Page:Nil Durpan Trial1.djvu/3

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Nil Durpan Trial

reference to the disputes between the Indigo planters and ryots. He had no doubt his conclusion was correct. There was one other daily paper in Calcutta the Phoenix. It took the other line;—unnaturally of course. He had read the publication called the Nil Durpan, and believed the the European Indigo Planters to be the persons pointed at throughout that production.

By Mr. Eglinton,—He was a member of the Land-holders' and Commercial Association. The Association prosecuted, not a section of them. Had not heard on authority that any members dissented from the prosecution, but believed it to be the case. Had nothing to do with Indigo. Was certainly not an Indigo planter of Lower Bengal. He saw the first copy of the pamphlet on May 27th, but had seen parts of the libel before them. Could not doubt the Englishman and Hurkaru were the papers alluded to in the Nil Durpan, because those papers had been constantly written of as the Indigo journals by anti-Indigo papers. They were here not mentioned by name. There were several daily papers in India, some were in favour of the Indigo planters' interest, and some were opposed to it. He knew nothing of native papers properly so called; he meant papers published in the vernacular. The Hindoo Patriot and Indian Field were papers under native influence. They took a contrary view to that taken by the Englishman. In those papers the planters had been represented as guilty of great cruelties. He was aware that those two papers represented that there existed considerable feeling among the native population regardiug the alleged oppression of Indigo planters. He did not know as a fact that there was a strong feeling among ryots against planters, as represented by those papers. To the best of his belief there was a strong prejudice among the ryots against Indigo planters whether justly or not, he could not say, but on the evidence before him the balance was quite against them. The Enlishman had a large circulation; it had not