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William Pitt the Elder

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:800.00 - 1,000.00 USD
William Pitt the Elder

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Auction Date:2019 Oct 10 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
LS signed "W. Pitt," one page, 7.25 x 11.5, October 16, 1758. Letter to Captain John Moore, Commander in Chief of His Majesty's ships at the Leeward Islands, in full: "I send you, herewith enclosed, the secret instructions which the King has been pleased to sign for your guidance and direction; and have only to add my most sincere wishes for your succession in the Important Command, with which His Majesty has been pleased to honor you. Matted to an overall size of 10.5 x 15.25. In fine condition, with light staining along the left edge.

Driven largely by conflicting interests in their colonial and trade empires, Great Britain and the Bourbon Dynasty of France and Spain had been at war for nearly four years at the time that Pitt wrote this letter. With the British war effort showing little efficacy, Pitt began a new strategy in 1758, tying down large numbers of French troops in Germany, thereby enabling Britain to use its naval supremacy to capture French forces around the globe, especially in Canada and the West Indies, where Captain John Moore was stationed at this time. Due in large part to Pitt's strategy, greatly supported by King George II—willingly signing off on "secret instructions" for his Navy upon the Commander's advice—Great Britain successfully expelled its rivals in the contested overseas territories, gaining the bulk of New France in eastern Canada, Spanish Florida, some individual Caribbean islands in the West Indies, and the colony of Senegal on the West African coast by the close of the war.