Nil Durpan/Appendix A
APPENDIX. A.
OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE
THE LANDHOLDERS' AND COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION
To E. H. Lushington, Esq.
Secy, to the Government of Bengal.
SIR,
I am directed by the General Committee of the Association to beg that you will inform them if it was with the sanction and authority of the Government of Bengal, that a publication entitled "Nil Durpan" has been circulated through means of the Post Office under the official frank and seal of the Bengal Secretariat.
I myself have seen an envelope containing that publication so franked and circulated, and, therefore, there can be no doubt of the fact. If it has been done without the sanction or knowledge of the Government of Bengal, the committee will expect a formal and official disavowal of the proceeding, and that the names of the parties who have thus made use of the name and means of Government to circulate a foul and malicious libel on Indigo Planters, tending to excite sedition and breaches of the peace, be given to us in order that they may be prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the law.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
| (Signed.) W. F. Fergusson. | |
| Secy. Landholders' & Commercial | |
| Calcutta, the 25th May, 1861. | Association of British India. |
THE LANDHOLDERS' AND COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH INDIA.
E. H. Lushington, Esq.
Secy, to the Government of Bengal.
SIR,
I annex copy of a letter, which I addressed to you on the 25th instant, to which I have not received any reply.
I am directed by the General Committee of the Association to say that unless they receive a reply in the course of to-morrow, the 30th instant, they will appeal to the Supreme Government, in order that they may be in a position to communicate with the authorities in England by the mail which leaves on the 3rd proximo.
| I have the honour to be, Sir, | |
| Your most obedient servant, | |
| (Signed.) W. F. Fergusson, Secretary. |
THE OFFICIAL CIRCULATION OF THE NIL DURPAN.
No. 1426 A.
From the Secy. To The Govt. of Bengal.
To. W. F. Fergusson, Esq.,
Secy. Landholders' and Commercial Association of British India. Dated Fort-William, 3rd June, 1861.
SIR,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 25th * and 29th ultimo, the first of which did not reach the Lieutenant Governor until after his return to Parisnath on the 30th.
The Lieutenant Governor finds that copies of an English translation of the publication named in your letter were sent to certain individuals through the Post Office, under the official seal and frank of the Bengal Secretariat, as mentioned by you. This occurred during his absence from Calcutta, and was not by his order. The publication in question, however, he finds, is no libel, and does not, so far as he is aware, infringe the law. It is an English translation of a work of fiction, an original Bengalee drama of a popular order, in which, obviously, all the dramatis personae are imaginary, and the story is manifestly a fable. It has no interest, but has an indication of strong popular feeling. As such, however, it has significance. It does not appear to the Lieutenant Governor that even the original Bengalee drama, judging from the translation, is likely, as the Association supposes, to be of a tendency to excite any class of persons to sedition or breaches of the peace. In this respect, however, it is obvious that it is vernacular plays, not English translations, that may be dangerous. Nor can the knowledge of respectable official or other European gentlemen of the existence of such indication of popular feeling as this be anything but a security against actual sedition and breaches of the peace.
The Lieutenant Governor has read the translation since the copies, of which the transmission is complained of, were despatched. It will be found that Indigo planters, on whose behalf complaint is made, are by no means the only class—Native or European—criticised in this Bengalee play. Faults are as unsparingly imputed to European Magistrates, Native officials, and Native factory Omlah as to Indigo Planters.
Nevertheless, the Lieutenant Governor very much regrets that by the transmission of the translation in question under the official frank of the Secretariat, a misunderstanding has been caused and offence has been given to the respected class of gentlemen on whose behalf you complain. The circumstance would not have occurred but for some inadvertence or mistake. The position of Indigo planters in some Bengal districts at present is one with which the Government sincciely sympathises. And nothing is more earnestly desired than the speedy introduction of a sound system for the future, such as shall carry Native feeling along with it.
| I have the honor to be, Sir, | |
| Your most obedient servant, | |
| (Signed) E.H. Lushington, | |
| Secy. Govt. of Bengal. |
*The letter of the 25th was not received by the undersigned till after the receipt of the duplicate forwarded with the Association's letter of the 29th.
(Sd.) E. H. Lushington
Secretary.