For the benefit of the uninitiated it may be stated that in journal Tance the expression scoop is applied to the publication of news of importance by one paper in advance of its rivals. No journal can be indifferent to scoops, but the application of the word to-day has acquired an extent that robs it of the general interest attaching to the historic instances which introduced it into journalism. The ingenuity and infallibility of the inimitable M. de Blowitz, late Paris Corres-rident of "The Times," secured for him the unchallenged position of Prince of Scoops, and his achievement in enabling his Paper to publish the terms of the Berlin Treaty a few hours before it was actually signed in the German capital has always ranked as the ne plus lira of the science. Now, however, it appears that M. de Blowitz's exploit in securing in advance the terms of the Berlin Treaty is entirely eclipsed by the historical scoop—tbe it facts of which have only recently been made public—that enabled the British Government to learn the secret clauses of the Treaty of Tilsit. It will be remembered that on June 25, 1807 Napoleon and the Emperor of Russi met on a raft moored on the river Niemen near the town of Tilsit. No one, it was said, was allowed to be present at this famous interview, which resulted in the understanding known to the world as the Treaty of Tilsit, officially ratified on July 7. The terms of this peace as made public were concerned with the political reorganization of certain portions of Europe, but the English Government learned that secret convention had also been ratified by which the Emperor Alexander placed the Russian and Danish fleets at Napoleon's for the purpose of destroying our naval supremacy. Immediately a large fleet was mobilized and with a considerable body of troops on board appeared before Copenhagen with the object of seizing the Danish fleet, and thus forestalling " combinstion that must have seriously endangered the safety of England. Interest has long centred on the means by which Lord Granville Leveson Gower, our Ambassador at St, Petersbarg, discovered the existence and terms of the secret pact between Napoleon and Alexander, but: only recently have the details of this epoch-making scoop become known. When the Emperors met on the raft, it was arranged that each should be accompanied by a single soldier who could understand no French. Napoleon's attendant was s Prassian Grenadier, Alexander's was to have been & Cossack.
In the latter's place, however, stood one Colin Alexander Mackenzie, an English diplomatic agent, who had succeeded in persuading Cossack to consent to the impersonation. He thus learned of the agreement regarding the Danish fest, and on the day was on his way to London with the B Ambassador's dispatch. The date of the receipt of this do- "OTE cement by the Foreign Office is entered s July 18, and on the following day the fleet sailed with sealed orders.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.