[1] The Ceylon Morning Leader was edited by Armand de Souza until his death in 1921.
[1][2] The paper campaigned for democratic reforms to the Legislative Council of Ceylon and supported indigenous arts and culture which were largely ignored by other English language newspapers.
[4] In December 1914 the Supreme Court of Ceylon jailed de Souza for a month after he wrote critical editorials but he was released after six days due to protests.
[4][5] The paper was noted for its critical coverage of the 1915 anti-Muslim riots and the declaration of martial law.
[2] In 1926 S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike wrote a series of six articles in the paper in which he advocated federalism.