now throwing its mantle of protection round the aboriginal tribes throughout the world. In 1856 I delivered an address in Calcutta to the friends of Missions on "Peasant degradation, an obstacle to Gospel propagation." No one then objected to that address on the ground of its being political.
My Lord, I am sustained in this course by the conviction of, I trust, an enlightened conscience, and confidently on the continued sympathy of many friends both among the European and Native community, and of all in India and Great Britain, who desire to see India governed not merely for the advantage of its fluctuating population from Europe, but for the benefit of, and with considerate regard for, the feelings and interests of the 180,000,000 Natives over whom stretches the aegis of the Queen and Parliament. I know I shall have the sympathy of good men, the friends of the Natives, in India and in England, and of all those throughout the world who believe in the indissoluble connection of spiritual and intellectual improvement.
My Lord, a Court of Law has decided that the work. is a libel and it is my duty to submit to that verdict and to act accordingly. My conscience convicts me however of no moral offence or of any offence deserving the language used in the charge to the Jury. But I dread the effects of this precedent. This work being a libel, then the exposure of any social evil of caste, of polygamy, of Kulin Brahminism, of the opium trade and of any other evils which are supported by the interests of men, may be treated as libels too, and thus the great work of moral, social, and religious reformation may be checked.
My remarks are ended, my Lord. I beg to hand in an affidavit.
[The affidavit put in was the printed "statement" which had appeared, pending the trial, in the columns of the Friend of India.]
STATEMENT OF W.S. SETON-KARR. ESQ., C.S., IN REGARD TO THE NIL DURPAN
As, in the late trial of the Revd. J. Long, mention has been made, in evidence, of the Bengal Office, as some allusion to my order as Secretary has also been made in connection with the Nil Durpan, I think it now right to give some explanation of the matters referred to.
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