69. NAPOLEON I. Letter signed "Np", addressed to Michel-Loui - Lot 69

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69. NAPOLEON I. Letter signed "Np", addressed to Michel-Loui - Lot 69
69. NAPOLEON I. Letter signed "Np", addressed to Michel-Louis-Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély, then president of the section of the interior to the Council of State. Paris, February 26, 1809. 2 pp. 1/2 in-4. MEASURE DESIGNED TO STRENGTHEN HIS CONTROL OVER THE POLICE, A MARK OF DEFIANCE AGAINST THE POLICE AND AGAINST JOSEPH FOUCHE, HIS MINISTER OF GENERAL POLICE: Napoleon I orders the assignment of auditors to the State Councillors in charge of the police and the Prefect of Police, with the "secret" role of supervising the actions of the police, and in particular of ensuring that there are no arbitrary imprisoned persons there. "I have issued a decree to attach four auditors to each of the three State Councillors in charge of the first three police districts, and four to the Prefect of Police. I want you to present me with a draft decree to determine their duties. These auditors will receive a salary of six thousand francs: this should not be an additional expense, because the conseillers d'État and the prefect of police will use to pay the auditors the funds which are used to pay for the work done by others, which will be a saving on administrative and office expenses. THE AUDITORS AT THE PREFET DE POLICE WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THE INTERROGATORY OF THE INDIVIDUALS who are in the depots of S[aint]-Denis and Villers-Cot[t]erêts, they will inspect these houses every week, so that I will have in their supervision A GUARANTEE THAT UNDER THE PRETEXTEXT OF VAGABONDAGE NO INDIVIDUAL WILL BE VICTED. They will exercise the same surveillance at Bicêtre, Charenton & c., SO THAT UNDER THE PRETEXTEXT OF FURIOUSNESS, NO ARBITRARY ACT IS EXERCISED. The individuals arrested each day who cannot be questioned by the Prefect of Police, will be questioned by the Auditors, so that these interrogations may have a legal form and be done by men who have my confidence, and with the diligence necessary to PREVENT ANY VEXATION OR UNJUST DETENTION. Independently of these duties, you will find other similar ones. MY SECRET PURPOSE IS TO HAVE TRUSTEES WHO LEARN THE POLICE WORK and get acquainted with its details. I also wish that all the citizens who are at the Prefecture of Police and who cannot speak to the Prefect, always find an auditor to whom they can turn. As for the auditors attached to the State Councillors, my intention is that the interrogations and other details which the State Councillors cannot do be done by them, THAT THEY MAY BE SENT TO THE DIFFERENT POINTS OF THE EMPIRE TO STUDY LOCALITIES, INDIVIDUALS, THE MOVEMENT OF BUSINESSES, That they make the report of the contentious affairs of the ministry to the Council of State, that they have under the inspection of the minister the visit of the state prisons, the interrogation of the individuals, finally take ideas on the not theoretical but real course of the Government... » Napoleon I, Correspondance générale, Paris, Fayard, t. IX, 2013, n° 20152.
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