He was at one of the great seats of the commerce which suffered so fearfully from the Continental system of the Emperor, and he was charged to watch over the German press.

How well he fulfilled this duty we learn from Metternich, who writes in 1805: "I have sent an article to the newspaper editors in Berlin and to M.de Hofer at Hamburg.

I do not know whether it has been accepted, for M.Bourrienne still exercises an authority so severe over these journals that they are always submitted to him before they appear, that he may erase or alter the articles which do not please him." His position at Hamburg gave him great opportunities for both financial and political intrigues.

In his Memoirs, as Meneval remarks, he or his editor is not ashamed to boast of being thanked by Louis XVIII.

at St.
Ouen for services rendered while he was the minister of Napoleon at Hamburg.