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 the trials of the two admirals, Keppel and Palliser, he sent up daily from Portsmouth eight columns of evidence, the publication of which raised the sale of the ‘General Advertiser’ to a total of several thousands each day. At the same time he published anonymously several political pamphlets and poems, and was a conspicuous figure in the debating societies which then abounded in London. He is said to have rejected offers from Lord Shelburne and Pitt to enter parliament.

Perry formed the plan and was the first editor of the ‘European Magazine,’ which came out in January 1782; he conducted it for twelve months. He was then offered by the proprietors, who were the chief booksellers in London, the post of editor of the ‘Gazetteer,’ and he accepted the offer on condition that he should be allowed to make the paper an organ of the views of C. J. Fox, whose principles he supported. One of Perry's improvements was the introduction of a succession of reporters for the parliamentary debates, so as to procure their prompt publication in an extended form. By this arrangement the paper came out each morning with as long a chronicle of the debates as used to appear in other papers in the following evening or later. He conducted the ‘Gazetteer’ for eight years, when it was purchased by some tories, who changed its politics, and Perry severed his connection with it. During a part of this time he edited ‘Debrett's Parliamentary Debates.’

About 1789 the ‘Morning Chronicle’ was purchased by Perry and a Scottish friend, James Gray, as joint editors and proprietors. The funds for its acquisition and improvement were obtained through small loans from Ransoms, the bankers, and from Bellamy, the caterer for the House of Commons, and through the advance by Gray of a legacy of 500l. which he had just received. In their hands the paper soon became the leading organ of the whig party. Perry is described as ‘volatile and varied,’ his partner as a profound thinker. Gray did not long survive; but through Perry's energy the journal maintained its reputation until his death. Its circulation was small for some years, and the cost of keeping it on foot was only met by strict economy; but by 1810 the sale had risen to over seven thousand copies per diem. Perry was admirably adapted for the post of editor. He moved in many circles of life, ‘was every day to be seen in the sauntering lounge along Pall Mall and St. James's Street, and the casual chit-chat of one morning furnished matter for the columns of the next day's “Chronicle.”’ In the shop of Debrett he made the acquaintance of the leading whigs, and, to obtain a complete knowledge of French affairs, he spent a year in Paris ‘during the critical period’ of the Revolution. On taking over the newspaper Perry lived in the narrow part of Shire Lane, off Fleet Street, lodging with a bookbinder called Lunan, who had married his sister. Later Perry and his partner Gray lived with John Lambert, the printer of the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ who had premises in Shire Lane. Eventually the business was removed to the corner house of Lancaster Court, Strand, afterwards absorbed in Wellington Street. The official dinners of the editors in this house were often attended by the most eminent men of the day, and Porson playfully dubbed them ‘my lords of Lancaster.’ John Taylor states that Perry had chambers in Clement's Inn (Records of my Life, i. 241–2).

During Perry's management many leading writers contributed to the ‘Morning Chronicle.’ Ricardo addressed letters to it, and Sir James Mackintosh wrote in it. Charles Lamb was an occasional contributor, and during 1800 and 1801 Thomas Campbell frequently sent poems to it, chief among them being ‘The Exile of Erin,’ the ‘Ode to Winter,’ and ‘Ye Mariners of England’ (, Life of Campbell, i. 305, &c.) Hazlitt was at first a parliamentary reporter and then a theatrical critic. Perry expressed dissatisfaction with the length of his contributions, which included some of his finest criticisms. Coleridge was also a contributor, and Moore's ‘Epistle from Tom Cribb’ appeared in September 1815. Serjeant Spankie is said to have temporarily edited it, and he introduced to Perry John Campbell, afterwards lord chancellor and Lord Campbell, who was glad to earn some money with his contributions to its pages (Life of Lord Campbell, i. 45–182). During the last years of Perry's life the paper was edited by John Black [q. v.]

The success of the ‘Morning Chronicle’ was not established without prosecutions from the official authorities. On 25 Dec. 1792 there appeared in it an advertisement of the address passed at the meeting of the Society for Political Information at the Talbot Inn, Derby, on the preceding 16 July. An information ex officio was filed in the court of king's bench in Hilary term 1793, and a rule for a special jury was made in Trinity term. Forty-eight jurors were struck, the number was reduced to twenty-four, and the cause came on, but only seven of them appeared in the box. The attorney-general did not pray a tales, and the case went off. In Michaelmas term the prosecution took out a