Learn English – What did Darwin mean by ‘squib’ here

meaningmeaning-in-context

Some day after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote to someone:

I have received in a Manchester newspaper rather a good squib, showing that I have proved might is right and therefore that Napoleon is right, and every cheating tradesman is also right.

Two definitions of 'squib' from Merriam-Webster seems to be more or less appropriate here:

a) a short humorous or satiric writing or speech

b) a short news item

Which suits the context better?

Best Answer

Darwin referred to the satirical piece referenced in https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/national-and-individual-rapacity-vindicated-by-the-law-of-nature

The following article criticizing Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species was published on page 4 of the Manchester Guardian newspaper (the forerunner of today’s Guardian) on April 20, 1860. Darwin’s book had been published the previous year. The author of the article is unknown; it is only signed with the initials “T. H. W.” The article originally appeared in columns 2 and 3; here it is reproduced in one column. Darwin read the article and mentioned it in a letter to Charles Lyell, dated May 4, 1860.

[The below has been slightly compressed from the original in the link above. A full transcript was kindly provided in https://english.stackexchange.com/a/493937/42179 by user joeytwiddle.]

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