264 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF [1802. 



and the slave trade, unavoidably gave rise to warm 

 panegyric of certain individuals, and invectives 

 against others ; but these persons were wholly un- 

 connected with the journal; and as often as they 

 adopted views, or espoused a course of policy differ- 

 ent from that maintained by the Eeview, their merits 

 on subjects in which the reviewer agreed did not at 

 all mitigate its censure when they differed, of which 

 Stephen afforded a remarkable instance, his Orders in 

 Council calling down upon him a censure as strong 

 as his great services in slavery always obtained most 

 just applause. If I rightly recollect, Wilberforce 

 himself was visited with censure of some severity, at 

 the time of the Yorkshire contest in 1807, in con- 

 sequence of the part he had taken upon the con- 

 stitutional question, which occasioned a change of 

 Ministry, and the dissolution of Parliament.* 



Jeffrey's labours as editor were unceasing, and I 

 will venture to say, if we had searched all Europe, a 

 better man, in every respect, could not have been 

 found. As a critic he was unequalled; and, take 

 them as a whole, I consider his articles were the best 

 we had. As an instance of the care he took in revis- 

 ing and preparing contributions, I remember an article 

 on the Memoirs of Prince Eugene was sent to Jeffrey 



* In the number for July 1812 there is an article on "A Letter to 

 H. Brougham, Esq., M.P., on the subject of Parliamentary Reform, by 

 William Boscoe, Esq." Among other instances of the costliness of elec- 

 tions is, " The committee which conducted Mr Wilberforce's election 

 for Yorkshire in 1807 state their expenses at fifty-eight thousand, with 

 every resource of the most rigid economy and great voluntary assistance 

 in labour" (p. 137). 



