Defense of William was also the occasion of his publishing in January 1701 the best of his poems and the most popular of all his early works, his satire
It used to be thought that Defoe remained in Newgate until August 1704; but it now seems clear from his correspondence, with Har ley (published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1897, 1899) that through the good offices of the latter he was released about the first of November 1703. This not only disposes
of the notion that he began his famous 'Re view' in prison, but also makes it clear that he was not, as has been charged, drawing on his imagination when he described his personal ex periences during and after the great storm of the end of November 1703 in his volume 'The Storm' published the next year. He was in prison long enough, however, for his businessto go to ruin and his family to come to want, from which they were partially relieved by Harley. He had every reason to be grateful to that leader, and, although while serving him during the next 10 years, Defoe did and wrote much that it is impossible to regard as honor able, his offenses are mitigated by his position of dependence and by the loose examples in politi cal morality set by the leading men of the time.
During and immediately after his imprison ment Defoe continued industriously to publish poems and pamphlets, adding as new topics, not only the 'Storm,' but the theological vagaries of John Asgill, regulation of the press and the state of the Episcopalians in Scotland. His main achievement, however, was the establish ment (17 Feb. 1704) of his newspaper A Review of the Affairs of France, etc., which, after several minor changes of title, became A Review of the State of the British Nation. Starting as a weekly this speedily became a biweekly and then a triweekly sheet. A literary depart ment, supposed to be furnished by a 'Scandal Club,' appeared in early volumes. Defoe wrote practically the whole of the paper, which steered between- the extreme' Whig Observator of Tutchin and the extreme Tory Rehearsal of Leslie. Even during his long periods of absence in Scotland the numbers appeared regularly, spreading Defoe's fame and influencing later journalists like Steele. After some changes in title and manner of issue the Review came to an end with its ninth volume (of which the British Museum copy is the only one known and even that is incomplete) on 11 June 1713. Its success entitles Defoe to be called the first great English journalist, whether or not his affectation of independence must give him a high place among casuists. It should be added that in the main he supported the constitutional and reli gious principles in which he believed and was constant in his endeavors to promote peace with honor and commercial prosperity.
In the spring of 1704 Defoe was in fre quent correspondence with Harley, and in the summer he took a trip through several counties to electioneer and gather information. Whether at home or on his journeys, he was continually writing, Between July 1703, when he issued the first of two volumes of his collected writings - a pirated volume had appeared some months earlier— and the same month of 1705, when the second volume probably appeared, he was responsible for at least 35 publications. The most important of These to the latter-day reader is the celebrated and able 'Giving Alms no Char ity' (November 1704) in answer to a bill for employing the poor — an attack upon pauper legislation in a tone strikingly modern. His let ters of 1705 show that he was receiving pay but did not know whether it came from Harley's pocket or the Treasury. He submitted his writ ings to his employer, communicated political in telligence, and in the summer and fall took another electioneering tour under an assumed name. Of the numerous publications of the year besides the Review the most import ant is 'The Consolidator, or Memoirs of Sun dry Transactions from the World in the Moon,) a rather heavy prose satire on English politics. He showed his knowledge of American affairs in 'Party Tyranny,' written in defense of the Non-Conformists of South Carolina, a subject to which he recurred a few months later. Early in 1706 he had a rough pamphlet duel with Lord Haversham in defense of the ministry, and he discussed the new bankrupt law, a matter in which he was interested, as his creditors, stirred up by his numerous political enemies, were pressing him hard. Of the publications of the year the most important are the huge satire in verse 'Jure Divino,' creditable to his learning and his political principles but impossible as poetry, and his famous 'True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal,' which has no superior as a realistic presentation of a supernatural event. The notion spread by Sir Walter Scott and others that this was composed to help the sale of Drelincourt's 'Fear of Death' was long since shown to be false; some 20 years ago the late G. A. Aitkin proved that Defoe merely reported with won derful realism an apparition story current in Canterbury at the time.