East India House
The Times, 1824-07-24T00:00:00

A Special General Court of Proprietors of East India Stoc'k was hieldi yesterday, "1forr the Tupoe f taking into consideration the p rsen at ofthepres i Inia and the late proceedings whiich hrave, lel to tlhe banishnident fr~om India.of the edi tors of the Calcauil The CErkrR mAa having stated the business for the consideration of which the Court had been convened, Mlr. HuseE rose and said, that althoaghi he was not one of those who signed the present requisition. yet it was hiis aceidental abstence aln ht pE vne i rmtkn that sttep. THe cotuld not avoi exresinghisf'eget,whee te sbjc Was of siuch infiiteimprtane a th stte o th Inianpress unques- tioabl wa, tat ny ispsitonshoulId he sbown in that Cour, ad moe epecallyby hebonQurable Chairman, to put n en to he dscusion f te questinn. He was not, however, altogether srrry that a newCourt had been called,i-n-tead of the former Court having been ad.journed, because gentlerme miight now originate their views of the Subject in any way they might thinik vroper, withiout reference to what had heretoflorebeen propo-ed - and the mode in which he meant to treat the ques-tion teds, very dif. ferent from that disclosed by his honourable friendI (Mllr Kinnaird) at the Last Coues. His honourable friend had, on that occasion5 given much information on the state of thie press In India; Hit arguments re-pecting that subject were so forcible6, hig details so luminous, that he wondered his address batd not pro-. duced a. greater effect on the Court. When he savris nuraiii oi' mnen leagued together to prevent information on any subject fro Mt being laidI bfore the community, that community having great do-, ties so 1perform, he could not help thinking that there was; soiniething hollow, something rather beneath all their pretences. He could see no other ground fotr refuising. to give information with reference to 'esbect now before th em, it being celmittcd by the Directors themyse'lv,,es, that the ct complained of, was one of forcibl orin and over-stretclied power. Tie hopectl to sliow, before he sat down, that it was an abuse of' authority. To jutdge of it with a calnm andl dispassionate mind, it w7as necessary that every informa- tion should be laid before themi. Thiey possessed in thi country thie blessing of the prerss-the greatest blessinrg they couald vlnjov and( he mTust say, that, thoyse who had endeavoured to orush the p.ress in India hiad disgraced themselves. The cauise of Mr. BuckinrhAm21 was butasadIropintlheoceain wheny placed incompetition with thegreat qucstion,which. he thougvht, was intimately, connected wvith the whole polic-,-ofrttieGov-ernment of Iidia. He regretted extremelytshut any Person)al tnoeivev, or anyv personal staternents-monre than was actutally necessary to bring hcfwce the Court the conduct of the Governor-Ge- nieral, whiose name had been so mixed up wish this transaction on several occasions during the debate of the last day-should have been introduced because it directed the attention, which ought to he given to the iMmlediate subject, to mcatters that were far les-s iniportant. Matchi mystification hiad, he thought, been) made use of by a learned pr-oprietor (Mr. linpey) in stat- ing his view of the' case at the formrer Court. That learned pro- Pricto. wvas not present, or he should have felt it to be Iiis duty to slitow. that his (M1r. lirpev's) 4igorance of the law, as en thie re!ru- I lations which werc imposed on the press in India, was perf'ectly ob- Ivious. fie shoulti be glad to know why thatt learned pr-oprietor al- wta ys took his seat ssj.hin thc bar ? Ile was asked, whiether that learned p)roprietor was. a Director; anti, as he was not, hewse on learn, why, he sat in that place whichi was aprpitd the Directors ? it was well known, that bhen "it w,a,Cs' proposed that hiis learned f'riend ( Mr. R.. Jackson), whoc was one of the Company's counsel, Should sit behind the bar, thie Directors tank thiree cla'ys to deliberate on7 the quceeion, and theny met it with it denia-l, because it wouild be zg1~'ing too much importance o1 his learned friend. The subject afr tlse p~.ck% in India had, fur many years, been so near his he'art, that he mu,,t hithierto lIavebeen aicting ayt idile part, if hie cortl, not now state hoi~" he thouciht the press in India should be conducted, andl whether a'i~ regulaions1. ivere necessary or ntot. I-Ic regrettedl that an -inquiry --ito a Subject of suchi vaist importaince shiouild have beeni al ways opposed by ttr?t', who, from their situation, ought to be be-st a=uited with b h object seemed to be to kecep the public of Enlnd in igno '-'cc of lthe state of thiings in India. TIhere were, he believed, rsn both withtin and withoett the bar. who looked upon toe Ea.t md(ii- Covripany as a mere trading com1tany, who procured their chairtter for a oiver r,emuneration. But thec tim-ne was so changed since that char- ter was first granited, the circumstances of the case were Fo who:lly altered, titat the man whio directed his attention exclusively to thec quIestion of commerce, mistook hiis duty as a member of that couLrt or of the British community. Instead of inquiring whether Illr. Buckinghami w-as banished and ruined in his fortune, in a manner ver litlecrditdal tothse ho nficted the severity-instead of iquiing heter r. Anot wa banse,aud. burned, and. stik i th se, heyougt st lokto he enealsystemi with which- titetretmet o shoe gntlmenwasconnected. These were only ittstncesof inividal sfferig.thvadsof that immens c-iuewhic t the otghtto nrael,andwhih wuldenable them to discover thec manner inwhich the duties5 of Government weere performed.. TheYt were bound, as proprietors of East Intdia Stock having power tD [ govern or control India, to promote, by every snenin their power. tehappiness of millions who were co'nsigned to their care. This, was pon,haee on which few persons ire that Court gave themel es time to reflect. They thoughit they' did their duty if they received a dividend, granted a sCim of mo- ney for any specific object, anyd agreed to wh~atever their; irec- tors thought fit to propDse (Hear.) If gentlemen would consider wh-1at cltange had takert place sines our first sentlemert in India. thley would find thttt oupr Situation was noite as different as possible fromt whiat it formerly was. The Company haP been elevated from sutbjects to Sovereigns. They were bound to take care of their in- terest in that coun'try ; andt their interest as Englishmen was not to suffer the existence- of such aower as liad recently been exerted. They had 70 orSll millions of Souls under their Sway and to that no- ptilation they owed the most sacred duties, If miscbilefs resuilted to- that population, could any one of them lie down in his~ hed, and say titat he was not in some dlegree the cause of themi? Ought not every memnber of that Court consider how far he hiad aided in pro- ducing those mischiefs, by protecting the overt aces of bad govern- tuene ? (Hear. He hoped the time was come when these points would be full; ad fairly brought before an English public. They would have ait accounvtio settle- at noe very distant period; said, if he read ritrhtl v their own at,they hadi not conducted themselves so well as'todcserve muchi attentios, Ifrom tlse Legislature, whenever the time camie for the renewal of their clsarter. If they look-ed to the last charter, they would find their dutie-s towards the people of India very sitortly and- very clearly defined. By theli3d of the late Eing, it was declared that tshe object of' this country, and of this Company wasq to disseminate amongc that people useful knowvledge, "' moral, inteleatual, and rehigious." (Hear.) Such was the object the legis- la'ture had in view in continuing so theni the sovereignty of India; and that legislature had a right to expect that they would perfobrm titeir duty. A most im-portant tpart of that duty wasto considerhbox far th-e cuisting regulations were or were not for the benefit of the countrv,-whether they promoted or retarded its prosperity. (Hear.) For his owni part, ht thougite they had not done their duty. He believed there: was a very general good intention on the part of those whio fird the manageme'nt of Indian affairs; hut when he looked; to the page of history, anid. considered what man really vas, both highi and low, rid,i and poor, he found there always was a dis- position to adopt siuch measures as would promote his own indivi- dual happiness, ratiter than the itappineas of those whom he govern- ed. Therefore, a great responsibility was thrown on that Court, to see that t-he Government of India was properly administered ; end, if regulations did exist, which tended to retard the welfare of a sinigle individual, mauch lees of millionis, those regulations ought to be rea vised. It wvas their first and most sacred duty, aLs Sovereigns of India, to establish- good government there. It 'was by good govemnmeiti alone that any people eould be rendered pros- perous an,l happy; and it was impossible for goad government so be established, as they, were at present situated. Abases would creep) in, unless suchi a systemn of check-s was intnroduced as would prevent thec selfish feelings of men from operating to the detriment of the cominunity. liVhat, then, was the best check for the purpose or securing good government? By a parity of reasoning, he was led to this country, which, according to the'common phrase, was the envy and admiration of surrounding nations. And why ? Because we possessed institutions which other nations, grovellin'g in tyranny, did not enjoy. Of these institutions, he considered the pre'ss as the most valuable. It operated a's a check upon power of every kind, It exposed abuses, and gave such information as enabled every man' to jutdge for himself of the conduct of Itis rulers. At that moment, bu-t for the press, they might be suffering under the muoss arbitrary tyranny, whilst the forms of a rTetlar constitution appeared Io be adhered to (hear, hear); and no tyranny was so great as where the responsibility for all aces was divijied amongst individuals. and no one peron was, in fact, accounitable. But the press noticed all public proceedings; anid men in power, whiatever their incliniation might be, were unw~illinig to do- itny thing that could bring them within the spliere of its influence. Therefore, he considered the press the best engine for good govern- mnent ithat existed. He would not pay. so bad a compliment to any gentleman present as to ask- him whether, in his opinion, he was not convinced that the press kept power in awe, and 13romoted the happiness of the people. if. at our own. doent, and' amiongst our ose.vn people, the acts of power were looked at with a mcoopceye, let any man turn his atten.- tion to ithe power possessed byour servants abroad, and say, whether its exercise ought not to be niarrowly watcheel. The Pro-consuls otf old never en joyed such powver ats some of those authorities in India did. They 'knew tite disturbances to which the exercise of lthat power hadl sometimes -given rise; and which would not hayv, beeni tolerated for one heter, if thatt frieedom of the press which existed in this country, limited as it was, had been knowni in India. The proof of this wsas, that. punishment almost invariably followed any abuse of powver, when a man was found bald enough Eo denoance it. Now if, in England, the, press were an organ~ of sio mi-uch importance, whby should it not be extentled to India? In what was indizt different from Enoland ? And whby exclude the people of India fr-om that blessing, without wlai6h thne people of this country wouild be slaves ? (HIIear.) If there were a man in that Court who"pwould say "1Put down the pres in En land," let him state his reasons. But if there teas no person wligotyscaneprm t,he would ask, why poit is downinaohrcuty (H,er. He had heard, withgetrge,teoiin ta e,adgl lant hart (Sir J. acl)o hsqeto.I ih ehp have been an Poe thtteagmnso bh o.adgl lantbhart. wotl9bhave some force; b e hdtkntetobet contrast one argament wvith another, anad they completely con- tradicted each other. The honoaLrable sad gallant baronet was formierly, he believed, favourable to that (if he might SD call it) radical doctrine-perfect freedom of discussion; but somne s;ircurnstanceg had occurred, which gave him a twList of late, an~d he thought it necesary to deliver the opinion to which to comment on an observation made at thcforner Court, Sy a learn- ed gentleman (M1r. Impey) whom he should call the 25th Di- rector. (Alaugh.) That learned genstleman asserted that there wss no public in India for whom a free press was necessary-a doc- trine against which lie begged leave to enter his protest. The learned gentlesan admnitted thie propalety of giving instructions to she people of I. elia. He was willing to diffuse infornation amongst them,and thustso meet the wishes of the legislature. But how would hedo this? By imposing shackles on the press-by carryiag them back so the system of 140,when pinting was firstinvented,and reducing the whole of the mliLons of lndia to a grovelling state of itnorance and darkness. (Near, hear.) If the wish of the 26th Director were obeyed, the desire of the legislature.would not be obeyed. Many of those who refused to grant infortnation on this subject, who were favourable to restrictions on tle press, were them. selves of sodetics established in India for the purpose of difusing religious instruction, through the organ of that -press which they wished to put down. Werethey sincere, er wasthis hypocrisy? it certainly was inconsistent for them to say, "We objectto the organ through the medium of which we have bgen allowed to act." If it were good topytdown the liberty of the resat Calcuttatwby noteaboshit as ladras and Bomba ? Was tlere tobe onero eat Calcutta, crii other at Bombay, and a third at Mladras ? At. p-esent this was actuaUy the case, such was the inconsistency of th9se proceedings. The hon. and gallt baronet said, there was no middle dass of socitty in Iedi re was no such body there, a letivea be. t'efltfrotin a free preas in England. Here there happened teh b ome little inconsistenicy-for he believed thec hon, and gallant bert.. had I found at least some who thought there was a coinmunstytheg.; Heo found that community addressing n GovernMellt upon its actst and-, receiving an answer to that address. If the lion. 'baronet hadt e.'ter Put his 'name to any address of that kind, he was at variancee with himself. With resliect to Mlr. Adarnm who, in hnis de- fence, denied that there' was - any publict in India capable of givinig an impartial opinion on the preceedlings of Govern- mnent, that gentleman was guilty of a great inconsistency. lie envied not Mr. Adam thle honours that were paid him by this rio.puThic of India, v;hen he was retiring from that cuntry ; but he would call the attention of the Court to an address 'Which he had received, and to the answer which he had retUrned, both of whichi were printed. The answer showed that Mlr. Adam too'k a very different view of thiings at different times. A 'certain nuwber of that izo-public of Benares met toi express their op'inions of Mlr. Adami's government, andl liere hie might observe, that no Governor-.General ever returned fromi lndia, whether he was Popular or upnpopular, who did not receive an gtddress. Now, when the Court of Directors received those addresses officinll , and found A ad B v ri ad cte inoneway, prais,d, and aZ nd D also prased wh ha aced n aothr, ow could they come att the trut? (ear. Bu if her wer a ree res tostate, as Mlr. Buck. 1-ohan ha scred th mdive whch nduedpersons to draw up thos adreses-tat heywer allanxousenlave a little out of the overor'sbookthe eluson ould be completely die. palied. The addire-ss to Mlr. Adam praised him for "1the purity -of his motiVes, the wisdom of hi-, counisels, and the ilecision of hi conds.rt." In the answers which hie returnedI to thlis addrgss, hoe said "1 The manner in whiich you have spoken of my adiministrattion dlemands my acknowledgments andI thankcs. The approbationl of iadividualg,_whose ability to judge of public P.ffairs is so well known, possesse%hig`h value in my estimation, andl constitultes a sotld groun-d 4of satisfaction." Nowe, couldI any man say, that Mlr. Adarn had ,comnmon sense about Iimn oni thoise two occasions-first, wxhen he dle- -dlarNd that there was no public itt India wvhose opinioni was worth attending to; and next, whien he formned this answer, praising the acuTenress of a part of that public ? To prove that thiere was a public in India, the horr. proprietor referred to the Aritttic Annual J?r',isfer for 1799, in whiichi there were no less than 29 addresses from Bengal, Madras, andl Bombay, oni-tIre subject. of the attack made by ilatfieldi on the late Kinig. With respect to the naitives, among whiom it wat also said there wvas no public, he would aisk, were thiere n,o naitives of im ortance ? NVe: e there no na ives of taLlent ? fle wouald saV thiaLtil~e natives were a most intelligenit race. Do awvay' vithi their idoir-remove their 8superstitien-..puet to flight thg mo7al n`ghtmare whiich pressed down their mindis-oipen the flaood-vsates of intelle,ctual lighit-and. You will find them as able and as intelligzent a bogy of mels as couldl be met in any country. (Hear, hear.) Thle honourable propirietor then ridiculed the idea of the natives turning on the British GovernmAnt, and overthrowing it. MNens never zebelled for merefusre Itvwas oppresstion and injustice which caus.ed Tebelliooi; when the governedl were properly trezted by tIre gover. 'nors, there was no f'eat of insurrectiorn or sedition. Whart reason had they to fear a free press ? Was there not a free press in our West india colonies, ishere the slave population was as 70 to I ? There were no less tIan 598 newspaperst in the United States, many oDf themn in the southcem provinces, whiere slavery wa- very extensive. In Virginia, whiere there were 70 slaves for one free inaividual, 35 newispapers were circulated-Yet, in neither place did they cause aniy re- volt. Thiehon. proprietorthen procelededto point out the injustieceand partialitv which marked the proceedings of the Indlian Government towards Mr. Buckingham. He hiad been banishied from India be~ caulse he a okle the seintienirts of a freeman ; while a paper called the J7ohn. BuA whtich was filed with the mnost scurrilous attac,ks on Mlr. Buckiugbamn, was encouraged. it was niotoriouis that personsi inti- mnateily connected wi-Is the Gov-ernment wrote for that jouirnal. Against the editors and proprietors of the Johni Bull, Mlr. Bucking- ham brou1ht an action fort a libel., thus giving the parties an oppor- tunity. it they could, to justify what they had said of him. He obtained a verdict with d[amages. The Judge, in his observations to the JTury, dleclared, "1that he looked on the li-hal vith horror." On the other hand, though twenty-nine numbers of the Calcutta Journal were selected for the purpose of finiding out something to prosecute, yet not a l ibel could b,e discovered in them. Tire lion. proprietor then adverted to the case of Dr. Bryce, (?an article on whose appointment as clerk to the CopMisiisioners of Stationery was thie ostensible cause of the removal of MVr. Buick. inehiam), and contenidedl that it was very proper thiat it should be exposed aind censured. Ile had done every th'ing 'in hiis power to mnake himself master of every thiing coninected withi the dispute between Mlr. Buckingham and the Government ; lie lhad examined both sides of the question; he hadl siotght to finid out the motive which actuated Mlr. Adam, believing that, t-houigis wrong in principle, he mighit be imnpelled by' a conscientious feeling but he discovered hiim to be iticonsistent in his dlrelarations.-he fouxnd himisupporting the John Bull,while lie removed Mlr. Bucking. hamn froin the shores of Indlia ; and, under all the circumstances, lie crould not hielp thinking that Mfr. Adam had acted mlost culpably, (heaIr)an he thoulght'that all those whon opposedI a motion whiich Xafo s Wect the malilfestation of sucll injustice would also act very culpably. (ia. h on. gentlerrian then proceeded to com-pare the conduct of the In4ian Governinent, in imposing those restriction-s on the press, to that of the Pope, who, in hiis Jate encvclic letter, censures! severely the distribution of the Scrip- lures. The bigoted petticoat.embroiderer, Ferdinanti ot' Spain, and ,the wise King of Portugal-had issued edicts against thei introduction .of certain stated books into their territories but the system in India wLs worse, for it remained withi tile Government to proscribe Au y work, thiey pleased. It was said that the natives were vrare igno. Trust, and Ithiattherefore af'ree pre3sswas- not suited to tlhe. fIc ad- mItte Ithat they were iginorant, atntiif it wvere so, oughit they not to removedmthtignorance? Ditdnot the legislature specifically direct thiem to dooso? The hors.genit,then enteredlinto ahistory of the native press, whbichi hadl sprung up after thie restrictions had been taken off by tire Marquis of Hastings. Six papers were printed fri differ. ent lanzuag,es for the use of tie natives ; but they were likely to be inm red very mitch by the new restTic ions. Onelof themn,edited by .the celebraredl Ram Nohutn, Roy, which was entirely occuipieti by essays in favour of the Christian religion, and showing its superioirity to thlat of the H indoos, had beens given up, rn consequence ot' the pe- nait! ies, which, at the discretion of t wo magistrates, miglit, without trial, be inficted on those wlro carriedi it on...a state of degratlation to whiichi Rain Mlohun Roy, and Pis triendis, would niot submit. After somie further observations, - the hionourable member con- chided with mroving for all ihe papers which hadl been issued by the Government in India relative to the press in Indlia. Mr. D. Kr,rscAanD seconded the motion. Alr. R. JA.CsSON wViSlreel to k-now what opinion the Court of Directors miad expressed withi regard to the question whiichi had been broughit under the notice of' the Court. Tire. Clerk, by the direction of the Chairman, readl a. resolution of tire Couirt of Directors, alrproving of all thlat Airi. Adam hail done with respect to Mlr. Buckinghiam, and dleclaring their intention to give hII l the support which depended upon them to give. Mlr. R. JACKSON wax,of opinion that titrIndian authiorities wouldi hapve neiglected their dutty if they hiadl not acted as thecy lhad done to- wards Mr. Btickingham. He eniumerated tire various articles whichl hail appeared itt tIre Csalczt;a Journral, anid at dliff'erent periouhs liad called fbith the adtmonition of Government. It couild no;t be sup. posed thiat Mlr. Buckingham wouild lhave embarkedi 3,0001. in the property of a newsliaper withotut firstmnaking himiself acquiaintedlwith ,Lbse regulations utnder whichi it was to be carrieth ort. I hie conduct ot ~bp Governmient towards 11 r. Buckingham bad, in hiie, opinion. been c7:ZLracterized by the grcatest forbearance, antI it wvas the Juty of the f~ourt to s,uppsort those whoin they had appointed toL watech over the P`ttCerst Of. their Indian possessions. He denleid that. a free 1iress couldl exist in India, compatible withi the safety of' trie emrpire. The idea was, so absurd, that it scarcely resquired' refuta- tion. The hon. aid learned gentleinian concluded by mnoving as an amendment, "Thiat the Court do upprove ot the re-solution wl-hicli biad been agreed to hy the Court of Directors." Alr. S.AIUEL DixoN Tseconded theanmendin,,ent. ,1iIr. BUC INO-ISAS said lie hapd entered that Court, not with any intention of speaking of himnself, or of hiis own particular case, bu~t c'f eneracing upon. the general question of a press in India. In cor,seqtilzre, however, of the tUrn which,i the dliscussion hnad takens, and particularly after the speech of the learned propictor near him (Milr. 11 Jackson), he boped the Court wouldl allow him to reply tothe un- foundted imnputa tions whiich had been Cast Up'on hlis Conil'uct. l-ie was surprised ithroughotut the whbole of this discussion at the assumption that tht Gove-rnmnent of India, was a despotism :a despotismi was thlat srhich was carried on.' where there was n:t tars; but itt Iidia there were laws fromn timneimmeruorial., The Hirdoos had laws; s:o had the AMa- homedans ; and there h.ead been abtundance of laws for tUse Govern. suenit of India enacted by tsC l3ridtish Parliamnent. It was quite clear, thens, that where there was so ntfiitl of lepislation, there ouight not, and could not-be, whbat was strictly caliled despotism. WVith respect to Iris own case, it hail been said that lie had receised r-epeatetl warnings from the Government, all of whbich he had disregarded, anrd they were therefore comipelledi ta send binsi out of the 5Ourtitry. This he most p3ositively der,ied : he had received ni)t suchi warnings. The worthy proprietor then went at considerable length into tels -whole detail of his own case in lndlia, anid referred to the various rulcs end articles which hail been promulgated bythe Britisit Go. xernment in lndlia, none of' whichi, he contended, had lire in any amnple instanace violated. He then compplained in tire strongest tannss of teh OPPresive and illegal treatment lire hadl receiveti from ithe I ndian Authorities, of their irseffectual attempits to obtain ant' con. s'ictioo against him in any of the courts of' law, and contrasted their conduct to himn with the protection whiichi they'v cast aroundl the libellous lpaper called the Jo/in Baill, which was circulated "~der thseir s-"nction ini tlse Indlian eMpire. I-le ridiculed the idea f~ltrs if the natives of India were the happy race described by soristi gentlemen colnnected witis the Government, there cor.rld be anydaiiger apprehended from tx- ending to therm the Perm ission to expre-ss their s;entimenrts ofj'oy; and his only- desire in contending for the existence of a press in Indtia, was to benefit the ntatives, andl secure the stabi- lity of the empire. In concluision, he assured the Court, that al. thlough thley swotild not listen to hsis whispers in India, they would now have to endure, in sounids of thunder, liis voice ini this country, in behidf of the native population of their Itsdianeinpire. (hlear.) An Hlonourable PRoparCETOIn, whore name wve could not learn, julstified else conduct of the Court of D)irectors. $ir C. FosnirEs tupportozo the miotion in a short speech. T'ise CHIRA5MAN opposed the motion. TIre object of -lie honotur- Ablenpr,oprietor (Alr. Kmninaird) whio first brbuglit tisis, question for. svard Wts to- provoke discuss,ion. TrIe question hadl now been-am. -ply dic;cuased on two occasions; and it it wore brollght forwardi ngafii hea did not poerceive that any thing new co.9ld he adduced. He w.as g3ad that Mir. Bucleinaham had been heard i1 his vindication. - The oiginal mnotion was then negatived, and the amendment was psgreed to.-Adjourneal at a quarter past eiglht o'c.ock. EAST TrDIA HOUSA