in its management. The penny newspaper was still
unborn, and the 'Times' at this period was the undisputed monarch of
the Press, and exercised an influence over public opinion, both in
England and on the Continent, such as no existing paper can be said
to possess. It is, we believe, no exaggeration to say that for the
space of fifteen years nearly every article that appeared in its
columns on foreign politics was written by Mr. Reeve, and the period
during which he wrote for it included the year 1848, when foreign
politics had the most transcendent importance.

The great political influence which he at this time exercised
naturally drew him into close connection with many of the chief
statesmen of his time. With Lord Clarendon especially his friendship
was close and confidential, and he received from that statesman almost
weekly letters during his viceroyalty in Ireland and during others of
the more critical periods of his career. In France, Mr. Reeve's
connections were scarcely less numerous than in England. Guizot,
Thiers, Cousin, Tocqueville, Villemain, Circourt--in fact, nearly all
the leading figures in French literature and politics during the reign
of Louis Philippe were among his friends or correspondents. He was at
all times singularly international in his sympathies and friendships,
and he appears to have been more than once made the channel of
confidential communications between English and French statesmen.

It was a task for which he was eminently suited. The qualities which
most impressed all who came into close communication with him were the
strength, swiftness, and soundness of his judgment, and his unfailing
tact and discretion in dealing with delicate questions. He was
eminently a man of the world, and had quite as much knowledge of men
as of books. Probably few men of his time have been so frequently and
so variously consulted. He always spoke with confidence and authority,
and his clear, keen-cut, decisive sentences, a certain stateliness of
manner which did not so much claim as assume ascendancy, and a
somewhat elaborate formality of courtesy which was very efficacious in
repelling intruders, sometimes concealed from strangers the softer
side of his character. But those who knew him well soon learnt to
recognise the genuine kindliness of his nature, his remarkable skill
in avoiding friction, and the rare steadiness of his friendships.

One great source of his influence was the just belief in his