzen König-Reich, wie auch bey allen Seinen Truppen ausserhalb dem Lande allwo sie sich befinden thun.

It was decided by His Majesty that the aforesaid festivities should take place on the same day in all the provinces and everywhere His Majesty held authority, and it was ordered that the “Te Deum laudamus” be sung in all the dioceses followed by all the ceremonies[237]. After which our army celebrated this occasion on March 21st.

Es ist von Seiner Majestett beschlossen worden daß gesachte Ju-belfest in allen seinen Landen und allwo Seine Majestett zu befehlen hat auf einen Tag soll gehalten werden und wurde auch befohlen in allen Diosses das Te Deum Laudamus zu singen mit allen zugehörigen Ceromonien : Welches Fest alsdan bey unsrer Armée den 21 ten März gehalten wurde.

Immediately after that celebration, Mr. de Rochambeau went to France accompanied by Count Guillaume de Deux-Ponts, several officers, and a convoy of wounded soldiers declared invalid[238], but who had left as soon as March 16th[239] and who arrived safe and sound in France.

Sobald dieses Fest vorüber ware begab sich Herr Rochambo nach Franckreich nebst auch noch Herr Graff Wilhelm von Zweybrücken und einige Officirs von der Armée mit einem Transport Plessierten welche ihre Invalité bekamen, welche aber schon den 16ten März abgefahren seyn und glücklich in Franck-reich angekommen.

With spring approaching, we again provided a detachment group for Yorktown that boarded a frigate in order to go to North America. But when they were to set sail there was an accident and all was almost lost without a trace. This accident happened around midnight, while it was very dark and the elements were destructive. Fortunately the boat was still on the York River, if not all would have been lost, because she ran aground on a sand bank where she fell to pieces.

Wir gaben gegen das Frühjahr auch wiedrum ein Detachement nach Klein-York welche alda auf eine Fregate eingeschifft wurde vor nach Nord-America zu fahren. Welche aber bey ihrer Ab-fahrt verunglückt seyn so dermassen daß fast alles zu-grund ginge. Dieses Unglück geschahe gegen Mitternacht da es sehr finster und ungestümes Wetter ware. Zum Glück da es noch im Yorck-Fluße geschahe sonst wäre alles verloren gewessen dan es fuhre auf eine Sandbanck allwo es zerscheiderte.

[réclame]

doch

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f73/pct:0,0,50,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 144.

[agrandir]

 Notes

236. This letter must be the one sent by the Minister of War, Count de Ségur whose signature is imitated in the manuscript. It expresses the king’s gratitude, and the high esteem in which Count Rochambeau is held at the Court. Louis XVI personally sent a letter (dated November 26) to Rochambeau, telling him to have the “Te Deum” sung in Virginia: “I will take pride in the successes of my arms only as being an instrument leading to peace,” he added; “I summon the archbishops and bishops of my Kingdom to have a “Te Deum” sung in the churches of their dioceses, and I am writing you this letter to tell you that I desire that it also be sung in the town or the camp in which you find yourself with the troops whose command is entrusted in you…”(this extract comes from Viscount de Noailles, Marins et soldats français en Amérique pendant la guerre de l’indépendance des États-Unis (1778-1783), 2nd edition, Librairie Académique Perrin et Cie., Paris, 1903, p. 296 [catalogue de la médiathèque Malraux]; the letters by Louis XVI and Ségur are kept at the Service Historique de la Défense in Vincennes.
237. Royal victories were often celebrated with the singing of a “Te Deum” in all the provinces of the kingdom. Often accompanied by the public reading of a letter from the king, processions and merrymaking, the “‘Te Deum laudamus’… followed by all the ceremonies” showed the link between the king, the Church, and the people, and came to justify the extraordinary taxes levied on the taxpayers.
238. The fate reserved for elderly soliders and invalids of war at the time was in the process of being reformed. Indeed, the Hôtel des Invalides, the hospital for disabled soldiers, was largely overpopulated, and the retirement pensions given to soldiers having served for more than 24 years, as well as the disability premiums, cost very much. Under these conditions, Minister Saint-Germain put a drastic plan in place to cut spending in 1776, reducing the number of pensions and throwing the excess soldiers out of Les Invalides. He repealed the ordinances that had established “military veterans” in 1771 and offered, to all elderly soldiers (including foreigners), the right to a pension.
239. However, Guillaume de Deux-Ponts indicates in his campaign diary (p. 68 of Mes campagnes d’Amérique) that he left Virginia on October 24, 1781 just after the surrender of Cornwallis and his army. Viscount Guillaume was sent by Rochambeau to bring the news of the Franco-American victory to the Court. Another ship was chartered for the Duke de Lauzun, who was entrusted with the same mission. Guillaume de Deux-Ponts did not return to America after this.