Autograph letter signed, 1 1/2 pages (on two conjoined sheets), 5,25 x 7,25 inch, (Paris), 18.10.1930, `26. Rue Marbeau XVI` stationery, in French, interesting letter to "Mon cher ami" - concerning the evacuation of the Rhineland*, written and signed in dark ink "Poincare", with a few light folds - in fine to very fine condition.
In parts:
"Je lis ce matin, à la première colonne de l'Ami du peuple, qu'à Genève, en septembre 1928, M. Briand, agissant au nom du cabinet "d'Union nationale de M. Poincaré" aurait promis l'évacuation de la Rhénanie. Je n'ai jamais eu connaissance d'une telle promesse et je ne crois pas qu'elle ait été faite. Lorsque j'ai quitté le ministère en juillet 1929, le gouvernement que je présidais était entièrement libre d'examiner comme il l'entendait la question d'évacuation. J'avais toujours pensé - et répété publiquement - que nous garderions nos gages jusqu'à ce que le plan Young fût exécuté [...]"
Translated:
"I read this morning, in the first column of L'Ami du peuple, that in Geneva, in September 1928, M. Briand, acting on behalf of the "National Union of M. Poincaré" cabinet, allegedly promised the evacuation of the Rhineland. I have never heard of such a promise and I do not believe it was made. When I left the ministry in July 1929, the government over which I presided was entirely free to examine the question of evacuation as it saw fit. I had always thought - and repeated publicly - that we would keep our pledges until the Young plan was carried out [...]"
* Following the First World War, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and then the 1925 Locarno Treaties. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, three years before the outbreak of the Second World War.
