The other important event, to which allusion has been made, was the transfer to Mr. Murray of part of the London agency for the Edinburgh Review.  At the beginning of 1806 Murray sold 1,000 copies of the Review on the day of its publication, and the circulation was steadily increasing.  Constable proposed to transfer the entire London publication to Murray, but the Longmans protested, under the terms of their existing agreement.  In April 1807 they employed as their attorney Mr. Sharon Turner, one of Murray’s staunchest allies.  Turner informed him, through a common friend, of his having been retained by the Longmans; but Murray said he could not in any way “feel hurt at so proper and indispensable a pursuit of his profession.”  The opinion of counsel was in favour of the Messrs. Longman’s contention, and of their “undisputable rights to one-half of the Edinburgh Review so long as it continues to be published under that title.”

Longman & Co. accordingly obtained an injunction to prevent the publication of the Edinburgh Review by any other publisher in London without their express consent.

Matters were brought to a crisis by the following letter, written by the editor, Mr. Francis Jeffrey, to Messrs. Constable & Co.: 

June 1, 1807.

GENTLEMEN,

I believe you understand already that neither I nor any of the original and regular writers in the Review will ever contribute a syllable to a work belonging to booksellers.  It is proper, however, to announce this to you distinctly, that you may have no fear of hardship or disappointment in the event of Mr. Longman succeeding in his claim to the property of this work.  If that claim be not speedily rejected or abandoned, it is our fixed resolution to withdraw entirely from the Edinburgh Review; to publish to all the world that the conductor and writers of the former numbers have no sort of connection with those that may afterwards appear; and probably to give notice of our intention to establish a new work of a similar nature under a different title.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

Your very obedient servant,

F. JEFFREY.

A copy of this letter was at once forwarded to Messrs. Longman.  Constable, in his communication accompanying it, assured the publishers that, in the event of the editor and contributors to the Edinburgh Review withdrawing from the publication and establishing a new periodical, the existing Review would soon be of no value either to proprietors or publishers, and requested to be informed whether they would not be disposed to transfer their interest in the property, and, if so, on what considerations.  Constable added:  “We are apprehensive that the editors will not postpone for many days longer that public notification of their secession, which we cannot help anticipating as the death-blow of the publication.”