Empress Josephine (1763-1814) JOSEPHINE (Empress). Letter signed "Josephine" to Senator Jean-Victor Colchen, President of Monte-Napoleone. Château de Malmaison, 3 June 1812. 1/3 p. in-4, envelope preserved. "I ask your kindness for Mr Dujon, general administrator of the endowments of Monte Napoleone. I have an interest in him, and I would be delighted if you could find an opportunity to be useful to him. I am delighted to take this opportunity to renew to you the assurance of my feelings...". Colonel Baron Michel Menou-Dujon had been appointed General Administrator of Monte Napoleone, also known as Mont de Milan, a bank founded in 1805 by Napoleon I in the capital of the Kingdom of Italy for the purpose of liquidating the Italian public debt, and through which annual annuities were granted to military personnel. An administrator and politician, Jean-Victor Colchen (1751-1830) was first a lawyer at the Metz parliament (where he made friends with Roederer), then secretary to Intendant Boucheporn in Corsica from 1780 to 1785, where he met the Bonaparte family. Subsequently posted to Pau and Auch, he was appointed head of division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he eventually held from March to November 1795, and in 1797 he led the Lille negotiations with the English. Napoleon made him Prefect of Moselle in 1800, Senator in 1805, Count in 1809, entrusted him with military missions in Lorraine in 1813-1814 and 1815, and admitted him to the Chamber of Peers in 1815. Attached is a copper-engraved portrait of the Empress Josephine.