Page:Nil Durpan.djvu/177

 to speak of them otherwise than as filthy insinuation against a society of helpless ladies who, under the mask of a general type, were cruelly stabbed in the dark. If it meant anything it was not merely a slander against the wives of planters, but also against the Magistrates and the planters. The Jury, the civilians, the soldiers, and merchants in this country alike had their common origin from that middle class whose daughters were here so shamefully maligned. Those ladies came to this country to share a life of toil and hardship with their husbands, far from the friendship and protection of their friends and were entitled to be respected and protected. He had been told that, that publication was an expression of the Native feeling. If so, every intelligent and respectable Native in that Court must have been ashamed to hear such a statement. He had many personal friends among both Civilians and Indigo planters, and he must say that he could not help feeling that it was most cowardly to attack the planters through their wives, and their wives through the Magistrates. Would they believe that those women were in the habit of debasing themselves in order to gain the decision of Magistrates who were bound by oath to administer the law with strict impartiality? Would they believe that those Magistrates were in the habit of violating the solemn obligations of their duty and conscience in the manner suggested? He wished the Jury distinctly to understand that, however much they may condemn these allusions to the wives of the planters, unless they believed Mr. Long translated, published, and circulated such expresstions he is not crimi¬nally responsible unless actuated by a malicious motive. Then, as bearing on the question of bona fides in making this publication for the benefit of society, it has been contended by the learned Counsel representing the Crown that such slanders could not have been published by a clergyman of the Established Church of England with a bona fide and conscientious belief that it would forward the interests of society? It might have been fitting in him to raise the charge of oppression, extortion and cruelty against planters. But what public good would it subserve to publish these filthy allusions to the prostitution of the Native women to the planters? When he (the learned Judge) read these passages he blushed to think a clergyman of the Established Church of England could have lent himself to the propagation of such obscene language