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The end of the eighteenth century ushers in a new ‘foreign ruler’ for the Southern Netherlands, revolutionary France and then the Napoleonic Empire (1794-1814). As the finale of the long eighteenth century, the period is in several ways exemplary for the Southern provinces: the first explicitly formulated language policy promotes French – until then only culturally hegemonic – as the sole national language. Its elaboration and effects are probably most striking in the press. For instance, press repertories show a spectacular decline in the number of periodicals from 1800 onwards – and an exponential increase after 1814 – and for about five years no Dutch-language journals appeared, but a striking number of bilingual ones. On the other hand, it is also significant that precisely the press – which experienced a steep rise during the eighteenth century – underwent a far-reaching curbing during this period. Similarly, for dix-huitiémists too, periodicals are not only sources of documentation, their role as important actors in the literary and cultural field is also studied. Drawing on several journals with the most diverse positions – the Tyd-Verdryf, the Esprit des Journaux, the Wekelyks Berigt van Mechelen, and the various bilingual Journaux du Département, this contribution aims to sketch a picture of the influence of the increasingly pervasive French language policy on the journalistic and literary practices of Southern Dutch journals, oscillating between hidden translation and explicit multilingualism.