E-auction 137-77765 - fjt_014704 - ROUEN (VILLE DE...) Etienne Thomas de Maussion, intendant de Rouen, étain bronzé 1788

Nous n’avons jamais eu ce jeton, ni en original ni en refrappe, et le fait qu’il soit rarissime est confirmé par le fait qu’un collectionneur, au XIXe siècle, a éprouvé le besoin d’une faire réaliser un moulage en étain bronzé.
Etienne Thomas Maussion était intendant de Rouen et propriétaire du château de Jambville. Il est certainement favorable à la révolution car il va enchérir sur un bien national (qui sera remis en vente dès son procès) attitude qui était à l’époque sans ambiguïté : chacun savait que si le Roi revenait rapidement, ces ventes seraient annulées sans dédommagement.
On trouve sur internet sa lettre d’adieu écrite avant de monter à l’échafaud mais on ne la trouve qu’en anglais... preuve s’il en fallait une que sur ce type de sujet le courage des cultureux français est nul et que la page de la révolution, en France, n’est ni tournée ni prête d’être tournée.
Je me fais donc le plaisir de la citer, elle se trouve à http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/john-goldworth-alger/paris-in-1789-94-farewell-letters-of-victims-of-the-guillotine-egl.shtml
Etienne Thomas Maussion, 43, an ex-judge at Rouen, repelled a mob which tried to pillage his granary. He was accused of visits to Émigrés at Brussels and Rome, but this charge was refuted and abandoned. On the 24th February 1794 he was declared guilty of hoarding grain.

To Citoyenne d'Escayrac, Rue Richelieu, Paris.

Conciergerie, 7 Ventose.
I know, my dear niece, that you were hovering round the Palace
[of Justice] yesterday.
God is my witness that my sole uneasiness was lest you should be present at my condemnation. I know how your affectionate and susceptible heart must have suffered.
Two points only were raised at the trial. First, the Bordier affair. You know what a stranger I was to it. The second was the alleged
emigration. Nobody knows better than you that my return to
France dates back two years before the extreme date fixed by the
decrees.
Nevertheless I do not complain of the condemnation. I
adore the decrees of Providence, and I bless the hand which strikes me. I think I defended myself with simplicity, presence of mind, coolness, and courage. I should, however, have made a fuller defence if I had not behind me my counsel, on whom I counted.
I do not know why, but he also cut it short. Let him be easy,
however ; I have no grudge against him. I know that it was not in
his power to save me. I am sorry that the witnesses who signed
my certificate and who simply testified the truth were destroyed
\sic\.
Ready to appear before the tribunal of the Supreme Being,
I testify it again and fear no contradiction. Having but little
money in prison, I have been unable to pay what I owe to my
counsel. It seems to me that the nation, which takes possession of my property, should undertake the debt. If this raised the slightest difficulty, my family are too honest not to discharge it. My children will not refuse to pay for these things out of the property which should come to them. I recommend you then to pay citizens Chauveau and La Fleutrie.
I leave you my unfortunate children, and trust to your affection for lavishing cares on them. Let them be well educated. It is the best inheritance which can be left them. Inculcate betimes principles which may be their rule of conduct through life. Let the unfortunate example before their eyes early teach them the vanity of human things, so that they may attend to what is more certain and durable.
We have never had this token, neither in original nor in re-striking, and the fact that it is extremely rare is confirmed by the fact that a collector, in the 19th century, felt the need to have a bronzed pewter casting made..
Etienne Thomas Maussion was intendant of Rouen and owner of the Château de Jambville. He was certainly in favor of the revolution because he was going to bid on a national asset (which would be put back on sale as soon as he was tried), an attitude which was unambiguous at the time: everyone knew that if the King returned quickly, these sales would be canceled without compensation..
His farewell letter, written before he went to the scaffold, can be found on the internet, but it is only in English.. . . proof, if any were needed, that on this type of subject the courage of the French cultured is zero and that the page of the revolution, in France, is neither turned nor ready to be turned.
I therefore take pleasure in quoting it, it is located at http://www. ebooksread. com/authors-eng/john-goldworth-alger/paris-in-1789-94-farewell-letters-of-victims-of-the-guillotine-egl. shtml Etienne Thomas Maussion, 43, an ex-judge at Rouen, repelled a mob who tried to pillage his granary. He was accused of visits to Émigrés at Brussels and Rome, but this charge was refuted and abandoned. On the 24th February 1794 he was declared guilty of hoarding grain.

To Citizen of Escayrac, Rue Richelieu, Paris.

Concierge, 7 Ventose.
I know, my dear niece, that you were hovering round the Palace [of Justice] yesterday.
God is my witness that my sole unasiness was less you should be present at my condemnation. I know how your affectionate and susceptible heart must have suffered.
Two points only were raised at the trial. First, the Bordier affair. You know what a stranger I was to it. The second was the alleged emigration. Nobody knows better than you that my return to France dates back two years before the extreme date fixed by the decrees.
Nevertheless I do not complain of the condemnation. I adore the decrees of Providence, and I bless the hand which strikes me. I think I defended myself with simplicity, presence of mind, coolness, and courage. I should, however, have made a fuller defense if I had not behind me my counsel, on whom I counted.
I don't know why, but he also cut it short. Let him be easy, however; I have no grudge against him. I know that it was not in his power to save me. I am sorry that the witnesses who signed my certificate and who simply testified the truth were destroyed \\\\sic\\\\.
Ready to appear before the tribunal of the Supreme Being, I testify it again and fear no contradiction. Having but little money in prison, I have been unable to pay what I owe to my counsel. It seems to me that the nation, which takes possession of my property, should undertake the debt. If this raised the slightest difficulty, my family are too honest not to discharge it. My children will not refuse to pay for these things out of the property which should come to them. I recommend you then to pay citizens Chauveau and La Fleutrie.
I leave you my unfortunate children, and trust to your affection for washing cares on them. Let them be well educated. It is the best inheritance which can be left to them. Inculcate betimes principles which may be their rule of conduct through life. Let the unfortunate example before their eyes early teach them the vanity of human things, so that they may expect to what is more certain and lasting