ORIGINAL RECRUITMENT BROADSIDE FOR LAFAYETTE’S NATIONAL GUARD, FOLLOWING THE REVOLUTION OF 1830

LAFAYETTE. Ordre du Jour aux Gardes Nationales du Royaume (No. 42). Paris: L’Imprimerie Royale, September 3, 1830. Broadside on laid stock (17 by 22-1/2 inches). $1200.

Original French military recruitment “poster,” issued by Lafayette as commander of the National Guard following the July Revolution of 1830, appealing to “the patriotism, the zeal… [and] the personal affection for brothers in arms, across the extent of our brave and free country of France.”

The July Revolution of 1830 (known by the French as the “Trois Glorieuses”) created a constitutional monarchy, thereby replacing the principle of hereditary right to the throne with that of popular sovereignty. On the second day of rioting, Paris military commander Marshal Marmont wrote King Charles X, “It is no longer a riot, it’s a revolution.” Charles then abdicated rather than become a limited monarch, and escaped to England. To replace him, the rebels were divided into republicans for the Marquis de Lafayette and monarchists for the conservative Duke of Orléans, Louis-Philippe. Lafayette declined, supporting instead Louis-Philippe, who assumed the throne and agreed to rule as constitutional monarch. On the third day of rioting, following the defection of two regiments, Marmont’s troops evacuated Paris and Lafayette was appointed commander of the reconstituted National Guard. This handsome military broadside contains Lafayette’s passionate appeal for new recruits. It is countersigned by Inspector-General Mathieu Dumas, who after the Revolution (in which he also took an active part) was created a peer of France. Text in French. A manuscript notation on this copy reports that nearly 4,000 men “followed the order given.”

Two faint fold-lines (one with a marginal tear), bottom corner slightly creased. A near-fine copy.