They were full of flowers, tropes and metaphors, but contained nothing solid; and all overflowed with the commonplace metaphysics of the new Philosophy. My embarrassments now increased, for the Club of Sages, whom the report of my commission collected round me, besieged my lodgings day after day, like suitors in the ante-chamber of Talleyrand; and notwithstanding their courteous carriage and apparent indifference they all asked me anxiously what news I had received by the post. The awkward situation in which I found myself compelled me eventually to say that my colleagues had altered their plans and determined to confide their correspondence to an English gentleman now in Paris--_i.e._, _myself_. But although these philosophers did not obtain any ulterior benefit from my offer, I was enabled by my intercourse with them to obtain considerable information respecting the state of the Press in Paris at the present time, and I here give the result of my inquiries. Newspapers in France are under the immediate control of the police, and are principally edited by those illuminated children of science, better known under the title of the National Institute. The _Moniteur_ is the first in order in baseness and infamy. It is considered the official paper of the Government. As all its papers are under the superintendence of the police, they are _all_ official. Its nominal proprietors are Messrs. Roederer[1] and Hautrive,[1] but the profits belong to a club consisting of five Ministers, those of Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs, War and Police. Roederer receives a stipend of £800 a year (which, with his income of a Councillor of State, gives him £3500 to spend) as a salary for editing the paper, for which he is of course considered the responsible person. All the expenses of paper, printing and publishing, are defrayed by the Treasury. [Sidenote: CHARACTERS OF EDITORS] Hautrive is not a stipendiary or responsible editor, but he writes in the _Moniteur_, and his articles are well paid. The Decemvir Barrère receives £1000 per annum for his literary assistance, but he is really acting as a private spy for the First Consul, on the operations of the Jacobins. He is likewise engaged as spy upon the Grand Spy, Fouché, Minister of Police. The different Ministers frequently employ the pens of their subalterns in office. You cannot be mistaken respecting the authors of the articles, as their style convicts them. The following may, however, serve as general rules for the discovery of the distinguished literati engaged. _Ferocious and blustering passages on the power of the Republic, in the style of epic prose._--Treilhard,[1] ex-Avocat, ex-Director, ex-Negotiator, and Councillor of State.