Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

LOSS OF SEVEN LIVES.

At the Gawne Colliery, at Rowley Regis, the pro'
perty of Messrs. Mills, and Sons, there occurred on
Thursday morning,. at about half-past • eight'
Tri'my ac;cidcnts wnigh.
been attended with so serious a loss of human life.,
Up to'yesterday, five-bodies had been taken out of
the pit, and two yet remain, but great exertions
were being made to recover them. By this
melancholy disaster, five widows and about fifteen'
children are left unprovided for.

• GAGGINCP op ME PRESS IN INDIA —Yee!crday morn.ne,
'a Parliamentary paper was published cent doing a copy
of a despatch from the Governor-General of India, stating
his reasons for waking the act for the restriction of the
. liberty of the press, applicable to the European portion of
the population as w;11 as to the native. Lord Canning
and his colleagues of the supreme council, after fortifying
themselves with the opininss of Sir Charles Metcalfe, sir
Thomas Munro, Mr. Mac inlay, Mr. Peireep, Col. Morison,
Lord William Bernick, and other authorities, say :et.°
"-We cannot doubt that your Honourable Caurt will see
in the present critical state of affairs, an emergency of the
natere contemplated by the Governments of Sir Cherie;
Metcalfe and Lord Auckland ; and one it may be con-
fidently assutned, very mncb grayer than was thought
in 1835 to be withie the range of probability. Upon
this point agreeing entirely with Lend William Ben- •
thick and the members of those Governments,.
amongst whom were Statesmen of great eminence,•
remarkable for the liberality of their general views',
and others of lone. experience and high reputation in
Indian affairs, believing that the unregulated freedana
of the press, at the present cris's, was tending strongly
to the extension of revolt an& the weakening of the
British power, and being confirmed in this belief by the
opinions of officers of the highest character, engaged at
the moment in distant provinces in supporting the Britisix
cause; we could not hesitate to ask for such a law as halt
been in a menner preconcerted, when the Indian pews watn
freed, for extraordieary cccasions saoh as has now too cer-
tainly arisen. We are well aware of the angry and un-
reasoning opposition which a restrictive rneastere of this
sort will always call forth ;. bat the safety of the coun-
try is the one great oleject which we have to look
to at present, and to this all other considerations
must give way. The cenditions,which we prescribed to the
press, whilst this temporary Act is in fence, are, we believe,
as mild as is possible, consistently with the- object in view.
We thought it right to attempt to make no distinction be-
tween the English and the Native press. We agree with
Sir Charles Metcalfe, who, in the coati se of the discussion of
the press question, in 1835, wrote :—" I think that in all
our legislation we ought to be very careful not to make
invidious distinctions between European and native sub-
jects " We do not clearly see
,bow any distinction cf the sort
could be readily carried effect, for there are now more•
than one newspaper in the Erglishlanguage, written, owned,
and published by natives, almost exclusively for circulation
amongst native readers ; and, although'we have no fear that
treasonable matter would be designealv published in any
Euglizeh newspapers, we have to guard in these times
against errors, iudiscretion, and temper, as well as egainst
intentional sedition. • The quarter of a century which has
passed since the press law of 1835 was enticed has made
a remarkable change, in respect not only of the number of
native newspapers published, but also in the effect, direct
and indirect, upon the natives, of matter published in the
English papere, when the subject interests their passions;
they make little or no distinction between sentiments .
affecting them, published by independent Englishmen in
English papers, and the sentiments of the English
governors of their country. Where their fesrs are excited,
or their feelings offended by such publications, the hatred.
thereby excited turns upon the English Gavernmsnl; and,
even if it could be right at any time to disregard such
results, it would be realness to do so at this moment.
The interest which matter published in English newt-
papers excites oven in foreign native courts, is, perhaps,
not so fully known in England as it is in India. Our
connection with the Burmese Court is net of long standing,
and the King of Ave would seem to be as far out of the
way of the press as any potentate with whom we have any
relations at all. Yet no: many months ago a gentleman
in our interest at Ave complained that he had been com-
promised by an article that had been published in a
Calcutta newspaper ; and it then an,eared that his
Burmese Majesty had the Calcutta papers regularly
examined, and matter of interest therein. contained
regularly explained to him,"

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