in i i n u i a .

British politicians and the bureaucracy first

service, Samachar Darpan, the
After 22 years of useful
in d840. (In 1849,
ceased its publication
Bengali newspaper,
founded Bengal Recorder, which was, in
Girish Chandra Ghose Hurish
Patriot under the editorship of
Hindoo
1853, rechristened as was the first
Indian-owned
Patriot
Chunder Mukherjee. The it created a new history
status and
paper to acquire aa national
stand behind popular
popular
for its fearless
for Indian journalism
Ior

struggles. who was

considered as a young
"a
In 1849, Lord Dalhousie,
was sent to lndia a s .
his countrymen,
and brilliant" man by
 OF INDIAN JOURNALISM
A HISTORY
106
Governor-General. But Dalhousie thought himself to be "a
cdrious compound of the radical and the despot". India

unfortunately saw in him more of a "despot than of a radical?

ruler.
During Dalhousie's regime railways, telegraphic communi-
cations and cheap postal rates were introduced which brought
about a significant change in the hitherto archaic methods of
collection and transmission of news as well as distribution of
newspapers. Gradually the British capitalists invested more and
more money for starting textile and jute mills, coal mines and
plantations as a result of which there was an increase in exports
and imports. But these measures destroyed the work of
weavers,
taeners, gold and blacksmiths, etc. Many of them came to town
to serve as labourers in these new factories while others fell back
on land, creating pressure on agriculture.
In his zeal to establish an empire in India
Dalhousie dethroned
several rulers and took over their territories.
But his annexation
of Oudh created a consternation
in the
doctrine of lapse, refusing to country. His policy of
recognise adopted sons as heirs, hit
the 'inheritance rights of Indian
rulers. The states of
Satara and Jhansi were annexed to Nagpur,
British India according to this
policy. The masses called upon to resist this
were
as adirect interference by measure
which recognised the
foreign rulers on Hindu religion
rights and status of adopted sons.
the Hindoo Patriot
began to write (When
against his policy of annexation serially learned articles
an official Dalhousie proposed to start
newspaper to explain the
and to get popular reasons behind his policy
down by Court support_for But his suggestion was turned
it.
of Directors,
In 1854, Radhanath
Sickdhar and
Bengali monthlyPyarichand
*Masik Patrika, a Mitra published
belonged to the Young journal. Both of them
journal.
Bengal' and
that to
approach the common group men and
they were convinced
language must be the only uplifit them Bengali
journal they announced vehicle. So, while publishing this
that it had been
men and
specially women. Tek Chand published for common
Mitra's) Alaler Gharer Dulal Thakur's
Patrika. was
published serially (Pyarichand
in Masik
 107
Tn 1854, the Santal Rebellion in
the
Midnapur and other neighbouring areas was districts of Birbhum,
But it gave an indication of ruthlessly suppressed
discontent that was spreading among
the masses due to the loss of their ancient privileges and their
exploitation in the new
environments.
The Santals raised the
demand that'the land belonged to them and they must not
rent for it. pay any
rent They rose in revolt to kill all
policemen, expel traders and landlords, and fightmoney-lenders
and
to the death all
who resisted them'". (The Hindoo Patriot pointed out that
British
adminstratðrs, having no contacs with the maSses, couid not
measure the depth of feelings and discontent of the people.)
An autocrat of autocrats, Lord Dalhousie did not attach much
importance to the comments of the Indian Press. But his
Government was aware of the influence the newspapers exerted
over the people. The British-owned newspapers took delight in
paradinga senseof racial superiority while Indian-owned aews-
"to show
papers published in detail stories of crimes in England
that there are faults with the English too."
The Rev. J. Long's Report on the Indian Press would
Indian rews-
contradict many of the accusations levelled against
the remarks:
papers of that period. The following are
humble in appearance, yet
The native newspapers are
ballads of a nation they often act where the law
unlike the
current they show
its direction, In
fails and as straws cn a
Kulin
Widow-remarriage,
them questions of Sati, Caste, acuteness
skill and
have been argued with great
polygamy the foreign
They have always opposed
on both sides. atrocities of
The atrocities
language of the courts.

language being the of young

magistrates
have
blunders
indigo planters and the a view of
the editor open out
and letters to Now and then
been laid bare found. Now and
else to be
nowhere to show
native society are given
crime in England tales are
details of
from Moral tales
extracts too.
the English
faults with of short pieces
that there are
a
number
There are and
published. varied aspects
frequently and on the
considerable
seasons
on the possessing
(inverse) of
otf them
p ossessing
was
many of Prabhakar,
objects of nature, Chandra Gupta,
editor
To
To each
merit. (Iswar in Bengal).
poetic
poet of the time
considered the ablest
 SWAR OF INDEPENDEBN
ENCE
115
functionaries, they would have seenin them how the
were ripe forrevolt, and were expecting aid from Natives
Persia". But when Rebellion Russia and
broke out the
blamed for it. newspapers were
(The Great Rebellion of 1857 was not
sepoys. It was the people's first
a mere
mutiny
of Indian
gigantic çllort to drive out the
Foreign Devil' and win freedom for India. ) History belies the
mischievous propaganda of
to revive the Vanished
characterising it as a move either
Glories of the Moghul
reestablish the power of the Mahratta Peshava'-it Empire' 'to
or

was, however,
the first desperate bid for
freedom'.( In June, 1858, the Hindoo
Patriot characterised it as the great revolution in
India now in
subsidence'. Dr. Alexander Duff also remarked "And it is
a fact that it is not a
mere military revolt but a
rebellion-
a revolution......From the very outset, it has been
gadually
assuming more and more the character of a rebellion on the part
of vast multitudes beyond the
Sepoy army against British
supremacy and sovereignty". (M. A. Buch: Rise and Growth
of Indian Militant Nationalism, p. 14).
Indeed, the Scindia, the Holkar, the Nawab of Murshidabad,
Maharaja of Burdwan and many other princes and zeminders,
tied with the paramount power under the permanent settlement
as well as considerable sections of the Bengali, the parsi and the
Southern bourgeoisie did not either join the insurrection or show
any sympathy with it. But that did not take away its popular
characte. Writes the historian Dr. S. N. Sen: "Nowhere did a
revolt command universal support. There was a strong party of
lovalists in the United States of America...... There was no lack
of royalists in revolutionary France. In '15 and '45 the Stuart
cause found no iconsiderable support in the British isles. So
long as a substantial majority sympathises with the main object
of a movement it can claim a national status though universal
active support may be wanting" (Dr. S. N. Sen: Eighteen
Fifty-Seven', p. 411).
The First shot was fired in Bengal in March 1857, where,
to Dr. Alexander Duff, 'Discontent lurks deeply
in the
according
hearts of millions'. The revolt actually broke out on May 10,
Indian
1857. Though Hurish Chunder Mukherjee, the Father of
116 A HISTORY OF INDIAN JOURNALISM

Journalism, had some soft corner for the regenerating role of the
British rule in India and the permanent settlement, he fearlessly
criticised the cruel attitude of the British bureaucracy and the
army. (Within two weeks of the actual outbreak of the Revolt, to
be precise òn May 21, 1857, he wrote in Hindoo Patriot: "How
slight the hold the British Government has acquired upon the
affection of its Indian subjects events of the past few weeks have
shown. It is no longer a mutiny but a rebellion. But the recent
mutinies of the Bengal Army° have one peculiar feature-they
have from the beginning drawn the
sympathy of
the country.
There is not a single native of India who does not feel the full
weight of the grievances imposed upon him by the very existence
of British rule in India-grievances
inseparable from subjection
to foreign rule".
In the midst of racial discrimination, bias and ruthless
suppression of Indian-owned newspapers Hurish Chunder
Mukherjee maintained an exemplary balance and fearlessness in
his Hindoo Patriot în criticising the atrocities of the
Government.
It is a fact that a section of the Press openly preached that
'any
disaster betalling the British would hamper the national
and progress. But the fact must not be
prosperity
forgotten that the
existence of a newspaper,
during that period, depended on the
support it gave tothe British rulers in India. Yet in
spite of the
repressive laws the Hindoo Patriot did not hesitate to
about the people's sympathy with the insurrection.
mention
The discontented masses of the
people, both Hindus and
Mussalmans, screwed up their energy, forgot all sins of
ommissions and commissions and joined hands previous
out their common
together to drive
enemy. The 'British devil, Outram has put on
record his view that the affair of the
greased castridge 'precipitated
the mutiny before it had been
thoroughly organised, before
adequate arrangements had been made for making the
first step to a popular insurrection' mutiny a
(quoted by Hirendra Nath
Mukherjee: India's Struggle for Freedom', p. 54).
The revolt was
suppressed with
ruthless savagery and
unparalleled in the cruelty,
history of any civilised nation. The Indian
newspapers frequently wrote about the
grievances of the people. Rut the hu growing discontent and
 JOURNALISM
118 A HISTORY OF INDIAN

to us and our true policy is to

reconciliate the Hindus". The
Judge-Advocate-General's efforts to give the Great Indian
Rebellion a Muslim colour was not, therefore, surprising. A
A
British official also stated afterwards: "During and for long after
the mutiny the Mahomedans were under a cloud. To them were
attributed all the horrors and calamities of that terrible time,"
History has abundant proofs that on such crucial occasions
Hindus and Mahomedans united together to achieve a common
goal. "Among the many lesson_ which the Indian Mutiny conveys
to the historian and administrator none is of greater importance
than the warning that it is possible to have a revolution in which
Brahmin and Sudra, Mahomedan and Hindu, were united against
us(G. W. Forrest: 'Selections, quoted by S. B. Chaudhuri in
his Civil Rebellion', in the Indian Mutinies, 1857-59', p. 282).
It was not 'a religious war for Mahomedan ascendancy'
because the famous proclamation of Bahadur Shah to the people
set forth political grievances and invoked also the Muslim
shariat and the Hindu shastras'.\The Hindoo Patriot characterised
this 'as an Asiatic state paper ; its merits are of a high order.
Instead of branding this as a 'religious war' the Patriot wrote,
The nation had been roused and thoroughly prepared for
"The
revolution' (August 25, 1857). The use of the words nation' and
revolution' by a contemporary newspaper has a great historical
value and pricks the bubble of false British propaganda,
The charges levelled against the Indian Press by Lord Canning
have never been substantiated by facts. The reference to
Mahomedan Press is also mischievous. "The Press in North-
West Provinces was subjected to the most careful scrutiny in the
pre-Rebellion period" while Urdu newspapers were subsidized,
"the Government purchasing as many as 200 copies of each issue
for distribution." (Refer J. Natarajan History of Indian
Journalism," forming Part II of Press Commission's Report, p. 66).
The Rev. J. Long says in his 1859 Report: "......during the
Punjab War and the Rebellion, the Native press, though viewing
affairs more fromoriental than an English standpoint, has
an
maintained, on the whole, a moderate tone." A feature of the
period was that peasants and rustics "came a long way" from
distant villages "to have the
newspapers read to them". So, Lord
 INDIA'S WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE 119
Canning's charge of preaching seditio1
baseless. It was concocted
was baseless. against Indian newspapers
to
Gagging Act' as the necessity for justify the passing of the
such a
handy measure was felt
urgently by the bureaucracy after
Samachar Sudhabarsan
Samachar Syamsundar Sen, the editor of
had been
acquitted by the
prosecuted and afterwards
Supreme Court of the charge of sedition
his paper. against
After the Rebellion had been
suppressed mass murders were
committed in the name of trial under Martial Law and villages
were burnt By the British
army. The tone of tha English-owned
papers were horribly malicious. yThey cried for blood and
encouraged butchery as retributión. The Rev. J. Long wrote in
his report of Calcutta Press: «"The English newspapers in too
many cases cherish the spirit of antagonism of race (some English
editors freely lavished abuse on the Natives)".
AHurish Chunder condemned this attitude of the English Ptess
and eharacterised "Martial Law asa mockery of law in Hindoo
Patriot of September 17, 1858. The comments are reproduced in
the next Chapter.
for he
Lord Canning, however, betrayed weakness and bias
the Gagging Act'
English Press. In the same speech, introducing
to the Council, His Lordship
said with reference to the English
credit to the conductors of the
Press"WhileI am glad to give which mark
and intelligence
European Press for the loyalty that I have
their labours, I am
bound by sincerity to say
under their management,
of the papers
Seen passages in some
innocuous so far as European readers
Which, though perfectly present, be
turned to the
at time like the
are concerned, may, capable of
mischievous purposes in the hands of people
most
native ear."
dressing them up for the the 13th of June,
1857. It
enacted on
measure was without a
The
printing presses
the keeping and using of certain
prohibited on
was to be given
which
Government would
icence from the conditions
of any of these
The violation printing
conditions.
conditions. plant and
to seize the types, enacted such a
enable the Government
G overnment
Government
enacted such
offender. The that the
machine of the advisers were
of opinion
drastic law
because its legal started against
sedition had been
materials
which c a s e s of
on
 It was near
were allowed to start about
1824 that
and 1853 the indigo plantations and by chartersEuropeans
colonisation schemes for of 1833
approved. Their stories of European planters were
were
torture
parallel the hËstory of any
in on
helpless peasantry had no
no
With an ear ever
civilised nation.
the wronged Hurish open
to the
took up his
plaints of the oppressed
oppressed and
crimes of the planters and powerful quill to reprove the
save the
conscious that his main peasants from ruin. He was was
the Patriot añd he strength lay in the editorial
realised the power that was fast columns of
the nationalist Press and
the future that developing in
utilised it and declared "We lay before it. He fully
fully
have said that the
planting as it now exists in Bengal is a system of indigo-
and system of organised fraud
oppression". (Hindoo Patriot, July 29, 1858).
Like Iswar
Gupta's Provakar it did not crave
of the British monarch to
for
the mercy
stop this evil. The Patriot's was a
language of denunciation and challenge. Jts columns were
thrown open to Sisir Kumar Ghosh
of Jessore; Manmohon
Ghose, (the first Indian practising barister) of Krishnagore
Harnath Majumdar and Mathuranath Maitra of Kumarkhali and
many others to expose the crimes and tyranny of the planters.
His writings inspired the educated middle class and they came
forward to show active sympathy with the peasants' struggle.
The European magistrates used to punish peasants and order
compensation for their refusal to grow indigo plants in their
lands. The total compensation, thus assessed and paid, exceeded
the normal amounts of profit. (The Hindoo Patriot, March
12, 1860).
/The Hindoo Patriot of February 25, 1860 published a letter
"Americanism in Nadia" which
ints column unde; the caption:
balance due
shows that European planters lost their temper and
to Hurish Chunder's exposure of their
misdeeds and threatened
Americanism' in the
him. Why the editor used the word
be explained. Probably he
caption cannot, at this distant time,
such a slanderous,
discovered American' technique in sending
letter in defiance of ordinary etiquette.
nasty but anonymous
The letter runs as follows:
Well Nigger-I see thou
art getting bolder day by day,
 the hard work that
he did to rouse
upon his health and the masses told
he breathed his last on June 14, 1861, at the
age of 37 years
only.
Paying glowing tributes to his memory Girish
who founded the Chandra Ghosh,
Patriot wrote in
1861): "A thünderbolt has fallen Mukherjea' s Magazine (June,
is every voice and fixed is upon native society. Hushed
the mentor of the
every eye. The friend of the
rich, the spokesman, the poor and
that defied danger and battled patriot, the brave heart
been swept oaway like a visionforemost
in the strife of politics has
frem our aching
is great. We were eyes......Our loss
only just pulling forth the buds and blossoms
of a healthy existence. From
the darkness of ages we were
faintly emerging into light, groping our only
of
way through chöking
a
mass
prejudices andstruggling fully, though earnestly, through
obstruction and difficulty. We had only
recently learnt the value
of political liberty......Hurish Chunder
Mukherjee was the soul
of this movement."
About his paper, John Bruce Norton wrote in his book, entitled
The Rebellion in India:"Let the sceptical study the leading
articles in the Hindoo Patriot, written by a Brahmin with a spirit,
a degree of reflection and acuteness which would do honour to
any journalism in the world".
But the mean revenge of the planters did not spare him even
after his death. Archibald Hill, a planter, instituted a libel suit
against Hurish Chunder claiming Rs. 10,000 as damages for
publishing in the Patriot a news about a case in which Hill was
charged with carrying away a village girl, Haramani by name,
and keeping her confined in his room at night. After the death
of Hurish Chunder, Hill made his widow a party and insisted to
continue the case in Alipur Court. Failing to secijre any help to
conduct the case the helpless widow of Hurish made a compromise
Thus ended the brilliant
with Hill by paying him Rs. 1,000 only.
who left a national newspaper which
career of a great journalist,
of public
under his stewardship became the powerful organ
of' the spirit of the age.
opinion that was the expression
his success by
The individual journalist pays the price of
to his time and dies with it. But
extinction because he belongs
Hurish Chunder for the cause of the oppressed
the fearless stand of