THE PRESS GAGGING ACT IN INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 529, 28 November 1857, Page 3

THE PRESS GAGGING ACT IN INDIA.

The Legislative Council on Saturday, the 13th June last, presented the most singular spectacle enacted in it since its formation. Lord Canning, son of that Canning whose name causes the hearts of all classes of Englishmen to dilate with pride and gratitude, stood forward at that meeting to impose fetters on the right of public speech. The life struggle of the father was the emancipation of a large and persecuted class of British subjects. Though the greatest genius of his day, his opinions upon that question kept him more than twenty years out of office. But nothing could make him swerve from his purpose. He possessed that moral courage which resists the plausible bugbears of those in authority who are weak, corrupt, timid or prejudiced. Ris powers of discrimination never failed him. Yet he was assailed on all sides, and even from the ' lips of Royalty itself, with expressions of terror. He had seen with his own eyes two rebellions among the people upon whom he desired to. confer the greatest privileges free men can boast of. He was stunnea with platitudes about the restrictions necessary to order—good order— tranquillity. But neither the ciamoiir of fortuitous excitement, nor the noisy brawl of prejud^cfd alarmists produced the slighte t effect upon the moral courage of the enlightened and discriminating states-' : man. Though he was told that the Irish ; priests would excite their flocks to insurrection, he scorned the cowardly prophecy, and died amidst his earnest advocac}* of Catholic Emancipation. Behold his son stand forward as the proposer of the fa* vourite act of despotism, in the Legislative Council of India! Because seditious libels have been assiduously scattered abroad and published in the native language, Lord Canning would abolish the freedom of the British press. This is decidedly what the opponents of his father would have done in England. Because seditious writings had been assiduously scattered about and published in Ireland," the. enemies of freedom in that country: would have destroyed the freedom of the i press in England; Indeed, some argii- A ■ments precisely the same as those used, by ;"* Lord Canning at the present day^ were put - forward in opposition to his father thirW'1 years ago. Articles appearing in tie Bn- w -<

tish press, innocuous to English readers might be dressed up for the Irish ear by designing persons. They might prove very injurious. Therefore, if it weie necessary to put-restrictions upon Whitebqyism and seditious writings in Ireland, it were impossible •without inconsistency not to put. restriction-upon loyalty, and outspoken sentiments in -.England. There could be no line of distinction betweentheene and the other. Oh! the graceful compliment to j true-heai-ted. Englishmen. OhJ the manly reliance -upon millions of well affected Roman CJatholic Irishmen ! The extraordinary log vie of Lord Canning proves too ■much for him. As well might he say that he can draw no line of distinction between the of mutinous sepoj-s and the fidelity of their European officers, as that he can draw no line of distinction between

the libels of the native and the loyalty of "the British, press. What would the people m -England say if the articles of the viTimes' and the obscene trash of Holy--tvell-street w«re now first put by the law upon the Fame level? Such a mongrel Lord Canning' glories in so greatly that lie grudges any one else a share of its responsibility. He is willing, says he, to "take the whole responsibility of the measure upon Jiimself. It will be the making -of his fame, ft will be an example of his high moral courage. The measure, lie • admits, is not to -be undertaken without compunction by ;any one who has been bred up in the atmosphere of English publicity and freedom- Louis Napoleon might -have said—in fact, he did say-—as much, before perpetrating his coup d'etat -But what is the argument:to defend .the plea? It is contained in a single sentence of Lord Canning's speech. "I have ssen .'articles appear from time to time, which, however innocuous to European readers vmight prove very injurious when dressed up fox'the native ear by designing persons." This argument again proves too much. It should destroy the freedom of the press altogether. A wilful distortion is a lie, against which no spacies of writing, no emasculation of articles can contend, * * But we should at least have expected some degree of consistency from the Supreme Government. The Treason Act is not extended to Madras. It is not expected that the Madras army or the Madras people will be guilty of disaffection. It is thought that even the precaution of giving a power which may never be enforced is ■unnecessary. The *sky which curtains the Madras Presidency is free from all, save one little cloud of suspicion, and that hangs over the press. Whether it will burst or

no, it is impossible to say. But it is charged and loaded, and he who has the control of it may be a very sham Jupiter indeed. "The Executive" Government," •says the Act, " or other person as aforesaid, may at his or their discretion grant such license subject to such conditions (if any) as he or they may think fit, and may also at any time revoke such license." What Freedom of the Press can exist

under such a sweeping law as this ? That other person -who may he be ? What may be his judgment or power -of discrimination 1 There is -probably many a civilian who is sincere "in his convictions that the

Press should tie .-.extinguished altogether. Imagine such anone to be that mysterious other person. He sees, for instance, an article in a newspaper through a distorted medium. Then, as an the case of Lord Canning, comes the aaoment when he shall proclaim to the world his moral courage. He issues the fiat that I;he newspaper shali ao longer appear ; and the property and labour of years is ruined in a moment.—JLtwn&iim-

Touching on the same stfbject, -the < Friend, of India' says:—lt is a pleasant moment when the infant that you have dandled and taught ,-to step from chair to chair, is first ahle to walk .-alaae; when the friend that you have nourished through a lingering illness is pronounced convalescent; when the reputation which you have defended-through good aiid evil -report, is declared to fee untarnished. Such of our

contemporaries as have gone hand in hand with us"in upholding the character of Lord Canning- for energy and Vigour, -cannot fail to rejoice inwardly at the rculmination of our joint effort-?; the value stamped upon our opinion of the Governor-General, in the -passing of a Gagging Act on -his motion in the Legislative Council on Saturday last. The sons of great men ought to inherit more of .greatness than the nephews v and theworld will not fail to notice the difference, in this-respect at least, between the heir of Mr. Canning, and the heir of "the Emperor Napoleon- The latter in «iirt>iiig the liberty of the Press, showed ijome.respect for the property that had grown

up in connection with it. He ordained the issue of a first and second warning prior to absolute suppression, and left the editor a choice between the subjection of his intellect and the ruin of his journal. But .the Governor-General can cut down the • Friend of India' to-raerrow without reason assigned or remedy and he might have sent yesterday to Serampore, and seized the types and the printer, since the Act took effect of course from Saturday last. We shall have to appear, if at all in future, upon 'certain conditions,' the nature of which are at present unknown. We; must drive a bargain with | the Government for permission to exist, and are sure to g*et the worst of it. To incur censure is to risk destruction, and how shall we escape? If we are told to study, say for example, the series of official acts in May, as an exposition of the policy to be advocated, how shall we speak of the events that occur in June ? The 6th N.I.

were praised by the Chief of the State in May, for their loyalty and devotion, but in June they cut the throats of twenty-six Europeans, many of their women and children, and started off to Delhi. In May, the 70th N.I. had the honor of a visit from the Governor-General, who drove from Calcutta to Barrackpore for the express purpose of thanking- them for their g-ood behaviour and noble intentions. We praised the viceregal speech, and fell in with the viceregal belief \ but at daylight on Sunday morning last, H.M.s 78th Highlanders marched into Barrackpore,; having been roused from their beds at Chinsurah, to assist in disarming those model Sepoys, who intended to rise an hour beforehand .and murder their officers. * * It' it is not altogether then to the license of the Press, that the sepoy >revolt is owing, will it-be sufficient to muzzle journalism to obtain -the means of putting down dissaffection? Let us pause at this point for a | moment. Here is a Government which, until lately, ruled an army of three hundred thousand men, which has absolute power within its vast dominions to repress crime of every description, and hosts of obsequious servants able to master all popular secrets, and willing at all times to disclose them for a consideration. In the course of six short weeks, the glorious empire of Britain in the East is seen by all men to be slipping from its nerveless grasp; and only when forty regiments are in open rebellion, when towns and treasuries almost without count are in the hands of-despicable traitors it is found out that the Press has done it all. Sedition was scattered broadcast over the land in the open face of day, and .when the crop of misery and murder has been reaped, the Governor-General comes forward to explain the fact, and obtain power to prohibit the cultivation in future. And because on other soils a plant may be seen here and there which may be made to look like the poison root, why, as he cannot make a distinction, better devote the whole to sterility. No piinishment whatever is inflicted on the native editors for what is past, and for the future they are but to share the bondage and hazard the penalties inflicted upon honest Englishmen whose hearts swell as they tell of national shame and degradation, and watch days and weeks go by that ought to bring the promised retribution. A Government which from the very nature of its position cannot keep any secret of its own, and from the character of its present organisation cannot obtain a knowledge of those of its mortal enemies, is about to win back kingdoms and loyalty, prestige and security, by the simple expedient of prohibiting all printing without a license- When it is able to read all that comes from the editor's press, and lithographer's stone, there will be no more disaffection, or, what is in amount the same thing, no one out of the service or the country will be able to detect the signs of it. * * * Of course if newspaper writings had really caused the Sepoy revolt,, it would be proper to punish their authors, but no man in his senses, outside the walls of the Legislative Council, would venture upon such an absurd assertion. The making of it implies the practice of such neglect of duty on the part of the highest authorities as shows their utter unfitness for public employment, since what had become " household words" to hundreds of thousands of Asiatics must surely have been uttered long and openly enough to challenge, attention. The real truth is that at no time have the Mussulman population felt aught but hatred for our rule, but it has always hitherto been their policy from fear.to avoid the too open expression of it. At this moment, for reasons which we suppose might be understood if they were searched for, the motive for silence appears to have vanished; just as the men of the 34th:

c turned away with sullen contempt from the >r appeals of Lieutenant Baugh for assistr ance j just as the sepoys of the 43rd have - chosen to hold Rag Fair before the very t gate of Government House, the editors of c tiie Sultan Akhbar. and Doorbin, were prompted to insert the mutinous procla- i mation from Belhi. They had learnt, wisely, as they may perhaps still think, to j forget that there was a power extant that would punish insult, and when that feeling gets uppermost in the Asiatic mind, there is nothing* left that will ensure obedience. Had the platoon of .musketry done its proper work on the guard of the 34th, had a sound flogging been administered to the first insubordinate sepoy that cried an auction under the windows of the Go-vernor-General, and fines and imprisonment been liberally dealt out in every instance of seditious publication, we might .at this hour be thinking less of Delhi, and of some other matters not pleasant to dwell upon. The causes that led to discontent stand in one category, and those that induced the outbreak of it belong to another," but it is an outrage upon common sense to ascribe them either to the influence of newspapers, native or European. Our daily contemporaries not only vehemently denounce the bill, but they look upon it in the light of a return of evil for good on the part of Lord Canning-. For the first time perhaps they were, unanimous in support of the head of the State, 'who had the credit of every bold measure ascribed to him,' no one taking the trouble to inquire if the praise was justly earned. In common with ourselves they were over , anxious to find occasions for strengthening his hold of public opinion, and forgot in that respect their duty to the public. His Lordship has inflicted upon the press that retributive justice which he delays so long to execute upon Delhi. We held him up to t')e world as an able ruler, and he has painted us as doing the work of the Queen's enemies. Both statements are wrong, and for our part, we tender to.society at large the moit ample of apologies. We are so hopelessly at a loss for valid reasons in favour, of the Gagging Act, that it has more than once occurred to us that Lord Canning has been casting about for a method of. raising* the fierce antipathies of the Indian JPress, with the view of steeling his mini" against the mighty storm of indignation which the news of this rebellion will create at home, and comparei with which the wrath of India is as a zephyr to a cyclone. Perhaps the Governor-General needs no heavier censure than a review of facts would warrant, to bear him to the earth, but it is in the nature of things that evils of which he could have no knowledge, and misconduct which he was powerless to prevent, will be alleged against his administration. The chief of the conscript fathers at Leadenhall will echo the bitter cry of old, " Varro, give me back my legions!" and from the haunts of industry, and the halls of legislation; from cottage and palace, passionate voices will demand of him, "where is the wealth, and the power, and the fair countries that were given over to you?" What answer can be given but silence? except his lordship takes off our muzzles for the occasion!