Unpublished autograph letter signed by the Marquis de La Fayette to the Marquis Victor de La Tour-Maubourg, written from "Metz" and dated "the 4th" in La Fayette’s hand. Two and a quarter pages in ink on a bifolium. A minor perforation, not affecting the text; with a red "V. JACOB Metz" stamp on the blank verso of the bifolium. Two discreet paper reinforcements at the foot and head of the sheet’s fold.
La Fayette wrote this profoundly political letter in 1792 from Metz - the very city where, as a young officer, he had made the decision to set sail and fight for American independence. " I have been a revolutionary for fifteen years - and I am resolved to conquer or perish in this cause” he writes here, at a moment when the constitutional monarchy was in grave peril.