The Gazette Littéraire de l'Europe and Anglo-French Cultural Diplomacy

In the wake of France's defeat in the Seven Years War (1756-1763) Louis XV's ministers experimented with a number of reforms intended to reimagine the nation as something citizens could invest in financially, politically and even emotionally. Led by Prime Minister Choiseul, the regime encouraged discussion of state policy and in particular of the lessons to be learned from her erstwhile enemy. Under the patronage of Choiseul's cousin, foreign minister Praslin, two established journalists and savants, the Abbé (François) Arnaud and J.-B.-A. Suard, established a weekly review as part of the regime's publicity offensive. Published under official auspices from 1764 to 1766, the Gazette Littéraire de l'Europe was to serve as an intellectual clearing house for Europe, and reassert French as the language of savants. A study of its coverage of British arts and letters as well as of the private correspondence of its editors reveals the internal conflicts which characterized cross-Channel exchange, pursued as both a Enlightened and a political project