Editing Daniel Defoe (section)

=== Pamphleteering and prison ===
[[File:Daniel Defoe in the Pillory.jpg|thumb|upright=1.54|''Daniel Defoe in the Pillory'' ([[Eyre Crowe (painter)|Eyre Crowe]], 1862)]]

Defoe's first notable publication was ''[[An Essay Upon Projects]]'', a series of proposals for social and economic improvement, published in 1697. From 1697 to 1698, he defended the right of King [[William III of England|William III]] to a [[standing army]] during disarmament, after the [[Treaty of Ryswick]] (1697) had ended the [[Nine Years' War]] (1688–1697). His most successful poem, ''[[The True-Born Englishman]]'' (1701), defended William against [[xenophobic]] attacks from his political enemies in England, and English anti-immigration sentiments more generally. In 1701, Defoe presented the ''Legion's Memorial'' to [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Robert Harley]], then [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]—and his subsequent employer—while flanked by a guard of sixteen gentlemen of quality. It demanded the release of the Kentish petitioners, who had asked Parliament to support the king in an imminent war against France.

The death of [[William III of England|William III]] in 1702 once again created a political upheaval, as the king was replaced by [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] who immediately began her offensive against [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformists]].<ref name="autogenerated2006"/> Defoe was a natural target, and his pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a [[pillory]] on 31 July 1703, principally on account of his December 1702 pamphlet entitled ''[[The Shortest Way with the Dissenters|The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church]]'', purporting to argue for their extermination.<ref>{{cite web |author=Defoe |first=Daniel |year=1702 |title=The shortest way with the Dissenters |url=http://www.bartleby.com/27/12.html |access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref> In it, he ruthlessly satirised both the [[high church]] [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] and those [[Dissenter]]s who hypocritically practised so-called "[[occasional conformity]]", such as his [[Stoke Newington]] neighbour Sir [[Thomas Abney]]. It was published anonymously, but the true authorship was quickly discovered and Defoe was arrested.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/> He was charged with seditious libel and found guilty in a trial at the [[Old Bailey]] in front of the notoriously sadistic judge [[Salathiel Lovell]].<ref name="Letters to John Law"/> Lovell sentenced him to a punitive fine of 200 [[Mark (currency)|marks]] (£336 then, £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|336|1703}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}{{Inflation/fn|UK}}), to public humiliation in a [[pillory]], and to an indeterminate length of imprisonment which would only end upon the discharge of the punitive fine.<ref name="Letters to John Law"/> According to legend, the publication of his poem ''Hymn to the Pillory'' caused his audience at the pillory to throw flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and to drink to his health. The truth of this story is questioned by most scholars,{{why?|date=January 2024}} although [[John Robert Moore]] later said that "no man in England but Defoe ever stood in the pillory and later rose to eminence among his fellow men".<ref name=rich/>
{{Quote box
 |quote = "Wherever God erects a house of prayer<br/>the Devil always builds a chapel there;<br/>And 't will be found, upon examination,<br/>the latter has the largest congregation."
 |source = – Defoe's ''The True-Born Englishman'', 1701
}}

After his three days in the pillory, Defoe went into [[Newgate Prison]]. [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer]], brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's cooperation as an intelligence agent for the Tories. In exchange for such cooperation with the rival political side, Harley paid some of Defoe's outstanding debts, improving his financial situation considerably.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/>

Within a week of his release from prison, Defoe witnessed the [[Great Storm of 1703]], which raged through the night of 26/27 November. It caused severe damage to London and [[Bristol]], uprooted millions of trees, and killed more than 8,000 people, mostly at sea. The event became the subject of Defoe's ''[[The Storm (Daniel Defoe)|The Storm]]'' (1704), which includes a collection of witness accounts of the tempest.<ref>''The Storm: or, a collection of the most remarkable casualties and disasters which happen'd in the late dreadful tempest, both by sea and land''. London: 1704.</ref> Many regard it as one of the world's first examples of modern journalism.<ref>[[John J. Miller (journalist)|John J. Miller]] (13 August 2011) [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904800304576476142821212156?KEYWORDS=masterpiece "Writing Up a Storm"], ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref>

In the same year, he set up his [[Periodical literature|periodical]] ''A Review of the Affairs of France'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=William Thomas |date=1940 |title=Defoe's Review as a Historical Source |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874898 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=221–232 |issn=0022-2801}}</ref> which supported the [[Harley Ministry]], chronicling the events of the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1702–1714). The ''Review'' ran three times a week without interruption until 1713. Defoe was amazed that a man as gifted as Harley left vital state papers lying in the open, and warned that he was almost inviting an unscrupulous clerk to commit treason; his warnings were fully justified by the [[William Gregg (clerk and spy)|William Gregg]] affair.

When Harley was ousted from the ministry in 1708, Defoe continued writing the ''Review'' to support [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|Godolphin]], then again to support Harley and the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] in the Tory ministry of 1710–1714. The Tories fell from power with the death of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], but Defoe continued doing intelligence work for the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] government, writing "Tory" pamphlets that undermined the Tory point of view.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/>

Not all of Defoe's pamphlet writing was political. One pamphlet was originally published anonymously, entitled ''[[The Apparition of Mrs. Veal|A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury The 8th of September, 1705]]''. It deals with the interaction between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and was most likely written in support of [[Charles Drelincourt]]'s ''The Christian Defence against the Fears of Death'' (1651). It describes Mrs. Bargrave's encounter with her old friend Mrs. Veal after she had died. It is clear from this piece and other writings that the political portion of Defoe's life was by no means his only focus.