To Count Fouche, Minister of Police, Rambouillet 14 March 1809.
`Arrest the vicar of Noyon, who has ventured to make improper allusions to the conscription in one of his sermons. You will have him brought to Paris and examined by one of the Councillors of State. You will make a report of the enquiry to me.`
N was of the opinion that the press should exist only as an instrument of his propaganda. He wrote articles (anonymously) in Le Moniteur, responding to public concerns as to the lack of political freedoms.
By 1811 he had not only forbidden all newspapers to print any articles on political and military themes and had installed resident censors in each editorial office, he had by now reduced the number of newspapers in Paris to four and in each Department to one.
He was also active in foreign countries:
To General Clarke, Count of Huneberg, Minister of War. Paris, 27 March 1809.
`There is a Courier d`Espagne, published in French, by a set of intriguers, which appears in Madridand which cannot fail to do great harm. Write to Marshal Jourdan that there is to be no French newspaper in Spain, and that this one is to be suppressed. I do not intend to allow any French newspaper wherever my troops are , except such as are published by my order. Besides, do not the French receive Gazettes from France? And as for the Spaniards, they must be spoken to in their own language. Your letter on this must be a positive order.`
Not only French books offended him.
To Count Fouche, Minister of Police. Paris, 3 April 1809.
`There is a work on Suwaroff, many of the notes to which are very objectionable. The book is said to have been written by an Abbe. You must put seals on that Abbe`s papers, you must ahve all the notes cancelled and you must even stop the publication of the work, which is anti-national.`
He also dabbled in censoring theatrical plays.
By October 1810, the situation of the French armies in Spain had deteriorated to such an extent (Bussaco had blunted Massena`s invasion of Portugal on 27 September), that on 13 October, N wrote a very long letter from Fontainebleau to the Count of Montalivet, Minister of the Interior, complaining that information from foreign newspapers was leaking into French publications and would confuse the French citizens.
The following extracts cover the salient points of this letter:
`I beg you will send the Prefects a weekly circular, to make them aware of the real truth (so N DID have a sense of humour DGS) as to the current reports and thus direct their opinions and language.`
`First, make known our system against England; that it is not want of money which dictates these measures to the government, but the desire to harm England and that the advantage of this system has been proved by experience.`
`Second, to make known the prosperous condition of French finances.`
`Third, The French armies in Spain are in the best possible condition and abundantly supplied.
. . . The Army of Portugal, under the orders of the Prince of Essling (Massena DGS) . . . has seized Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida and was face to face, on the 24th, with the English army, which it had forced to retire for ten marches.
`You will say that the reports circulated against the Duke of Abrantes are calumnious and false, that the general . . . is winning the greatest distinction and that the most perfect harmony reigns among the various generals.
`That French troops occupy Navarre, the Asturias, Biscay and the other provinces; that a few smugglers and the remnants of the Spanish army have formed themselves into bands, which seize travellers - hardly to be wondered at in such a large country as Spain - but that, on the whole, things are going very well indeed.
If the chief functionaries of the Departments are thus warned, every week, against false rumours which are rife, their tone will be steady, and this will react on Paris itself. You will submit these letters to me at a business sitting.`
More to follow later.