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    the countiy into hatred and contempt , and that th ^ y hOiVe not proved , as far as ca » be ascertained by the strictest inquiry , in the slightest degree injurious , which , has very lately been acknowledged in one of the must respectable English Missionary works . So far from

    obtruding upon Goveinnn ^ n ^ groundless repre - sentations , Native authors and editors haye always restrained themselves from publishing even such facts respecting the j udiciai proceedings in the interior of the country , as they thought were likely at first view to ] E > e obnoxious to Government .

    While your memorialists were indulging the hope that Government , from a conviction of the manifold advantages of being put in possession of full and impartial information regarding Wjhat is passing in all parts of the country , would encourage the establishment of

    newspapers in . the cities and districts under the special patronage and protection of Government , that they might furnish the supreme authorities in Calcutta with ail accurate account of local occurrences and reports of judicial proceedings , they hare the misfortune to observe that , on the

    contrary , his Excellency the Governor Generalin Council has lately promulgated a rule and ordinance imposing severe restraints on the press , and prohibiting all periodical publications even at the presidency and in the native languages ,

    unless sanctioned by a licence from Government , which is to be revocable at pleasure , whenever it shall appear to Government that a publication has contained any thing of unsuitable character * Those natives who are in more

    favourable circumstances and of respectable character , have such an invincible prejudice against making a voluntary affidavit , or undergoing the solemnities of an oath , that they will never think of

    establishing a publication which can only be supported by a series of oaths and affidavits , abhorrent to their feelings aud derogatory to their reputation amongst their countrymen .

    After this rule and ordinance shall have been carried into execution , your memorialists are therefore extremely sorry to observe , that a complete stop will be put to the diffusion of knowledge , and the cousequent mental improvement now going on , either by translations into

    the popular dialect of this country from the learned languages of { he East , or by the circulation of literary intelligence ; drawn from foreign publications . And the same cause will also prevent those natives who are better versed in the laws and customs of the British nation , from eoramuuicating to their fellow-subjects ft ,

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    knowledge of the adiutrable ; system of government established by the British ^ and | the peculiar excellencies of the mean s they have adopted for the strict and impartial administration of justice * Another evil of equal importance in the eyes of a just ruler is , that it wills also pre ; elude the natives from making the Go *

    vernment readily acquainted with the errors and injustice that may be committed by its executive officers in the vairious parts of this extensive country ; and it will also preclude the natives from coinv

    muuicatiog frankly and honestly , to their gracious sovereign } n , England and his council , the real condition of his Majesty ' s faithful subjects in this distant part of his dominions , and the treatment they experience from the local government : since such information cannot in future

    be conveyed to England , as it has heretpfore been , either by the translations from the native publications foser ^ J ^ iii the English newspapers printed here land sent to Europe , or by the English publications which the natives themselves had in contemplation to establish before this rule and ordinance was proposed .

    After this sudden deprivation of one of the most precious of their rights ^ which has been freely allowed them since the establishment of the British power , a right which they are not and cannot be charged with having ever abused , the inhabitants of Calcutta would be no longer j , usjified in boasting that they are fortu . *

    nately placed by Providence under the protection of the whole British nation ; or that the . King of England and his lords and commons are their legislators ; and that they are secured in the enjoym . ent of the same civil and religious priviteges that every Briton is entitled to in England .

    Your memorialists are persuaded that the British Government is not disposed to adopt the political maxim so oftea acted upon by Asiatic Princes , that the more a people are kept in darkness , their rulers will derive the greater advantages from them ; since , by reference to history , it is found that this was but a

    short-sighted policy , which did not ultimately answer the purpose of its authors . On the contrary , it rather proved disadvantageous to them ; for we find that , as often as an ignorant people , when an opportunity offered , have revolted against their rulers , all sorts of barbarous excesses and cruelties have been the

    consequence ; whereas a people naturally disposed to peace and ease , when placed under a good government , from , which .-they experience just and liberal treatment , must become the more attached to it in proportion , as they become eu-

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    ftotifiluf-e&eeirr-ResftictWfts on the Press M Jama . 57

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    VOL . XIX . I

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1824, page 57, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2520/page/57/