[Rarebooks] A War to Spread Frenchmen

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

Offered at a special price today of $1000 net,
a 1/3 discount from our regular price of $1500,
in honor of the fact that I'm bored-

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General de Lally travels to French India and loses it to the English...
then returns to France and loses his head!

[Duval Dumanoir & Duval d'Espremenil] Memoire a consulter et consultation, 
pour le sieur Duval Dumanoir, & M. Duval d'Espremenil, Avocat du Roi au 
Chatelet, Heritiers du feu Sieur Duval de Leyrit, Gouverneur de Pondichery. 
Avec les Lettres que les Sieurs Duval de Leyrit & de Lally se sont ecrites 
dans l'Inde, pour servir de pieces Justificatives.

Paris; De l'Imprimerie de Michel Lambert: 1766.

Bound with- "Arrest de la Cour de Parlement, qui prive Thomas Artur de 
Lally..." dated May 6th, 1766 and "Arrest de la Cour de Parlement qui 
condamme Armand-Antonin-Francois Fretard de Gadeville, & Jacques-Hugues de 
Chaponnay..." dated May 10th, 1766.

A sad chapter in the history of the Seven Years War, ending with the French 
loss of India and the May 9th, 1766 beheading of General Thomas-Arthur, 
comte de Lally, [1702-1766]. This volume is the most complete of two 
collections of records published relating to the loss of French India, 
compiled from the official records by the heirs of the late French Governor 
of India. It ranges from the first action in which General Lally's troops 
were engaged through the withdrawal of the French from India. Lally was the 
son of an Irish Jacobite and a French noblewoman who joined the French army 
while still in his teens. In 1744 he was put in command of the "Irish 
Brigade" at Fontenoy, and was awarded a field promotion to brigadier. 
Following several more years of distinguished service, in 1756, General 
Lally was given command of the French expedition to India at the outbreak 
of the Seven Years War.

It would have been better had he stayed home.

Lally reached Pondicherry, the capitol of French India, in 1758. Following 
initial successes he met a series of defeats and setbacks, including a 
failed siege at Madras. Capable as a soldier but proud and disdainful as a 
man, Lally was roundly disliked by his men and officers, as well as the 
local Indian citizenry, a situation which cannot have helped the military 
campaign. The end came when he retreated to Pondicherry, was besieged there 
by a British army, and finally surrendered the city, and French presence in 
India, in 1761. The stage was set for almost two centuries of English rule 
in India, and General Lally was shipped back to England as a prisoner of war.

Again, it would have been better had he stayed put.

France had just lost the entirety of India, a scapegoat was needed, and 
Lally didn't have enough friends at court to avoid being charged with 
treason. A more moderate man would have stayed put, safe in England, but 
Lally demanded to be paroled so that he could return to France and defend 
himself. The resulting trial reached its predictable end after almost two 
years and on May 6th, 1766, Lally was sentenced to be beheaded, a sentence 
which was carried out three days later, on May 9th.

Bound at the end of this copy are two very rare pamphlets- the official 
text of the Court's condemnation of Lally, dated 6 May, 1766-
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and a four page official act of the courts levying fines against some 
officers in General Lally's regiment, dated May 10th, 1766, the day after 
the General was beheaded-
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A scarce book -no copy appears in the US auction records in the past 25 
years, and OCLC only locates 4 copies.

Hardcover.  7.75"x10", viii +579 + 8 + 4 pages. In a nice period binding of 
full mottled calf, with a gilt decorated spine featuring floral motifs. 
Marbled pastedowns but this copy has evidently had the matching endsheets 
removed. Some light cover wear, the outer hinges are split and the hinges 
themselves are a bit tender. [29757]

The covers-
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The title page-
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