476 



The Revimw of Reviews. 



On Appointment to the Editorship of the 

 " Northern Echo." 



appearances on the platform. He was looked to as 

 a knight- errant, and the offices of his paper were the 

 resort for some years of all who were in distress. 

 Some were de.serving, others were not. In 1889 he 

 resigned the editorship of the Pall Mall Gazelle in 

 order to found the Rkview ok Rkviews. 'I'his gave 

 Stead a powerful pulpit. He would probably have 

 made an even greater political mark if he had not 

 (lal)l)led in spiritualism. His " Borderland " and 

 "Letters from Julia" did much to undermine his 

 influence ; but here, again, he made as many 

 adherents in one direction as he lost in another, and 

 "Julia's Bureau" was besieged. 



Of his political efforts not already mentioned, the 

 most constant was an advocacy of a good understand- 

 ing with Russia. In 1885 he h:id opposed the idea 

 of fighting over the Penjdeh incident; his articles and 

 pamphlets, in the compilation of which he was assisted 

 by the late M. Lessar, contributed not a little to a 

 friendly settlement. His " Truth about Russia " (1888) 

 sought to correct many misunderstandings. The book 

 (first published in the Fall Mall Gazelle) was the 



result of a visit to Russia, during which he v/as re- 

 ceived by Alexander III. In 1S98 he again visited 

 Russia in order to have audience of Nicholas II. 

 Stead used to tell how, after having had his full say to 

 an exemplary listener, he began to take leave, remark- 

 ing that he would not detain the Tsar longer, as he 

 was sure that his Majesty must wish to join his 

 good wife and the children. The Tsar shook 

 hands, saying wilh a good-natured smile that this 

 was his first experience of being dismissed from 

 an audience. It was after this talk with the Tsar 

 that Stead embarked on the " Peace Crusade " 

 which occupied much of his later years. He 

 founded and edited a weekly paper. War against 

 War. He attended the Hague Conferences and 

 threw himself into Arbitration propaganda. This 

 was probably a principal reason of his strong oppo- 

 sition to the South African War. He was the most 

 militant and least compromising of all the Pro-Boers. 

 His line was the more marked because of its apparent 

 conflict with persons and policies in South Africa 

 with which he had formerly been in sympathy. Lord 

 Milner had been for some years his assistant on the 

 J'all Mall Gazelte, and Stead had proclaimed his 

 confidence in his friend's judgment. He had, more- 

 over, been an apologist for the Jameson Raid. He 

 was also a great friend of Cecil Rhodes. Mowbray 

 House, on the Thames Embankment, where the 

 Review of Reviews had its offices, was always one 

 of the first places to which Rhodes resorted on his 

 visits to London, for the inspiration of a sympathetic 

 and congenial mind. Stead was ever fertile in ideas, 

 and the more grandiose the conception, the more it 

 appealed to him. The will of Cecil Rhodes impressed 

 everybody with its marks of origii^ality and imagina- 

 tion ; it is not so generally known that the ideas were 

 in large measure Stead's, though it is on record that 

 Rhodes at one time intended to appoint Stead his 

 sole trustee. 



Stead continued to i-onduct the Review of Reviews 

 with great vigour. His " Character Sketches " and 

 Chroniques of the Month had all the originality, force 

 and freshness which characterized his work as a daily 

 journalist. He continued to go everywhere and see 

 everybody, and the amount of miscellaneous work 

 which he accomplished knew no diminution with the 

 advance of years. He had founded also a very 

 successful American Rrcicw of Rrcie'ws, and though 

 in later years the control of this had passed into the 

 hands of Dr. .Albert Shaw, Stead retained a financial 

 interest in it. He was deeply interested in American 

 politics and j^roblems, as was shown by his " If Christ 

 came to Chicago," " 'I'he Labour War in the United 

 States," and other works. He had joined the Titanic 

 in order to address a meeting in New York on " The 

 World's Peace," and to take part in the " Men and 

 Religion Forward Movement." 



HI.S INFLUENCE ON JOURNALISM. 



The influence of W. T. Steatl on daily journalism 

 in England was great. He struck the personal note. 



