One hundred years ago
The Legislative Council in India, on the 19th inst., repealed the Vernacular Press Act, and restored to the natives the liberty of discussion, subject to the or- dinary laws of libel and sedition. As we hold this liberty to be a right, especially in a conquered country, we do not care to discuss consequences; but we may just mention that the native papers in India have not an average circulation of 1,000; that of the 250,000,000 of the popula- tion, not ten millions ever heard of a newspaper, and not one million ever saw one; that all genuine agitation is con- ducted by letters, which are not liable to seizure, and that opinion is formed in the market-place, the bathing-place, and the street, and not in public-houses. There is absolutely no reason for inter- fering with the press which would not apply more strongly to the rights of meeting and of speaking freely. When Indian journalists can affect or even reach the true population, we may go, for our work will have been done.
Spectator, 21 January 1882
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