When the Company had merely a factory at Calcutta, and lived under the sufferance of the Nawab, this Court was called "the Mayor's Court"; for in the year 1726 a charter was granted, enabling the Company to establish a Mayor's Court in each of the three Presidencies, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay; also to hold Courts of Quarter Session, to determine all penal causes, save those of high treason.
An Advocate-General and a Standing Counsel are appointed by the Company. Owing to a defect in not having a jury in civil causes, the Judges are both judge and jury. In commercial cases, I am told, they often lament that there are not juries composed of commercial men; just as if the remedy were not in their own hands! There are 254 grand jurors; but including the civilians, there would be at least 270, of whom forty-three are natives. The petty jury list contains 1,586 names, and of these 533 are natives. It is to be presumed that civil juries could be easily formed. The next charter will very probably alter the present law, which is so contrary to the British constitution.
There are fifty-five attorneys; formerly there were only forty, when they were facetiously called "the forty thieves." The Supreme Court includes a "Common Law Court," an "Ecclesiastical Court," a "Court of Equity" (Chancery), and a "Vice-Admiralty Court."
When, in 1835, the Government cancelled the Sicca rupee, and coined a new one, called the "Company's rupee," which is six and two-thirds per cent. of less value than the Sicca rupee, and above two per cent. below the value of the old Sonaut; the Chamber of Commerce addressed a memorial on this subject, setting forth the fact that, while all merchants, shopkeepers, and traders, made their charges in Company's rupees, the attorneys and barristers of the Supreme Court adhered to the Sicca rupee charge. To this memorial no answer was given; but it is to be hoped, that the time is near at hand when this outrageous custom will be put a stop to, and when lawyers will be content to receive the same reductions that others have agreed to.
There are four daily Newspapers published at Calcutta; viz., the "Bengal Hurkaru," the "Englishman," the "Morning Chronicle," and the "Citizen;" the two former take the lead. There is also a talented weekly paper, called the "Friend of India," published at Serampore, sixteen miles distant. When Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe, on the 15th of September, 1835, emancipated the press from the old censorship, many persons thought it a bold measure. The step might have been dangerous thirty years ago; but it is now proved to be extremely useful that measures and systems should be discussed.
About 1821, the "Calcutta Journal," ably conducted by Mr. J.S. Buckingham, was prosecuted by the Civil and Military Secretaries to Government, when the learned editor was obliged to withdraw from India. For many years there was a meeting at the Town Hall, on the anniversary of the 15th of September, to commemorate the "freedom of the press," at which one of the judges usually presided. The remedy for an abuse of privilege is simple; for if an editor publishes a libellous paragraph, an action with all its consequences follows. It must be admitted, that during the commercial distress in 1847-48, and the failure of many mercantile houses, the press was of important service. Likewise during the Affghan war, in 1841-42, when, in consequence of the great distance—more than 1,000 miles from the seat of war—and the serious interruption to all commercial intercourse under the Bengal Presidency, the newspapers published many private communications of much interest from officers, whereas the Government only received intelligence from official sources.
In the Upper Provinces, the "Delhi Gazette," and the "Mofussilite," enjoy about an equal share of patronage. At Lahore, the "Chronicle" has been established, under the auspices of Mr. Cope, for many years the able editor of the "Delhi Gazette," and which bids fair to rival the other two. One of the Subalterns of the army (now Major H.B. Edwardes, C.B.), attracted notice a few years since, by some excellent letters written in the Delhi paper, called "Brahminee Bull." In fact the letters from civilians, officers in the army, merchants, indigo planters, and others, often constitute the life and soul of the Metropolitan papers. There is a great deal of talent in the services, and it is well that it should be called forth, and find a legitimate field for its exercise. The merits of a trial in the Supreme Court are sometimes discussed; and in 1849, the press certainly was in a great measure the cause of the appointment of the commission to inquire into the misconduct of the Calcutta police; and which at once led to the removal of a magistrate, who was proved to be indebted £40,000 to an influential native.
In these public journals, various improvements in the civil administration of the Provinces are often suggested; the best means for the safe navigation of the Ganges, etc. Then there are cases of cure from cholera, or the bites of snakes; letters on the state of Great Britain and our colonies; dissertations on the native languages; poetical effusions, etc. In short, many articles in these papers have led, as it would seem at the East India House, to the formation of an office for the collection of Indian statistics, so long a desideratum, and without which the Court of Directors could not state the number of acres in the North-western Provinces out of cultivation, which is now known to be 9,816,749.
In Calcutta, there are twelve printing presses; besides the daily papers, there are six weekly; also two daily, two tri-weekly, two bi-weekly, four weekly, and five monthly native newspapers. Besides, the presses publish periodicals, Army Lists, the Calcutta Review, etc., so that the lieges of Calcutta have ample means of reading, and becoming acquainted with the state of affairs in the political and social world.
The liberty of the press in India has not been abused. In a case, for instance, which occurred in October, 1849, when a barrister stated,—that if the evidence of a certain examination as to the conduct of a civil servant were published, it would prejudice the case,—the press refrained from the publication. In fact, as regards publication, it is cried down only by those whose conduct is bad; for such shun the light of truth, as a bat does the light of day.