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
Diogenes (British magazine) supervisory editor of Watts Phillips, who functioned as sub-editor and provided cartoons under the name "The Ragged Philosopher". Literary contributors included Robert Brough, William Brough, Angus Reach, Augustus Mayhew, and George Augustus Henry Sala. Besides Watts Phillips, in the first year the three main illustrators were William McConnell (1831–1867), Charles H. Bennett, and William Newman (1817–1870). Newman, a Roman Catholic, had resigned from "Punch" in April 1850 on account of its anti-Catholic editorial position. Starting in 1854, Alfred Thompson contributed numerous illustrations. Diogenes (British magazine) Diogenes, a Light upon many Subjects was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire