[Frederick Huth, Victorian banker.] Six secretarial letters to him, in French, each signed by the Duke of Terranova and Monteleone, on the news from Mexico and his financial affairs, with an Autograph Letter Signed by Joseph Gonfalon Agati.

Author: 
Frederick Huth [John Frederick Andrew Huth; Johann Friedrich Andreas Huth] (1777-1864), German-born London banker [Giuseppe Pignatelli Aragona Cortes (1795-1859), Duke of Terranova and Monteleone]
Publication details: 
All seven letters from Palermo, Italy. Agati's letter dating from 1831, and the Duke's letters from 1832 (3), 1833, 1836 and 1846.
£450.00
SKU: 14013

All seven items are in good condition, on aged and lightly-creased bifoliums, and all docketted by the recipient. The Duke's letters total 13pp., 4to. Each is addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, with one bearing part of a red wax seal. The letters all deal with the financial management of his affairs, with reference to substantial sums, with mention of Naples and Rothschild. The references to Mexican affairs in the correspondence are of particular interest, coming from a descendant of Hernan Cortes, and presumably still a substantial landowner in the country. A letter of August 1833 also refers to the delivery of 'la boite du tabac en poudre de Paris'. It also contains the following passage (transcribed without accents) on affairs in Mexico: 'Les reflexions que vous avez faites, Messieurs, dans la votre du 12 Juillet, et que j'ai trouvees tres sages, me rassurent en quelque maniere, sous le rapport que la voix publique des grandes nations de l'Europe, qui ont le droix de faire la loi sur la maniere de gouverner les peuples, et de fixer le point d'ou depend le bonheur d'une nation, qui a voulu se rendre libre, condamne les faux pas du gouvernement Mexicain qui commence par fouler aux pieds les Droits sacres de la propriete.' The last letter is devoted to the 'nouvelles [...] tristes' from Mexico. 'Pourtant je viens de lire sur les journaux que le President

avait envoye un message au General Paredes pour traiter de la paix des de Republiques & que le Cabinet d'Angleterre avait interposer mediation pour l'arrangement de ces differends.' The rest of the letter is entirely devoted to the same subject. Agati's letter is 1p., 4to. It concerns 'les affaires ecclesiastiques de Mr. Alaman'.