_Sensible data on the public law in Europe, afforded though not written for publication, but digested by Roederer for the Press._--Rosensthiel, formerly principal Secretary of Legation to the French Ministers at the farcical congress of Radstadt in 1799, the pupil and friend of Pfeffer, long employed in the diplomatic department under the old Monarchy; devotedly attached to his King, detesting the Revolution, on that account dismissed by Dumouriez, when Minister of Foreign Affairs; having been imprisoned, proscribed and ruined. Father of a large family, he was constrained from the necessity of his circumstances to accept the Consulship of Elsineur in 1796, whence, being the only Frenchman profoundly versed in the history and practice of public law, he was again transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Modest, mild, virtuous and learned, he is therefore _not_ a member of the National Institute. These are the principal workmen who furnish the _Moniteur_ with leading articles, most of which are a vehicle for blustering and imposture. The next Parisian newspaper in rank and circulation to the Moniteur is the _Journal des Défenseurs de la Patrie_. In this paper there are often good articles and useful literary criticisms. But all political reflection is, for obvious reasons, banished from its pages. One, Joseph la Vallée, without appearing ostensibly to take any interest in this paper, is really paid £260 sterling by the Government for watching its concerns. I have seen a great deal of la Vallée; he is endowed with great intellectual acquirements. He is a modest, inoffensive man, extremely anxious to oblige, not loquacious, but interesting in conversation. He is not a member of the National Institute, which may account for his integrity. In one of our conversations he complained bitterly of the English newspapers for their animadversions on the French Government, and particularly on the First Consul, expressing his fears that these attacks might lead to bloodshed between the two countries. [Sidenote: CONTROL OF PRESS BY BONAPARTE] I desired him to name the papers he alluded to; he mentioned the _Porcupine_ and the _Morning Post_. I explained to him that the _Porcupine_ was nonexistent, having been for some months merged in the _True Briton_. He was quite confounded by this information, for he had no idea the _Porcupine_ had been relinquished. He observed that the _True Briton_ was however also extremely violent. “Why then,”, I returned, “do you not, my dear friend, answer them with equal vehemence?” “Because these political discussions are not agreeable to the Government, for if we replied it would be impossible to do so without translating and so publishing the arguments of the enemy, for such discussions would only unsettle the minds of people and might shake the Government.” “Ah, vive la Liberté,” said I. “I thought I was in a free Republic!” He gave no reply, and our conversation abruptly ended.