GAULLE Charles de. L. A. S., 23 December 1915, to his mother Jeanne de Gaulle; 4 pages in-12 (traces of military censorship reagent, slight marginal wetness). Letter from the trenches, violently criticising political personnel. He received the parcel with rubber, boots, waistcoat and lamp, "all very welcome and very practical. We live in the water like frogs, and to get out we have to lie down in our shelters on our suspended beds. Besides, there's nothing we can do about it, as the water comes from the flooding of the Aisne and its tributaries, and we won't be made to leave the ground we're holding here for anything in the world. So we're just waiting for it to go down, with the stoicism that comes easily to people who've been campaigning for 17 months... Parliament is becoming increasingly obnoxious and stupid. Ministers literally have all their days taken up by sittings of the House, the Senate or their committees, preparing the answers they are going to have to give, reading the most absurd requests or injunctions from the first wine merchant they come across that politics has turned into an MP. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't possibly find the time to manage their departments, or the authority to galvanise their subordinates. We will be victorious, as soon as we have swept away this scum, and there is not a Frenchman who would not howl with joy, the combatants in particular. Besides, the idea is on the march, and I would be very surprised if this regime survives the war"... LNC, I, p. 231. Attached is a L. A. to a friend, 18 December 1915 (2 p. in-8); he was looking forward to going to see him and eating the venison haunch and the ortolans, but 'here is a new and desperate setback. The Boche torpedoed me vigorously this morning. The artillery had to be called in"...