gross and scandalous libel. Partly through your instrumentality nearly three hundred libels have been circulated, and according to the evidence of Mr. Jones who gave his evidence most properly, with the apparent sanction of the Bengal Secretariat, at the public expense. I am bound to say that such a proceeding is without parallel in the history of Government department in England; and as one of the Judges of the Supreme Court it is my duty to state, and I do so most sincerely, that I trust such a transaction may never occur again in this country, as such a proceeding must necessarily undermine that feeling of respect and confidence which ought to exist on the part of the Government towards those who are placed in authority over them. I did at the trial, as I now do, scrupulously abstain from expressing any opinion directly or indirectly, as regards the personal motives or feelings which actuated the officers of Government in sanctioning the circulation of this book. It is the safest plan in life always to assume that public men act from pure and just motives until the contrary is established; and it does not follow by any means that the officials, who allowed the paper to be circulated, acted in the slightest degree illegally. The pamphlet was sent forth unaccompanied by a single word of caution or explanation, and the Indigo planters of Lower Bengal have no means of tracing the extent of the injury inflicted upon them by the circulation of the libel; but is there not reason for apprehending certain persons in England may have been induced to bring forward serious but groundless charges against the Indigo planters? It is quite impossible to realize fully the irreparable mischief you have occasioned by causing this libel to be circulated in England. There is one feature in the case I cannot pass over without special notice. I mean the position you hold in society as a clergyman of the Church of England. I am certain the Bishop of Calcutta, of whom it may be said that he is respected and beloved by the entire Christian community, will deeply lament the circumstance of one of his clergy being convicted of libelling a large and influential body of gentlemen scattered over a portion of his extensive diocese; and I am well assured that the great body of the clergy, with few exceptions, will sympathize with their Diocesan on the present occasion. The fact of your being a clergyman is an aggravation of your offence; and when you state publicly
170
