occasion I was right, as usual. Telegrams stamped with the coats-of-arms of
all the principal dynasties of the world have been inundating me. For
instance, H.R.H. the Hereditary Grand Duke of LEIBWEH has wired to me in
the following terms, of which I have caused an accurate translation to be
executed by my staff of paid short-hand clerks:--"Have on my faithful and
with-joy-inspired subjects a tax of ten _reichsgulden_ each after great on
the part of my ministers reluctance imposed. Invest proceeds for me in the
best to your wisdom known company, and without delay. Perfect confidence."
Now I can assure His Royal Highness, who will look in vain for any other
answer than this, that no power on earth, and least of all the cajoleries
or menaces of the great and highly-placed shall induce me to depart by one
jot or tittle from the course I have marked out for myself. And I take this
occasion to assure all other potentates that I do not propose by any effort
of mine to bring wealth to the foreigner. The welfare of the British people
is my only care. For them, _but for no others_, my investments are open; to
them alone I devote my unrivalled experience. And after this I trust I
shall be troubled with no further importunities from abroad.

I have to announce this week that I have formed The Croesus Club Company. I
have, at immense expense, secured a splendid site in the very heart of the
fashionable quarter of London. Building operations will begin immediately,
and within the next three weeks the members will be housed in a Club-house
unrivalled for comfort and luxury. Ten French _chefs_ will preside over the
kitchen, and house dinners at a minimum price of £5 a-head will be served
in the Ruby Hall to the strains of the Brass Potsdammer Buben Hussar Band,
specially retained for the exclusive service of the Club. The first list of
members will consist of 2000, and, in order to insure exclusiveness, the
subscription will be fixed at £500 without any entrance fee. A list of the
Provisional Committee, containing a Duke as Chairman and four Peers as
ordinary members, will be issued at once. I have the authority of the