Partly-printed DS in French, signed “Le Clech,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 9.5 x 15.5, June 3, 1795. Document from the Department of Côtes-Du-North, District of Guingamp, headed "Justice aux Traitres [Justice for Traitors]," documenting the auction sale of property confiscated from "Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Molt[ier de] Lafayette, Emigré." Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, became an "émigré," or exile, during the French Revolution when he fled France to escape radical factions, only to be captured by Austrians and imprisoned for over five years (1792–1797) as a dangerous revolutionary. Declared a traitor during the Reign of Terror, Lafayette's properties were confiscated and sold at public auction—leaving him in financial ruin upon his triumphant return to France. Napoleon Bonaparte restored Lafayette's citizenship on March 1, 1800, and did succeed in recovering some of his properties.
In small part (translated): "On the Thirteenth of the month of floreal at nine o'clock in the morning, we, Guillaume Le Grantec and Yves Pierre Tassel, Administrators of Guingamp District, went, accompanied by Citizen Vintorte, public prosecutor of this District, to the Audience Room of the Directory, where, being there, the said public prosecutor announced that the reception of the first goods’ bids Sale designated below, indicated by the poster of the 27th of Germinal last, which was read, which poster was well and duly published and affixed in the places prescribed by law, according to the certificates attached thereto, of the Municipal Officers of the Communes where the goods are located, and of the chief towns of the Districts of the Department; The property consists of: A plot of land on a meadow called Prat au Pont Hallec, containing a total of two hundred and forty acres…The said property forms a single lot for auction, which, according to the Expert Commissioners’ report, dated the eighteenth of ventôse, Year II, was set at the sum of eight hundred and eighty livres."
The document goes on to outline the terms and conditions of the auction sale, including payment dates, leasehold rights, fees, and guarantees. It further notes that "the bids reached two thousand and twenty-five pounds, with Citizen Simon being the last bidder." The property was thus awarded to Jean Simon, "subject to the terms, charges, and conditions set forth in the said minutes and prescribed by law, which the said Citizens Simon and Jegou declared they knew well and signed with us." In fine condition, with some ink erosion affecting a few words of text.
