Letter from John George Cooke, London, to Baroness Marie Blaze de Bury, 1870 August 23 : autograph manuscript signed.

Advising her on how to draw funds and discussing the present war in Europe (i.e. the Franco-Prussian War); speculating that France will never agree to cede territory to Germany, hoping that the bloody conflict "it will sicken both countries of War for some time", and observing that "I do not see how any great Battle short of Paris can take place there are no troops left to fight against the Germans. I believe & hope L.N. [Louis Napoleon] will have courage enough to head one good cavalry charge & go down at the head of his Imperial Guard. It would be the best end for him."; remarking that the French were deceived into entering the war against their better judgement "by the base valetaille & the horde of jobbing contractors about the Tuileries" and noting that "all the time that the French journalists were hounding on the Emperor to war there was an admirably written pamphlet by a Frenchman showing the extraordinary strength ... of the German army", and concluding "There could or should have been no ignorance"; noting that a telegram has been received from France reporting victorious progress for the French forces under Barzaine and Louis Napoleon, but that, as they have received any corroboration from Berlin, he does not believe, as "we have invariably found the German telegrams honest" and the French telegrams "false and incredible"; reporting on the stock market, complaining of his financial losses, and mentioning that his wife is "pretty well", although "she feels the loss of the child very much."