r, junior, who had been taken into the
business as a partner, entreated his father to entrust him with the
sole conduct of the paper, and to give it "one more trial." This was
at the beginning of 1803. The new editor and conductor was then only
twenty-seven years of age. He had been trained to the manual work of a
printer "at case," and passed through nearly every department in the
office, literary and mechanical. But in the first place, he had
received a very liberal education, first at Merchant Taylors' School,
and afterwards at Trinity College, Oxford, where he pursued his
classical studies with much success. He was thus a man of
well-cultured mind; he had been thoroughly disciplined to work; he was,
moreover, a man of tact and energy, full of expedients, and possessed
by a passion for business. His father, urged by the young man's
entreaties, at length consented, although not without misgivings, to
resign into his hands the entire future control of The Times.

Young Walter proceeded forthwith to remodel the establishment, and to
introduce improvements into every department, as far as the scanty
capital at his command would admit. Before he assumed the direction,
The Times did not seek to guide opinion or to exercise political
influence. It was a scanty newspaper--nothing more, Any political
matters referred to were usually introduced in "Letters to the Editor,"
in the form in which Junius's Letters first appeared in the Public
Advertiser. The comments on political affairs by the Editor were
meagre and brief, and confined to a mere statement of supposed facts.

Mr. Walter, very much to the dismay of his father, struck out an
entirely new course. He boldly stated his views on public affairs,
bringing his strong and original judgment to bear upon the political
and social topics of the day. He carefully watched and closely studied
public opinion, and discussed general questions in all their bearings.
He thus invented the modern Leading Article. The adoption of an
independent line of politics necessarily led him to canvass freely, and
occasionally to condemn, the measures of the Government. Thus, he had
only been about a year in office as editor, when the Sidmouth
Administration was succeeded by that of Mr. Pitt, under whom Lord
Melville undertook the unfortunate Catamaran expedition. His
Lordship's malpractices in the Navy Department had also been brought to
light by the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry. O