He recognized that the newspapers published a great deal that was superfluous and exaggerated, with the sole aim of attracting attention and outbidding one another.

He saw that in this general movement those who thrust themselves most forward and shouted the loudest were men who had failed and were smarting under a sense of injury--generals without armies, ministers not in the ministry, journalists not on any paper, party leaders without followers.

He saw that there was a great deal in it that was frivolous and absurd.