André MORELLET (1727–1819). Autograph manuscript and letter - Lot 77

André MORELLET (1727–1819). Autograph manuscript and letter from the author; 5 pages in-4 and 1½ pages in-8. Excerpt from the observations of the English merchants in Constantinople on the causes of the decline of their trade, addressed to Mr. Greenville in 1765. The manuscript contains a few erasures and corrections. “The decline of our trade in the Levant is due to two general causes. 1. The lack of a port where English ships coming from the Levant can undergo quarantine. 2. The lack of an exclusive privilege for the company conducting this trade.” These two points are elaborated upon by describing the state of French and Dutch trade in the Levant and by highlighting the advantages each enjoys over the English. In conclusion, Morellet writes: “I have not finished translating this passage because I found the rest of it to be very poor.” 30 Floréal, to “My dear disciple”: “I fully understand your reasons for cutting up the memoirs I had lent you, and I find them good enough not to hold it against you, but I demand, in the name of your honesty and friendship, that you return to me what remains, for I imagine there must be many complete pieces that you have been unable to use at all”… He advises him not to “throw the handle after the axe” when it comes to a position in a subprefecture; he will speak highly of him to Garnier, Duquesnoy, and Dupont, who “rambles on sometimes” but “could indeed become a great merchant himself or through his family”…