Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/42

 xxxiv daily journalism as much sound thought, knowledge, and style as were possible to its conditions, and to counteract corrupting influences. No books published by Smith, Elder, & Co. were to be reviewed. The advertisement department was to be kept free from abuses. Quack medicine vendors and money-lenders were to be excluded.

Smith himself christened the projected paper 'The Pall Mall Gazette,' in allusion to the journal that Thackeray invented for the benefit of Arthur Pendennis. To Mr. Greenwood's surprise Smith appointed him editor. King, Smith's partner, agreed that the firm should undertake the pecuniary responsibilities. A warehouse at the river end of Salisbury Street, Strand, on the naked foreshore of the Thames, was acquired to serve as a printing-office, and a small dwelling-house some doors nearer the Strand in the same street was rented for editorial and publishing purposes. Late in 1864 a copy of the paper was written and printed by way of testing the general machinery. Although independence in all things had been adopted as the paper's watchword, King, who was a staunch conservative, was dissatisfied with the political tone of the first number, which in his opinion inclined to liberalism. He summarily vetoed the firm's association with the enterprise. Smith had gone too far to withdraw, and promptly accepted the sole ownership.

The first number of the paper was issued from Salisbury Street on 7 Feb. 1865, the day of the opening of parliament. It was in form a large quarto, consisting of eight pages, and the price was twopence. The leading article by the editor dealt sympathetically with 'the Queen's seclusion.' The only signed article was a long letter by Anthony Trollope on the American civil war—a strong appeal on behalf of the north. The unsigned articles included an instalment of 'Friends in Council,' by Sir Arthur Helps; an article entitled 'Ladies at Law,' by John Ormsby; and the first of a series of 'Letters from Sir Pitt Crawley, bart., to his nephew on his entering parliament,' by 'Pitt Crawley,' the pseudonym of Sir Reginald Palgrave. There were three of the 'occasional notes' which were to form a special feature of the paper. One page—the last—was filled with advertisements. It was not a strong number. The public proved indifferent, and only four thousand copies were sold.

Smith found no difficulty in collecting round him a brilliant band of professional writers and men in public life who were ready to place their pens at the disposal of the 'Pall Mall Gazette.' Many of them had already contributed to the 'Cornhill.' The second number afforded conspicuous proof of the success with which he and Mr. Greenwood had recruited their staff. In that number Fitzjames Stephen, who had long been a regular contributor to the 'Cornhill,' began a series of leading articles and other contributions which for five years proved of the first importance to the character of the paper. Until 1869 Fitzjames Stephen wrote far more than half the leading articles; in 1868 he wrote as many as two-thirds. When he went to India in 1869 his place as leader writer was to some extent filled by Sir Henry Maine; but during his voyage home from India in 1872-3 Fitzjames Stephen wrote, for serial issue in the 'Pall Mall,' the masterly articles