I mot on the Boulevard the other after non one of the principal writers on one of the principal papers in Paris. If need be his name could be mentioned, and also the name of his paper. We are old friends, and we shook hands cordially.' Who is this Kriiger?" said he, this extraordinary man, whose agent here, Leyds, is spending money like water—millions, my friend, millions, buying the Press up everywhere?" Than my friend, who is in an admirable situation to know, told me the names of the different papers that had been purchased by Dr. Leyds, and I had no difficulty in believing what he said. The story was not new tome. There was one morning paper in Paris which boasts of its connection with a great London daily. Tt had been bought, "That T had suspected before, And there was another paper which was on its last legs and was for sale to the highest bidder, and this, and that. All of which I had an inkling of already. And there was another, a Nationalist afternoon organ which for years past had lived on blackmailing certain foreign Legations. "Quel sabbat de sous!" said my friend, "and what a people the Boers must be, and-what a man Leyds must be, if, with the force of their gold they and he can purchase the opinion of Europe, direct it against England, and excite popular passions almost to the extent of causing a European war These remarks brought another story back tomy memory, When Li Hung-chang came to Paris he learnt that a portion of public opinion in Europe could be approached upon certain definite terms. It est avec lo Cid des accommodements. Lam willing to buy," said the old statesman, fair price." Then he went to work.
Viennese papers were purchased by hi an old song. He made a bid for the Cologne Gazette, but was told that no millions could purchase that paper. La France was for sale, and in the absence of a purchaser could be hired out monthly. Li Hung-charly had a momentary idec of emverting it into the organ in Paris of the Cvlestial Empire. The game, however, was not worth the candle, Still he pursued his negotia! and at one time there was a danger 75 per cent of the Press organs of Europe becoming the property of Li Hung-'Then things quieted dows, China sank back her old indifference as to what the rid thought.
The papers which were then for sale, however, are still purchasable. Indeed, the attitude of some foreign papers would be incomprehensible perhaps ta anybody cept Li Hung-chang. In Germany the isn curious contrast between the Emperor's will and the opinions of a certain proportion of the papers. While the Emperor is endeavouring to carry out a common: sense policy of which the country stands eminently in neod, a large proportion of the Press seeks by every vile means at its disposal to plunge Europe into " bloody war, What is the answer to this riddle Only Li Hung-chang, the Chinaman, could solve the conundrum.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.