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ALSO, ON THE DANGERS OF A FREE PRESS, AND THE Hittntiousntgs of a (JTensorsfifp. " The Liberty of the Press is attended with so few inconveniences, that it may be claimed as the common right of mankind, and ought to be mchilged them in almost every government, except the ecclesiastical to which, indeed, it would be fatal."— Hume. By LEICESTER STANHOPE. LONDON : PUBLISHED BY C. CHAPPLE, ROYAL LIBRARY, PALL MALL. 1823. 'i i Printed by G. Smallfield, flnckney. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF GREY, &c. &e. &e. My Lord, It is not to cover the defects too observable in these pages that I venture to dedicate them to your Lordship, for " books should have no patrons but truth and reason.'* I present them to your Lord- ship as the tried patron of the liberties of England, Genoa, and Norway ; of Africa, and of the whole world. After a life thus usefully devoted to the high interests of man, nothing surely but an uni- versal Censorship on the Press can prevent your Lordship from appearing, on the archives of the human race, as a public benefactor. I am Your Lordship's most devoted servant. LEICESTER STANHOPE. i i I In the perlormanco of llicir duties, it is the proud fate of British officers to traverse tlic world. The eharacter of our education, the genius of our go- vernment, lead us to take a sympathy in the fortunes of men, and to promote their welfare. Under the controul of this feeling I have acted. I have collected and published my own and other men's thoughts on the present, and, highly pro- bable, future influence of the Press in Asia. The cause is noble and of paramount importance to the immediate interests of nearly four-fifthsof our fellow -subjects, who pay us, in yearly tribute, about twenty millions sterling. Regardless of self, my endeavour has been to speak out with truth and impartiality, and by furnishing some information respecting a far distant country, to forward the laudable exer- tions of those who, from their talents and pur- suits, are capable of applying sue, :inowledge to the public advantage. More cannot be expected from a Soldier. London^ April 17, 182 J. CONTENTS. Section I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. Introductory - - . . State of the Press in British India, previous to the Establishment of a Censorship - Establishment of a Censorship on the Press, in British India - - - . Military Disturbances at Madras - Abolition of the Censorship State of the Press in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras - - . . . On the Delays of Office at Madras - Motion on the Asiatic Press at the India- House - - , , _ Animadversions on the Asiatic Press in En- gland - - - - . Summary Transportation virithout Trial Vote of Thanks to the Marquis of Hastings at the India-House, and Motion relative to the Press - - . . Effects of a Free Press on the Governments of the Subsidiary States - - . Effects to be expected from the Establish- ment of a Free Press at Goa Effects of a Free Press on Superstition Page 1 6 10 12 35 43 46 80 100 110 133 138 155 ■M VIII SfcrioK Paife XV. FiflToits of a Vrec Press on the Administra- tion oi" Justice . . - \C)\ XVI. F.ftects of a Free Press in preventing Flog- ging - • - - - 169 XVII. EO'ects of a Free Press on Agriculture - 175 XVIII. On the Dangers of a Free Press - - 182 XIX. On the Licentiousness of a Press under a Censor - - - - 189 XX. Conclusion ... - iy3 ^ 1 tra- . l()l og- - 1G9 - 175 - 182 !r a - 189 - 193 1 INFLUENCE or THE PRESS IN BRITISH INDIA. SECTION I. Introductory, ** The personal rights and civil liberty of the inhabitants of India are in every respect as much under the paternal government of the King, as the rights and privileges of the people of the United King- dom."— ^dtnAitr/^A Review. The present King of England had the virtue to no- minate the Earl of Moira, Governor-General of British India, and to place under his charge about a twelfth part of the human race. The responsibility attached to such a charge is truly awful, and it remains to be proved whe- ther his Lordship has fulfilled the duties of that impor- tant station. In these scrutinizing times, when a states- man's merits are under discussion, the plain questions for consideration are, What wrong has he done, and what good has he effected ? The public man who cannot en- dure this ordeal is either doomed to have his name en- rolled in the obscure lists of political traders, quacks, rats, sloths, vampires, and other vermin that prey upon the constitution, or to have it "damned to everlasting fame," The most important maxim of morality and of politics B is this — Do no wrong ! " Le prdcepte m^me de faire du bien, s'ii est subordonne a celui-la, est dangereux, faux, contradictoire ; le mdchant fait du bien, il fait un heu- reux aux d<;pens de cent mis^rables." * Now, whatever wrong the Marquis of Hastings may have ('one, has been open to free discussion. His Lordship threatened Mr. Buckingham on account of some sharp sarcasms upon the late Bishop of Calcutta, wliich appeared in his Journal. With this exception, the writer is not aware of any wrong done by that ruler, or, in portraying his public conduct, he should feel it his duty to proclaim it to the world. The next question for consideration is. What good has the Marquis of Hastings effected ? He conquered the enemies of the state, placed the empire in security, and established order and a system of police r'; over Central India. Lord Hastings treated the native princes with cour- tesy and justice, and reformed the abuses of the subsidiary states. He restored the representative Government of Elders in the Rajpoot countries. By the establishment of native agency, he cleared the les of the courts, of the vast arrears of undecided cai es. Lord Hastings adopted the practice of the ancient s /ereigns, by receiv- ing in his walks and rides the peti* }ns of the meanest natives. He paid every attention to leir complaints, and caused inquiry to be made as to the rath of their allega- tions. Thus an appeal was open tc /l, and oppression was checked, if not prevented. His Lordship also im- proved the system of administrative justice in the army, and calmed the angry feelings of the soldiery ; so that no military disturbance has taken place during his long go- * Rousseatu I I de faire du eux, faux, it un heu- , whatever e, has been atened Mr. IS upon the lis Journal, are of any his public m it to the at good has iquered the icurity, and >ver Central s with cour- e subsidiary ernment of ablishment courts, of d Hastings by receiv- he meanest plaints, and heir allega- oppression ip also im- n the army, so that no lis long go- :i vernment. Notwithstanding the extensive and protracted wars in which he was engaged, the revenues have im- proved and he has reduced the interest of money. Lord Hastings has founded Colleges and Schools all over the country. Seminaries for the lower orders had indeed been established there from time immemorial, but it was equally the object of the government and the teachers to engraft superstition on the youthful mind; that both mind and body might be enslaved. The system of education adopted all over the world was framed after the model of these Hindoo schools, and there is a striking fact connected with this history. When Sir W. Jones visited Madras, one Andrew Ross, a merchant, took him to a village school in the neigh- bourhood of the Presidency. This great man was im- mediately struck with the simplicity, economy, and utility of this system of education. His remarks made a strong impression on the good merchant, who afterwards, I be- lieve, persuaded Dr. Bell to establish at Madras the Male Asylum, of which Andrew Ross was a director. The most remarkable feature, however, of the Marquis of Hastings*s administration, and which will render it im- mortal, was the abolition of the base Censorship on the Press. By the diffusion of education and the establish- ment of a Free Press, the great sources of knowledge were thrown open ; all the intelligence of the age was set at work to promote improvement, and superstition and des- potism cannot long breathe in so light and pure an atmos- phere. B 2 4 SECTION II. Slate of the Press in British India, previous to the Establishment of a Censorship, " However surprising it might seem in absolute Governments, yet it is certain that the historians of the East wrote with more freedom concerning persons and things than writers have ever dared to do in the West." — Dov/s Indostan. Previous to Lord Wellesley*s administration, no re- striction on writing or publishing had ever existed in Indostan. The Censorship of the Press or on icriting there, was an innovation, and this alone was wanting, where power fell into the hands of an arbitrary ruler, to com- plete the sum of human misery under Asiatic despotism. The Hindoos of ancient times were distinguished for their learning. Abstract speculations and a redundant mythology obscured their more useful knowledge ; still they were a people far advanced in the march of in- tellect. Their government was indeed despotic, but no trace has been discovered in history or law-book, of any restriction on writing. In those times, all was open to research and discussion, and there were no li- mits to their acquirements but the powers of their own minds. The Mahommedan Emperors gave every encou- ragement to learning. The Institutes of Timur and of Akbar abound with incitements to their subjects to cultivate their minds and to improve their knowledge. " I ordained," says the latter Emperor, " that in every town and in every city a mosque and a school, and a monastery and an alms-hovise for the poor and indigent. A IMS to the nments, yet ore freedom ired to do in on, no re- existed in iting there, ing, where r, to com- iespotisin. uished for redundant edge ; still rcb of in- potic, but law-book, s, all was ivere no li- their own ery encou- nur and of ubjects to cnowledge. at in every ool, and a indigent. and an hospital for the sick and infirm, should be found- ed." * Their colleges were crowded with learned men, and in these schools there were no restraints on the li- berty of investigation. The historians of Indostan wrote with freedom on the conduct and duties of their sovereigns, and some of their rulers acted up to the noble principles which their Chro- niclers inculcated. Abulfazil states that Akbar was visible to every body twice in the course of twenty-four hours, and that he received their petitions without the interven- tion of any person, and, tried and decided upon them, ** Akbar," says he, " seateth himself on the eminence of humanity. In his behaviour there is such a condescen- sion that the petitioner seems to be the judge, and him- self the suitor for justice. He considers the happiness of the people as the best means of pleasing the Creator. He is ever searching after those who speak truth, and he is not displeased with words that are bitter in appearance but sweet in effect. He is not contented in that solely, himself doth not commit violence, but he sees that no injustice is committed." Persons are apt to make a boastful contrast between British rule and the system of anarchy that preceded it. Let them rather compare the noble administration of Akbar with that even of a Corn- wallis or a Hastings. Upon the whole it appears, that under the reign of Akbar there was greater liberty indulged in petitioning, in education, and in writing, than was enjoyed at that period in England. * Institutes of Timiir, SECTION III. Establishment of a Censorship on the Press, in British India. ** They rather desire to be Kings than to rule the people under the King, which will not administer justice by law, but by tlieir own will." — Bacon. *' If every one of the twenty-two articles of charge brought against Warren Hastings had been proved, they would not have formed a crime of such enormous magnitude as that single one of having extin- guished the Liberty of the Press in a portion of the British Empire containing fifty millions of inhabitants." Previous to the establishment of a Censor of the Press by Lord Wellesley, the people of India had the same liberty to write as to breathe or to live. No law forbad it. Under Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, and Sir John Shore, the Press was free even to licentiousness. They did not indulge an unreasonable expectation, from any human institution, of permanent good, unalloyed by temporary evil. Satisfied with the essential advantiiges that accrued to mankind from free discussion, they had too much sense to restrain it on account of personal at- tacks, or occasional severe and even intemperate sarcasms on their government. Thus a Free Press existed under the wisest of our statesmen, even in times of great diffi- culty and awful danger. The arrival of Lord Wellesley in India was soon fol- lowed by the establishment of a Censorship,— a fatal 1 n British e under the I their own ight against te formed a iving extin- tish Empire 3or of the SL had the No law (vallis, and (itiousness. tion, from illoyed by idvantuges , they had ersonal at- e sarcasms ited under great diffi- i soon fol- »,— a fatal revolution by which reason herself was stifled : " For he who kills a man, kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself.'** Thus knowledge of every description was communicated or withheld, according to the arbitrary discretion of a mercenary and perhaps ignorant licenser. The property of authors he could destroy, and extend the evils of mono- poly, assigning no reason but the conclusive argument of power, " for such is our pleasure !'* The extortions and oppressions of the government were now concealed, and the groans of the natives were suppressed, till dangerous rebellions were the consequence; while England, for more than twenty years, was deprived of all information of India, except such as she obtained from the servants of her government. The immediate cause which led to this catastrophe was the illegal imprisonment of a Mr. Allan Maclean, under the following circumstances : Mr. D'Aguilar and Mr. A. Maclean were partners in an indigo work, near Gauzepore. These gentlemen quarrelled about their con- cerns, and a fray took place, in which Mr. Maclean struck Mr. D'Aguilar on the nose. Mr. M. then offered satis- faction, but Mr. D. rode off to a magistrate, and swore the peace against him. The magistrate, though no jus- tice of the peace, and without even hearing what Mr. M. had to say, and refusing to admit him to bail, committed him to prison. The magistrate then wrote to the appeal judges at Benares, who had no right to interfere, for instructions how to act. Mr. Treves, one of these judges, signed a letter, ordering the magistrate to send Mr. M. * Milton. 8 in confinement, to Calcutta. Mr. Neave, another of the appeal judges, was absent, and disapproved the measure. The magistrate then sent Mr. M. down the river in a baggage boat, without any proper covering, and under the guard of a sergeant, corporal, and twelve sepoys. In this boat, exposed to the burning sun by day, and to unhealthy dews by night, the prisoner remained for up- wards of a month. Meanwhile Mr. M. having commu- nicated the circumstances to his namesake. Dr. Maclean, of Calcutta, and a paragraph announcing the death of Mr. M. having appeared in the India Gazette, the Doctor wrote to the Editor, as follows : ** Sir, I request you will con- tradict the account which, through some very gross misinformation, was inserted in the last India Gazette and Hircarrah, announcing the death of Mr. A. Maclean, said to be shot in a duel at Benares. I this day received a letter from that gentleman, mentioning indeed some circumstances which, if his antagonist had not possessed an uncommon degree of prudence, might have led to that catastrophe ; but I am happy to add that the only dis- agreeable effects of the rencontre have arisen from the interference of the magistrate of Gauzepore, whose con- duct upon this occasion I will take a due opportunity of appreciating. I am, &c., C. Maclean. Calcutta, April 28th, 1798." This letter produced the release of Mr. M. at Monghyr, and the banishment of Dr. Maclean, and the first esta- blishment of a Censorship in Asia. This letter, too, it must be noticed, for it would require the piercing saga> city of the Grand Inquisitor and his Familiars in pious conclave to make the discovery, was stamped a libel. As well might those sages call the Bible so. r of the neasure. ver in a id under sepoys, fy and to 1 for up- commu- Maclean, thofMr. tor wrote will con- ;ry gross I Gazette Maclean, received eed some possessed d to that only dis- from the lose con- rtunity of [ta, April [onghyr, irst esta- Ir, too, it ]ng saga- in pious a libel. " Tor royalties arc deemed most sacred thing». So sacred by the courtiers, that tiie Bible May be informed against, and proved a libel. For saying, * Put no confidence in kings.'"* After the publication of this libel. Dr. M. was called upon by the Government to make an apology ; he in a mild but becoming tone efused to do so, and was sent home a prisoner. By this manly conduct, Dr. M. sacri- ficed an income of ^700 per annum, and about wCSOOO, which he had expended on a printing apparatus. In this outcast and ruined state, the Doctor solicited a pas- sage for himself and his wife, upon which the Governor- General ordered them to be provided for as charter-party- passengers ; that is, this gentleman and lady were to be accommodated with the pariahs* of the East, and the scum of English jails, and to be fed on ship provision till they reached England. The comment on this procedure may be summed up in one sentence : " First he punish- eth, and then he trieth, and, lastly, compelleth to confess, and makes and mars laws at his pleasure. But good judges abhor these courses."t On Lord Wellesley's return to Englanvl, Dr. Maclean published his case, and no man, throughout, ever behaved with greater prudence and firmness. Dr. Maclean has since become well known to the public, by his researches in Turkey respecting the causes and treatment of the plague, and in Spain concerning the yellow fever ; with a view to promote the abolition of quarantine, or sanitary establishments. * Peter Pi7idar. X Coke's Institutes. t A low and despised Caste. 10 SECTION IV. Military Disturbances at Madras, ** These men, seeing the liberty tvhich others possess, and which they themselves are excluded from, are apt, like eunuchs in the East- ern seraglios, to indulge a malignant pleasure in contributing to destroy those privileges to which they never can be admitted."— Montesquieu. Previous to the establishment of a Board of Controul, the ministers had no interest in concealing maladminis- tration in British India. The Press was then free, and the Parliament resounded with complaints. On the con- trary, during Lord Wellesley's brilliant administration, all was quiet. Yet in these unnatural restraints upon the developement of the human mind, was contained the source of future misrule. The Government, in fact, was left without a check. The Censor, like the great Inqui- sitor, blasphemously assuming omniscience, exercised arbitrary power over the minds of men, and stifled their thoughts, which God, in his all-wise benevolence, had given them for their mutual aid and benefit. An endless list, indeed, of dangers and oppressions would have been averted by the Press. Among the rest, free discussion might have prevented the military disturbances that took place under the Censorship at Madras. The armies of India have never been so tran- quil as during the wise administration of the Marquis of Hastings, though the newspapers were full of discussion on military matters. The soldiers of France, Spain, Por- tugal, and Italy, promoted revolutions in these countries. 11 and which in the Kast- ributing to dmitted."— Controul, Eiladminis- free, and n the con- inistration, siints upon itained the a fact, was reat Inqui- exercised tifled their lence, had Instead of being abandoned to such desperate remedies, liiid those countries been in possession of a Free Press, its timely operation would have gradually checked and put down abuses, and produced a favourable reform without those awful convulsions. The army of England is free from any bad spirit, be- cause its grievances are animadverted upon by the Press. Any undue severity in punishing, or abuse of patronage, is made known. The public complain, and the evil is, soon or late, redressed. The same publicity in India has of late produced the same result. The armies of India are admirably disciplined. There are, however, some radical defects in their system. The partiality shewn to the army of a particular Presidency, the ine- quality of allowances, the slowness of promotion of the Company's officers, compared with their brother soldiers in the King's service, and the delays of office at Madras, and in the payment of prize money, are grievances that should be exposed and redressed. Like the King's army, the Company's would then have no wrongs to excite them into acts of violence. )ppression8 Lmong the le military isorship at en so tran- Marquis of discussion Spain, Por- B countries. 19 SECTION V. Abolition of the Censorship, ** Lord Moira's head and heart arc both too good to be suffered to rule tliis country." — Home Tooke. ** When the monarchs of Egypt raised such stupendous masses, for no other use but to record their names, they httle suspected that a weed growing by the Nile would one day be converted into more durable registers of fame than quarries of marble and granite." — Lord Orford. The Marquis of Hastings abolished the Censorship in British India. This perhaps was the noblest, because it was the most extensively useful act recorded on British annals. A death-blow it was to superstition, with her swarm of gods, and to despotism, the growth of thirty- centuries. It was the birth of hope to about one-twelfth portion of the human race, and to their offspring from generation to generation. A durable monument it was, which will excite the genius and improvement of every age, and remain in Asia a proud record of the strength and virtue of Britain. The Press at Madras still continued under the controul of a Censor. The inhabitants of that Presidency requested permission of their Government to hold a meeting for the purpose of addressing the Marquis of Hastings on the measures of his administration. The leading authorities at Madras having opposed the late war, and disapproving of the diffusion of Education and the establishment of a Free Press, delayed for several months to honour the pe- titioners with a satisfactory answer. At last, after repeat- ed solicitations, the Government was pleased to consent, 1 19 suiTered to masseSf for scted that a i into more isorsbip in because it on British , with her 1 of thirty ne-twelfth King from nt it was, it of every le strength ,e controul requested ing for the igs on the authorities lapproving iment of a )ur the pe- ter repeat- .0 consent, find the meeting was held " at the Exchange, on Wed- nesday, May 26, 1819." The following is an extract of the proceedings, the publication of which was prohibited at Madras. " Mr. ScoTT, Chief Judge of the Company's Court, having taken the Chair, addressed the Meeting in a short speech, explanatory of the purposes for which they were convened, alter which Sir Samuel Toller (the Advocate- General*) thus introduced the business of the Meeting: " Mr. Chairman, — I rise with great satisfaction to make a motion which, I am persuaded, will meet with the unanimous concurrence of this assembly, and experience the general approbation of the whole settlement. ** Sir, — The motion I beg leave to make, is, that an Address be prepared and presented by this Presidency to the Most Noble the Marquis of Hastings, to congratulate his Lordship on the success of his measures as Governor- General of British India." K Col. Stanhope. Mr. Chairman^ — In the absence of Mr. Staveley, who was to have followed the Advocate- General in this discussion, I second the motion for an Address. I exceedingly regret that the learned gentle- man is not here to do justice with his chaste and strong eloquence to the Marquis of Hastings* measures, more especially as I feel myself unequal to that task. " I hold. Sir, in my hand an Address which was given to me yesterday morning by a gentleman who requested I would lay it before a Committee of this Meeting. I now beg to hand it over to the Chairman, who will deli- ver it to the Foreman of the Committee, when one shall have been appointed. Gentlemen, injustice to myself, I * A law-officer similar to our Attorney-General. 14 beg to state, that I recommended the author to entrust this Address to the care of some one who had weight and influence with the Settlement, and who possessed the talent necessary to secure its success. I regret that he has not followed ray advice. The paper, I venture to affirm, has merit. It is free from all vulgar compliment or base flattery, and it contains a concise and faithful sketch of the prominent features of the Marquis of Hast- ings* civil and military administration. I shall comment on the subject matter of this Address presently, but must first convey to this assembly a remark which has just been made to me. I have been told that some present are hostile to the late war. I rejoice to hear it God forbid that any war should be undertaken without oppo- sition, especially under a Government where every man finds his personal interest in war; — we soldiers in the extension of our establishments, you of the civil service in the extension of yours. Be there, then, any here who, careless of their fortunes, can oppose the policy of the war on conscientious principles, they deserve our anxious attention. Let them come forward, try their strength, and we'll try ours. Should they prove the war unjust, they shall have my zealous support ; if not, I solicit theirs. " It was my intention to have entered cursorily on the policy of the late war, but this subject has been handled in so masterly a manner by Sir S. Toller, that I do not now consider it necessary to dilate on it. Had I done so, I should have endeavoured to have proved that the dcingers of extended rule, of being lost in expansion or rather in corruption, evils dreadful to contemplate, had been diminished by the war. This contest had enabled us to consolidate our power, to strengthen the heart of our empire, and to shorten by straightening our line of 1 15 to entrust id weight egret that venture to Dmplinient nd faithful lis of Hast- II comment ^, but must 2h has just ,ine present ar it God thout oppo- 3 every man Idiers in the civil service ly here who, ,oUcy of the our anxious eir strength, war unjust, lot, I solicit rsorily on the [been handled that I do not Had I done )ved that the expansion or lemplate, had had enabled the heart of ig our line of I frontier. It had made us sound at home, and had given us power to repel invasion. In the place of robbery, extortion, and oppression, order had been established- order, the source of justice, freedom, and all that is great in government. In a word, it had enabled us to shake oft' a vicious, and to assume an honest controul. Now good governmc nt, however extended, constitutes strength — not danger, not decline; whereas bad government, however indirectly and slily exercised, leads on to ruin, perhaps to the parent, perhaps to the dependent state, possibly to the injury of both. By ruin, I mean not loss of wealth and dominion, but loss of moral character and British pre-eminence. Hence I conclude, that the greater the extent of an empire, the more scrupulously should it be governed. I have thrown out this hint by the way, and shall now proceed to the discussion of a subject of paramount importance, and which has not been touched upon : I allude to the suppression of the Censorship of the Press at Calcutta. This generous act of power should, I think, be referred to in your Address. The establish' ment of a Free Press in Asia, is, in my estimation, the most magnanimous act of the Marquis of Hastings* admi- nistration, and is that which will come most home to the bosoms of high-minded men. " Gentlemen, you well know what large powers are vested in a Governor-General, and how few men there are who have strength of soul to controul their passions under so vast and tempting a liberty. We are told, in- deed, that prosperity is the great corruptor of the human heart, and history confirms the apophthegm. Her instruc- tive page, however, — nay, even our own times, — furnish us with some few exceptions to this degrading rule. He surely is a noble exception to it who, returned from tri- 16 umph in the pride and zenith of power, does away witli tlie Censorship of the Press, and makes that Press a Cen- sor on his own Government. " Permit me now to say a few words on the nature of a Free Press. If, as we are told, the understanding be the noblest faculty of the soul, it is wise, it is our duty to cultivate and improve it. This can only be done by consulting our own and other men's thoughts. Now, since these thoughts are chiefly communicated by means of language or writing, the u^efulest privilege of man is to speak and to write freely. The right of speech is a great law of nature, which is the law of nations when applied to states, and no human law should contradict it. Like speech, the Press too is but another means of giving currency to our thoughts, and, like it, analogously reason- ing, is the common right of all. * God gives us reason and freedom to choose; why then should human govern- ments effect a rigour contrary to his divine ordinances ?' ** The great objection made to the liberty of the Press is its licentiousness, or the facility afforded of abusing it. The same objection may be made to speech or to religion, to free-will, to locomotion, or to any other of our liberties. But offences and crimes are subject to the scrutiny of judges and to public opinion, which is the common law of society, and every breach of duty is followed by a suitable punishment. There are who contend that go- vernment is brought into disrepute by a Free Press. Ay, bad government is, because truth pierces it to the heart ; but a mild and just government fears not even slander. It courts truth ; for truth is strong, and generally prevails over falsehood in a free encounter. Nay, I hold that opinions, though erroneous, when well canvassed and digested, tend to the ultimate advancement of truth. % iway with ess a Cen- i nature of tanding be IS our duty )e done by Its. Now, i by means J of man is speech is a tions when )ntradict it. ns of giving usly reason- 2s us reason lan govern- dinances ?* )f the Press abusing it. L- to religion, )ur liberties, scrutiny of :ommon law owed by a nd that go- Press. Ay, ;o the heart ; !ven slander, ■ally prevails I hold that ivassed and int of truth. i 17 I Montesquieu drives the argument further: * In a free K nation,' says he, * it is very often a matter of indiflerence whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason : from hence springs that liberty which is a security from the effects of these reasonings.* " Look to countries where the liberty of the Press does not prevail. Pronounce whether they are honester and wiser than our own. Look to France, and judge whe- ther Buonaparte could have enslaved her under a Free Press, or whether he could have re-established himself on his bad eminence, if a Free Press had enlightened and chastened the public mind; or whether again Europe could have overthrown his power, if a Free Press had not kept England sound. The slavery of the Press under the tyrant was excessive. The tyrant placed all literary de- cisions in the hands of Government. The tyrant's police disposed of the success of a writer iu ^he same way as it granted licences for gambling. Take the case of Neckar as an instance. Every periodical paper in France teemed -with official libels on his character, and no friend of truth was allowed to contradict these falsehoods. Thus Neckar sunk into the grave basely slandered; Neckar, who had served the state without emolument, and had devoted his property to support her finances during its rude fortunes ; Neckar, who had done what tyrants could not do — the influence of whose personal character upon public credit, though a foreigner, had raised the French funds 30 per cent in one day ; and who, in the words of his great daughter, ' was a firmer friend to liberty than Pitt, more austere than Fox, and not less energetic, nor less elo- quent, nor less penetrated with the dignity of the state, than Lord Chatham ! !' And yet this Buonaparte was neither in virtue nor vice distinguished above some ty- I I 1 IB rants. Gentlemen, I see dissent lowering upon your brows ; but surely Caesar £tir excelled him in virtue, and Nei'O, or hid contemporary Robespierre, in wickedness. Hence we may infer, that the only fair encomium that can be passed oh the bedt of tyrants is, that he is not the most odious of monsters. To give cl^rness to my words, I define a tyrant to be a mdnftt^r ; and a monster is an animal between h maA aiid a brute, partaking of the evil qualities of both, tt matters liot whether this bad power be ekercised by the one br the mtoy { whether by the Thirty Tyrants, as at Athetis, or hy the Decemviri, as at Rome— by a Buonaparte In France, oi by a Ferdinand in Spain. '** A Free Ptess is 8aid to be a general calumniator. No chaMCtet then, hoWeVet Jjiure, exalted, or sacred, can escape its ikind^s. This is a heavy charge. A public ciltimtiiatorl^s it riot rather a public vindicator f What manly character is there thait would not rather face an open aitack than have his conduct tainted by insidious whispers ? Or Wh6 is so low-minded, and of so dastardly a spirit, th'at would not prefer even the certtiinty of being dalumniated, to the bare ch'sfnee 6f injuring his country's liberties? — a country distihgUished and exalted above the fkmous eommonwealths of antiquity by a Free Press, and which owed her knowledge and her power, her freedom, civil and religious, mainly to that all-powerful engine. '* Permit me now to call your thoughts to another noble subjett. You will contemplate. Gentlemen, With a pride becoming enlightened and liberal men, the recent establishment of Colleges and Schools for the natives, all over the Bengal Presidency— a work worthy that virtuous Nobleman whose wise ambition is ever referred to the benefit of man. Well knowing that * the dignity of the 19 upon your virtue, and wickedness, omium that te is not the JO my words, onster is an g of the evil is bad power ether by the :emviri, as at Ferdinand in mniator. No r sacred, can ;e. A public catorf What ather face an by insidious •f so dastardly binty of being his country's ted above the ree Press, and her freedom, ful engine. IS to another ntlemen, ^ith en, the recent ;he natives, all f that virtuous eferred to the dignity of the commandment,* as Bacon has it, ' is according to the dignity of the commanded ; to have commandment over beasts, as herdsmen have, is a thing contemptible; to have commandment over galley-slaves is a disparagement rather than an honour ; neither is the commandment of tyrants much better over people which have put off the generosity of their minds.* ** The advantages resulting from good education are so evident, that even an unlettered man may be allowed to speak of them. The Schools teach that the understand- ing and the will set man above other sensible beings. If so, it is our duty to rouse those faculties, to strive by industry and zeal to attain that wisdom which enables us to think justly and to act rightly— the very end and inten- tion of our existence. To improve this natural faculty of reason, we must have recourse to education ; for rea- son, which, when uncultivated, just distinguishes man from the brute animals, or which, degraded and pervert- ed, sinks him below them— in its improved and perfect state, raises him almost to an affinity with the Divine nature. Such was Newton. Still, great as he was— the wisest of mankind— we learn from high authority, that many a savage may have been born with as high facul- ties as this same Newton, but their talents, not having been cultivated, lie buried in darkness. Without educa- tion, good morals, so requisite to the happiness of a people, and ' virtue, which is nothing but more enlarged and cul- tivated reason,* cannot be attained. Without it, neither wise laws, nor the refined precepts of philosophy, nor the rigid injunctions of religion, can avail. Without the ce- ment of education, the beautiful edifice of justice, resting upon a weak and hollow foundation, falls to the ground : nor can philosophy be justly appreciated by the ignorant, t 2 20 or advantageously applied to the great body of a people, the nobler parts of whose character are wholly obliterated. Such a people are said, for instance, to be unfit even for the enjoyment of civil liberty. * The great aim,' says Dugald Stewart, * of an enlightened and benevolent philo- sophy, is to diffuse as widely as possible that degree of cultivation which may enable the bulk of a people to possess all that intellectual and moral improvement of which their nature is susceptible;' and for religion, the more a people is instructed, the less liable are they to the delusion of superstition. Without instruction, indeed, I am at a loss to conceive how they can acquire a rational knowledge of the tenets of their belief. " To conclude, it cannot, I think, be denied, that what- ever improves our natural faculty of reason, and enables us to judge between truth and error, between good and evil, must be advantageous to society ; consequently, that education cannot be too much attended to, or too widely diffused. Let us hope, then, that these institutions established by Lord Hastings may succeed ; while we fondly anticipate that the example may be followed in every village of British India, that light may be shed on her people, and honour reflected on their Government. " Though my words have borne with all their weight on the Marquis of Hastings* conduct, I have purposely avoided much personal allusion to him. Of that Noble Lord, indeed, little need be said. Nature had been kind to him; she had given him an iron frame, a sensitive heart, and a powerful understanding. He, in return, has devoted his life to her o;Tspring, and his happiness and his dignitT seem to emanate from that pnre source. " Gentlemen, I have discussed these subjects with warmth and freedom, agreeable to the temper of my 31 of a people, ^ obliterated, nfit even for t aim,' says volent philo- lat degree of a people to >rovement of religion, the ; are they to ction, indeed, uire a rational ed, that what- I, and enables veen good and equently, that or too widely se institutions ed; while we (6 followed in lay be shed on rovernment. I their weight ave purposely Of that Noble had been kind ne, a sensitive in return, has Dpiness and his urce. subjects with temper of my mind. I trust I have not exceeded the bounds of discre- tion. Some may say that such thoughts are not suited to the meridian of India. I bow to reason, not to asser- tion ; but, since the question concerns my conduct, and the public interests^ I will not rest its merits upon my own feeble argument. I will answer the objection in the words of a scholar, a patriot, and a philosopher ; of one whose experience and wisdom you will not doubt. * We shall concur in opinion,* says Sir W. Jones, in one of his anniversary discourses, • that the race of man, to advance whose manly happiness is our duty, and will of course be our endeavour, cannot long be happy without virtue, nor actively virtuous without freedom, nor securely free with- out rational knowledge/ This quotation bears, I think, upon my discourse, and supports my conclusions. Gen- tlemen, we are now all jaded, so I will stop my tiresome tongue." " Mr. Staveley. Sir, — I was not fortunate enough to hear the speech of my learned friend. To all that has fallen from my honourable friend who has just sat down, I give my full assent, and add my voice to his in com- mendation of that freedom, than which, in my opinion, a greater blessing cannot be bestowed upon our Eastern empire ; and. Sir, I know no law, no reason, no policy, why it should not be enjoyed to its fullest extent. " I say. Sir, I know no law. There is none upon your Statute Book, which restrains the liberty of the Indian Press. I speak in the hearing of those who will correct me if I am wrong. I know no regulation ;— and they are present who can set me right if I am in error. There is no reason in such restraint, my honourable friend who has preceded me has shewn you fully; there is no policy in it, I will prove to you before I finish. 22 " Of what nature is your Empire here, and how is it maintained ? Ask our Legislators of both Houses, who have made you laws to govern it : ask your Directors : ask the public meetings of your Proprietors : ask your Statesmen, who have written and poured forth their elo- quence in its praise — and one and all in the same words will answer you, * Our Empire in the East is an Empire of opinion ; it is not, and never can be, an Empire of force,* An Empire of opinion, and that opinion not free! — a kingdom erected upon thought, and men not free to think ! It is an absurdity in language as well as fact, which needs but to be stated to carry its own refutation with it. If, indeed, you will admit that your reign is a reign of force, that your dominion is a domination by com- pulsion, I can have no hesitation to admit you some excuse for the enslavement of the mind and the restric- tion of thought ; but if, as you desire, you would main- tain your rule upon the proofs of your superior genius, and your excellence above all other nations, and over all, above those you govern— if you desire to reign within the hearts of your subjects, and govern by their affections — you must free their thought from restriction, and the expression of it from restraint; for what improves the intellect but the collision of mind with mind ? And what reconciles the mind to its rulers but the proofs that its rulers are occupied for its good ? And how shall this be known if the great avenues of knowledge are closed up ? And who are the people over whom you rule ? Ages before our days of greatness they were rich in historians, philosophers, and poets. Coeval with the days of a scarcely more refined antiquity in Europe, Hindoos had advanced as far as Europeans, in the march of intellect and culture of mind. It is true that tbi i< refinements. nd how is it houses, who r Directors : 8 : ask your rth their elo- same words is an Empire pire of force,* not free! —a not free to ivell as fact> vn refutation •ur reign is a ition by corn- it you some 1 the restric- would main- erior genius^ IS, and over reign within eir affections Lion, and the mproves the ? And what roofs that its shall this be e closed up ? rule ? Ages in historians, e days of a Hindoos had I of intellect refinements. 23 their strange, abstract speculations, their redundant my- thology, obscured their sounder and more profitable learn- ing; but still they were a people as far, if not farther, advanced in science and the arts of peace, than they were in those of war. '* In those days, there was no restraint upon their inquiries; all was open before them for research and disquisition, and they had no limit but that of the powers of their own mind. Their Mahometan conquerors came, and with them persecution for religion ; but, except on the subject of religion, all other subjects remained open as before. The rights of the Moosselman sovereigns, their duties, their privileges, and their power over their people, are discussed as freely and as fairly in the books of their learned men, as the rights of ours are in our ancient com- mentaries upon our laws. ** Look through the Institutes of Timur and Akbar, and is there one trace in them, one vestige of restraint ? Their pages teem with encouragement to learning, with incitements to their subjects to enlarge their minds and amplify their knowledge ; while from their histories we learn, that, while every act and speech of the monarch and his princes were recorded to form a history of his reign, his foibles, his follies, and his weaknesses, were open to the satire of the poet, and the wit of the house- hold fool. Their Colleges were crowded with men who found advantage in the devotion of themselves to learn- ing ; and in their Schools tl^ere seems to have been no restraint which does not at this hour exist in full force in our own land. " I scruple not, therefore, to affirm, that the regions over which we rule, down to the arrival of the Europeans in the East, enjoyed a freedom as extensive as any part 24 of Europe before the invention of the Press ; for on writ- ten books, the only means of circulating knowledge with- out type, there was no restriction. " The art of Printing has been eulogized as the greatest blessing which has ever been bestowed upon mankind, and we have been the introducers of this blessing to the East. But, Sir, while you confer a blessing on your people, is it wisdom to clog that blessing with a curse ? A free and unfettered Press is indeed a blessing to man- kind, but a fettered Press in the hands of a despotic monarch, as my honourable friend has told us truly, may become one of the greatest scourges with which the hand of power can be armed, one of the most dreadful engines of torture with which it can rack the mind. " And what are the arguments which they would oppose to persuade us that it is unwise, ' that our power -would be endangered* ? Sir, that argument was used against throwing open our trade ; but hath that measure at all weakened us ? Endangered ! — and by whom ? But is nothing else still more endangered by restriction? Regicide France has tried, and in her Emperor we may read the fate of such controul. He restrained the Press and interdicted it from all political discussion ; he sup- pressed all truth, and bid it lie and flatter. Daily, at his bidding, it vomited forth his slanders and falsehoods measureless — and at what price did he buy the privilege to do all this? The morals of his people formed no por- tion of his care ; religion formed no part of his scheme of government. He knew that the Press, dammed up, must burst out somewhere ; so he abandoned morality to pro- fligates, and religion to the care of Atheism. " And are we prepared to purchase restriction at such a price ? It is not so that I have been taught at home. 95 for on writ- edge with- :he greatest 1 mankind, ising to the ig on your th a curse ? ng to man- a despotic I truly, may ch the hand iful engines they would ,t our power t was used lat measure irhom ? But restriction ? iror we may id the Press 3n ; he sup- Daily, at his falsehoods he privilege ned no por- Is scheme of id up, must ility to pro- tion at such it at home* The morality of our fathers was as carefully fenced round as their freedom, and their religion was dearer to them than both : and it is our serious business here, in a foreign land, to maintain our country's character for the one, and exhibit the purity of the other, exceeding that of any other people of the earth. "• And to whom would you throw open your Press?* To the public. * Pooh ! there is no public' Is there no public ? Who are you that hear me ? Whose are the ears that listen thus ? Whose are the eyes that are light- ed up with pleasure? Whose are the hearts chat beat in unison with mine ? Is there no public ? Who hath won your empire ? Who hath raised your glory ? Who hath established your dominion ? Who hath eternalized your name ? Sons of free men — descended from free forefathers — born in a free land — members of that free public by whose voice our masters are, and will, and must be judged — from whom they have received their charters — for whose good they exist — upon whose breath they live— co-proprietors with them of all they are and have. And how, and when, and where, and wherefore, have we forfeited that freedom and those rights? It cannot be our coming forth to serve our country in a foreign land hath robbed us of those rights, and filched in secret that for which we prided us above all people of the earth. Oh, Sir ! our country is not thus ungrateful nor inhuman to her sons. Is there no public ? Who hath administered your laws? Who hath dealt justice forth among so many millions? Who hath collected your revenue ? Who hath carried on your commerce ? Who hath consolidated your power, and put it almost beyond the reach of time and accident? Who but the brothers of those men whose arm hath won it ? Who but the sons of the same forefathers? Who but the 96 members of the same British public? And can their filling these high oflices^can their advancement to these high dignities— deprive their minds of energy and their spirits of integrity ? '* Is there no public? Who, when faction ran her tilt at him, and eloquence and genius, day after day, poured forth upon him the deluge of their indignation at his sup- posed misrule — when the Father of Indian statesmen ( Warren Hastings) stood before his country for acquittal or condemnation— what cheered his mind amid his trials, and enabled him to bear their taunts and insults ? What but the consciousness that he had done his duty? What but the consoling voice of that Indian public whose ex- istence has been denied ? Sir, there is a public that hath judged and will Judge ; that hath condeivintd and will condemn ; that hath honoured and will honour ; that hath been feared and will be feared; and none but he who fears it will shrink from its investigation. Yes^ Sir, there is a public; and he who first coined the phrase, /A«re is no public, all traitorous as it is, knew it and felt it to his inmost core, and mourned the truth of that which he had dared deny.— ^ — " The work of conquest is finished, but the task of government is scarcely yet begun. To reconcile the pro- vinces we have acquired to their new rulers, is a delicate, and, in some measure, a difficult task : but what may not be augured from him who, returning from conquest, came to set opinion free ? And now, I might add again— ask of the noble Marquis — to whom did he make the exposi of his plans, and detail the motives of his enterprise ? To whom did he commit the custody of his fame and the guard of his reputation? To whom did he appeal for approval of his measures and justification of bis means ? To whose investigations did he commit the fact which I 4 97 I can their ent to these ^ and their ran her tilt iay, poured i at his sup- I statesmen for acquittal id his trials. Its ? What ity? What : whose ex- lic that hath ltd and will ir ; that hath but he who ?s, Sir, there e, there is no felt it to his hich he had the task of cile the pro- s a delicate, lat may not iquest, came again— ask e the exposi irprise? To Line and the appeal for bis means ? fact which he unfolded ? To whom, but to those who were near at hand, and had seen them ; to those who were present, and could judge of them ; to those who best could make report to their country of all they had seen and known and heard concerning it. And, if there be no public, to whom and for what did he do this ? " We all remember with pride, and a feeling of reve- rence comes across our minds when we repeat, the names of Clive, of Hastings, of Cornwallis, of Wellesley. To this list the name of Moira will be added, nor will his be less esteemed or less revered than theirs. The proudest feature of Lord Wellesley*s administration was the esta- blishment of the College, to prepare our youths to fill the expectation of an intellectual and thinking people ;•—* the proudest feature of Lord Moira's will have been, that he gave effect to the establishment of his predecessors, by loosing the Press of India from tutelage and guardianship, by casting off her leading-strings, and declaring her of age and fit to go alone." " Throughout the whole of this speech, Mr. Staveley was greeted with the most enthusiastic applause. His words seemed to electrify his audience. " On the names of the gentlemen proposed for the Committee being read. Colonel Stanhope objected to his name being included, as he considered himself as part of the Marquis of Hastings* household, and he thought the Committee ought to be composed of men perfectly inde- pendent, and that those gentlemen only should be named who were unconnected with Government. This objec- tion, however, was unanimously overruled by the Meet- ing, and it was resolved that Colonel Stanhope's name should remain. " The Committee then retired to an adjoining room with the draft of the Address, handed to the Chairman » 2R l)y Colonel Stanhope. On the return of the Conmiittce, the Address was read to the Meeting by Mr. Staveley, who moved that it be adopted. This motion was carried unanimously." *' To His Excelknn/, the Most Noble Francis, Marquis of Hastings t K, G. Governor-General of British India, ^c. " My Loud, ** We, the European Inhabitants of Madras, deeply inrijiressed with a sense of the benefits conferred on the British Empire in India, by the wisdom of your Lord- ship's Councils, beg leave respectfully to offer these our cordial congratulations on the eminent success which has distinguished the measures of your Lordship's ad- ministration. *• Though remote from the immediate scene of your Lordship's splendid achievements, we have, nevertheless, viewed with profound interest the bold and honourable policy by which they have been guided : and, when we contemplate the situation of British India, at the period your Lordship first assumed the reins of government, we cannot forbear expressing our admiration of the wisdom and energy which have conducted public affairs to their present unparalleled state of prosperity. — Your Lordship found our territory invaded on one hand by a brave and hardy race of mountaineers — on the other, me- naced by a lawless host of rapacious freebooters — while to the Native independent Princes evinced a disposition take advantage of existing circumstances, and attempt measures hostile to our power. " The repeated aggressions of the Government of Ne- paul proceeded to an extent, that demanded the prompt application of the military resources of the state. — To chastise an active and daring foe, intrenched in the fast- ,;♦; 1 ^'ommittce, r. Staveley, was carried Marquis of India, S;c. ras, deeply red on the your Lord- r these our :ces8 which -dship*s ad- ;ne of your levertheless, honourable \f when we the period rnment, we he wisdom aiTairs to ity. — Your hand by a i other, me- )ters — while disposition nd attempt (lent of Ne- the prompt ! state.— To in the fast- '■■(; 2<) nesRis of a uiounlainous country, nearly inipprvioiis to the usual mode of warfare, was an arduous and «h)ubirul enterprise. The contest was novel and interestinpf, an and Tyranny, the better to keep the people in ignorance, and carry on their popish factions and tyrannical designs, for the enslaving and destruction both of the bodies and souls of all the free pt^ople of this nation. " Because Licensing is as great a monopoly as ever was in this nation, in that all men's judgments, reasons, &c. are to be bound up in the Licenser's ; for if the au- thors of any sheete, booke, or treatise, wrote not to please the fancy, and come within the compasse of the Licenser's judgment, then he is not to receive any stamp of authority for the publishing thereof. " Because it is lawfuU to print any booke, sheete, &c. without licensing, so as the authors and printers do sub- scribe their true names thereunto, that so they may be liable to answer the contents thereof: and if they offend therein, then to be punished by such lawes, as are or shall be for those cases provided." ** A Committee of the Councell of State being satisfied with these and other reasons of Mr. Mabbot concerning licensing, the Councell of State reports to the House ; upon which the House ordered the day that the said Mr. Mabbot should be discharged of licensing books for the future."* * See Birch's Miltoriy p. xxx. Whitelocke says, " Upon Mr. Mab- bot^s desire and reasons against licensing of books to be printed, he was discharged of that employment." it/cm. An. 1649. I. 4 i 35 gnorance, il designs, )odies and ly as ever 5, reasons, if the au- ite not to sse of the any stamp sheete, &c. jrs do sub- ey may be they offend , as are or ng satisfied concerning he House; le said Mr. )oks for the on Mr. Mab- le printed, he •t SECTION VI. State of the Press in Bengal, Bombay ^ and Madras, *' By the liberty of the PreNs. I mean the hberty of discussing public men and measures, not the liberty of calumniating and affronting private character." The Calcutta Press is still under severe laws or restric- tions. Nevertheless it has indulged in a latitude of discussion, unknown to any state except England, Ame- rica, and Switzerland. On military matters it has exer- cised great freedom, and on religious subjects it has spoken out with a boldness that would not be tolerated in any of these countries. Proofs of this assertion are contained in Bengalee and English newspapers; in the works of the Missionaries, of Rammohun Roy, of the late Bruja Mohuna, and in the Brahminical Magazine, &c. From the last of these the following extracts may be safely quoted. The editor of that work, speaking of the number of books published, says, " During only a few years past hundreds of works on different subjects, such as Theol- ogy, Law, Logic, Grammar, and Astronomy, have been written by the natives of Bengal alone. I do not wonder that they have not reached the knowledge of the Editor, (of the Sumarchan Durpun,) who in common with almost all his colleagues, has shut his eyes against any thing that might do the smallest, credit to the natives." He thus notices the blasphemous attacks made upon the Hindoo religion by the Baptist missionaries : " As to the abusive terms made use of by the Editor, (of the Sumar- 1) 2 .H 3G chart DurpuHt) such as * Father of lies alone, to whom it [Hindooism) evidently owes its origin,' 'Impure fa- bles of his false gods/ * Pretended gods of Hindoos,* &c., common decency prevents me from making use of sim- ilar terms in return. We must recollect that we have engaged in solemn religious controversy and not in ex- ercising abuse against each other." He repels the charge of the Hindoos* religion, in its purity, being idolatrous. '* If we admit that the worship of spirit possessed of material body is worship in spirit, we must not any longer impute idolatry to any religious sect ; for none of them adore mere matter unconnected with spirit. Did the Greeks and Romans worship the bodies of Jupiter and Juno, and their other supposed gods, separately from their respective spirits? Are not the miraculous works ascribed by them to these gods proofs of their viewing them as spirits connected with the body ? Do the idolaters among Hindoos worship the assumed forms of their incarnations divested of their spirit? No- thing of the kind. Even in worshipping idols, Hindoos do not consider them objects of worship until tliey have performed Pranprutistha, or communication of divine life. According to the definition given by the Editor, (of the Sumarchan Durpun,) none of them can be supposed ido- laters, because they never worship the body separately from the spirit; but, in fact, any worship, through either an artificial form or imaginary material respresentation, is nothing buk idolatry.'* The Brahminical Editor speaks as follows of the dog- matists in religion : " It seems almost natural that when one nation succeeds in conquering another, the former, though their religion may be quite ridiculous, laugh at and despise the religion and manners of those that are fallen I ne, to whom 'Impure fa- lindoos/ &c., <• use of sim- hat we have id not in ex- jligion, in its t the worship ship in spirit, any religious • unconnected } worship the apposed gods. Are not the e gods proofs ith the body ? the assumed spirit? No- dols, Hindoos ntil t'liey have of divine life, ditor, (of the supposed ido- dy separately hrough either spresentation, ^s of the dog- ral that when r, the former, s, laugh at and that are fallen 37 into their power : for example, Mussulmans upon their conquest of India proved highly inimical to the religious exercises of Hindoos; when the generals of Chungez Khan, who denied God and were like wild beasts in their manners, invaded the western part of Hindoostan, they universally mocked at the profession of God and of futurity, expressed to them by the natives of India: the savages of Arracan on their invasion of the eastern part of Bengal, always attempted to degrade the religion of Hindoos. In the ancient days the Greeks and the Romans who were gross idolaters and immoral in their lives, used to laugh at the religion and conduct of their Jewish subjects, a sect who were devoted to the belief of one God. It is therefore not uncommon if the English, who are of the conquerors of this country, revile and mock at the religion of its natives." The Brahmin challenges free discussion, and says the Hindoos will change their creed, if the reasonableness of Christianity can be proved. ** Now in the mission- press of Shreerampore a letter shewing the unreasonable- ness of all the Hindoo shastrus having appeared, I have inserted in the first and second number of this magazine all the questions of the above letter, as well as their answers, and afterwards the replies that may be made by both parties shall in like manner be published. If by the force of argument they can prove the truth of their own religion and the falsity of that of Ilinuoos, many would of course embrace their doctrines." The Editor of the Brahminical Magazine erroneously supposes that Christians are Polytheists. " I shall be obliged," says he, " if the Editor (of the Sumarchan Durpun) can shew that the polytheistical doctrines main- tained by Hindoos are, in any degree, more unreasonable 38 than his own ; if not, he will not, I trust, endeavour in future, to introduce among them one set of polytheistical sentiments as a substitute for another set, both of them being equally and solely protected by the shield of mystery, I, however, beg to ask whether the omnipotence, omni-* science, and infinite mercy of one person is sufficient or not to arrange the universal system, and preserve its har- mony? If so, an admission of the omnipotence and omniscience of the second and the third is superfluous and absurd ; but if not sufficient, why should we stop at the number three, and not carry on the numeration until the number of omnipotent Beings becomes at least equal to that of the heavenly bodies, ascribing to each the manage- ment of every globe ? From the skill which Europeans generally display in conducting political affairs and effect- ing mechanical inventions, foreigners very often conclude that their religious doctrines would be equally reasonable; but as soon as any one of them is made acquainted with such doctrines as are professed by the Editor, (of the Sumarc/ian Durpun,) and by a great number of his coun- trymen, he will firmly believe that religious truth has no connexion with political truth." The Brahminical writer contends for the immortality of the soul. " Every professor of any theistical system, such as the followers of the Nyayu doctrines, and those of Christianity, believe that God is not perishable, and that the soul has no end. The soul during an endless period either enjoys the beatitude procured by the acqui- sition of a knowledge of God, or receives the conse- quences of works. In like manner they both believe that it is God that bestows on the soul the consequences of its good and evil actions, and that the will of God is immutable. If any faults be found with these doctrines, 39 ndeavour in olytheistical both of them i of mystery, ;ence, omni- sufficient or erve its har- 30tence and erfluous and stop at the ion until the ast equal to the manage- 1 Europeans s and effect- en conclude reasonable ; ainted with tor, (of the )f his coun- ruth has no mmortality cal system, and those jhable, and an endless T the acqui- the conse- )th believe nsequences of God is doctrines, then the system of the Nyayu and of Christianity both must be equally subject to them, for both systems main- tain these doctrines." At Bombay, almost the first act of the present Gover- nor's administration was to abolish the base Censorship. This gentleman had, by his great capacity and active virtue, raised himself to the highest dignity in the state; he had devoted his life to the study and practice of Eastern politics; he had the experience too, of the workings of a Free Press in Bengal, and the result was his adoption of that measure. This was well done, it was an action worthy of Mr. Elphinstone — the action of a lofty-minded Englishman. The government of Madras, unmindful of the benefits daily arising from the Press in the sister Presidencies, obstinately persevered in subjecting all controverted points in learning, religion, and government, to the arbi- trary and infallible judgment of Mr. Censor Wood. This Magnus Apollo, having experienced the advantage arising from his interpolations, erasures, additions, and garblings, has lately ordered that nothing shall be printed without being submitted a second time to the ordeal of his chaste criticisms, for the purpose of ascertaining that the cor- rections have been rightly made. Thus an author or editor is obliged to express himself, whether he approve or object, exactly as the Censor dictates. From this polluted source, the whole of the knowledge of public events, and of the march of opinion, is derived at Madras. There the Licenser, in addition to his other high privi- leges, has assumed a despotic sway over consciences : '* He has contrived to take From Rome all seasoned office, and to wind Himself into a power tyrannical." 40 In close imitation of the mighty Lama of the West, he has exercised his right as Censor of heretical pravity. Had this Madras Censor been the illegitimate progeny of some fiery Celibate — the spurious offspring of an illus- trious Inquisitor — the magni Jovis excrementum, we should not have been surprised at his conduct, but it is lament- able to find an English Protestant gentleman assuming arbitrary sway over consciences. The Censor of heretical pravity at Madras prevented the printing in Tamul, the Prayer Book of the Christian Unitarians, (which was a translation of the Liturgy of the Church of England with the omission of the Trinitarian Forms,) and thereby deprived them, to the extent of his power, of the means of carrying on their public worship. Thus he surpassed the Inquisition. The Doctors of the Holy Office prohibited free discussion on religious topics, but, except in the worst times, they never prevented any sect from publishing their Prayer Booh With equal justice the Censor of heretical pravity might suppress the works of the Presbyterians, of the Methodists, and of the Roman Catholics— the Koran, the Shastres, or the writings of any other sect disagreeing with that infallible judge of orthodoxy. A dangerous assumption of power this, ill suited to the spirit of the times, and standing in odious contrast with the tolerant principles which characterize the Hindoos. The Censor of heretical pravity at Madras may consider that the Unitarians are not orthodox Christians. That was matter of opinion.* Perhaps no sect that ever existed might be * Bishop Warburton, during a debate in the House of Lords, being asked by a Peer to define the terms Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, which had frequently occurred, repUed Orthodoxy, my Lord, is my rffu//, and Heterodoxy is your Lordship's doxy. 41 r the West, ical pravity. ate progeny ; of an illus- n, we should it is lainent- an assuming as prevented the Christian liturgy of the e Trinitarian he extent of their public isition. The QQ discussion it times, they their Prayer etical pravity |rians, of the e Koran, the disagreeing [A dangerous spirit of the the tolerant The Censor Ider that the t was matter ed might be )use of Lords, ind Heterodoxyt my Lord, is my orthodox to the letter of the law, or according to tlie notions of a Licenser. Be they orthodox or not, Priest- ley, a zealous patron of that sect, was one of the most powerful defenders of Christianity at a time when it was so rudely attacked by Paine and others. On whatever side we view this subject, the Censor's conduct appears equally unjustifiable. As a Protestant, he was not war- ranted in suppressing the Prayer Book of the Unitarians. For the Protestant holds that the Scriptures are the only rule of faith, and this rule is to be interpreted by the exercise of private judgment As an Englishmarij, whose constitution is founded on the wise principles of religious freedom, he had no more right to suppress the Prayer Book of this sect, than he would have had to suppress the Old Testament of the Jews, or the Institutes of Menu of the Hindoos. As a religious man, looking to the conversion of idolatrous nations to the pure worship of God, the Censor might have had sufficient penetration to discover that it could only be effected by education and discussion ; and that the Unitarians were, of all sects of Christians, the most likely to effect that object. Wilkins, speaking on this subject, says, that " the most learned Brahmins are Unitarians according to the doctrine of Krushna ; but at the same that they believe in but one God, an universal spirit, they so far comply with the prejudices of the vulgar, as outwardly to perform all the ceremonies inculcated by the Veds, such as sacrifices, ab- lutions, &c." Like the Hindoos, the Unitarians profess to be pure theisis. The marked difference between them is, that the former do not believe in the divine authority of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Some years since the Baptist missionaries suffered from the same spirit of persecution. 'I'lu^y were pre- 49 vented from settling at Calcutta^ They tlien established themselves in the vicinity, at the Dutch settlement of Sernmpore. There they have ever since been engaged in acts of benevolence, and have devoted from their own funds upwards of .£50,000 to charity ; and espe- cially to that most comprehensive charity, the promotion of general education. As for converts, they make few or none. A Free Press is the only English missionary which laughs at and reasons with fanatics, and, by degrees, wins over their followers to the side of truth. I a t! 4S n established ettlement of een engaged from their ; and espe- le promotion make few or iona-y which iegrees, wins SECTION VII. On the Delays of Office at Madras, ** The conduct of our lives, and the management of our great con. ccrns, will not bear delay." — Locke. The great delay of justice in British India was an evil of the greatest magnitude. The Court of Directors, speaking on this subject, observe, that "tojudge by ana- logy of the courts in Europe, they would be induced to think so great an arrear would scarcely ever come to a hearing. We should be sorry," they add, " that from the accumulation of such arrears there should ever be room to raise a question, whether it were better to leave the natives to their own arbitrary and precipitate tribunals, than to harass their feelings, and injure their property, by an endless procrastination of their suits, under the pretence of more deliberate justice." To these delays a Judge of Circuit ascribes numerous commitments for breaches of the peace. " Since by protracting for years the decision of suits, it frequently drove the suitors to despair, and induced them to run the risk of taking jus- tice into their own hands, by seizing the object in dispute, rather than to await the tardy issue of a process which threatened to exceed the probable duration of their own lives." These delays were noticed by the House of Commons, ably detailed in the Fifth Report, and exposed by the masterly pen of Mr. Mill. In consequence of these discussions^ a system of native '■ II 11 44 ■ r , * ,■ Mir , ! I ^■■'^ ''I 1 •■1 fit ■■(:•'■' agency has been established, which has relieved the files of the courts of the arrear of business, and the grievance to a great extent has been remedied. There are, how- ever, other delays of vast injury to the public service, unknown to the Legislature, to him who framed the Fifth Report, and to the great historian of British India. In the silence which pervades despotism, especially where it asserts its influence over the mind, as under the Madras Censorship, there is an endless catalogue of wrongs that never come to the knowledge of the Government or the people. Among others, there are the delays of office. The present Censor of the Press at Madras was for- merly Military Secretary. The duties of that office hung heavy on him. Notwithstanding his great industry, it was feared by the army that the time required to settle all the arrears of business, then on his file, threatened to exceed the probable duration of human life, especially in a climate where, during the years 1817 and 1818, one fourth of the officers had actually died. To obtain from the Military Secretary an answer to a common note, often required as much paper, ink, and time, as the decision of a deep chancery suit. The case of Captain Monteith, a Madras officer of Engineers, employed by the King of Persia, will shew the rate at which the worthy Secretary's business proceeded. The Captain in an evil hour wrote the Secretary a letter. For three long years he was kept in a state of feverish suspense, and he continued from time to time, but in vain, to solicit an answer. Mean- while the learned Secretary brooded over the papers in silence, and his patience triumphed. Off started the active soldier from the lofty Caucasus for Madras. On the day of his arrival there, he received an answer, and 45 ived the files the grievance 2re are, how- ublic service, med the Fifth sh India. In :iaily where it J the Madras r wrongs that *nment or the s of office, idras was for- 3f that office jreat industry, [uired to settle > threatened to I, especially in md 1818, one 'o obtain from ion note, often :he decision of ain Monteith, )y the King of ;hy Secretary's vil hour wrote 's he was kept ontinued from nswer. Mean- the papers in ff started the Madras. On in answer, and m then journeyed back to the frontiers of Russia with the Secretary's dispatch. What, it may be said, has this to do with the Freedom of the Press ? The answer is, that every act of mal-ad- ministration may be exposed by a Free Press. Had the slow Secretary been subjected to the lash of a Free Press, it would have accelerated his pace. Captain Monteith would have been spared years of anxiety, and a journey by sea and land of several thousand miles. Nay, more ; the public departments and the Madras army would not have suffered for years from the dreadful delays of office. There is, too, another view of this question worthy of consideration. The Military Secretary's office is one of little labour, compared to that of Chief Secretary, who is, in fact, a sort of prime minister. If, then, the Military Secretary, with all his assiduity, was not able to pre- vent this vast arrear of business, how is it possible for Mr. Wood now to watch over all the important affairs of twelve millions of men, and to exercise a despotic mono- poly over their minds and writings ? The Censors of the Inquisition, it is true, exercised this power most effectu- ally, but they were assisted by all the craft and industry of the Fathers of the Holy Office. They claimed, too, their descent directly from Heaven, a degree of pre- sumption, not consistent with the modest humility of an English Protestant Censor of Heretical Pravity, in Indo- stan. How these incongrous expressions — this chaos of words — English Protestant Censor of Heretical Pravity, jar upon the mind ! s "1! ;" W:>' 46 ( J". ' t SECTION VIII. Motion on the Asiatic Press at the India House, > *' The character of Lord Hastings is altogether modern. It is stamped with the enlightened philosophy of the eighteenth century, and his political career breathes its spirit throughout — its philan- thropy and toleration, its earnest sympathy with the fortunes of man- kind, and ardent desire to extend their political privileges. Convinced that positive institutions could not do much in ameliorating the state of society, his efforts have been directed to elevate the Indian com- munity in the scale of civilization, by enlightening their minds and affording a wide scope to the Press."— ^il. White. The Court of Directors having framed a dispatch, di- recting the Marquis of Hastings to restore the base Cen- sorship, I opposed Mr. Randle Jackson's proposed vote of thanks to Mr. Canning, for his services as Senior Mem- ber of the Board of Coatroul. But Mr. Jackson having afterwards declared in open Court, that Mr. Canning had refused to give his sanction to that odious measure, it became my duty to withdraw the opposition and praise him for his noble conduct. To stifle the wisdom of the East, and to fetter the mind of a large portion of mankind, would have been inconsistent with Mr. Canning's fame as a scholar, and his trust as the minister of a free state. The following is a report of the proceedings, which soon after took place at the India House : " Col. Stanhope said he rose pursuant to notice, for the purpose of advocating the cause of a Free Press in Asia, and of calling upon the Government to afford in- formation on this subject. He regretted that some gen- tleman of talent had not undertaken this arduous duty, for his desire to take a lead in the discussion, was 1 I j# 47 ( House. lodern. It is €nth century, t — its philan- tunes of man- 9. Convinced itiug the state e Indian com- leir minds and iispatch, di- le base Cen- )08ed vote of ;enior Mem- kson having Canning had measure, it and praise isdom of the of mankind, ming's fame free state. ings, which notice, for l-ee Press in to afford in- |it some gen- luous duty, lussion, was 1 f ,4 checked by a consciousness of his incapacity to do the subject full justice. The question he was about to agitate, involved not only the interests of one hundred millions of British subjects, but the interests of sur- rounding nations, and the welfare of myriads, perhaps, as yet unborn. They were not, indeed, our countrymen, they were not of our complexion or religion, but they were our fellow-beings; and patriotism was only the noblest of passions because it was the most useful; since, by limiting our exertions to the benefit of our own community and country, we took the most effectual means of promoting the welfare of mankind. * God loves from whole to parts ; but human soul * Must rise from individual to the whole ; * Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace; ' His country next— and next all human race !' «* Before he entered upon the discussion of this impor- tant subject, he must protest against all prejudices, whe- they were of English or Indian growth, as aberrations from right reason ; but most of all must he protest against that prejudice, which would doom the people of certain sects, and colours, and geographical positions, to endless slavery; or, in other words, which would visit Africa and Asia, comprizing one-half of mankind, with a per- petual curse. Montesquieu had, indeed, observed, * that the excessive heat of the climate of India deprived the body of its vigour ; that this faintness was communicated to the mind ; and that the inclinations then became all passive.* This might be all true : but was it to be inferred from hence that Providence had doomed the people of hot climates to slavery ? Assuredly not. The natural inference to be drawn from this position was • I 48 ■ .''-- li"' {'■.■ ■jl ^ "' ■I: 1,1 '!>'■ fr ;.|:.:; •lirectly the reverse; for the greater tendency a climate might have to subdue men's passions, the less necessity there was for restrictive laws to curb or coerce them. He defied any man to come to a different conclusion. In point of reason it was incontrovertible. Never would he believe that slavery was of Divine institution, until he beheld * subjects born with hunches on their backs like camels, and kings with combs on their heads like cocks ; from which marks it might be collected that the former were designed to laboui and to suffer, and the latter to strut and to crow.* Having made these prefatory obser- vations, he would now solicit the attention of the Court to the immediate object of his motion. " In order to take an enlarged view of the effects of a Free Press in India, it was necessary to reflect on the character of Asiatic governments and despotism. They must contemplate all the intellectual light of the nine- teenth century, bursting in upon countries which had been debased by ages of moral darkness and gloomy despotism. The doors of knowledge being thus thrown open, reform would follow in the most bafe and natural course ; because reforms were always best accomplished by removing those checks and restrictions which had supported abuses, and impeded the progress of improve- ment. By such timely and salutary reforms, the wounds inflicted by a long tyranny might be healed, and frightful revolutions averted. " He would next consider the character of public wri- tings, and of the Press in India. The art of printing was asserted to have been known in Asia upwards of 2,000 years ago : long, very long before it was known in Eu- rope. He was not aware, however, that it was ever prac- tised in India till it was introduced by the Europeans. ncy a climate les8 necessity coerce them, onclusion. In ever would he ition, until he leir backs like ids like cocks ; lat the former d the latter to refatory obser- n of the Court he effects of a reflect on the ipotism. They [it of the nine- ies which had ss and gloomy ig thus thrown fe and natural t accomplished ms which had ss of improve- ns, the wounds d, and frightful f of public wri- of printing was wards of 2,000 known in Eu- was ever prac- the Europeans. .'■» i i m 49 But tliey were not to suppose, because there was no Free Press in India at a remote period, that therefore no liberty of writing prevailed ; on the contrary, history spoke of a Sovereign of the East, who reprimanded the historian of the Empire for recording his misconduct. * What,* said his Majesty, * have you the audacity daily to record my faults?* * Yes,* answered the chronicler, 'that is my duty ; and that duty directs that I should now write down the threats with which you have just menaced me.* The Emperor said, • Well, write down all, and in future I will endeavour to do nothing for which posterity can reproach me.* It was also a proverb in the East, that • the monarchs of Asia were more afraid of the pen of Abulfazil; than they were t the sword of the mighty Akbar.* And Dow observed, that, * however surprising it might seem in absolute governments, yet it was certain that the historians of the East wrote with more freedom concerning persons and things than writers had ever dared to do in the West.' There was, in truth, no re- striction whatsoever on writing. Look to the Institutes of Timur and Akbar: their pages teemed with encou- ragement to learning and learned men, but no vestige of a restraint on writing was to be discovered in them. On these grounds, then, he contended that a Censorship was an innovatioTiy dangerous to the interests of the people, contrary to the constitution of this country, contrary to the high maxims of state policy professed by Britain, and which ought to guide her conduct towards her colo- nies, and contrary to the manner, customs, and religion of the Hindoos. " He would now consider the nature and character of public writing under our own Government in India. During the administration of Warren Hastings, the Com- E '■■ I 60 •I"* pany's territories were assailed on all sides. Never were our Eastern possessions threatened by such perils and dangers. Our empire was menaced with destruction from without, and the Governor-General was at open war with his Council. They scrutinized, as effectually as a Free Press could have done, every act of his adminis- tration ; an'^^ frequently carried their measures against him. They rated him at the council-table, braved him to a duel in the field, and had nearly forced him to aban- don his Government. Still the Press, in those dangerous times, enjoyed perfect freedom, although Warren Has- tings was attacked by it with virulence. One Heilly was in the constant habit of lampooning the Governor-General under the title of the Great Mogul. He was prosecuted, and found guilty ; but Warren Hastings, though in some points a despot, had the magnanimity to procure his par- don. He was attacked also by his inveterate enemy, by the m'. *• Such were the words of a European ruler over a hun- dred millions of swarthy Asiatics ; sentiments so useful and so noble, that he conceived no parallel could be found to them in history. The restrictions still imposed on the Press were, indeed, of a character to paralyze the freedom of writing; but they had never been acted on. He defied any man to produce a single instance where they were carried into effect. They were principally im- posed, no doubt, to reconcile the powerful enemies of the Press; he meant the Company's Servants in India, the Court of Directors, and the Board of Controul. It was natural to suppose that those gentlemen would use every exertion to prevent the public from becoming the Cen- sors of their Government; and it was therefore expedient to deprive them of every pretence for restoring despot- ism. The restrictions had, in fact, been a dead letter under the administration of the Marquis of Hastings ; but such of them as were inconsistent with the manners, ha- bits, and customs of society in India should be completely rescinded, lest future governors or governments should be tempted to exercise this bad power. Dangerous and hateful, however, as all unnecessary restrictions were to liberty, still where no Censorship existed, there would always be found high-minded men to speak bold truth. The punishment they subjected themselves to was deeply to be lamented ; but it was better that a few individuals should suffer, than that a whole community should be consigned to endless, to hopeless slavery. Those writers who opposed this principle, and there were many able men who had done so, must admit that their arguments were futile, because the establishment of a Censor would go to suppress all political writings. Not a word that appeared, on such subjects, in The Edinburgh Rev^€^Ot in Cobbetfa Register, in The Examiner, in The Chronicle, or 65 Icr over a Imn- lents so useful allel could be t still imposed paralyze the ►een acted on. nstance where )rincipally im- enemies of the in India, the itroul. It was luld use every ning the Cen- fore expedient :oring despot- a dead letter Hastings; but ! manners, ha- be completely ments should dangerous and :tions were to , there would ik bold truth, to was deeply w individuals ty should be Those writers re many able iir arguments Censor would ; a word that h Review, in Chronicle, or I ^f if i in The Times, could be published under u Censorship. Nay one half of what was published in the Ministerial Press would be rejected by a Censor. Gentlemen did not perhaps know the character of a Censorship ; but, having lived under one, he knew it well. " To shew the sincerity of the attachment which the Marquis of Hastings bore to the Liberty of the Press, it would be sufficient to refer to the tone of writing in the Bengal prints ; but, in addition to this, he would mention a few particular instances, which fully proved the fact. Soon after the abolition of the Censorship, the Madras select vestry were accused of having been guilty of cer- tain bad practices. It was made a subject of complaint in the public Press, that the members composing this body had assumed the monopoly of their office, and had elected their successors to it ; by which means certain charitable donations, placed under their controul, became subject to abuse. The consequence of this exposure was, the convening of a public meeting, at which the subject was discussed, and in a tone of freedom never known in India, until the administration of the Marquis of Hastings. A strong petition, detailing the alleged grievance, and praying for redress, was drawn up, and presented to the Supreme Government, by whom it was referred to the Court of Directors, whose general charac- ter for equity and justice left no doubt on his mind but that they would come to a correct decision on the subject. ** Another instance which shewed that the restrictions were not acted on, had taken place lately. Mr. Bucking- ham, who wrote for the Calcutta Journal, had been pro- secuted for a libel. It appeared that the Chief Justice had been accused of degrading his high situation, by acting with scandalous partiality towards his own son-in- 66 11, ■ • ' 3;-, ■ ; . it,:; law, Mr. Croft, who was fouml guilty of an extraordinary act of seduction. He appealed, it was said, to Lord Hastings, on the subject of the alleged libel; but was referred by him to those laws over which he presided. From them he was directed to seek redress. This was an answer worthy of a British statesman. Mr. Elliott and the Madras Government were repeatedly attacked, with great violence, by the Calcutta Press. Their Censorship was rendered ineffectual ; for whatever the Madras Censor cut out, was published at Calcutta, and soon found its way to Madras. Of this they complained, for they claimed arbitrary power over the Press; but they found that an appeal to the laws was their only resource. " He would now allude to the efforts made by Ram- mohun Roy to reform the prevailing superstition of the various casts of Hindoos. The character of this Brahmin was perfectly well known ; he was universally esteemed for his learning, piety, and public virtue. Through the medium of the Press he had made known to his coun- trymen how contrary the corruption, cruelties, ^nd poly- theism, practised by them, were to the pure system of theism inculcated, as he declared, in their religious works. Thus, by promoting the cause of education, and of inoffensive discussion, the public mind would be en- lightened, the Sanscrit v^ritings would be translated for its information, it would be enabled to understand the absurdities of the existing superstition, and prepared to follow a purer system of worship. All attempts at pro- selytism, by any other means, would, he believed, prove ineffectual. Where converts were made, the bad and superstitious Hindoo was generally changed into a worse Christian. He appealed to every man who had been in India, whether this was not the truth. »i «f- ii ;i.', il ktraordinary id, to Lord z\\ but was le presided. This was Mr. Elliott ly attacked, ess. Their hatever the alcutta, and complained. Press ; but s their only le by Ram- tition of the his Brahmin ly esteemed h rough the his coun- s, ind poly- e system of Mr religious ucation, and ould be en- anslated for erstand the prepared to ipts at pro- eved, prove le bad and nto a worse had been in '' Why, all to indulge in of locomotion, d; but would asoning ill, or dence for not *.if 61 having made them dumb ? If they did not push their proposition to this extent, their declamation about the licentiousness of the Press was mere nonsense. The li- berty of the Press was said to be dangerous : no doubt it was very dangerous, and so were equal laws, and a free trade, and a permanent settlement ; so were truth, know- ledge, education, improvement, and all the benefits de- rived from fair and honourable rule. All these were dangerous, nay, fatal to despotic government; and no- thing there was safe, but silence, ignorance, darkness, superstition, sophistry, political lying, and Censorships. It was not necessary to dilate on the nature and advan- tages of a Free Press ; suffice it to observe, that the mo- nopoly of knowledge was, of all other monopolies, the most injurious to society. It left the Government without any check, and it deprived the mother country of all information but such as was derived from servants paid and pensioned by Government. The consequence was, that the governing power of this country was very igno- rant of the sff^*" of British India. ** A Cens( ' i; , he had already said, was the favourite offspring of civil ur . religious despotism, of the intolerant Inquisition; thereiore entirely opposed to the manners, customs, and laws of the tolerant Hindoos : and he should conclude by reminding gentlemen, that a Free Press was first founded by their wise and bold ancestors, in that great city in which he was now speaking. Any attempt to establish a Censorship in this country (and he had heard that such a thing was in the wild and mad contemplation of a person now at the head of Government) could not be too strongly reprobated. The establishment of a Censorship here would be far more pernicious than the repeal of Magna Charta or the Bill of Rights. Like ''i: ; 69 ''.'( '1 ;■'•» '■■1' f I those sacred charters, the Liberty of the Press was a fun- damental principle of our constitution, and any attempt to set up a Censorship in its place would amount to a dissolution of the constitution of England. " Let the Company prove then to Asia, not by their boasting, but by their acts, that the great object of their care was, to improve the condition of men of all classes, sects, and colours. Like the famous Free States of Greece and Rome, let them be true and firm in support of their own freedom ; but, unlike those selfish monopo- lists of liberty, let them endeavour to extend the bless- ings they themselves enjoyed, to all who lived under their rule, and even to foreign nations. Such, at least, was his anxious hope ; and to give effect to it, he would now move, * That all late proceedings by the honourable the Court of Directors concerning the Liberty of the Press in British India, be laid before the Court of Pro- prietors.' If, continued Col. Stanhope, an assurance was given that no intention of restoring the Censorship, either now or hereafter, existed, he should be rejoiced to hear it. He would then cheerfully come forward to praise, in the warmest terms, the conduct of Government, and he would not press his motion. — One word more. Hei trusted gentlemen would bear in mind, that a Free Press had existed in times of the greatest difficulty and of the most awful danger, under the wisest and most virtuous of their governors; and that, after the experience of more than twenty years of despotism under a Censorship, the liberty of writing had been re-established by the great Lord Hastings. Let them, then, cast aside their preju- dices. Let them do unto those swarthy nations, those hundred millions of men, as you would be done by; and beware of the reflux of Asiatic despotism. He should ^ ess was a fun- d any attempt amount to a not by their bject of their of all classes, ree States of m in support jlfish monopo- snd the bless- lived under >uch, at least, ) it, he would he honourable liberty of the Court of Pro- assurance was sorship, either oiced to hear d to praise, in ment, and he more. He a Free Press ty and of the most virtuous experience of a Censorship, i by the great e their preju- nations, those lone by; and He should •f V 63 now conclude, reserving to himself the right of answering those who might think proper to oppose the motion, or rather the principle for which he contended ; because for the motion itself he cared very little. « The Hon. D. Kinnaird said he would take the liberty of seconding the motion, as a matter of form. He was not at all aware of any proceedings on this subject, that might with propriety, be laid before the Court at the present moment. At the same time, so entirely did he agree in all that the honourable gentleman had said, thinking that he had only done strict and fair justice to the Marquis of Hastings in the sentiments he had expressed concerning his conduct on this and all other points connected w ith his government, and fully coinciding in the tribute he paid to the private character of this distinguished Nobleman, he was certainly very anxious that an oppor- tunity should be afforded to pledge the Court of Proprie- tors to uphold a system, by which the present Governor- General had more immortalized his name than by any other measure he had adopted. It raiely happened that men were placed in such a situation as enabled them to give effect to their dearest wishes ; but the Marquis of Hastings had been placed in that fortunate situation, and he had wisely availed himself of it. He seconded the motion with pleasure, because it gave him an opportunity of stating, that the course pursued by the Governor- General with respect to the Liberty of the Press formed one prominent ground on which he hoped, at no distant period, to be called on to support a motion from the Chair, * That the thanks of the Proprietors be given to the Marquis of Hastings, for the wisdom and liberality of his civil administration.' He conceived that the Noble Mar- quis deserved more thanks for his civil policy, and for ■:!l 'Hi' .'•1 1 ,.i < ;! it 1 1 „ i i f ■hi L. ^ * ' 'i, St 64 this enlightened act amongst the rest, than lie ditl even for his military achievements. He seconded the motion for the purpose of giving effect to what he understood to he the object of the honourable proprietor, that of procuring the sanction of the Court to the principle which he had laid down ; and he willingly challenged discussion on a system which he believed would form the best and surest foundation for the future greatness and stability of their Indian empire. " Mr, Chalmers felt himself called on to move the previous question, because he thought, under all the cir- cumstances, it was not necessary nor advisable that the motion should be carried. He knew, as well as any man, the importance of the Liberty of the Press ; but he was bound to say, at the same time, that he could not regard the exercise of that privilege in India, in the same point of view that he considered it with respect to England. There was no doubt that there could not be a heavier restriction on the Liberty of the Press than a Censorship. But circumstances, that did not apply to this country, might render such a measure necessary in India. How stood the fact? The laws with respect to libel might be promptly carried into effect in England ; but that was not the case in India, where the laws could not be acted on in the same manner as in this country. In a case of libel in England, the party aggrieved might proceed by civil action for damages, or he might file a criminal informa- tion. But he was authorized to say, that the courts in India had not the same jurisdiction which the courts here possessed; which jurisdiction tended to correct and con- troul the licentiousness of the Press. He was, therefore, of opinion, that a system which could not be endured in this country, might be acted on with wisdom and justice 1 65 e ditl even for lie motion for lerstood to be it of procuring which he had iscussion on a best and surest ability of their n to move the der all the cir- sable that the ill as any man, s ; but he was )uld not regard the same point !Ct to England, t be a heavier n a Censorship, o this country, n India. How libel might be ut that was not ot be acted on a case of libel roceed by civil minal informa- t the courts in the courts here jrrect and con- was, therefore, be endured in om and justice H' in India. N(nt\ though he was not dissatisfied at the removal of the Censorship by the Marquis of Hastings^ he could not consent that a pledge should be entered into to pre- vent its being renewed at a future period if it were found necessary. With respect to the Censorship itself, it cer- tainly did not possess all those odious features which the honourable proprietor had described, nor did he think it ever had, or ever could produce such consequences as he had stated. He did not believe that the Government would permit the Censor to repress literary merit, or to binder the publication of any thing that was not abso- lutely mischievous. " The honourable proprietor had alluded to Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights in the course of his speech, as being of less value than that unbounded Liberty of the Press which he wished to be established in India. But he ought to recollect the nature of our tenure there. We had, from small beginnings, formed a mighty empire, and that despotism, to a certain extent, must exist there, few people would be bold enough to deny. Besides, it was congenial with the disposition of the natives, who were never accustomed to any other species of government. No man could have less personal reason than himself to eulogize the Indian Government, because he had never asked or received any favour or benefit from it ; but he would be unjust if he did not take this opportunity to declare that the most extensive facilities were granted by that Government to persons who resided peaceably in India, without offering offence to the state. He had himself left Bombay and settled at Madras ; he had even changed his profession, and became a lawyer, without receiving the slightest molestation from Government; and he thanked them for their liberality and magna- :i;' f il ■.!' i 66 i;- I :.i. ■ ^ <■ p ' I": nimity in not having noticed him. He had seen in tlie newspapers there a great many things which he was sure disgraced the Press ; and he icnew, beyond a doubt, that Government had endured a great deal of obloquy. He recollected one gentleman, who was in the profession of the law there, and who, had he pursued that profession, possessed talents that must have ensured his fortune ; but, instead of taking tliat course, he set up a newspaper, to observe on the conduct and atfairs of the Government, with which he had nothing to do. Though he was a clever man, he could not be supposed capable of judging of the motives which led Government to adopt particular measures; and, as was generally the case, when he did attempt to judge of them, he always viewed them in a disadvantageous light As he could perceive no necessity for urging the motion, he begged leave to move the pre- vious question. " The Ch4ibman stated that he wished to say a few i^orda, which would, perhaps, shorten the discussion on that subject If he understood the honourable proprietor correctly, he said, that if there existed no intention to alter the present state of things with respect to the Asiatic Press, he would not persist in his motion. " Col. STANtf o^E daid, that if there existed no inten- tion to re-erect the Censoi^hip, either now or at any future period, that then he should not press his motion; but that if an intention to restore the Censorship was enter- tained, then he certainly would press it, because it was his intention to proceed further in the business. ** The Chairman stated that it was totally out of his power to say what might be done in future ; but as far as he knew the sentiments of the Court of Directors, no such intention now existed. Looking to this circumstance, . d ■i tad seen in the ch he was sure d a doubt, that obloquy. He ;e profession of that profession, is fortune; but, a newspaper, to te Government, lOUgh he was a )able of judging adopt particular e, when he did iwed them in a eive no necessity o move the pre- led to say a few le discussion on rable proprietor no intention to respect to the motion. sisted no inten- or at any future lis motion; but rship was enter- because it was iiness. otally out of his re ; but as far as if Directors, no IS circumstance, (y? and considering the delicacy of the subject, on which a variety of opinions necessarily prevailed, he hoped the honourable proprietor would consent to withdraw his motion. " Col. Stanhope said that he withdrew it with pleasure after that pledge ; he meant the pledge the honourable Chairman had given. He did not refer to his own words, but to those of the honourable Chairman. ** The Chairman said, he could not pledge himself as to the future ; but no intention existed, for any thing he knew, to renew the measure at the present time. " The Hon. D. Kinnaird expressed his acquiescence in the withdrawal of the motion ; and he would put it to the honourable proprietor, whether what had fallen from the honourable Chairman ought not to be fully satisfactory to his own mind ? " Mr. Lowndes hoped the subject would not be drop- ped until he made some observations in defence of the Marquis Wellesley. ** The Chairman conceived the motion to be now withdrawn." * Though the motion had been thus withdrawn, Messrs. Grant, Jackson, and Lowndes made speeches on the subject of the Indian Press. On attempting to answer them, I was called to order, and could not obtain a hear- ing. These gentlemen spoke as follows : " Mr. Lowndes wished to say a few words with respect to the Liberty of the Press in India. He would not let it go forth without comment that the Marquis Wellesley had set up a i^stem which the Marquis of Hastings • Asiatic Journal, (1821,) XII. pp. 157— 164. F 2 >n 't .ii 68 r!-. ! ':]i^ t 04 ,"fi deemed it necessary to abolish. But look to the situa- tion of India, when the Marquis Wellesley adopted the Censorship: it was in the same revolutionary state in which this country was plunged twenty-five years ago; and he thought, under these circumstances, it was neces- sary to put a straight waistcoat on the writers there, to prevent them from destroying the Government, and receiving the property of the Company. Mr. Wilberforce had recently said, that this Company of merchants not only governed 80,000,000 of subjects, but governed them well ; and if they did govern them well, was it not in consequence of the power the Wellesley family established in India? When the Marquis Wellesley instituted the Censorship, he did so because India was in a very differ- ent stat« from that in which it appeared at present. It was assailed by tempests and storms; but now the storms were blown over, and it might be proper for the Marquis of Hastings to adopt a different course. " Mr. R. Twining put it to the honourable Chairman, whether this discussion ought not to be (•'^rminated. The honourable proprietor was arguing on a matter which related solely to a motion that had been withdrawn, and therefore he was out of order. " Mr. Lowndes. — Surely the honourable gentleman will see the propriety of not letting a slander go out against the Marquis Wellesley, who was described as the despot of the Press. There was an obvious reason for withdrawing the Censorship now, which was, that he had subdued our enemies in India by his wise government, and therefore less danger was to be apprehended from a change of system. " As the Court was breaking up, Mr. Grant offered himself to the notice of the Chairman, requesting to be 69 : to the situa- y adopted tlie onary state in ive years ago; s, it was neccs- riters there, to vernment, and Ir. W i 1 be r force merchants not governed them , was it not in nily established f instituted the in a very differ- present. It was the storms were the Marquis of rable Chairman, rminated. The matter which withdrawn, and rable gentleman slander go out described as the vious reason for kvas, that he had ise government, rehended from a , Grant offered requesting to be »♦..' allowed to address a few words on the important subject before them, which could not, he thought, be with pro> priety left to terminate as it then stood. He said, that when it was proposed to withdraw a motion which had been submitted to the Court, the leave of the Court was requisite to that end ; this had not yet been regularly given, and therefore he did not conceive that he was out of order in claiming the attention of the Court for a short time. ** It was not his wish, in the least degree, to provoke discussion by any observation which might fall from him ; he felt, on the contrary, that discussion ought to be avoided, because this was one of the most critical and important subjects that could possibly engage the attention of the Government of this country, or of the East-India Company, and therefore to be approached with the greatest caution and deliberation. So considering it, he was well content that the motion should be withdrawn ; but the circumstances under which this was done should be correctly known, otherwise an erroneous idea of what had passed might, by means of the reports which would appear in the different newspapers, be very widely disse- minated through India as well as this country ; and from these itmight be inferred that the Court both acquiesced in the statements and reasoning of the honourable proprietor, and that the Directors remained under some pledge to make no change in the regulations for the Press as they at present stood; he wished, therefore, to enter his decided protest against each of those statements. He was notf however y friendly to any harsh or unnecessary restriction on the Liberty of the Press ; nor did he mean, in entering his protest, to impugn the motives of the honourable proprietor who introduced the subject. He did not ;ii^i 7" it r it queHtion that his motiveB were of a public-spirited nature, but he could not acquiesce in the honourable proprietor's history of the Press in India, being convinced that, from beginning to end, he was mistaken in his statement of facts. He himself (Mr. Grant said) had served the Company several years in India, and under those governments to which the honourable gentleman had referred — the go- vernments of Mr. Hastings and of the Marquis Cornwallis. He had not been an inattentive observer of what occurred in that country during his residence there, and he certainly knew nothing of the existence of that frei^dom of the Press, which the honourable proprietor had asserted; nothing, indeed, of that kind was then either established or claimed ; on the contrary, he thought he recollected an instance of Lord Cornwallis's sending an European out of the country for the liberty he assumed in some misuse of the Press ;* and he well remembered that Lord Teign- mouth had shipped for England the editor of a newspaper, who had advertized a pamphlet on the " rights" or the ** wrongs" of the army, at a time when the temper of its officers was in a very critical state. " With respect to that freedom of the Press which the honourable member had represented as existing under the Native Government, it was an idea perfectly new to him, and he believed to eveiy gentleman who ever re- sided in India, and was acquainted with the character of that Government. In fact, there was under it no Press at all, but freedom of discussion, in any form, was utterly unknown to the genius of the Government and of the '! '.t' V •5 < ' )t , ill' "l . ■ ... y^, f ■. i = * '< The honourable ex-director has since expressed a doubt whether the case to which he alluded should not have been referred to Lord Wellesley's government." 71 pirited nature, le proprietor's :ed that, from ement of facts, the Company overnments to 2rred— the go- jisCornwallis. ivhat occurred id he certainly eodom of the had asserted; er established le recollected European out I some misuse t Lord Teign- 'a newspaper, ights" or the temper of its ess which the xisting under fectly new to who ever re- 3 character of ir it no Press 1, was utterly t and of the 1 doubt whether -eferred to Lord v>' people. The honourabi^^ member likewise appeared en- tirely to misconceive the Lituatlon in which the English Press in Bengal was placed at the present moment, and the nature of the measure which Lord Hastings had adopted in relation to it. What had the Marquis of Hastings really done? He had done one thing, and he had done no more: he had withdrawn the examination of English newspapers by an officer of the Government, usually called a Censor, but the principles and rules by which that officer had been directed to regulate his exa- mination, were still in force. The Noble Marquis, in withdrawing the former order to editors of English new»- papers, to submit their papers before publication to the inspection of a Censor, had imposed on them the observ- ance of the same rules by which their papers were to be regulated before the duties of the olHcer were dispensed with. The editor of a newspaper was not now obliged to communicate the contents of bis paper to a Censor before he published it, but the rules and restrictions un- der which he was before allowed to publish were still prescribed to him in writing as the guide of his conduct, and thus remained in force just as before; all which the records of the Company would prove. Such was the present state of the case, and he thought it was only just to the Marquis of Hastings that the real fact should be known. With respect to the alteration which had taken place by suppressing the Censorship, it was a point on which, of course, diversities of opinion might exist. He did not mean to discuss it. In his opinion, the freedom of the Press was one of the most important subjects that could be agitated by any government, and to no govern- ment could it be so delicate, so diflicult, and so impor- tant, as to their Indian Government. Whatever mighl 1 'l;^ ^1' • r ilk ' Ym ■ ■,i' : ''•i! !! ■I S have been the idea of the Marquis of Hastings in with- drawing the Censorship, it was clear that he still main- tained the original restrictions by which the English Press of Bengal had I een governed. It was not indeed to be supposed that a man of his large views, and his talents for government, would throw open the Press of India, free of all restraint, in the manner that had been supposed; such an act would be contrary to that pru- dence, foresight, and vigour, which other measures of his administration had evinced. He did not himself wish (Mr. Grant said) to propose any restriction on the present state of the Press; but he was desirous that the public should know how the case now really stood, and he was ex- tremely anxious to deprecate any premature or unneces- sary discussion of this question. Had the Liberty of the Press in India been as unrestrained as the honourable proprietor supposed it to be, still he should think it very unadvisable to introduce the first discussion on that ques- tion in a popular assembly like the present, uninformed as many gentlemen must be on the subject. He was therefore glad that the honourable proprietor had thought fit to withdraw his motion; but he hoped it was not withdrawn under an idea of an implied acquiescence in his statements, or to what he had now briefly to advert, in the second place, under a supposition that the judg- ment of the Court of Directors, with respect to this ques- tion, was to be confmed or restricted in future. In this respect they must be understood to remain entirely with- out any pledge, given or implied. Nothing should be assumed beyond what the honourable Chairman had said, namely, that the Court of Directors had no proposition relative to this subject under consideration. He (Mr. Grant) believed that to be the fact : he said he believed 73 ings in with- le still main- the English IS not indeed ews, and his the Press of hat had been to that pru- easures of his self wish (Mr. resent state of >ublic should [ he was ex- B or unneces- jiberty of the e honourable think it very on that ques- :, uninformed ct. He was had thought it was not |uiescence in fly to advert, at the judg- to this ques- ure. In this ntirely with- should be lan had said, proposition . He (Mr. he believed it, because as he was not at present in the Court of Direc- tors, he could not speak from his own immediate knowledge. He again deprecated a hasty discussion of the question in that Court ; it could not, he concei\8d, produce any prac- tical advantage, and might lead to mischievous conse- quences. The natives of Bengal had began to issue publications from the Press in their own language. Let the effect of this experiment, and of the progressive dif- fusion of information throughout India by means of the Press, be vigilantly observed, and the regulations which existing circumstances may require be then timely pro- vided. He was, for one, willing that publicity should be given in India to useful productions on all proper sub- jects; but to say that the Indian Press should be placed in such a state as that any man, however desperate in fortune or principles, should be left at liberty to work by an engine of such mighty power on the native mind, to stir up and to inflame the prejudices of a Hindoo popu- lation, either in favour of claims of their own, or in opposition to a government of foreigners, would be most needlessly and unwisely to expose our own security. It would be something, he might almost say, like permitting the approach of a man with a lighted match in his hand to a barrel of gunpowder. With these sentiments, and feel- ing the most decided objection to the discussion of the question at present, he must repeat that he was well satisfied the motion should be withdrawn.* " Mr. R. Jackson was extremely glad that the ho- nourable ex-director had taken the trouble to state his * This unpremeditated speech was much applauded. The senti- ments of an experienced, intelHgent, and honest man must always have great weight. miM :r. '1 i !■ i'l ./• .) 1, .J !> 74 sentiments on this occasion, because he conceived it to be a matter of the last moment that what had passed should be clearly understood. The honourable proprietor introduced his motion with this sort of provision, namely, • If you, the Court of Directors, will pledge yourselves that the Censorship shall neither now nor at any future time be renewed, I will withdraw my proposition, but not else.' Now, if it were to go forth to the country, that, on the Directors giving this solemn pledge, the honourable gentleman had condescended to withdraw his motion, it would seem to sanction the correctness of his historical facts, as well as his application of them. In his mind, what fell from the honourable Chairman amount- ed to this, and to no more : * I know of no intention, of no contemplation which at present exists, to undo that which the Marquis of Hastings has done; and beyond that I do not and cannot pledge myself.* One most substantial reason had been given by the honourable ex-director who had just sat down for not pressing this discussion farther, and that was the extreme delicacy of the subject Indeed, the Court of Directors might safely say, * Considering the delicacy with which it is sur- rounded, and the detail of historical facts with which it is connected, this is a question of the most momentous nature, and ought not to be lightly or prematurely moot- ed.' The honourable ex-director had told them how the Marquis of Hastings had acted; and he had described his proceedings in such a way, that, according to his (Mr, Jack" sons) idea, no man could/airly object to the degree in which he had magnanimously relieved the Press of India, They had learned, that though the Noble Marquis had with- drawn the immediate Censorship, he had not withdrawn any of those wise rules and cautions which, in a govcrn- m 15 ceived it to had passed e proprietor on, namely, : yourselves ; any future osition, but he country, pledge, the ithdraw his tness of his i* them. In lan amount- Qtention, of > undo that md beyond One most honourable ressing this delicacy of aight safely it is sur- th which it momentous irely moot- m how the iescribed his {Mr, Jack- •ee in which dia. They had with- withdrawn rj a govern- ment like that of India, were essential to the welfare of the state. It would, indeed, have been unlike his own great mind, it would have been unworthy of his high character as a statesman, if he had withdrawn the Cen- sorship in a manner so perfectly unqualified as was stated by the honourable gentleman. " Col. Stanhope. — I did not say that the Press en- joyed unqualified freedom. " Mr. R.Jackson. — Such I took to be the effect of the honourable proprietor's statement; and I believe I am not solitary in my supposition. " Col. Stanhope.— I mentioned the restrictions. " Mr. R. Jackson said the honourable gentleman had indeed alluded to restrictions, but his observations went to this, that the * base Censorship' was abolished, and that all persons, English and otherwise, were at liberty to write their ideas on all subjects as freely as in this country. He had himself mentioned an instance of a man of very liberal mind, a profound Eastern scholar, one of our swarthy subjects, as he had called them, who had written a work for the purpose of reforming the re- ligious prejudices of the various sects of India. Now, suppose an European were to make animadversion on a thousand customs and habits of the Hindoos, which, though they might appear to us highly ridiculous, were viewed wlHi very different feelings by the Hindoos, would not thr Marquis of Hastings, who was at the head of a government of opinion, feel it to be a matter of state neces ' y to take immediate steps to silence and put down, if not expatriate, * that writer, as a person whose * The Governor-General may send home, but cannot expatriate a writer. I ii "i 'I" 76 :'i i » .1 I ■« I i wo'-l^'s were likely to produce dangerous consequences to the british interests } •* If he might be allowed to draw an inference from what had fallen from his honourable friend, (Mr. Kin- naird,) it seemed as if this act of removing the Censorship was to be so identified with the civil proceedings of the Marquis of Hastings, as to be the principal ground for a vote of that Court thanking him ior his civil administra- tion. As one of the most grateful and ardfiirc admirers of that Nobleman's conduct, he would be very sorry if it were to be understood, in any quarter, that those who denied merit to that particular proceeding, must, there- fore, withhold their approval from the other great acts of his administration. He made this remark because, though, speaking for himself, he most cordially approved of the removal of the Censorship, yet he knew that very sensible people ditlered on the subject. They knew, from what had passed in the House of Commons, that a majority of the Court of Directors did not feel cordial towards this act of the Noble Marquis ; and though Mr. Canning did not countenance a paragraph which was proposed for India, and which would, to a certain degree, have been condemna- tory of the conduct of the Marquis of Hastings on this point, it was plain that a difference of opinion subsisted among the Directors on this point. He should, therefore, regret, whenever a proposition of thanks to the Noble Marquis for his civil administration should be brought forward, which he for one would hail as ardently as any man, if this particular measure were so to be placed as to prevent those who joined in praising every other part of his con- duct, from cordially and unanimously supporting such a motion. He was satisfied, for his own part, that the change had been effected under circumstances of such insequences to iference from id, (Mr. Kin- he Censorship sedings of the [ ground for a n\ administra- doirc admirers ery sorry if it lat those who , must, there- r great acts of cause, though, proved of the t very sensible iv, from what ; a majority of towards this . Canning did ■)sed for iTidia, een condemna- s on this point, ted among the refore, regret, oble Marquis jght forward, 8 any man, if as to prevent rt of his con- orting such a art, that the mces of such 77 extreme circumspection, that, thnvgh the odium was got rid of, the security remained. But supposing tiie honourable gentleman to have persisted in his motion, he ought to have stated to what purpose he meant to apply these papers if they were granted. ** The peculiar circumstances in which the proprietors constitutionally stood, was such, that whatever view the lonourable gentleman might have had, they in that Court could not interfere otherwise than by way of recommen- dation, since it was not in their power to originate a single paragraph to India. He certainly should have thought it fair, if the honourable gentleman had persisted in his motion, to have inquired of him what use he meant to make of those documents, that the proprietors might know whether he had any object in view which could be legally accomplished in that Court. He was glad the honourable gentleman had withdrawn his motion with- out any such promise or pledge as had been alluded to. He trusted that the gentlemen who reported their pro- ceedings so correctly for the newspapers, would be parti- cular in noticing the qualified statement of the honourable Chairman: it would then appear that the motion was not withdrawn under any pledge or promise, but on an inti- mation that there was no thought or intention of revoking the concession of what the Marquis of Hastings had done. " The Hon. Mr. Elphinstone said a few words, in a very low tone of voice. We understood him to approve of the withdrawal of the motion. " The Court then adjourned." * These speeches, could I have obtained a fair hearing, might have been answered in a few words. Mr. Grant • Aiiatic Jovmalf XII. pp. I65— l6rf. hi m ;r I ^ r. I I .4'- i t i: ;5*. ! •h ■ (I r' ' » , 78 stated, that the Liberty of the Press had not existed in the time of Lord Cornwallis, and as a proof of it he mentioned an instance of that Noble Lord having sent a person home " for the liberty he assumed in the misuse of the Press." The worthy ex-director has since expressed a doubt whether the case to which he alluded should not have been referred to Lord Wellesley. He next mentioned Lord Teignmouth having "shipped for England the editor of a newspaper who had advertised a pamphlet on the * rights^ and * wrongs* of the army, at a time when the temper of its officers was in a very criti- cal state." But has Mr. Grant never heard of persons being shipped from England to Botany-bay for similar offences ? Had he been in Court a little sooner, he would have heard read the Asiatic Mirror of the 11th of June, 1794, which contained animadversions on the Court of Directors, on Lord Cornwallis, on the Batavian Govern- ment, on the Naval and Military Commanders-in-Chief, &c. ; and all this appeared in one sheet under the wise administration of Lord Teignmouth. Mr. Grant stated, that no freedom of writing had existed under the Native Governments. That was an assertion contradicted by Dow, Ferishta, and in the pages of the best Native historians. Mr. Randle Jackson asked what future steps I meant to take. He had no right to expect that his adversary would apprize him of his mode of attack. Had I, how- ever, been allowed to speak, I should have gratified the learned gentleman's curiosity, by declaring an inter- minable war against the system, and a resolution to expose before the Court, on every fair occasion, some bad act illustrative of the evils that exist under a Censorship. I also might have given a rough but true sketch of those subsidiary states which Lord Wellesley had reduced. i ■|? i4 not existed proof of it ord having med in the )r has since he alluded lesley. He shipped for advertised le army, at . very criti- of persons for similar ', he would bh of June, e Court of jn Govern- •s-in-Chief, T the wise int stated, the Native (dieted by st Native s I meant adversary id I, how- atified the an inter- ^lution to some bad ensorship. h of those reduced. M I under pretence of their requiring a radical reform ; and no doubt, his Lordship would have acted up to his prin- ciple. Nor could I have omitted to portray the soft pageant of Hydrabad rioting in luxury, surrounded by his female guards,* and by the discipline and the nerve and the iron of British soldiers, and by three millions of licentious, starving subjects, doomed to that living curse, anarchical despotism — a curse that could not prevail with the toleration of free discussion. Mr. Lowndes accused me of slandering Lord Welles- ley. That was a heavy charge. Lord Wellesley had set up a Censorship in Asia, of which Mr. Lowndes ap- proved, and then called me slanderer for merely stating the fact. Perhaps the gentleman calling me so was the slan- derer. However, as Mr. Lowndes could not bear to have an English ruler censured for having established a mental despotism, I will endeavour to conciliate him by giving that Nobleman due praise. In the Marquis's career in the East, there were, indeed, prominent features which all must admire. He distributed his extensive patronage with a just and liberal attention to the public interest, and with excellent discrimination ; he founded a noble College at Calcutta — a monument the most appropriate to com- memorate the fame of a scholar ; and he mastered a hostile coalition of nations, aided by the genius and daring of France. I cannot conclude this Section without remarking, that the speakers thus -'iTering with me on the influence of a Free Press, all pro' ssed to approve that magnanimous act of Lord Hastings, the abolition of the base Censorship. * The Nizam has a regiment of women to guard his person. ' I 80 :! 4 ^^• ' r 't I " .3 SECTION IX. Animadversions on the Asiatic Press in England, '* To such men a whole generation of human beings are of no more consequence than a frog in an air pump.**— furAe. In August, 1821, there appeared in the Asiatic Jmr- nal, an attack on the freedom of the Indian Press. It was reputed to be written by a distinguished Member of the Court of Directors, and forms the first article in the following correspondence : " To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal, " Sir, — A friend of mine, who attended the meeting of Proprietors of East-India Stock at the India-House yesterday, has reported to me the substance of the speech of the honourable gentleman who moved for the produc- tion of papers on the subject of the restrictions on the freedom of the Press in India, together with the outline of the speeches of the seconder of the motion, and of the honourable Proprietor who spoke in reply. *• It affords me great pleasure to learn that the latter honourable gentleman, with that accuracy and ability which so eminently distinguish him, demonstrated the error of most of those assertions, and supposed historical facts, on which the arguments of the honourable Mover were mainly founded. If I had happened to be present on that occasion, I should have felt it to be my duty to follow up what that gentleman so successfully urged, by the statement of a fact, bearing strongly on the question, which came within my own personal knowledge, I \ England, ;s are of no more 5 Asiatic Jawt' ian Press. It id Member of article in the rnal, 1 the meeting s India-House I of the speech r the produc- ictions on the th the outline on, and of the -y hat the latter and ability lonstrated the wsed historical ourable Mover to be present )e my duty to lly urged, by the question, inowledge, I 1 I ■m M thepefore beg leave to state it to you, for the |)urposc of being inserted in your useful Journal, and for the eventual consideration of those gentlemen, who, allured by the attractive theories displayed in the debate of yesterday, may be advocates for the unrestricted liberty of the Press in India. " During the administration of the late Lord Minto, various tracts in the Persian, Hindoostanee, and Ben- gallee languages, vilifying the character of the Maho- medan Prophet and his religion, and exposing his impos- tures as well as the absurdities of the Hindoo mythology, and the frauds and artifices by which the Brahmins exer- cise a mental tyranny over their credulous votaries, were printed at the Press of the Missionary Society, at Seram- pore, for the purpose of being circulated among the native inhabitants of our provinces, although (as subse- quently explained) without the knowledge and concurrence of the truly respectable members of that Society. " The language of these tracts, especially of those which related to the religion of the Mahomedans, was in the highest degree offensive, Fornuately, however, before these dangerous productions had got into circulation, the Government adopted the most prompt and energetic measures for the suppression of them. The missionaries readily surrendered all the copies of these inflammatory works remaining in their hands, and gave a solemn assu- rance (to which they have religiously adhered) never again to permit similar works to issue from their Press. " Can any one. Sir, who is acquainted with the cha- racter of the native population of India, doubt the conse- quences which the unchecked dift'usion of these perni- cious tracts among the Mahomedans and Hindoos of our provinces would have produced ?—* Touch the religion of the Mahomedan,' says the late Rev. Claudius Bu- :a?- f ;,! -n if' .'1 •i 1 .i...'- .fi' "ll,' ' ■il', ,^ li -■"' lii'f , » i|-| '• ^iii? ^,k ^'■1 -:[•'•' ■'i!!-. i ,'' §'.; . ^-it' 1 i '*|i Mi i ' ■«H,i' 1 i;i^v 1 , '^y. ■t. f i ■•ft • ■M' 1 :l. ■fi [' \ ] ' !i' V ir 89 chanan, ' and he draws his dagger.' When the form of a turban proved an engine sufficiently powerful, in the hands of a few mischievous and designing men, to effect a combination of our native soldiery for the murder of their oiliccrs, is it to be supposed that the instrumentality of these works would not have been employed for a similar purpose, or that works of that description would not, independently of any collateral excitement, have roused the latent fanaticism of the bigoted Mussulman or Hindoo ? " Sir, little doubt can, I think, be entertained, that if the Local Government had not peremptorily and effec- tually exerted its authority, the most serious consequences would have ensued. We owe it to the existence of that systematic controul over the Liberty of the Press, which was the subject of the honourable proprietor's vitupera- tive eloquence, and to its seasonable and authoritative exercise, on that occasion, that this danger was averted. The freedom of the Press might otherwise have let loose the dagger and the sword, and British India might have exhibited, on a much wider scale, the horrors which have lately taken place at Manilla. " With a view to shew that the highest British au- thority in India, far from being an advocate for the freedom of the Press in the existing condition of society in that country, is sensible of the necessity of imposing restrictions upon it, I subjoin a copy of rules which were established for the guidance of the editors of the newspapers under the orders of the present illustrious and enlightened Governor-General, when the Censorship of the Press was abolished ; and which were circulated amongst all the editors in Calcutta, and subsequently published by the Editor of the Calcutta Government Gazette. f the form of ;rful, in the 2n, to effect ■t murder of itrumentahty ployed for a iption would lement, have Mussulman Eiined, that if ly and effec- consequences itencc of that Press, which or's vitupera- authoritative was averted, lave let loose a might have '8 which have It British au- icate for the on of society of imposing rules which itors of the t illustrious |e Censorship Ire circulated [subsequently Government dd " • The editors of newspapers are prohibited from piib- iisliing any matter coming under the following heads: " ' 1st. Animadversions on the measures and proceed- ings of the honourable Court of Directors, or other public authorities in England connected with the Go- vernment of India; or disquisitions on political transac- tions of the local administration, or offensive remarks levelled at the public conduct of the Members of the Council, of the Judges of the Supreme Court, or of the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. "*'2d. Discussions having a tendency to create alarm or suspicion among the native population of any intended interference with their religious opinions or observances. " ' 3d. The republication from English or other news- papers, of passages coming under any of the above heads; or otherwise calculated to affect the British [)ower or reputation in India. " * 4th. Private scandal, and personal remarks on indi- viduals, tending to excite dissension in society.* ** I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, "An Old Indian, and Proprietor of East-India Stock."* " To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal, " Sir : — Your laat Journal contains a letter from an Old Indian, on the subject of thv> Asiatic Press. The venerable gentleman, too feeble, perhaps, to attend to his duty in the Court of Proprietors when the matter was discussed, and too inert or too blind to read the report of the proceedings, employs his friend to narrate to him * the outline* of the Debate, and then comments on it * »4siatic Journal, W\. Wt, \\Cy ^. ^^'^o v^„ ^-^' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 121 12.5 1^ 12.2 1.8 ys ||j^ 1^ ^ 6" ► HiotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ ^ \ :\ iV \ ■51 V ^5}j ''4 I H4 I 1 '\l\-^\ f.-,i m HI with full confidence. Now, if the powers of the Old Indian be so absolute that he can even reason without premises, I must bow to his authority. " When, however, the Old Indian throws aside his high attributes, and reasons from facts, I may then ven- ture to contend with him in argument. ' During the administration of Lord Minto,' says the Old Indian, * va- rious tracts in the Persian, Hindoostanee, and Bengallee languages, vilifying the character of the Mahomedan Prophet and his religion, and exposing his impostures, as well as the absurdities of the Hindoo mythology, and the frauds and artifices by which the Brahmins exercise a mental tyranny over their credulous votaries, were printed at the Press of the Missionary Society at Seram- pore, for the purpose of being circulated among the Native Inhabitants of our provinces, although without the knowledge and concurrence of the truly respectable members of that Society.* " The former part of the statement, notwithstanding its apparent tone of exaggeration, may be grafted on truth. But the latter part bears internal proof of your Correspondent being here again misled by hearsay evi- dence ; for who will believe that such worthy men as Dr. Carey and Mr. Ward would, to serve any end, aver that tracts on such a subject, and intended to circulate among sixty millions «i* men, had been printed in their house, and under the latter person's official superintend- ance, without their knowledge and concurrence? On the contrary, will not every body conclude that these Missionaries considered the tracts as useful, and were anxious to give them a wide currency? * The language of these tracts,' continues the Old Indian, ' especially of those which related to the religion of the Mahomedans, r the Old 1 without aside his then ven- uring the iiariy *va- Bengallee ahomedan n postures, (logy, and 8 exercise ries, were at Seram- mong the 1 without espectable thstanding ^rafted on f of your arsay evi- y men as end, aver circulate ^d in their perinteud- tnce ? On that these and were I language especially homedans. i 85 was in the highest degree offensive. Fortunately, how- ever, before these dangerous productions had got into circulation, the Government suppressed them.' By this ' seasonable and authoritative exercise this danger was averted,* or * the freedom of the Press might otherwise have let loose the dagger and the sword.* * Touch the religion of the Mahomedan,' says Buchanan, * and he draws his dagger. — When the form of a turban proved an engine sufficiently powerful in the hands of a few mischievous and designing men, to effect a combination of our native soldiery for the murder of their officers, is it to be supposed that the instrumentality of these works would not have been employed for a similar pur- pose, or that works of that description would not, inde- pendently of any collateral excitement, have roused the latent fanaticism of the bigoted Mussulman or Hindoo ?* To this hst question I answer, No ! 1 contend that the government which rigidly adheres to the great principles of religious liberty, has nothing to fear from the influence of a Free Press, restricted, as all rational liberty must be, by wholesome laws. I shall endeavour to prove the reasonableness of my assertion. "It is not abstract reasoning. Old Indian y which excites religious animosities and civil wars ; it is a med- dling policy, enforced by penal statutes and persecution. Observe how peaceably persons of all persuasions asso- ciate in every country where religious liberty prevails. In England and in America Jews and Christians, and in Hindostan, Mahomedans and Hindoos live in amity, though the sacred writings of each set denounce and pass sentence on all other sects. The 18th article of the Church of England expressly states, that * they also are to be had accursed, that presume to say that every man in 8(i ^,kI: ! 1 shall be saved by the law or sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the light of nature: for Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.' The Bible Societies and the good Missionaries of Serampore are, notwithstanding this denunciation, engaged in translating our Scriptures into every Eastern language, and dispersing them over all parts of Asia and of Africa. " Numerous instances might be adduced, to shew how harmless freedom of discussion is, where the Government acts, as our Indian Government does, in the true spirit of religious freedom. I have read of a missionary at Ceylon preaching the word of the Gospel before Mussulmans and others in a mosque. This was indeed a high breach of decorum and of religious liberty. And at the great fair of Hurdwa I have heard of another fervent mis- sionary, who loudly proclaimed the tenets of the Christian faith. Hurdwa is the spot where the Ganges, after forcing its way through the mountains, enters the plain. Here two millions of pilgrims are said once to have assembled, and here about three hundred thousand annually meet, for the purpose of undergoing ablution in the holy stream. Now, to preach to, and to brave such a mul- titude, in a place to them so sacred, was unlike the general prudent conduct of these pious men. It was most unwise. Still * the dagger and the sword' slept fast in their scabbards. Rammohun Roy, the great Hindoo Reformer, held public monthly meetings in the metropolis of our Eastern Empire, for the purpose of freely discussing the tenets of the Hindoo religion, and the cruelties and polytheism practised under the pre- vailing superstition. He is author of many tracts and 87 .a ■( h / ■■'-k jfesseth, to that re doth V hereby le good ng this res into 5ver all ew how eminent spirit of Ceylon iulmans breach e great it mis- hristian forcing Here smbled, Y meet, e holy a mul- ke the It was * slept great in the >ose of 1, and e pre- ts and newspaper paragraphs, * exposing the impostures as well as the absurdities of the present Hindoo mythology, and the frauds and artifices by which the Brahmins exercise a mental tyranny over their votaries.' Ranimohun Roy tells us, he has translated into the Bengallee and Ilin- doostanee languages the Vedant, hitherto concealed by the Brahmins within the dark curtain of the Sanscrit. He has endeavoured to prove that every rite has its derivation from the allegorical adoration of the Deity, and that He alone is the object of propitiation and wor- ship ; though at the present day the Hindoo deems it heresy, and even blasphemy, to assert the Unity ef the Supreme Being. This wise Brahmin distributes his work free of cost to his countrymen. " Some, even, of the Mahomedan Emperors permitted religious liberty. The famous Akbar called into his pre- sence persons of various persuasions, for the purpose of freely discussing with them the great question of religion. He was instructed in the tenets of the Christian faith by a missionary from Portugal. To acquire knowledge of the Hindoo Greed, he concerted a plan with Abulfazil to impose his brother, Feize, upon the Brahmins as a poor orphan of their tribe. Feize was accordingly instructed by a learned Brahmin at Benares. During his studies there, he fell in love with the daughter of his instructor, who consented to their union. Moved by gratitude towards him, Feize confessed his fraud. He was for- given on condition that he would never translate the Vedas, or reveal the Creed. Abulfazil, in his introduc- tion to the Akbery, breathes the same liberal sentiments as his master. * Monarchs,* says the Secretary, * actu- ated by the pride and self-conceit of sectaries, have pro- hibited free discussion and inquir}^. A regard for self- •I »/' ■ mf l«.^v 88 preservation, therefore, induces men either to be silent, or to express themselves in obscure language, or compels them to conform to the temper of the times; but if princes had evinced a disposition to promote the search after truth, many illustrious men would have published with freedom their sentiments. The monarch's example is a law to all, and thus every sect becomes infatuated with its particular doctrines; animosity and dissension prevail ; and each man, deeming the tenets of his sect to be the dictates of truth itself, aims at the destruction of all others; villifies reputation, stains the earth with blood, and has the vanity to imagine he is performing meritorious actions. If the voice of reason was attended to, mankind would be sensible of their error, and lament the weakness which misled them to interfere in the con- cerns of each other. Persecution, after all, defeats its own ends ; it obliges men to conceal their opinions, but produces no change in them.' Where this philosophic spirit prevails, nations have not been visited with reli- gious wars. Philosophers have, indeed, been represented as Atheists. This is a vulgar error, for philosophers love religion, and have in all times rendered it essential service, by destroying superstition and fanaticism. To them we owe that religious freedom so wisely inculcated by Abul- fazil. A spirit of intolerance, on the other hand, never failed to produce uncharitableness, and has caused a sea of blood to flow in the world. It matters not whether it be exercised in the arbitrary support of true religion, or in the suppression of irrational superstition ; whether in commanding the pure worship of the Divinity, or in attempting to force from the Hindoo's mind his swarm of gods. *• I shall now speak of the massacre at Vellore : a story \ i 89 big with folly, wickedness, enterprise, murders, and re- venge. To make sepoys shave their faces was as silly an act, as it would be to order the heads of the British army to be shaved ; and in obliging Mahomedans to lay aside their turbans, to which they attach serious importance, and in their stead to wear caps like the despised pariah drummers, and with fronts of leather to them, which they abominate, we offended against the principles of religious liberty, and the policy of our Indian Govern- ment. Should the Old Indian be a Catholic, would he like to wear a Saracen's turban? or if a Protestant, to have blazoned on his cap the image of the Virgin Mary > or, if a Jew, to have it embellished with a cross? And if not, can he be surprised that fiery and bigoted Maho- medan soldiers should be provoked by similar indigni- ties ? It was not, however, * the form of the turban* that roused the soldiery to murder the oiTicers at Vel- lore, but an active interference in a part of their dress which affected their religious feelings, and a political attachment to an unfortunate Prince. In proof of this, we know that the form of the turbans of the whole Bengal army has lately been changed, and not a murmur has ensued. " Hence, on the evidence of experience, it appears that every danger is to be apprehended from intolerance and religious interference, and none from a Free Press, con- trouled by wise laws purely administered. " I am. Sir, your most humble servant, ''Leicester Stanhope. " London, Aug, 15, 1821."* M 'v.;j •irl • Asiatic Journal, XII. 253—2.55. ■>» 90 1 ■ m " To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal, *' Sir : — As the Honourable Advocate for the Freedom of the Press in India has been pleased to notice my ad- dress to you on that subject, I think it necesary to oifer a few brief remarks in reply to his comments on my letter:— his bantering comments on my assumed cha- racter, I am sure he will not himself think deserving of notice, and they shall have none. I can venture, on the most credible authority, to affirm that the honourable proprietor is wrong in his conjecture that the missionaries considered the tracts to which I adverted as useful, and were anxious to give them a wide currency : on the con- tniry, I can assure the honourable proprietor, on the same authority, that they admitted those tracts to be net only useless, as a means of conversion, but of a tendency de- cidedly dangerous. Moreover, I have too much respect for the characters of the individuals composing the Ana- baptist Mission, to disbelieve their assertion, that the tracts in question were published without their knowledge of the contents of them. •• With regard to the effects which I stated as likely to be produced by those scurrilous and offensive tracts, I reasoned, not merely from an intimate acquaintance with the feelings of the natives of India, especially the Maho- medans, on religious subjects ; but from the representa- tion of one of that very class into whose hands a copy of one of those tracts had fallen, and by whom those tracts which related to the Mahomedan religion were brought to the notice of Government But as the honourable proprietor has denied that tracts of that description, issuing from a Press the property of Europeans, were calculated to excite the fanaticism of the bigoted Mussul- 91 man or Hindoo, he expects his readers, I conclude, to consider his argument of negation superior to any argu- ment derived from fact, analogy, or experience. I have some recollection, as well as the honourable proprietor, of having heard of a missionary proclaiming the absurdity of the Pagan worship, at Hurdwa, for which, I also heard, he got heartily kicked and pelted ; nor is this the only instance of similar folly and of similar treatment within my remembrance. But it is not to be inferred from these exploits of individual folly, that the natives of India will patiently submit to the vilification of their faith, syte- matically promulgated under the sanction of that Govern- ment which has guaranteed to them the unmolested enjoyment of their religious rites and ceremonies ; and I must again maintain, that it is the absolute duty of the Local Government of India to restrain, by an act of authority, the Liberty of the Press, when it is prostituted to purposes so dangerous to the public safety and tran- quillity. The honourable proprietor has adduced the writings of Rammohun Roy, as a parallel to the tracts which [ described, and as a proof of the indifference with which the Hindoos tolerate an attack on their religious faith ; but the position is not correct, and the inference is not legitimate. The writings of Rammohun Roy have not the most distant resemblance to the tracts which I refer to, as the honoural . roprietor himself would admit, if he had perused both. The Hindoos, however, are not by any means so easily roused to fanaticism as the Mus- sulmans ; but, setting this consideration aside, I would ask whether the disquisitions of a Hindoo, on subjects of his own religion, can have the slightest tendency to excite the fanaticism of the professors of that religion against Europeans or the European administration? ill ■. ri: ■■< M\ 92 ti )fi, ■m But, Sir, in merely noticing these offensive publica- tions, we have been taking a very narrow view of the question of a Free Press in India. The state of so- ciety, and the nature of the Local Governnient, are not such as to qualify that country for the introduction of an unlimited Freedom of the Press. When a constitution shall be established in India, such as has been the growth of ages in England ; when a public shall have been formed in that country corresponding in its nature and compo- sition with a British public ; then let the Press be free from the controul of the governing power ; but in the actual condition of the European Establishments in India, the freedom which is advocated is only calculated to disturb the peace and harmony of the community, by subserving the purposes of private animosities and petty cavils; and to weaken the authority of Government, and promote discontent, by discussing the merits of public measures, for the conduct of which the Government is not responsible (as in England) to the community at large, and of which that community has not, and, under the existing system of the Indian administration, cannot have the means of judging, because precluded from access to the records, and the deliberations of the governing power, in political, military, judicial, fiscal, or any other concerns of state, or to the sources of its information relative to events and transactions within the limits of its controul and cognizance. ** The honourable proprietor has totally overlooked that part of my letter in which I quoted the recorded resolutions of the Governor-General in Council, the Marquis of Has- tings and his colleagues, in support of the view of the ques- tion which I have taken. Why he has omitted to notice this material part of my address, he best can tell. That high i 93 authority, bo far from advocating the Freedom of the Press in India, has positively prohibited animadversions on the Ttieasures and proceedings either of the Authorities at home, or of the Local Governments abroad : it has strictly prohibited discussions having a tendency to create alarm or suspicion among the native population, of any intended interference with their religious opinions or observances, and has even forbidden the republication of passages in newspapers from England, coming under any of the pre- ceding heads. These restraints on the Liberty of the Press were established at the moment when the Censor- ship, the regulations for the guidance of which, I am credibly informed, were less restrictive than those which have superseded them, was (for other reasons than those assigned by the honourable proprietor) abolished. " I am sure the honourable proprietor will not deem me very pertinacious or unreasonable, when I continue to maintain an opinion which is thus practically supported by the highest British authority in India, in opposition to his. I have only to add, that with this letter, the corre- spondence will close on my part. " I remain. Sir, your very obedient servant, " An Old Indian, and Proprietor of East-India Stock."* ** To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal, " Sir :— The friends of the Asiatic Press have no longei to contend with the Old Indian : he has abandoned the conflict; yet, still stubborn to his principles, his last words were for despotism. He tells us that the * Indian : ,!. rH * Asiatic Journal, XII. 339» 340. I ■J u , * J^l^ 1 < ;.i' ! f I': •. Uii .'I'; If*' 94 (rovcrnmcnt is not responsible to the community* fur its acts; but I hold that, as the public good is the only legitimate end of government, it should be every where accountable to the people for its conduct * When,* he observes, < a constitution shall be established in India, such as has been the growth of ages in England; when a public shall have been formed in that country corre- sponding in its nature with a British public, then let the Press be free.' In this sentiment I concur, but would, in the mean time, have it free, to produce this result. The Old Indian reasons like that fond granny, who would not allow her son to bathe, till he could swim. If the people of India are to enjoy no means of education, and to have no Free Press, and none of those institutions which were the sources of our advancement, till they shall arrive at Utopian excellence, then I fear that * even the work of ages* will not suffice to effect the object, unless, indeed, a miracle be wrought in their favour ; whereas, with such powerful aids, the work will be wonderfully accelerated. Here, too, it may be well to remind the Old Indian, that the liberties of England are not of a date so nK>dem as he seems to imagine; however encroached on by tyrants, they are our old inheritance. We have for them a title more ancient than Magna Cbarta ; for amidst the rigours of justice, Alfred preserved the most sacred regard for the liberty of bis people; and it is a memorable sentiment in his will, that it was just that the English should for ever remain free as their own thoughts. Hallowed be hi» memory ! " I am accused of having overlooked the restrictions' imposed on the Press. This charge I answer by referring the Old Indian to pages 159—161 of your Journal for fH«' 95 for its lie only y where len,' he 1 India, [; when y corre- 1 let the ould, in it. The >uld not i people to have ch were irrive at work of indeed, th such lerated. n, that as he yrants, a title [rigours Ifor the lent in ►r ever >e his lotions ferring lal for August last.* There I have spoken of these restrictions as calculated to paralyze the liberty of writing, but have proved that they have never been acted upon ; and that a degree of licentiousness has prevailed, such as was never tolerated in England ; for at no period could a writer in this country have with impunity accused the Chief Magis- trate of having been accessary to murders. But what of this? — Can slanders injure the pure fame of Hastings? No. Let his conduct be scrutinized by our statesmen and our chroniclers ; let every action of his administration be known ; probe him deep, countrymen, and you will fmd him, like a British oak, sound to the heart The fact is, that the restrictions were composed to conciliate the pow- erful enemies of freedom, and thereby to secure to Asia the permanent benefit of a Free Press. Lord Hastings's abolition of the base Censorship ; his answer to the Ma- dras Address,t a paper of much later date than the re- strictions; the free spirit discovered in every day's newspaper; and, indeed, the whole tenor of his Lord- ship's administration, prove his sincere attachment to a Free Press. Should it still be objected, that there is an inconsistency between the restrictions and the answer to the Address, I reply that there is a seeming inconsistency of words, calculated, however,^ to secure a consistency of action, for the furtherance of a noble end— the improve- ment and happiness of millions* " Having answered the Old Indian^ permit me now to make a few remarks on a letter from Carnaticzis, an avowed friend of despotism. * We must view,* says he, * our organization of government in India, in all its branches, as more appertaining to a system of martial rule or law. !V V '0. • See supra, pp. 63 — 50. t See ibid. pp. 32, S3. 96 !^- J ' J, than to any other form of govemmeiit.'t Now this is cer- tainly a very melancholy prospect ; for martial law is avowedly the worst species of government ; it is, in fact, no law, but the tyrannical will of the strong, and should never be lesorted to but in cases of extreme necessity. If, as I apprehend, Camatkuc means military law, that again is said by a crown Lawyer to be no law. * It is built,* says Blackstone, * upon no certain principles, but is entirely arbitrary in its decisions, and is in truth no law, but something indulged rather than allowed as law.* Yet military law here is indispr "bly authorized by an act of the legislature ; and as it comes yearly under the review of Parliament, it should .^e the most perfect of their edicts. Be it so or not, r^Mlitary law is undeniably better than martial law. Still I think, good Carnaticus, that out of your Shastres and Khoran, and our Acts of Parliament and Regulations, ar ' the «rast heaps of com- mentaries of Pundits and Cauzecs and Doctors, a some- what better code might be produced. At all events, a few intelligent and virtuous Europeans and Asiatics might, from these thoi lands of volumes, from all this ' essence of reason,' abi ract a code that would be more pleasant to read, be bette understood, and less subject to be perverted by the sly ar of learned civilians. Besides, I have always been taugh that our power consisted more in the justice of our rule than in our physical strength. * If, in the pride of powei observes Malcolm, * we ever forget the means by wb.-'. it has been attained, and, casting away our harvest of experience, are betrayed by a a rash confidence in what we may deem our intrinsic strength, to neglect those collateral means by which the * Atiatic Journal^ XII. 341. is cer- law is n fact, should lessity. vr, that *It is es, but uth no as law.* 1 by an der the rfect of leniably maticus. Acts of of com- SL some- events, Asiatics all this )e more bject to lesides, id more rength. e ever |d, and, ed by a itrinsic ich the 97 fabric of our power in India has been supported, we shall with our own hands precipitate the downfal of our au- thority.* • What,' asks Carnaticus, * would be the conse- quence of the establishment of a printing-office in a camp, for the promulgation of strictures upon the Chief Com- ir.ander?' &c. And he then very properly answers himself, by saying, that ' no prudent commander would hesitate in getting rid of a nuisance pregnant with so much dan- ger.** But who besides Camaticus can imagine that our Government could long exist, if India be regarded as a camp, and martial law be commensurate with our reign ? " * What ! may we attack in print and in writing oui civil magistrates and collectors; arraign the conduct of our judges and our military chiefs with impunity ?*t Yes, Camaticus, so you do them no wrong. You think it would be dangerous to allow these great personages to be attacked by the Press. Would it not be far more so to let them govern like Bashaws, without an adequate controul ? Remember, ' Man, of all living things, is most able to hurt man, and, if left to his own furious passions, the most willing.*^ " Carnaticus has compared the Madras Meeting of 1809 to that of 18 19. The former was a deliberative military assembly ; the latter, a meeting convened by the Govern- ment for the purpose of congratulating the Marquis of Hastings on the measures of his administration.§ The venerable and learned Judge of the Adawlut Court presided at the Meeting. The question was moved by the Advocate, or Attorney-General ; a Committee to t ■ I;' t*M III ♦ Asiatic Journal, XII. 341. X Puffendorf. t Ibid. p. 343. § See supra, p. 12. tr^ 98 ■■ ■!■ * if .It prepare an ^(Idress wps th£;n named hiy tli^e QUief Ju^ice ^ pfjti^e A^Jawl^t; i,t r">o^igt^d, ,ap[)9^g oitiheir?, of Ahc pre- ' sf||it,Cbieif Seci;etar>, ..^e J^qn. OpirRpany*? Advocate, and the A^jutaat-Gen/eral. Tlieise gfeat pfficerp of ^^ate scrut^injized, corr^ct^d, iipd sapct^Qi^d the A4dre90, in wbic^ they appla^di^d Lo^'d ^as,ting9 iqr the diii;U9ion of education, an4 tt^e ^li^pliftion pf th,e Genf^rshif>> Tp com- pare the Meeting, therefprje, of IQQQ lyitb that pf 18 IP, serves l^ut to sh.ew th^t pppr Cam^citf 'm f^ot qMite well. ^e nijght as justly l^ave cpn^parj^ a bf^\i^]c tp ji^ baod? 8a,vr. ** Carmficu^ has d|scovere4} that ? in tkp un^aiepoming strictures and controversy bje^v(re/en tb^e )ate Qpirerppr of Madras an^ some of t\kQ Af^ypc^s of t|^p Qpverpor-Ge-! beral ii^ Calcutta, a spirit ati4 tfemper of t))^ Fr^f quite linknqwn at any fpfper perip4 in ^^^% ^VJpc^ itself ^brpugbP!^^ eyery parj: of the cpi^ntry. It w^s f^pt merely f impl^ copfimcintf or animadversion of any particular aqt pf the one or ^l^^ other, but m^et|ng9 ^^X'^. ^^\^ W'\^^ the public ^pd ppea ^vowal of a^^rting the Fre^doint of t||ie rress.'* Well, and what practical evil arose o^t of this spirit and temper? Hav^you no case to sidduce? You and the Oljd Indian ^v^ ransacked yo,ur les^rne^ braiiis: y^u have a^ser^d largely; you ^ave grafted ^rror on fact, to g\^, i^ the semblance of truth; but not a single i^stan9.e h^^ye ypu bieen ^ble^ to ^on^ure up ajgainst th^ Asiatig Pres^. Go, lay your ca^e befoj-e tihe In(quisi^io^. Qo, consult with the Grandi Iipjqjuis^tor of the ^oly Constitutjiorial Assaqntian^ a^id, the Fibers in pioi^s. conclave assembled ; and, assisted by their new lights, ♦ Asiatic Journal, Xlf . 344. ' . '11: k: :■ .t > JuAtice ^^ Ue pre- ' »te, and >f 9t;ate re», in \i9ion of Fp com- Qf 1819, ite well. (Bpoming ?^rPQr of xpor-Ge-! >t merely cular a^t yf\\\\ the of tljie e o^t o,^ adduce ? Ie9rne4 grafted th; but ure up fpre tjhe r of the iQ pio^^. lights. 99 endeavour to crush in Asia the rising spirit of improve- ment. , " One word more : much has be^^. ,iiaid against anony- mous writers, and those, too, who fight under false colours. I must, however, say, in defence of the Old Indian, and of Carnaticus, that they have acted with a sort of cautious prudence, in not affixing their English names to sentiments so foreign to the character of Bri- tons. *' I am. Sir, your most humble servant, Leicester Stanhope. " London, I5tk October, 1821.* The worthy Old Indian read the letter, replied to it by a graceful shrug of his venerable shoulders, wrapped himself in the mantle of his dignity, and walked off in stately silence. * j^siatic Journal, XII. 439—431. b u 2 100 i SECTION X. Summary Transportation without Trial, " The effects of barefaced prerogative are not the most dangerous to liberty, for this reason— the alarm they give is commonly greater than the progress they make ; and whilst a particular man or two are crushed by them, a whole nation is put on its guard." — Oldcastle. (Lord Bolingbroke.) * 1 .•<* '-I A ■■I ill: \% "it:' By the 53 rd of Geo. III., the Authorities in British India may send home any person to the United Kingdom without being afterwards obliged to prosecute the of- fender. Mr. Buckingham having offended the Government by inserting in his Journal attacks on the Governor of Madras and on the Bishop of Calrutta, was threatened to be sent home. The attack, so much complained of by the Honourable H. Elliott, and for which he demanded redress, was a mere ephemeral effusion, a squib that would have hissed for an instant and expired, had he not, by endeavouring to suppress the harmless sparks, occasioned an explosion. A man of heroic spirit alarmed at a little light and noise, resembles the mad elephant in fight, whose firm nerve nothing can shake but a squib, at the sight and sound of which he races off, runs his head against walls or trees, and loses all his usual courage and sagacity. The matter objected to is as follows : " Madras. — We have received a letter from Madras of the 10th instant, written on deep black-edged mourning post of considerable breadth, and apparently made for ■ .ifl V I JangerouB ly greater >r two are ■OldcastU. I British kingdom ! the of- ment by f Madras > be sent lourable I, was a [e hissed Lvouring :plosion. [d noise, nerve lound of >r trees, matter idras of >urning ide for lot the occasion, communicating, as a piece of melancholy and afflicting intelligence, the fact of Mr. Elliott's being confirmed in the government of that Presidency for three years longer ! ! ** It is regarded at Madras as a public calamity, and we fear that it will be viewed in no other light through- out India, generally. An anecdote is mentioned in the same letter regarding the exercise of the Censorship of the Press, which is worthy of being recorded, as a fact illustrative of the callosity to which the human heart may arrive ; and it may be useful, humiliating as it is to the pride of our species, to shew what men, by giving loose to the principles of despotism over their fellows, may at length arrive at " It will be in the recollection of our readers, that a very beautiful and pathetic letter from the late lamented Princess Charlotte to herMother, written just previous to her death, was printed in the Calcutta Journal about a month ago. This was much admired at Madras, as it had been here ; and the editors of the public prints there, very laudably desiring to add every possible interest to their columns, had inserted this letter, but it was struck out by the pen of the Censor, (whom the public of course exonerate, since it is known to all by whom it is necessa- rily directed,) and the only reason that could be assigned for its suppression was, that it placed the character of the Princess Charlotte, and her attachment to her Mother, in too amiable a light, and tended to criminate, by inference, those who were accessary to their unnatural separation, of which party the friends of the director of the Censor of the Press unfortunately were ! !** * A letter having appeared in the Calcutta Journal which f1^ * *• Summary Triiiis[ioifi»( ion," pp. 17, 18. 103 t ::^|j i > I I :Mi! ;; ''i\ t ■'i 1 i^Li put the Bishop in a huff, his Lordship peremptorily called on the Government to enforce their restrictions on the Press, and the Chief Secretary was in consequence di- rected to write a threatening letter to the Editor. When intelligence of these threats reached England, the Press accused the Marquis of Hastings of inconsistency and oppression. Philo-Indianus was among the first to attack the Noble Lord and his loud applauders at Madras and at the India-House. He thus addressed the Editor of the Times : " To the Editor of the Times. " Sir, " By the late arrivals from India, I have received copies of an important correspondence between the Chief Secre- tary of the Governor-General in Calcutta, and Mr. Buck- ingham, the Editor of the Calcutta Journal, which I am anxious to bring before the public, that a fair opinion may be formed of the present situation of the public Press in India. " In consequence of a letter which appeared in the Calcutta Journal, in June last, ' On the Duties of Chap- lains,' the Chief Secretary, Mr. Bayley, called upon the Editor, by order of the Government, to state * the name, designation, and residence of the individual by whom the letter was communicated,* as it appeared, in the opinion of the Governor-General, to contain insinuations extremely disrespectful to the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. " The Editor, in answer, informed the Secretary that the author was unknown to him, and that consequently he could not furnish the information required. " On the 17th of July, the Editor received a letter which concluded with the following words: " * I am thence. Sir, instructed to give you this intima- tion : should Government observe that you persevere in r y called on the jnce di- When le Press icy and attack Iras and ditor of il copies if Secre- r. Buck- ;h I am opinion i public in the Chap- pon the e name, lom the opinion tremely iry that quently a letter intima-> fevere in 103 afctlhg dft'thef plHntrliflfe v^HieH'you hfiVe nbW asserted,' there willbd rte previous dJsbiission of a^'casfe in whicti yoii mv^ bejtidg^ to have violated those laws of mortil' dandottt' and essential justice whicli are eq'ti^lly birtdln^ tin al! dttfcViptidnff tof th*' corhrnunity. You will at once be appriided that yoiir l?cens6 to reside in India is an- nulled; and you will be required to furnish security for your quitting the country by the earliest convenient op- portunity. - *'*! ani, Sir, your obedient Servant, " (Signedi " * W. B; B A YliE Y, Chief Secretary to Gtovetnmtent. **« Council Chamber, July 17, 1821."* " The Editor endeavoured to excuse and to justify his proceeding in a letter addressed to Mr. Bayley, which concluded with the following words : " * I beg you will further assure his Lordship in Coun- cil, that if the laws of my country are to be my future guide, I shall bow to the decisions of its tribunal with all due respect; if the written and defmed restrictions issued o*^ the removal of the Censorship be made my rule of action, I will endeavour as faithfully to adhere to them ; even if the Censorship be restored, I shall still acquiesce in the common submission exacted from all, by a power which, wWeth^Iegidlly or illegally exercised, no indivi- duallike mJjTs^ cOiliTd hbp^ successfully to resist. "• But if so sdveire a punishment as 'banishment and ruin is to be inflt \ 105 thority can lote nothing of its strength by its exposure to general comment. On the contrary* it acquires incalcu- lable addition of force. ** * That government which has nothing to disguise \vields the most powerful instrument that can appertain to sovereign rule* It carries-with it the united reliance and efforts of the whole mass of the governed. And let the triumph of our beloved country in its awful contest with tyrant-ridden France, speak the value of a spiritto be found only. in men accustomed to indulge and express their honest sentiments.' " Being as decided an enemy to the licentiousness of the Press as I am a warm friend to its freedom, I hope the public will attentively weigh the consistency and principle of one who professes^ at one time to venerate ' freedom of publication as a national right of English- men/ and at another time threatens to transport an editor, without trial, for exercising that freedom of publication. The laws of libel in India are the same as the law of libel in England. It is a very serious evil to any man to be summarily transported, without trial, from his occupation and connexions. *' The Marquis of Hastings proposes so to treat the Editor contrary to his own public declaration, andj I con- tend, contrary to the British law, which he ought to respect; and I would add, if he is at present all-powerful, he should be merciful. " PHILO-INDIANUS." « To the Editor of the Times:' " Sin, " In The Times of yesterday, * Philo-Indianus,' not very reasonably, considers the advocates of the Asiatic ;i 107 Press as bound to defend the conduct of the Governor- General on every occasion of interference with its free- v dom^ It appears that, in July last, Mr, Buckingham was officially threatened with banishment for an attack pub- lished in his Journal on the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. I, for one, scruple not to declare, that, however provoking, irreverent, graceless, or slanderous, the parfigraph, I en- tirely disapprove of the threatening ; not, indeed, as illegal, for the 53rd of Geo. III. warrants a peremptory order of banishment from India against any, except Natives ; but because I condemn the exercise of a bad power, however it may have been lawfully administered, or, in the case alleged, justly deserved. " To imagine that despotic power can be safely en- trusted to any man, even to one eminent for public virtue, is an error demonstrated by all experience. An additional and striking proof of this has recently occurred under the Madras Censorship. The Governor, Sir T. Munro, is distinguished for probity, talent, vigour, and an especial regard to the welfare of the Natives. The office of Censor he entrusted to Secretary Wood, a person of some ability and great industry. With this intrinsic merit, the Censor has the good fortune to be connected with Lord London- derry, and is a candidate for a seat in council. Now, under the controul of these great officers of state, the Madras Press has been guilty of an injustice, such as never was and never could have been perpetrated by a Press indulged with the most licentious freedom. " The melancholy story of Caroline Queen of England is in every one's recollection. Men have differed as to her character. Some have thought her guilty, some per- secuted, some innocent f but who would have believed i f* fu. \ 108 that a Government, famed, too, for its wisdom, could have suppressed the Queen's defence, and have authorized the publication of all that tended to debase and to crimi- nate her ? Such, however, has been the conduct of the Madras Censor. He allowed the Queen of England to be defiled with all the licentiousness of a Free Press, and he stifled her defence. Never, I repeat, could a Free Press be guilty of such partiality— such monstrous injustice. Did the Censor imagine that this conduct could recom- mend him to his Sovereign ? Was he so ignorant as not to know that the King of Great Britain presides over the administration of justice ? Or so ungenerous, or so wicked, as to imagine that his Majesty would allow his worst enemy to be condemned without a full hearing? No, Censor ! you are reputed an honourable man, and must be acquitted of such a design. " The Calcutta Press has been usually charged with having carried to licentiousness the liberty obtained by the abolition of the base Censorship; and Mr. Bucking- ham is always named as having exercised this freedom to the greatest extent. Compare, however, this gentleman's indiscretions with the licentious wickedness of the Cen- sorship at Madras. Contrast the conduct of the free with the shackled Press, in the case of the Queen. Nor let it be forgotten by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta and others, that the Marquis of Hastings, whose politics are founded in pure philanthropy and religion, has been accused even of having been accessory to murders, in the Madras Ga- zette,* then under a Censorship as rigid as was ever exer- cised by the Inquisition. • See stiprOf pp. 57i 58. i , ' t,?i 109 m ** To conclude : my argument is designed to prove, that neither the most infallible of Censors, nor the wisest friend of freedom, should be entrusted with arbitrary power. " I am, your most humble servant, " LEICESTER STANHOPE. " i. mdoHt Jan, 29." Let us now compare a Press where no previous re- straints on publication exists, and a Censorship. The latter may suppress any matter, however beneficial, and sanction the publication of any matter, however hurtful, to the public interest. The former can, in the first in- stance, suppress nothing. It may threaten, prosecute, or, under the sanction of a bad law, may send men home, and thereby check and retard the beneficial influence of free discussion; yet, notwithstanding this dangerous power, the Press during the last six years has enjoyed a large portion of freedom. A citizen has, indeed, been threat* ened and prosecuted ; but the superstition and despotism of ages are tottering to their fall, and millions of men have been advanced in civilization. ^1 •V -I \ 15}- A ft 1 Ti M ; *:»^ 110 Afi-'i :,.■:* ■'T:-: ,i,« M SECTION XI. Vole of Thanks to the Marquis of Hastings at the India'Hoitse. ** The best of our resolutions are bettered by a consciousness of the suffrage of good naen in their fiivour." On thie 29th of May, 182*2, the Court of Proprietor met for the purpose of delibehiiing, and passing their judghient, dn the conduct of this Marquis of Hastings, in the exercise of his high office of Governor-General of British India. On this occasion I attempted to call the attention of th€ Court to the two marked features of his administration, namely, the general diffusion of educa- tion and the e^tahli^hment of a Free Press. The con- nexion between these subjects is so close, that they cannert be ^ell separated. I add the substance of what then occurred to myself and other proprietors. *' Col. StaHhop^. They were met her^ for the pur- pose of freely and boldly discussing the conduct of the Marquis of Hastings' government and passing their judg- ment on it Having been acquainted with that Noble Lord from his infancy, having traversed the wide seas with him, and lived long under his roof, and under his government, he should know something of his private and his public character. They had heard, indeed, that eminent men were most admired at a distance : hence, it had become a piece of kingcraft, or of priestcraft, to keep those exalted personages from the public view. Was this wisdom ? He knew not ; but this he did know, that the Noble Lord was not of that stamp. He was Mil most admired by tboee