§21. "The Spectator". IV. The Growth of Journalism. Vol. 14. The Victorian Age, Part Two. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.

IV. The Growth of Journalism.

§ 21. The Spectator.

In 1828, Joseph Hume and others raised money to enable Robert Stephen Rintoul to start The Spectator as an organ of “educated radicalism.” It was, indeed, to perform for radicalism a service like that which Disraeli intended The Press to render to toryism, but in the forefront, whether of educated radicalism, or of a liberalism not easily to be distinguished from independent conservatism, The Spectator has consistently held up the banner designed for it by its founder. Under Rintoul, it disputed the supremacy of Fonblanque’s Examiner and led the advocacy of lord John Russell’s franchise measure of 1831 by demanding “the Bill, the whole Bill and nothing but the Bill”—a demand which The Examiner was obliged to echo, thus, in effect, acknowledging leadership.