** HUNGARY - LETTER FROM FRENCH P.O.W. HELD BY THE ALLIES IN...

Hammer

£1,200

** HUNGARY - LETTER FROM FRENCH P.O.W. HELD BY THE ALLIES IN RAAB - TO ORLEANS VIA PARIS; Fine 24 May 1814 EL (full typed transcript; sealed with a wafer) from POW "J. Barault" in "Raab" (modern day Gyor - between Bratislava & Budapest) sent to a lawyer in Orleans having a very fine red "P" in triangle (Paris) on the front with a "4"(decimes) charge (the rate to Orleans). As Hungary was seldom involved geographically in the War, the Austrians sent numbers of French POWs to remote country towns, and it is uncertain how long Barault had been held there. He asks the Orleans lawyer to send him the funds that he had previously requested as the War now seems to be over; "I do not see any difficulty for this letter to reach you because communications are now open for you to receive it. I therefore ask you to send me 25 louis in gold, for which I have already had the honour of asking you several times since I was a prisoner of war... [P.S.] I hope to leave in a few days." Napoleon had abdicated on 6 April, so it is likely that the POWs in Raab were indeed released soon after this letter was sent. Rare Hungarian Napoleonic POW Camp letter.Cross Reference: HUNGARY, MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL, FRANCE