The propaganda agencies of all the nations, and especially of the Central Powers, had flooded the mails, used the lecture platforms and organized their semiofficial press.
For that purpose Delessart sent Talleyrand, well known for his Anglophil tendencies, to London, but in the unofficial or semiofficial capacity which was rendered necessary by the decree of the Constituent Assembly referred to above.
The first newspaper of New York, the New York Gazette, was established in 1725 by William Bradford as a semiofficial organ of the administration.
His restless activity in this field, mostly of a semiofficial and secret character, culminated in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, at the close of which he negotiated with the Turkish plenipotentiaries the treaty of San Stefano.