Thornton Leigh Hunt 1860s. Hunt was also editor of "The Spectator" from around 1859 to January 1861. James Buchanan was at that time President of the United States and was attempting to counter civil war over the issue of slavery, mostly by adopting a vacillatory position. Two Americans based in London - a businessman called John McHenry and an Assistant Secretary to ambassador George M. Dallas, called Benjamin Moran - determined to use the magazine as a counter to the generally anti-Buchanan position of the British press. Hunt had assisted Robert Stephen Rintoul at "The Spectator" and appears to have stayed on after
Bystander (magazine) stories of Daphne du Maurier (Beaumont's niece), as well as short stories by Saki, including "Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse that Helped." The magazine ran until 1940, when it merged with "The Tatler" (titled "Tatler & Bystander" until 1968). Bystander (magazine) The Bystander was a British weekly tabloid magazine that featured reviews, topical drawings, cartoons and short stories. Published from Fleet Street, it was established in 1903 by George Holt Thomas. Its first editor, William Comyns Beaumont, later edited the magazine again from 1928-1932. It was notably popular during World War I for its publication of the "Old