DUMAS (Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, known as Alexandre) - Lot 102

DUMAS (Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, known as Alexandre). Born in Villers-Cotterêts. 1802–1870. Writer, journalist. Manuscript A.S. “A.D.,” titled “Situation intérieure.” No place, no date (circa 1861). 5½ pages, in-4 format. Blue graph paper. MANUSCRIPT RELATING TO NAPOLITAN POLITICS AND PUBLIC DEBT. ARTICLE FOR THE NEWSPAPER L'INDIPENDENTE, WHICH DUMAS HAD FOUNDED IN NAPLES …As we stated yesterday in our article on the elections. What matters is not whether a minority is more or less united, more or less cohesive, or more or less numerous, but that it be well represented… Taking an interest in the situation in Naples, he addresses …those few fighters for the Holy Cause…, noting …we have seen the Comforti ministry and the Farini lieutenancy fall one after another, and we did our best to hasten their downfalls; each, in its own way, claimed to be governing, whereas in reality it was a race to see who could misgovern the most… Dumas expresses doubts about this young political body and its manner of governing. But …perhaps, among this ministerial mass upon which one relies to boo or to applaud, there may be found a few men who will be struck by the necessity of acknowledging the validity of public concern, who will fear being accused of laziness or ignorance if they let this major issue of the emancipation of ten million men pass without examining it, and who, understanding the gravity of their mission, will prove—to the great astonishment of the ministry—worthy of the mandate entrusted to them…To guard against any future accusations, Dumas undertakes to examine …this serious issue of domestic policy known as economics—an issue on which Parliament will primarily have to debate… He therefore proposes to publish a series of articles on the subject and begins immediately with the Neapolitan public debt, so that … everyone may know what the current contribution represents and what will be allocated in subsequent allocations… Dumas traces the evolution of the debt between 1815 and 1832, providing details of the obligations associated with it… Louis-Charles Farini [1812–1866] served as Minister of the Interior for a few months beginning in March 1860. After Garibaldi’s capture of the Two Sicilies and the Battle of Castelfidardo, Farini accompanied Victor Emmanuel to Naples, where he remained as the king’s lieutenant.Raphaël Conforti [1808–after 1866] was elected to the first Italian parliament and joined the Rattazzi cabinet in April 1862 as Minister of Justice. Alexandre Dumas lived in Naples from 1861 to 1863. After Garibaldi’s triumphant entry into Naples, Dumas was appointed by Garibaldi to the honorary post of director of the Museums and Excavations of Pompeii. He founded a newspaper, *L’Indipendente*, which was even more pro-Garibaldi than Garibaldi himself, and which made it its mission to root out the “weeds” of the Bourbons. After Garibaldi’s departure, Dumas continued his fight against the counter-revolution and the Camorra. He began writing his monumental *History of the Bourbons of Naples*, as well as his *Châtiments* in the form of a novel, *La San Felice*, which, more than an anti-Bourbon pamphlet, became a hymn to the First Italian Republic.