Saturday Review (London newspaper)

Last updated

The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art was a London weekly newspaper established by A. J. B. Beresford Hope in 1855.

Contents

The first editor was the Morning Chronicle 's ex-editor John Douglas Cook (1808?–1868), and many of the earlier contributors had worked on the Chronicle. [1] Cook was a Scotsman who had lived in India: he had a house in Tintagel, Cornwall, and is buried there. A stained-glass window in the parish church commemorates him. [2] The political stance of the Saturday Review was Peelite liberal Conservatism. The paper, benefiting from the recent repeal of the Stamp Act, aimed to combat the political influence of The Times . [3] The first issue appeared on 3 November 1855.

Frank Harris was editor from 1894 to 1898.

Contributors included Dorothy Richardson, Lady Emilia Dilke, Anthony Trollope., [4] H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Max Beerbohm, Walter Bagehot, James Fitzjames Stephen, Charles Kingsley, Max Müller, Guy Thorne, George Birkbeck Hill, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Oscar Wilde and future Prime Minister Lord Salisbury. [5]

Germania est delenda

In the 1890s, the magazine published several articles that expressed an anti-German sentiment, summed up in the quote Germania est delenda (Germany needs to be destroyed) [6] [7] which was modeled after Cato's "Carthago delenda est" (Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam).

Our chief rival in trade and commerce today is not France but Germany. In case of a war with Germany, we should stand to win much and lose nothing; whereas, in case of a war with France, no matter what the outcome might be, we are sure to lose heavily.

'Our True Foreign Policy', Saturday Review, 24 August 1895, p.17.

The biological view of foreign policy is plain. First, federate our colonies and prevent geographical isolation turning the Anglo-Saxon race against itself. Second, be ready to fight Germany, as Germania est delenda; (Germany must be destroyed) third, be ready to fight America when the time comes. Lastly, engage in no wasting wars against peoples from whom we have nothing to fear.

'A Biological View of Our Foreign Policy' [8]

Three years ago when the Saturday Review began to write against the traditional pro-German policy of England, its point of view made it isolated among leading organs of opinion. When, in February 1896, one of our writers, discussing the European Situation, declared Germany the first and immediate enemy of England, the opinion passed as an individual eccentricity. ... What Bismarck realized, and what we too may soon come to see, is that not only is there the most real conflict of interests between England and Germany, but that England is the only Great Power who could fight Germany without tremendous risk and without doubt of the issue. ... Our work over, we need not even be at the pains to alter Bismarck's words, and to say to France and Russia: Seek some compensation. Take inside Germany whatever you like: you can have it.

'England and Germany', Saturday Review, 11, 1897, p.17

Later years

Gerald Barry became editor in 1924. He resigned in 1930, refusing an order from the board of directors to support the United Empire Party; his last issue roundly condemned the new party, while the first after his departure wholly endorsed it. Barry and much of the staff set up the rival Week-End Review, which later merged with the New Statesman . [9]

By the 1930s the Saturday Review was in decline and in 1933 was purchased by the eccentric Lucy, Lady Houston, with the intention of using it to promote her strongly nationalistic views on Britain and the Empire. Lady Houston was a hands-on proprietor who soon took over the editorship herself, despite the fact that she was in her late seventies. Running the paper from her home in Hampstead, or from her luxury yacht, the Liberty, she attacked the politicians whom she thought responsible for the country's weakness mainly Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, and Anthony Eden. She also took a strong line against the Soviet Union, believing Bolshevik influence to be responsible for many of the ills of the country and British Empire. When Lady Houston died in December 1936 the paper was continued for some months by a group of people who had worked for her. The Saturday Review closed in 1938. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto von Bismarck</span> First Chancellor of the German Empire

Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg, born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a Prussian and later German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of Junker landowners, Bismarck rose rapidly in Prussian politics, and from 1862 to 1890 he was the minister president and foreign minister of Prussia. Before his rise to the executive, he was the Prussian ambassador to Russia and France and served in both houses of the Prussian parliament. He masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as the first chancellor of the German Empire until 1890, in which capacity he dominated European affairs. He had served as chancellor of the North German Confederation from 1867 to 1871, alongside his responsibilities in the Kingdom of Prussia. He cooperated with King Wilhelm I of Prussia to unify the various German states, a partnership that would last for the rest of Wilhelm's life. The King granted Bismarck the titles of Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen in 1865 and Prince of Bismarck in 1871. Bismarck provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. Following the victory against Austria, he abolished the supranational German Confederation and instead formed the North German Confederation as the first German national state, aligning the smaller North German states behind Prussia, while excluding Austria. Receiving the support of the independent South German states in the Confederation's defeat of France, he formed the German Empire – which also excluded Austria – and united Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Trollope</span> English novelist of the Victorian period (1815-1882)

Anthony Trollope was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire. He also wrote novels on political, social, and gender issues, and other topical matters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury</span> UK Prime Minister three times from 1885 to 1902

Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen years. He was also Foreign Secretary before and during most of his tenure. He avoided alignments or alliances, maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German New Guinea</span> 1884–1914 German colony in northeast New Guinea

German New Guinea consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, became a German protectorate in 1884. Other island groups were added subsequently. The Bismarck Archipelago, and the North Solomon Islands were declared a German protectorate in 1885; in the same year the Marshall Islands were bought from Spain for $4.5 million by the Hispano-German Protocol of Rome; Nauru was annexed to the Marshall Islands protectorate in 1888, and finally the Caroline Islands, Palau, and the Mariana Islands were bought from Spain in 1899. German Samoa, though part of the German colonial empire, was not part of German New Guinea.

The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by English author Anthony Trollope, published between 1855 and 1867. They are set in the fictional English county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester. The novels concern the dealings of the clergy and the gentry, and the political, amatory, and social manoeuvrings that go on among them.

<i>The Pall Mall Gazette</i> British newspaper

The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, The Globe merged into The Pall Mall Gazette, which itself was absorbed into The Evening Standard in 1923.

Klaus Hildebrand is a German liberal-conservative historian whose area of expertise is 19th–20th-century German political and military history.

<i>Domestic Manners of the Americans</i> 1832 travel book by Frances Milton Trollope

Domestic Manners of the Americans is a two-volume travel book by Frances Milton Trollope, published in 1832, which follows her travels through America and her residence in Cincinnati, at the time still a frontier town.

The Revolution was a newspaper established by women's rights activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in New York City. It was published weekly between January 8, 1868, and February 17, 1872. With a combative style that matched its name, it primarily focused on women's rights, especially prohibiting discrimination against women's suffrage in the United States, and women's suffrage in general. It also covered other topics, such as politics, the labor movement, and finance. Anthony managed the business aspects of the paper, while Stanton was co-editor along with Parker Pillsbury, an abolitionist and a supporter of women's rights.

The Kreuzzeitung was a national daily newspaper published between 1848 and 1939 in the Kingdom of Prussia and then during the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and into the first part of the Third Reich. The paper was a voice of the conservative upper class, although it was never associated with any political party and never had more than 10,000 subscribers. Its target readership was the nobility, military officers, high-ranking officials, industrialists and diplomats. Because its readers were among the elite, the Kreuzzeitung was often quoted and at times very influential. It had connections to officials in the highest levels of government and business and was especially known for its foreign reporting. Most of its content consisted of carefully researched foreign and domestic news reported without commentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy, Lady Houston</span> British philanthropist, political activist and suffragette

Dame Fanny Lucy Houston, Lady Houston, Baroness Byron was a British philanthropist, political activist and suffragist.

<i>The Pallisers</i> British TV series or program

The Pallisers is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels. Set in Victorian era England with a backdrop of parliamentary life, Simon Raven's dramatisation covers six of Anthony Trollope's novels and follows the events of the characters over two decades.

<i>Carthago delenda est</i> Latin: "Carthage must be destroyed"

Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam, often abbreviated to Carthāgō dēlenda est, is a Latin oratorical phrase pronounced by Cato the Censor, a politician of the Roman Republic. The phrase originates from debates held in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. Cato is said to have used the phrase as the conclusion to all his speeches to push for the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Materiana's Church, Tintagel</span> Church

The Parish Church of Saint Materiana at Tintagel is a Church of England parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Truro in Cornwall, England, UK. It stands on the cliffs between Trevena and Tintagel Castle and is listed Grade I.

The American Senator is a novel written in 1875 by Anthony Trollope. Although not one of Trollope's better-known works, it is notable for its depictions of rural English life and for its many detailed fox hunting scenes. In its anti-heroine, Arabella Trefoil, it presents a scathing but ultimately sympathetic portrayal of a woman who has abandoned virtually all scruples in her quest for a husband. Through the eponymous Senator, Trollope offers comments on the irrational aspects of English life.

The Ballarat Star was a newspaper in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, first published on 22 September 1855. Its publication ended on 13 September 1924 when it was merged with its competitor, the Ballarat Courier.

<i>The Vicar of Bullhampton</i> 1870 novel by Anthony Trollope

The Vicar of Bullhampton is an 1870 novel by Anthony Trollope. It is made up of three intertwining subplots: the courtship of a young woman by two suitors; a feud between the titular Broad church vicar and a Low church nobleman, abetted by a Methodist minister; and the vicar's attempt to rehabilitate a young woman who has gone astray.

John Douglas Cook (1808?–1868) was a Scottish journalist, known as the founding editor of the Saturday Review.

<i>The Echo</i> (London) Newspaper

The Echo, founded in 1868 in London by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., was London's first halfpenny evening newspaper. It was published daily except on Sunday. Sometimes its Saturday edition appeared under the name The Cricket Echo or The Football Echo. Issue Number 1 appeared on 8 December 1868. The Echo ceased publication with Issue Number 11,391 on 31 July 1905.

References

  1. Schmidt, Barbara Quinn, ‘Cook, John Douglas (1808?–1868)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 Jan 2008
  2. Dyer, Peter (2005) Tintagel: a portrait of a parish. Cambridge: Cambridge Books ISBN   0-9550097-0-7; pp. 422–423
  3. Andrews, Alexander (1859) Chapters in the History of British Journalism, pp. 232–34
  4. Fielding, K. J. (1982) "Trollope and the Saturday Review", Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Dec., 1982), pp. 430–442.
  5. Roberts, Andrew (1999) Salisbury: Victorian Titan, p. 39.
  6. Umpenhour, Charles Merlin Freedom, a Fading Illusion
  7. Kelley, Donald R. Frontiers of history
  8. text at Wilson Library, University of Minnesota, Saturday Review, 1 February 1896, p.15
  9. "Barry, Sir Gerald", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  10. Crompton, Teresa (2020). Adventuress, The Life and Loves of Lucy, Lady Houston. The History Press.