ABSTRACT
The sources therefore pose a number of limitations for the historian. Despite these difficulties, however, public opinion in Napoleonic Rouen is not impenetrable. Firstly, the plebiscites, whilst conducted within an emerging police state, may reveal shifts in popular attitudes to Napoleon over time. Secondly, comments from 'independent' observers and from Napoleon himself are revealing of the public mood. Thirdly, a 'confidential' series of candid prefectoral reports on 'esprit public' to the Minister of the Interior from late 1812 onwards illuminate local sentiment during this troubled period. Finally, whilst public sentiment was denied expression through official political channels and the press it surfaced through alternative means. The notables were able to air their grievances through bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce, and act upon them through resisting conscription and the statistical inquiries of the state; while the popular classes vented their opposition through draft-evasion, desertion and conscription fraud.
