'e]reux seraient
pr['e]cis['e]ment ceux que l'avide curiosit['e] du public ferait
r['e]sister [a'] la surtaxe. Personne d'ailleurs ne r['e]voquera ne
doute que, de tous les commerces, celui des id['e]es soit le plus
pr['e]cieux, et je crois que vous devez le favoriser de toutes les
mani[e']res."--M. Larochefoucault, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 17 ao[^u]t
1791 (ibid.).

[359] The increase during the Revolutionary period was nevertheless
considerable. Before the Revolution the cost of distributing 60,000
prospectuses by post was 200 livres. Under the rates then in operation
it would be 3,000 livres, and under the new rates then (1796) proposed,
7,500 livres. Before the Revolution a volume could be sent from one end
of France to the other for 12 sous.--A. Belloc, _Les Postes francaises_,
Paris, 1886, p. 353.

[360] "Le conseil des Cinq-Cents, consid['e]rant qu'il importe de
faciliter la circulation des ouvrages p['e]riodiques, brochures,
catalogues, et prospectus tant pour encourager la libre communication
des pens['e]es entre les citoyens de la R['e]publique que pour augmenter
le total du revenu public...."--_Proclamation_, 1796.

[361] Law of 15th March 1827.

[362] Law of 16th July 1850.

[363] There was also at this time a tax on books.

[364] M. Rouher, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 21 mars 1850 (_Le Moniteur
Universel_).

[365] Decree of 17th February 1852.

[366] The political Press was somewhat strictly controlled. The law of
1814 on the liberty of the Press, which was continued by the Press law
of the 27th June 1849, imposed on every printer the obligation to
deposit with the Procurator Imperial every article treating of political
matters or social economy twenty-four hours before publication, under
penalty of a fine of 100 to 500 fr. A decree of 1852 subjected political
publications to a stamp duty.

[367] "Les journaux n'['e]tant plus dangereux et ne pouvant plus faire
que du bien, l'honorable membre e[^u]t d['e]sir['e] qu'une l['e]g[e']re
r['e]duction des droits de poste leur perm[^i]t d'acqu['e]rir une
existence plus s[^u]r, plus ind['e]pendante, afin qu'on p[^u]t les
retrouver fid[e']les et d['e]vou['e]s, si la France avait encore des
jours difficiles [a'] traverser. Nul n'a oubli['e], en effet,
l'admirable attitude de la Presse d['e]partmentale au milieu des
['e]v['e]nements de 1848, son empressement [a'] se rallier [a'] la cause
du Pr['e]sident de la R['e]publique, le courage que ses r['e]dacteurs
ont mo