Excerpt from Courrier of Avignon
Annotation
This paper is from September 1770 and at that time France had two kinds of newspapers, those run by the state that were censored and also papers published beyond the borders of France that had licenses to get in but could that be they could be revoked at any time. With the foreign papers, then, there was a kind of negotiation. “If you don’t say this, we’ll let you in. If you go beyond that, we won’t.” This paper, the Courrier d’Avignon is kind of a mix between the domestic papers and the foreign papers. It’s a mix because Avignon is not France, but it is entirely surrounded by France. Courrier d’Avignon is a little more independent because they can’t come in and smash the presses. On the other hand, the Courrier had to get along with them. At this time this paper was published there was a huge uproar going on in France. The King was trying essentially to get control of his enemies, the parlementarians, the law court judges in Paris. And he was trying to really put clamps down on them. So that’s the lead story in the mind of everybody in France that picks up the Courrier d’Avignon. The news that everyone in France would have been interested in, the news from Paris concerning the battle between the King and the Parliamentaire is buried in two paragraphs on the last page of the paper. This report comes from the 20th of August. So in other words, yeah, if you really know what’s going on already, you can learn something. But if you don’t, if you happen to be reading a newspaper because you wanted to find out about the controversy, you just know there is one.
This source is a part of the Analyzing Newspapers methods module.
Transcription
Ce sont les Vaisseaux le Dauphin & le L’Averdy arrives a l’Orient, l’un de Pontichery & l’autre de la Chine le 26 du mois dernier, qui ont apporte la Nouvelle de la rupture entre Hyder-Ali-Khan & les Anglois dans l’Inde.
Les Chambres s’assemblerent Vendredi au matin, & M. M. les Gens du Roi leur avoit fait dire, qu’Elle ne vouloit ni recevoir, ni entendre ces Remontrances. Sur ce rapport la Cour remit la deliberation au Mardi 20 de ce mois, que les Chambres doivent se rassembler.
Translation
These are the vessels the Dauphin and the Averdy which arrived from the Orient, one from Pontichery and the other from China the 26th of last month which carried the news of the breakdown between the Hyder-Ali-Khan and the English in India.
The chambers [of parlement] assembled Friday in the morning, & the King said to them that he doesn’t want to receive nor hear their complaints. On this report the Court postponed the deliberation until Tuesday the 20th of this month, and the chambers will reassemble after that.