In the letter, Voltaire notes that as soon as Émilie du Châtelet has finished her great business, he will have no more pressing matters than to take advantage of the kindnesses of the Prince and Princess. He ends by asking them to accept his deepest respects. The letter is dated 15 August 1749.

The poem preceding the letter was written by Voltaire whilst in Lorraine, likely between February and December 1748. In it, he praises Lunéville and the pleasures he experienced there amongst the wise. The final lines of the poem have been heavily corrected. Besterman suggests that they may have been transcribed from the autograph original (CMV34556) which is similarly revised.

It is likely that the poem formed part of a letter to Frederick II of Prussia.

Several people, including Marie-Louis Denis [née Mignot] have corrected the MS, suggesting that it was a much-used prompt copy. There are errors in pagination throughout.

Decroze asks the recipient to forgive a father in despair, and pleads for justice for his son who he says was attacked on 28 December last year. He notes that his son has been in danger of death because of blows he received to the head. Decroze then turns to the legalities of the case, saying that he is prevented from attaining justice in Gex as he is threatened, the witnesses bribed, and his daughter refused confession until she persuaded him to cease his pursuits. He says that in vain he has tried to defend his family and submit petitions, but that his depositions have been slowed down because he is poor and that Ancian exhausts his credit to overwhelm him financially after murdering his son. Decroze mentions that Ancian had previously assaulted Vuaillet with a stick and asks why he should not be found guilty of attacking his son, when he is already proven to be a violent man. He ends by begging the recipient to take up the case. The letter is followed by a secretarial copy of Mémoire de la façon que l’on a mené la procèdure criminelle, à l’occasion de l’assassinat arrivé le 28e Xbre sur la personne de Josephe de Croze. The memoire begins by noting that the father of Decroze brought his case to the Lieutenant on 31 December who called two witnesses that same day. The case was then passed to the public prosecutor of the King on 5 January for him to give his conclusions, but the prosecutor refused to take the case. Decroze’s father was was unhappy about this, saying that theft of a life was equitable to theft of property, and saying that he would issue a summons to the lieutenant which would oblige the public prosecutor of the King to give a verdict. He did this, but the prosecutor refused to take the case until 11 January, by which time the attackers had had time to flee to other countries.