MINES d'ANZIN (Nord) / Rare testimony to workers' insurrecti - Lot 119

MINES d'ANZIN (Nord) / Rare testimony to workers' insurrection in the mines of the Nord region during the Revolution: letter signed by Stanislas DESANDROUIN (1738-1821, one of the first coal entrepreneurs, owner of Mines d'Anzin); Jean-Barthélémy LE COUTEULX de Canteleu (1746-1818, banker and politician, and member of the board of directors of Mines d'Anzin) and Pierre-Nicolas BERRYER (1757-1841, lawyer and member of the board of directors of Mines d'Anzin), 2 p petit in-4, Paris, 26 brumaire an 6, to Jacques RENARD (1769-1836, proxy in Anzin for Stanislas Desandrouin): they have learned from Renard's letter of "the new workers' insurrection", "we have balanced the reasons you gave alternatively for admitting or rejecting the request for an increase", "all things considered, we have decided in favor of rejection, given the double disadvantage of dissatisfying both the public and the merchants, and of placing ourselves at the discretion of the caprice of a few workers or the maneuvers of the instigators", they send to Anzin Citizen Taffin "to assist you with his advice and authority, at the time of the announced explosion", they send to both of them "a memorandum drafted mainly to warn, if need be, the authorities against the claims in question", they also write to Georges Boisseau (foreman?) to invite him to return to the workshops and to give "to those workers who have influence for good, bonuses for which he will consult with Taffin and you"; "We are counting on your energy, activity and prudence, to deflect the new blow that they are trying to deal us"; they authorize him to deliver to the commune and canton of Condé the quantity of 400 muids of coal free of charge.