Voltaire begins by saying that he is staying at Condrieux. He flatters Servan and asks after his health, before going on to complain about his exile from Paris. Voltaire then asks Servan for advice on which books to read to gain an understanding of the laws of modern governments such as Denmark and Sweden, rather than those of past governments such as Rome and Sparta.

The text recounts that Louis XIV was going to attack the sibling of his wife. All the brothers of Charles II, King of Spain, had died and Charles was weak and unhealthy. Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold of Austria had a treaty which decreed that Leopold would let Louis XIV take possession of Flanders on the condition that it would pass to the emperor upon the death of Charles II. Leopold regretted signing the treaty almost immediately and demanded that no court should know of it. No copies of the treaty were made and the only one in existence was placed in a metal cassette for which only Leopold and Louis XIV had keys. This cassette was given to the French ambassador in Vienna and Louis XIV sent sixteen of his bodyguards to accompany the courier in case the emperor changed his mind and tampered with the document whilst it was being transported. It was taken to Versailles. This, Voltaire proclaims, is how the emperor let the King of Spain be robbed.

Voltaire states that he is writing to Marie-Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand from Paris, before discussing literature. He questions why the Marquise wants to make him read English novels, such as Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, when she will not read the Old Testament. He tells the Marquise that if she is to enjoy reading, she first needs a little passion, an object that is interesting, and a determined desire to educate herself that occupies her soul continuously, adding that if she were to know Italian she could be sure of a month of pleasure from Aristotle. Voltaire says that he will send her one or two chants of La pucelle d’Orleans that are unknown to others and in which he tries to imitate Aristotle (he claims to have limited success in this). He also advises that she may enjoy his Histoire universelle if she likes a picture of ‘this ugly world’ because in it he has painted men as they are. Voltaire then turns to various European empire-building projects, before stating that France’s only merit and superiority is that there are a small number of geniuses who make French spoken in Vienna, Stokholm, and Moscow. He returns to the Marquise’s reading, stating that he he found pleasure in reading Rabelais but that the Marquise was not learned enough to enjoy it. He expresses his desires for French translations of the philosophical works of Lord Bolingbroke and Dean Swift’s Tale of a Tub, before discussing various retellings of the story of Lucretia.  

Voltaire discusses the animosity between Louis XV and the new Stadtholder. The bitterness was, Voltaire notes, kept alive by the court of Vienna who wanted to strip Marie-Thérèse of the heritage of her fathers in spite of the treaties that had been signed. The court of London stirred Europe during the Congress of Breda, in order to make new enemies of Louis XV. George II of England then allied with Elizabeth Petrovna, Empress of Russia, who marched 50,000 men into Livonia and promised to equip 50 galleys that could be sent wherever George II wished, for the price of £100,000 sterling. This treaty could not be concluded until June 1747. The King of France advanced his conquests and quickly took Dutch Flanders. He also claimed Maastricht and Nimegen.

Fragments from the same manuscript as Voltaire Foundation MS 16. The leaves are paginated by Voltaire and constitute p.5-8, and 11-12. P.9-10 are missing. Voltaire writes of an attack on a Spanish settlement made by 50 English soldiers in a rowboat during the night under the command of Admirable Anson, remarking that this sudden surprise, and the confusion and disorder that the darkness redoubles, multiplies and increases the danger. The governor, garrison, and inhabitants fled, and the governor went inland to collect 300 cavalry and the surrounding militia. The English took the treasures they could find and transported them peacefully for three days. The slaves who had not fled helped to remove the wealth of their former masters. The governor was not bold or prudent enough to return to the city and either fight or form a treaty with the victors. The English then went to Panama and greatly advanced before Acapulco, taking great swathes of the centre of Spanish domination. The Spanish stalled Admiral Anson’s forces with a larger fleet and artillery under the command of Don Joseph Pizarro, but the Spanish forces suffered from scurvy and hunger after provisions expected from Buenos Aires did not arrive. The commander eventually returned to Spain in 1746 with fewer than 100 of the 2,700 men he had left with. Pizarro’s misfortunes, Voltaire writes, left Admiral Anson free in the South Sea, but Anson’s forces too had suffered from scurvy. Anson therefore set his sights on taking a large Mexican galleon sent every year to Manilla, which Anson proceeded to use to sail for Africa.