FRENCH REVOLUTION – 1793 NATIONAL CONVENTION DECREE FOR NAVAL HARBOR & JETTY CONSTRUCTION – OFFICIAL SEAL CERTIFICATION

FRENCH REVOLUTION – 1793 NATIONAL CONVENTION DECREE FOR NAVAL HARBOR & JETTY CONSTRUCTION – OFFICIAL SEAL CERTIFICATION

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Item Code: 1288-05

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Presented here is a highly displayable original four-page decree of the French National Convention, dated June 24, 1793, authorizing major naval and harbor improvements along the French coast during one of the most turbulent periods of the French Revolution.

Printed in Paris by the Imprimerie Nationale Exécutive du Louvre in 1793, the decree is numbered No. 1087 and bears the title: “DÉCRET DE LA CONVENTION NATIONALE, Du 24 Juin 1793, l’an second de la République Françoise.” The decree approves an earlier resolution of the Provisional Executive Council concerning the construction of several jetties and naval works and places 880,000 livres at the disposal of the Minister of the Navy for their construction. The document specifically discusses Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, the Île de Bréhat, Portrieux/Saint-Brieuc, Dieppe, and Granville, with proposed construction intended to provide safe refuge for frigates, convoys, and other vessels.

The estimated expenditures printed on page three include:

Jetty at Saint-Malo – 690,000 livres, Jetty at Bréhat – 60,000 livres, Jetty at Portrieux – 30,000 livres, Quays at Granville – 100,000 livres; Total authorized expenditure – 880,000 livres

The decree dates from June 1793, when Revolutionary France was at war with Great Britain and other members of the First Coalition. The text itself makes clear the strategic concern behind these improvements: French naval forces needed protected locations where vessels could retreat, rendezvous, anchor safely, and prepare for operations in the Channel and along the Atlantic approaches.

Following the printed governmental text is the statement “Certifié conforme à l’original” (“Certified as conforming to the original”), beneath which appears a large contemporary manuscript certification/signature in ink. Immediately beside it is a red Republican governmental seal, showing a standing female personification of the Republic with a fasces or staff and the surrounding legend referring to the République Française.

At bottom is the particularly desirable Revolutionary imprint: “A PARIS, DE L’IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE EXÉCUTIVE DU LOUVRE. 1793.”

Dimensions are 7.65” x 10” with only minor wear at the low edge, originating from the vertical center fold.  The hand-laid paper is in otherwise excellent condition. Hand-inked notations at the top edge and left side have oxidized to an appropriate shade and four pages of text remain bold and legible.

An important, rare, and highly displayable piece of the French Revolution.     [cm][ph:L]

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