THE CZAR AND THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CZAR AND THE EDITOR.

A London correspondent writes to a provincial paper : —Last week I mentioned the visit of Mr. Stead, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, to Russia, and his interview with the Czar. Many amusing stories are at present being told with regard to the circumstances of that interview. I believe, as a matter of fact, that, by the Czar's desire, no account of his meeting with the enterprising editor will be published. For this very reason, however, the canards respecting it "•re particularly numerous. Mr. Stead is well known to be a man who cares little for mere appearances, and who never condescends to flattery, even where he feels the admiration. That he has a warm admiration for the character and policy of the Czar is known to everybody ; but he cannot play the courtier even at St. Petersburg. It is said that His Imperial Majesty was greatly delighted with the very free and easy manner in which the editor comported himself when in his august presence; and the Czarewitch, I am told, has been going about St. Petersburg since the interview giving a graphic description of the way in which the Emperor was received in audience by Mr. Stead —for that was really what took place. " I am much obliged to your Majesty, and shall not detain you any longer," are said to have been the words in which the envoy of the Fourth Estate graciously brought the meeting to a close. Probably it was the first time in his life that the astonished Emperor had ever been dismissed in this fashion. Such is the tale with which London society is now amusing itself. If it is not true, it is, at all events, very good.