In Napoleon's kingdom of Italy the censorship was likewise declared to be abolished, but on the day of the publica tion of a work two copies were to be deposited at the office of the Minister of the Interior. A commission, styled like wise "of the liberty of the press," examined the book and made its report to the Min ister, who, if he saw reason, stopped the sale of the work, and ordered the author or printer to be arrested and tried. Those who wished to avoid such risks, were allowed to lay their MS. before the com mission, which returned it with such corrections or suppressions as it thought advisable. This was called the facultative or optional censorship.
At last, in 1809-10, the project of a definitive law concerning the press in France became the subject of frequent discussions in the Council of State, in which Napoleon took a part. " I conceive," said he, "the liberty of the press in a where the government is acted upon by the influence of the public opinion, but our institutions do not call upon the people to meddle with political affairs: it is the business of the Senate, the Council of State, and the Legislative Body, to think, speak, and act for the people, and the liberty of the press would not be in harmony with our system, for the manifestation of the power of public opinion would only be productive of dis turbance and confusion." On the question of the censorship the more liberal coun cillors of state argued in favour of the optional censorship, by which authors who of their own accord laid their works before the censors, should be relieved from further responsibility after publica tion. " Those councillors who were for a previous and obligatory censorship, such as Cambaceres, Mold, Pasquier, Portalis, and Regnier, maintained that writing for publication was a species of teaching, and that in a country like France, where pub lic instruction was so organized and regu lated as not to be permitted to spread any dangerous doctrine, it would be incon sistent to allow writers to assume uncon trolled the mission of teaching whatsoever they pleased. No mode of teaching or influencing the public mind ought to escape the vigilance of the authority of the state. Under every government, those who addressed publicly a certain number of persons were watched ; a for tiori, those who by their writings ad dressed themselves to all men, ought to be watched also. It had been said erro neously that the right of publishing was a natural faculty ; the art of printing is a social invention, and as such is subject, like all other inventions, to administrative regulations in order to prevent its being abused. Without the previous censorship,
the suppression of a mischievous book after publication came too late." (Sittings of the Council of State of the 1 1 th and 25th of October, 1809, in Thibaudeaa, Histoire de la France et de Napoleon, ch. 67.) Napoleon was not for the obligatory and previous censorship, because it might find itself placed in an awkward dilemma, especially with regard to certain books which appeared to have a sceptical or heterodox tendency. He preferred the optional censorship, leaving however to the proper authorities the power of stop ping the printing or seizing the printed copies of any work which they thought dangerous. He was inexorable towards offences against the state. The decree of February, 1810, which was the result of these discussions, appointed a director general of the press, with auditors, in spectors, and censors, under the control of the Minister of the Interior. The number of printers was to be fixed in every department; sixty was the number fixed for Paris : printers as well as book sellers were to take licences and swear fidelity to their country and the Emperor Printers were forbidden to print anything derogatory of the duties of subjects to wards their sovereign, or of the interests of the state. Parties offending were to be brought before the courts, and punished according to the Penal Code; besides which the Minister of the Interior had the right of depriving the printer of his licence. Before setting up a work, the printer was to transmit the title of it, with the name of the author, if known, to the director-general, and likewise to the pre fect of the department, declaring his in tention to publish the work. The director general could, if he chose, ask for the MS., and send it to one of the censors for examination. After the censor had made his report, the director would point out such alterations or suppressions in the text as he thought proper, and which became obligatory upon the author or printer, who however had the right of appealing to the Minister of the Interior, who forwarded the MS. to another censor, who made his report to the director general, and the director-general, assisted by other censors, decided finally upon the matter.