THE FOURTH ESTATE.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 55, 1 October 1881, Page 41

THE FOURTH ESTATE.

The central portrait of the above trio is Jolin Walter, Esq., M.P., proprietor of the London Times. It is too late in the day to speak at any length of -what the Times has accomplished in the field of journalism. It claims to be the greatest journal the world has ever witnessed, and the claim must be allowed. In a great crisis of the country's history the people always look to the Times for guidance. We do not profess to be able to explain the secret of this vast power, but we do not hesitate to say that no small portion of it is owing to the fact that all the three John Walters who have successively owned the paper have been trained to understand the practical part of journalism. What wtfuld the Times be had not the late proprietor succeeded in applying steam to the printing-press ? Mr Walter is the grandson of the founder of the Times, and son of the late John Walter, Esq., of Bearwood, Berks. He was born in 1881, educated at Eton and Oxford, and entered Parliament in 1847, for Nottingham. He continued to represent this borough till 1859, when he was returned for Berks, which county he at present represents. (2.) Sir Algernon Borthwick is editor and proprietor of the Morning Post, the oldest daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. The Post first saw the day in 1772, and can boast of having had such contributors to its columns as Sir James Mackintosh, Coleridge, and Charles Lamb. It has always been an eminently respectable journal. Its articles are quietly written, and never rancorous and offensive in tone. It might, in , truth, as a newspaper, be called the pink of propriety. "Under its present editor the Post paved the way for the modern society paper. It was the first to introduce into its columns what are called fashion notes, and to give systematic notices and criticisms of the drama, opera, and concerts. Sir Algernon Borthwick is the eldest son of the late P. Borthwiek, Esq., M.P., and was born in 1835. He was educated at King's College, and became connected with the Morning Post - about 1850. He married in 1870 Alice I Beatrice Lister, niece of the fourth Earl of Clarendon, and was knighted in 1880.

(3.) Henry Labouchere, Esq., M.P., is the editor and proprietor of Truth, by far the best and ablest v conducted of any of the so-called society journals. We hare no sympathy -with those who cry out against this form of modern journalism. Its censorship was as much needed in social circles as was that of the daily Press in political affairs. While Truth gives a full and fair account of every event that takes place in the higher circles of society that is of any interest to the general public, it is anything but mealymouthed when the foibles of fashion, or the follies of fashion's devotees, call for plain speaking. Mr Labouchere is an active member of Parliament, and is the mouthpiece of the members who sit below the gangway. He is the son of the late John Labouchere, Broeme Park, Surrey, and nephew of the late Baron Taunton. He was born in 1831, educated at Eton, entered the diplomatic service in 1854, anb quitted it in 1864. He has sat in Parliament for Windsor and Middlesex, and is now the senior member for Northampton.