Courier du Bas-Rhin (or Courrier du Bas Rhin, lit. Courier of Lower Rhine) was one of the leading European papers of the late 18th century and the Enlightenment period.Hanna Barker, Simon Burrows, Press, Politics and the Public Sphere in Europe and North America, 1760-1820, Cambridge University Press, 2002, Google Print, p.24-25 It was published in French language in Kleve (Cleves) (then a Prussian exclave east of the Dutch RepublicBarker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.28 from 1767.Barker, Burrows, 2002, p.159
Background In the 18th century, the Netherlands (United Provinces) were very tolerant in matters of freedom of the press and religious freedom. Unlike most contemporary countries, such as France, Great Britain or the Holy Roman Empire, there was little government interference (censorship or monopolies) there.John Christian Laursen, New essays on the political thought of the Huguenots of the Refuge, BRILL, 1995, , Google Print, p.73, 94-5 Many Huguenots were exiled to the Netherlands during the reign of Louis XIV, and the numbers of French refugees increased with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Several exiles begun publishing French-language (as it was both an international language and their own - see lingua franca) newspapers in various European cities covering political news in France and Europe. Read by the European elites, in France these papers were called "Foreign gazettes".
Contents and history The Courier had a circulation of 1430 in 1793 and 530 in 1801.Barker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.26
It was heavily influenced by the Prussian authorities, and seen by some as a Prussian propaganda outlet.Barker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.33-34 It was, nonetheless, much freer when it came to reporting events outside Prussia, for example, in France.Jeremy D. Popkin, Revolutionary news: the press in France, 1789-1799, , Duke University Press, 1990, Google Print, p.21 It lost most of its remaining independence around 1806–1807, when the authorities took control of most German newspapers.Barker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.39
Courier du Bas Rhin supported enlightened absolutism;Barker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.34 supported British liberties - but doubted they were fully respected;Barker, Burrows, 2002, Google Print, p.36 supported the Dutch Stadholder, and was sympathetic to the French Revolution (although mostly, post-revolution). It was often in major opposition to another leading journal of its time, Gazette de Leyde (the papers were, for example, on opposite sides concerning the Dutch Revolution).Jack Richard Censer, Jeremy D. Popkin, Press and politics in pre-revolutionary France, University of California Press, 1987, , Print, p.81-82
Sources vary on when the Courier stopped publication. Barker and Burrows suggest 1807, while Beermann indicates 1810.Matthias Beermann, Zeitung zwischen Profit und Politik. Der Courier du Bas-Rhin (1767-1810) (Leipzig, 1996) Alexander notes that a publication with similar name was published in the first half of the 19th century. Another similarly named publication (Courrier du département du Bas-Rhin, also known as Niederrheinischer Kurier) was also published in Alsace in the second half of the 19th century.Detmar Klein, The Virgin with the Sword: Marian Apparitions, Religion and National Identity in Alasce in the 1870s.. French History, 2007, Online
Editors Jean Manzon (Manson), founder, editor from 1768 to 1798Barker, Burrows, 2002, p.29 Anne-Marie Mercier-Faivre, Le travail du gazetier Post-1810: Frederic-Rodolph SaltzmannR. S. Alexander, Re-writing the French revolutionary tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, , Google Print, p.115 Jean-Henri SilbermannR. S. Alexander, Re-writing the French revolutionary tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, , Google Print, p.147
References
Further reading Matthias Beermann, Zeitung zwischen Profit und Politik. Der Courier du Bas-Rhin (1767–1810) (Leipzig, 1996). Ute van Runset, "Faits divers et la guerre dans La Gazette de Cologne et le Journal du Bas-Rhin (1756-1779): Information, prise de position, distraction" Ute Van Runset, "La politique de Frédéric II et les gazettes : Entre le Courrier du Bas-Rhin et la Gazette de Cologne" J. J. V. M. de Vet, "Le Courrier du Bas-Rhin de Jean Manzon et les Provinces-Unies (1787-1795): Un traitement idéologique de l'information"