The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-12 00:00:00

or foreigners, the courts of law are announced
to be open, and no foreign sovereign can
object to be put on a par with our own as
regards the means for obtaining redress.
Thus, the freedom of the press has been suc-
cessfully vindicated against foreign assault;
and a rigid observance of the duties entailed
on us towards neighbouring States, by the law
of nations, has been made entirely consistent
with it. _ _ _

We are bound to say—for it is a question of
vital importance to the public—that the recent
proceedings of the Government in India are
calculated to cut this ground in ell such future
discussions from under our feet. Our Minis-
ters cannot any more deny the danger arising
from the freedom of discussion, for, whether
rightly or wrongly, they have admitted it by
their acts. They cannot allege that our jour-
nals are published in a language that is
foreign to continental nations, for that applies
to the language of the Anglo-Indian journals
in regard to the continent of India as well.
They cannot any longer assert that they give
the Governments of foreign States the same
degree of protection that they accord to them
selves, for in the only case in which they pro-
fess to feel inconvenience from it they have
destroyed the press ; nor can they aver that
the freedom of the press is the constitutional
right of every Englishman, in the face of the
laws by which the English press in India has
been taken away. They cannot, either, with-
out being guilty of deliberate insult, tell the
sovereigns and people of continental States
that they refuse that tribute to their sensibili-
ties which they profess voluntarily to have
accorded to the princes and people of llindo-
Stan. What they have done, as they aver, out
of respect for the feelings of SCINDIA, HOLKAR,
and the NIZAM, they cannot, without the
gravest ground of offence, refuse, when applied
to on similar grounds, to the Sovereigns of
Russia, Prussia, Austria, and France. It is
not, therefore, how far Lord GRANVILLE may
be desirous of carrying interference with the
press that is the question ; but to what extent
the sovereigns in alliance with us may feel
disposed to push to all its legitimate conse-
quences the principle which the Government
of Lord P - ALMERSTON has thus laid down.

We do not think that any amount of gain to
our cause in India could have compensated
for the admission of a principle likely to be
productive of such ulterior consequences as
these But, in point of fact, we have gained
nothing in India by the destruction of the
press. All that has been done by this has
been to cut off from us the only channel of
reliable intelligence, and to drive into violent
hostility the only body in India whom the
Government could fully trust. As regards the
native press, that was almost wholly insignifi-
cant whether for good or ill. The amount of evil
it could effect may be estimated from the ridi-
culous damages recovered by Government in
the only case in which it obtained a conviction
against it. Nor did this arise, be it remem-
bered, out of any sympathy on the part of the
jury, for there is no jury in civil cases in her
Majesty's Supreme Courts. The deliverer of
the verdict and the assessor of the damages
was the judge himself. Throughout the
whole of India, indeed, the native press
consisted chiefly of small lithographed
repertories of local gossip and news.
These were mostly like the manuscript news•
papers established on long voyages on board
ship. From thirty to two hundred and fifty
copies was the usual amount of circulation of
each, and they are stated to have issued less
than two thousand copies in all. About half
of these were taken by European patrons,
mostly Civil officers of the Government, and
the rest went chiefly among the Company's
native Civil servants stationed at the place of
issue. We doubt very much whether a copy
per regiment was subscribed for by the
Company's sepoy army in India.

It is plain, therefore, that the European
journals alone were had in view in the severe
laws that were adopted against the press. In
fact, the press was not gagged in conse-
quence of the rebellion, but advantage was
taken of the rebellion to gag the press.
This is shown by the whole course of Govern-
ment since the law has been enacted, and still

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