AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY COUNT KINSKI * COLONEL, prisoner in Blois, 10 December 1813. 18910-25

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY COUNT KINSKI * COLONEL, prisoner in Blois, December 10, 1813. 18910-25

Lengthy letter signed by Count Kinski, colonel, addressed to "Your Serene Highness."
Blois, December 10, 1813.

Count Kinski requests his exchange and that of all the officers of General Baron Beaulieu's regiment. He laments not being able to settle the accounts of his regiment with his predecessor before his arrest, emphasizing the significant responsibility this holds in his service as a colonel.
While acknowledging that his entire regiment may not be exchanged immediately, he seeks permission to return to Austria to address this issue, accompanied by the paymaster officer, and attend to very important family matters. He gives his word of honor.

In a handwritten note at the top of the first page: "General Prince de Schwarzenberg would like to secure the return of Colonel Count Kinski, his friend, Prisoner of War in Blois."

Double sheet, 3 pages of text.
Good condition. Fold marks.

BIOGRAPHIES:
* François Joseph, COUNT KINSKI de Wchinitz et Tettau, born on December 6, 1739 in Prague in the Kingdom of Bohemia and died on June 9, 1805 in Vienna, Austria, was an Austrian military officer in the service of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empire.
A member of the Kinsky family, he joined the army in 1759 and within ten years rose to command an infantry regiment. Ahead of his time, he established a school within his unit to train officer cadets. As a general, he took part in the War of the Bavarian Succession and a year later was appointed proprietor of an infantry regiment and director of the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. He held these two positions until the end of his life. In 1794, he commanded an infantry division in Flanders against the French. During the Battle of Tourcoing, he led an attack column but was unable to support the Duke of York. Promoted to the rank of Feldzeugmeister in September of the same year, he did not hold any active command thereafter.

** GENERAL BARON BEAULIEU
Jean-Pierre de Beaulieu, born on October 26, 1725 in Lathuy in Brabant and died on December 22, 1819 in Linz, in the Austrian Empire, was a Walloon general in the service of the Habsburg monarchy. He enlisted in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire at a young age and participated in the Seven Years' War against the Prussians. A cultured man, he played a role in crushing the insurrection in the Southern Netherlands and was promoted to the rank of general officer. He later fought against the French armies during the Revolutionary Wars and held important posts. In 1796, he suffered several defeats in Italy against the young French general Napoleon Bonaparte. Beaulieu retired from military life after this final campaign but remained the proprietor of an Austrian infantry regiment until his death in 1819.
[...] After Borghetto (1796), Beaulieu had to yield his command to General Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. Beaulieu then left the service to retire to his estate in Linz, in the Archduchy of Austria, where he indulged in his passion for art and architecture. However, he remained the owner of Infantry Regiment No. 58, of which he had been the colonel since 1794. This unit served on the Danube theatre during the War of the Third Coalition and in the campaign of 1809. After seeing his castle looted twice by French troops, in 1805 and 1809, Baron de Beaulieu died in Linz on December 22, 1819, at the age of 94.