Letter to the Editor regarding Emperor Claudius

[Ymbert Montgomery]

Letter to The Editor
La Voix de Paris

Monsieur Editor,

Paris is most honored to have in her presence a most exalted excellency: The Emperor of Rome!

It would be utterly impossible to have a greater blessing prior to the return of Our Blessed Savior. 

Unfortunately not all Parisians are appropriately deferential to His August Majesty. I shudder to say that one of them has had the banal affront and sheer audacity to challenge him to a duel! Another supports the first! Why oh why? Should not such a personage be cherished by one and all?

Though they are my superiors in every possible respect, one is even my commanding officer, they are wrong even if they are right. Cryptic no? What I mean is that these two, Baron Lagarde de Bearne and Sieur Guy D'avaranches, reject his standing. They regard him as a common but deluded soul. If they are correct (I most adamantly assure you that they ARE NOT) then he is a deranged fellow who does not deserve to be subjected to harm upon a dueling field. Nay! One such as this would deserve compassion, forgiveness, mercy and care. On the other hand if they are wrong to reject his standing, then it is preposterous to challenge an Emperor. Why should a lowly Baron have a go at dispatching an Emperor? Why it violates God's Ordinance regarding The Divine Right of Kings! Such an act should be renounced by one and all including The Holy See! Lagarde and D'avaranches should be ashamed of their demeanor and its associated behavior.

As my support of my Emperor may be regarded as disloyalty toward the King of France please accept the signature,

Anonymous

[debreos]

Barracks of the Picardy Musketeers

Place a la Bannière

Office of the Lt Colonel

The Editor

La Voix de Paris

Sir,

    It is at times like these that one finds oneself in despair! Returning from the Front, having encouraged my men in the defence of the Realm, I  find that your esteemed journal - one of the bastions of Society - is being peppered with anonymous missives encouraging a belief in a questionable foreign potentate. Does the writer not see what damage this could do to the morale of our men?

    Such pleading over the putative claims of some claimant to the throne of another country should not sully your pages. If our King decides to support his claim militarily, then it would be a worthy subject for polite conversation, and of publication. If not, then the claimant is a mere Pretender - if not a total lunatic, such being a matter more for the sawbones than a military man. As such, arguments over his claim detract from the belief in settled order that is the foundation of military discipline. Our men need certainty in battle; good fellows, but all too prone to confusion if we do not maintain their belief that the King is absolute. Thoughts of illegitimacy in government abroad may breed seditious sentiments at home, and therefore must be quashed.

I trust you will be passing this anonymous note to the Commissioner of Public Safety, to ensure that such dangerous thoughts are taken out of circulation!

Yours in the King's name,

Guillaume Fitzbraose