The French government felt bound to react. The loose knit confederacy was re-invented as the Helvetic Republic following the 1798 invasion. The responsible French government minister applied pressure on the Helvetic Republic to communicate his complaints to the authorities in Bern that they had permitted an emigrant to publish in the Lausanne bailiwick, and from there to introduce into France, a work which they held to be "seditious". The author, called upon to defend himself in the face of the French government complaints, defended himself with "as much prudence as dignity", and was thereby able to ensure that the Swiss authorities made an entirely appropriate response to the complaint. Interestingly, while the Paris government launched a minor diplomatic incident over the book with the Swiss authorities, in Paris itself two widely-distributed newspapers were extolling its virtues in lavish terms.