feeling, the circulation of the pamphiet even in so objectionable a form, would scarcely have excited observation....—The London Correspondent of the Friend of India.
No defence of the judgement on its merits has ever been set up, and I venture to say that none with justice can be maintained. I have conversed on the question with lawyers and politicians. By the former the judgement is regarded as unsound and as seeming to sanction a ground of action in an individual for a general libellous attack upon a class. Whilst by politicians it is spoken of as a direct counteraction of the policy enunciated and set on foot by Mr. Wilson for obtaining a knowledge of native opinion through the medium of vernacular literature. The only two daily journals in London which have at all ventured to approach the subject are the Times and the Daily News, but the opinions expressed by both have been so guarded that I should not be surprised if the truth were that the cue had been received from an official quarter. Your correspondent is not under such influence, and he has no hesitation in declaring his conviction that a more ill-judged and impolitic decision at such a crisis as the present could not have been pronounced. Its evil influence is well calculated to fester in the native mind long after events, which now more prominently attracted attention, have passed away. The disregard of native opinion, the abuse of judicial influence, the stultification of the avowed wishes of the Government and the cruel persecution of an amiable and accomplished Christian minister, all combined to make this trial a dark spot in the annals of Indian misgovernment.—The London Correspondent of the Times of India.
Here many economists observe a struggle between capital and labour waged on Indian soil, not unlike to that which is now agitating our English markets; here traders may reflect how far India offers a promising field for the investment of British Wealth; here lawyers may witness a state trial conducted under a defective law of libel, the freedom of press curtailed, and the jury system miscarrying under popular ferment; religious societies, and, indeed, all men may sympathise with the victimisation of an honest missionary. Indian politicians may find a striking example of the unsatisfactory relation of natives towards Europeans, and of the standing jealousy between civilians and non-civilians; the public may deplore the stifling of weak native voice the first time that its spontaneous expression had a chance of
208
