BROTHER OF QUEEN MARIE-ANTOINETTE - JOSEPH II- Joseph of Hab - Lot 107

BROTHER OF QUEEN MARIE-ANTOINETTE - JOSEPH II- Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine (1741-1790, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Corégent with his mother of the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs of Austria in 1765, He became King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1780 on the death of his mother, and was the brother of Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI) / Important diplomatic missive signed in his hand "Joseph Coreg" [Corégent], 3 p large in-8,Fiume, May 14, 1775, to Colonel Comte d'Apremont, envelope preserved and enclosed with red wax seal of arms (folded sheet forming envelope) - Enclosed is the handwritten text of the letter that Emperor Joseph II asks Colonel-Comte d'Apremont to send to the Proveditore of Zara (nb: Zara, today Zadar in Croatia, a port that was always coveted by the Hungarians and Venetians; in 1775, Zara was a Venetian possession, and the "Proveditore", Proveditor, was the Venetian governor of the province): "I received your letter, which accompanied the two you received from the Proveditore of Zara; I anticipate that the affair will be put in good train, and as it must appear that you should await further orders from General Commando and Vienna, you will confine yourself to giving him the enclosed reply in the meantime, and will give the most exact orders that no disorder be committed, and even if there were still some unsold effects or livestock of the Venetians, they will be returned to their possessors, just as you will reduce not the number but the strength of each post, and forbid our veterans to molest or quarrel in any way with Venetian subjects, just as you will have the oldest inhabitants of the villages immediately ascertain the positive distinction between the year 1755 when the Venetians' grazing was paid for, and the year ours paid the Venetians by grazing on their land. You will try to establish the fact in a proven and clear manner without looking so closely, either for one or the other hillside, or better to say heap of stone more or less. This list formed, submitted by the village elders by sign, as they certainly can't write, you will send it to the Proveditor as soon as possible, but wait for his reply, to see if he promises you the same reciprocity, of which I have almost no doubt. In this way we will speed up this work, which I consider to be salutary, and nevertheless, you will have the air, as well as he the reality, of awaiting further confirmation from his Court. I see no difficulty in your continuing to write to him in French as he desires, and I have no doubt that, having received the substance of my reasons very well, you will find the means to make them succeed. I shall be delighted to have further proof of your zeal, which is as active as it is intelligent. You will continue to send me by the voice of Zeng in Triest, or if you do not believe that they can still arrive until the 20th of this month, the subsequent news, for from that day you will pass them through Vienna addressing them to me and not a sub-address to Lieutenant Colonel Weber my secretary."