profess to refer to the authority of certain "private correspondents"
abroad; _who_ these correspondents are, what means they have of
obtaining information, or whether they exist at all, we have no way of
ascertaining. We find ourselves in the condition of the Hindoos, who
are told by their priests that the earth stands on an elephant, and
the elephant on a tortoise; but are left to find out for themselves
what the tortoise stands on, or whether it stands on anything at all.

So much for our clear knowledge of the means of _information_
possessed by these witnesses; next, for the grounds on which we are to
calculate on their _veracity_.

Have they not a manifest interest in circulating the wonderful
accounts of Napoleon Buonaparte and his achievements, whether true or
false? Few would read newspapers if they did not sometimes find
wonderful or important news in them; and we may safely say that no
subject was ever found so inexhaustibly interesting as the present.

It may be urged, however, that there are several adverse political
parties, of which the various public prints are respectively the
organs, and who would not fail to expose each other's fabrications.[7]
Doubtless they would, if they could do so without at the same time
exposing _their own_; but identity of interests may induce a
community of operations up to a certain point. And let it be observed
that the object of contention between these rival parties is, _who_
shall have the administration of public affairs, the control of public
expenditure, and the disposal of places: the question, I say, is, not
whether the people shall be governed or not, but, _by which party_
they shall be governed;—not whether the taxes shall be paid or not,
but _who_ shall _receive_ them. Now, it must be admitted that