Napoleon I | Letter signed (“Buonaparte”) to the Minister of the Interior, [2 October 1804]

Napoleon I

Letter signed (“Buonaparte”)

to the Minister of the Interior [Jean-Baptiste de Nompère de Champagny], complaining that smuggling is causing a rise in sterling ("...La livre sterling se releve en angleterre je crois la contreband se fait...") and consequently ordering him to increase surveillance on the English Channel, headed stationery as First Consul, 1 page, quarto (220 x 180mm), headed stationery of Napoleon as First Consul, Saint Cloud, 12 Vendémiaire An. 12 [2 October 1804], framed and glazed (380 x 340mm), previously folded, remains of red wax seal

A TERSE LETTER RAMPING UP NAPOLEON'S ECONOMIC WAR AGAINST BRITAIN. It was in large part Britain's vast commercial wealth that made her such a formidable enemy to Napoleonic France, and it was commonly believed that this wealth was primarily derived from trade with Europe. Wartime restrictions on trade led to widespread smuggling, especially of British textiles into Europe. Napoleon's frustration at his failure to smother Britain's economy led in 1806 to the imposition of a full-scale embargo of Britain known as the Continental Blockade.