The Westminster Review was a quarterly publication established in 1823 by Jeremy Bentham, who intended to create a medium for the expression of radical perspectives of individuals known as “free-thinkers.” These thinkers were influenced by the Enlightenment’s theory of democracy. Initially, the journal was not profitable and was sold to owners who reduced its radicalism. Soon after in 1834, William Molesworth created a new journal that conveyed radical views, combined it with the Westminster Review, and thus created the London and Westminster Review. Mill served as an editor for Molesworth’s novel journal, and was eventually replaced by William Edward Hickson. In the 1850s, John Chapman ran the journal and authors including George Eliot and Herbert Spencer, among others, published in the review.
In 1824, James Mill, the father of John Stuart Mill, contributed to the journal with a piece that disavowed the Edinburgh Review for being used as a tool by the Whig party to maintain the aristocracy’s power. As Mill spends the first part of his autobiography discussing his father’s influence, insight into the Westminster Review shows how Mill’s exposure to radical viewpoints was present from his early years. Moreover, Mill dedicates an entire section of his autobiography titled “Youthful Propagandism. The Westminster Review,” suggesting that it played a key role in his intellectual development. In light of the Review’s history, it makes sense why Mill understood the writing as “propaganda” and why “the Review made considerable noise in the world, and gave a recognized status, in the arena of opinion and discussion, to the Benthamic type of radicalism, out of all proportion to the number of its adherents” (Mill 88-9). Mill greatly contributed to the Review, but the magnitude of his work can be better appreciated by placing the Review in its historical context.
"The Original Westminster Review." St. Margaret's Anglican Church, 27 February 2021, http://www.saintmargarets.ca/st-margarets-blog/2020/4/9/the-original-westminster-review.
"The Westminster Review." Enchlopaedia Britannica, 27 February 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Westminster-Review.