CLOUÉ (Georges Charles). - Lot 238

CLOUÉ (Georges Charles). Born in Paris in 1817 - died in 1889. French admiral. Minister of the Navy from 1880 to 1881. Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. L.A.S. "Vice-Admiral G. Cloué" to the Director General of Customs. Paris, March 21, 1882. 3 pp. in-8. Autograph address to 47 rue de Verneuil. Interesting autograph letter concerning an administrative recommendation in favor of a Customs sailor seeking a transfer to be closer to Lorient. Vice-Admiral Cloué first thanks the Director General for the favorable response to his request: "You have kindly accepted my request...". He explained that he had asked for the rules to be relaxed, so that he could be brought closer to the employee concerned, and that he was particularly appreciative of the kindness shown towards him: "...you agreed, on my recommendation, to bend the regulations...". But the admiral then feared a confusion of identity concerning the official concerned. After rereading the applicant's correspondence, he thought it was not the man named "Le Rouzic" employed at Saint-Marc, but a customs officer named "Le Barzic" near Nantes or Saint-Nazaire: "...I seem to remember that it came, not from a man named Le Rouzic (...) but from a sailor named Le Barzic...". He feared that his recommendation would have the unintended consequence of displacing "an employee who may well be where he is". In a postscript, he adds: "I could only see St Marc près Brest, please excuse me...". A curious and endearing administrative letter in which Cloué appears attentive, scrupulous and concerned about the concrete consequences of his intervention with the Customs administration. An interesting testimony to recommendation networks and administrative practices in the French navy of the Third Republic.