Editors and* Leading Articles, 51 are, however, limits even to the power wielded by the user of the talismanic " we." The editor's articles may retard but cannot stop the progress of a good cause, or hinder the efforts of a good government. But woe to the states- man or official whom the newspaper justly arraigns ! If he has not a good defence to offer to the charges pre- ferred against him, then the publicity given to his mis- deeds will cause his overthrow. For, as Carlyle so eloquently remarks, the modem editor admonishes even Kings, and wields a power which only the early Reform- ers possessed. The leading article, through which the editor exercises his power, was evolved out of the summary, and is a growth of nineteenth-century journalism, for there was nothing of the kind in the newspapers which saw the light in the first years of the century. In this development the Times led the way, though, for a long period after that journal was established, it contained nothing more nearly approaching a leader than a composition, chiefly consisting of a summary of current news, printed on the inside pages of the paper. The introduction of the leading article is attributed to the second John Walter, whose control of the Times extended from 181 2 to 1847. Originally the lead- ing article was known as the " leaded article." For the benefit of those not conversant with printing matters, it may be explained that type is said to be " leaded" when thin slips of metal (leads) are placed between the lines of letters, thus making a greater space between the lines of printed matter than is observable in ordinary print — a very common device for giving distinction to particular communications in a newspaper. It must be admitted, however, that this is a somewhat prosaic account of the origin of such an expressive term as " leader.*' News- paper writers generally will much prefer the late Dean Stanley's noble definition. "What a word 'leader' is," 4*
