AMERICA - Stephen CABARRUS (Etienne, 1754-1808, one of the F - Lot 280

AMERICA - Stephen CABARRUS (Etienne, 1754-1808, one of the Frenchmen most involved in the history of the United States, historical figure of North Carolina, actor in the United States Constitutions; son and grandson of a privateer, he came from Bayonne, where his father Pierre-Etienne was a shipowner; his younger brother Dominique-Denis settled in Bordeaux and became a shipowner in the slave trade; his cousin Theresa, wife of Tallien, was a revolutionary muse; he himself tried his luck in the New World, settling in Pembroke in 1776, where, married to a wealthy widow, he became the owner of a large plantation of 70 slaves; he became involved in politics, representing North Carolina in the House, sitting in the Senate, and was a member of the commission that created the capital city of Washington; a North Carolina county was named after him; member of the Republican Party, he was a dignitary Freemason of the Unanimity Lodge, first trustee of the University of North Carolina) / Rare autograph correspondence signed with 4 letters, totaling 7 p large in-4 plus 3 address pages (one letter is incomplete from the beginning), from Pembroke (North Carolina), from June 1800 to April 1801, to his friend Francis PEYRINNAUT, then residing in Norfolk (Virginia), a businessman from Edenton, which he called his "country" (Stephen very quickly had an American soul): the two friends had a business relationship; Stephen was not only a plantation operator and businessman, but also a shipowner and trader, so there is talk of ships and cargoes, but the most important subject, in hushed tones, is Peyrinnaut's involvement in the famous "Lake Company" affair (in 1784, investors Josiah Collins and Samuel Dickinson set up a company to acquire and exploit the land around Lake Pelps in North Carolina, they bought 160.000 acres, brought in 100 slaves from Africa, serviced and transformed the land into a plantation for rice cultivation, but Dickinson, in business with Peyrinnaut, had to mortgage him half of his shares in 1794, hence the important negotiations with Collins, who wanted to become the sole master of the company, which he would be at this time in 1801 (since Dickinson could not honor the mortgage payment, Peyrinnaut sold the shares to Collins); Cabarrus seems to be at the heart of the negotiations, speaking of "Doctor of Chicanery" Dickinson, of his attempts to find funds in vain; there is also mention of General Davie (actor in the War of Cessation, another founding member of the United States, who took over Cabarrus's political succession in North Carolina); Cabarrus talks about his health, about a sprained foot he can't manage to cure, asks his friend for the advice of Norfolk's best doctors, including the French surgeon Ferté; he asks to "have some news of the negro Boston": "do me the pleasure of recommending him and my negro David to the constable - I will give 30 gourdes for mine, you have his description in the Norfolk gazettes, tell him to have recourse to it and to look after him well" (presumably one of his runaway slaves) (NB: these rare letters contain many testimonies of American History to discover and study].