''The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine, or, Monthly Political and Literary Censor'', was a British conservative political journal active from 1798 to 1821. Founded by John Gifford after the cancellation of

William Gifford William Gifford (April 1756 – 31 December 1826) was an English critic, editor and poet, famous as a satire, satirist and controversialist. Life Gifford was born in Ashburton, England, Ashburton, Devon, to Edward Gifford and Elizabeth Cain. ...

's periodical '' Anti-Jacobin'', the journal contained essays, reviews, and satirical engravings. Its content has been described as "often scurrilous" and " ultra-Tory" and was a prominent element of British hostility to

Jacobinism A Jacobin (; ) was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–1799). The club got its name from meeting at the Dominican rue Saint-Honoré ...

and the broader ideals of the French Revolution.

History

The first edition was published on 1 August 1798 and was advertised in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as "containing Original Criticism; a Review of the Reviewers; Miscellaneous Matter in Prose and Verse, Lists of Marriages, Births, Deaths and Promotions; and a Summary of Foreign and Domestic Politics." Gifford served as its editor until 1806. The periodical was covertly funded by the British government.

Positions

Gifford called the periodical a champion of "religion, morality, and social order, as supported by the existing establishments, ecclesiastical and civil, of this country. The periodical promoted conspiracy theories of attempts to establish Jacobinism in Britain, accusing the ''

Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

'', the ''

Analytical Review The ''Analytical Review'' was an English periodical that was published from 1788 to 1798, having been established in London by the publisher Joseph Johnson and the writer Thomas Christie. Part of the Republic of Letters, it was a gadfly publi ...

'' and '' The Critical Review'' of spreading Jacobinism through "secret channels, disguised in various ways." It supported the passage of the

Unlawful Societies Act 1799 The Unlawful Societies Act 1799 ( 39 Geo. 3. c. 79) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1799, as part of measures by Pitt the Younger to suppress republican opposition. It is also sometimes referred to as the Corresponding ...

and the Combination Act 1799, arguing that the state needed the "wisdom to repress" in order to effectively defeat "domestic traitors." It also opposed the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...

Reception

The periodical denounced reformers, especially the Evangelicals, and greatly angered them, as prominent politician and campaigner

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

made clear in 1800:

It is a most mischievous publication, which, by dint of assuming a tone of the highest loyalty and attachment to our establishment in church and state, secures a prejudice in its favour, and has declared war against what I think the most respectable and most useful of all orders of men—the serious clergy of the Church of England. . . . Its opposition to the evangelical clergy is carried on in so venomous a way, and with so much impudence, and so little regard to truth, that the mischief it does is very great indeed. It accuses them in the plainest terms, and sometimes by name, as being disaffected both to church and state.Quoted in Ford K. Brown, ''Fathers of the Victorians: The Age of Wilberforce'' (1961) p. 187.

References

Bibliography

*Stephen, Leslie.
Gifford, John (1758–1818)".
Rev. Adam I. P. Smith. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 7 May 2007. *Strachan, John.
Gifford, William (1756–1826)".
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. May 2006. 7 May 2007.

History

Positions

Reception

References

Bibliography

Further reading