The International Magazine, Volume 4, No. 5, December 1851Various
History
The International Magazine, Volume 4, No. 5, December 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
There are six English newspapers published in Calcutta and its
neighborhood. The editors are all men of experience and talent, who
know how to suit the appetites of their customers. An English reader,
however, taking up one of our Indian newspapers, would think it a very
dull affair, for he would find one-third of it editorial and local
news, another third advertisements, and the remainder, extracts from
the London magazines. Now this is what just suits the Anglo-Indians.
The advertisements tell them what to do with their money, the residue
informs them of what is going on, and gives them the very pith of
literature without putting them to the trouble of cutting it from the
crust.
The Indian press has been stigmatized in England as a "licentious," a
"rascally," and an "unscrupulous" one. This is very far from being the
case. It has its faults, but they are not of such a kind. Indeed, it
seems to me, that in point of purity, honesty, and morality, it may
challenge comparison with the press of Great Britain itself, and most
decidedly it possesses a powerful influence with the executive. It has
been the means, within the last few years, of causing the abolition
of lotteries, the appointment of deputy magistrates, and many other
measures tending to the moralization and welfare of the country. It
scans and fearlessly criticises the acts of Government; it shows a
spirit of active benevolence in pleading the cause of the injured, to
whatever class they may belong; and proves itself impartially just.
In addition to newspapers several magazines and other periodicals
are published in Calcutta. The whole of the periodical publications
amount in number to forty. A Quarterly Review has lately been added to
those, and also a Magazine, the intended publication of which, and its
character, were announced in so curious a manner, that I shall copy
the advertisement at full length for the benefit of the reader: "In
the press, and will be published on the 1st of July, and continued
monthly, a new periodical, entitled, The British India Magazine,
and Daily and Monthly Treasury, a most useful Writing and Reading
Table Manual of Reference, Memoranda, Expenditure, and Literature,
to which is added a Precis of the News of the past month, Political,
Fashionable, Social, Commercial, Humorous, and Scientific. It is
equally adapted for ladies in general, as for Gentlemen of the Civil,
Military, and Uncovenanted Services, Members of the Legal and Medical
Professions, Merchants, Indigo and Sugar Planters, and Planters'
Assistants, Captains and Officers of Ships, Clerks in Mercantile
Houses, &c., or in fact, for all Persons by whom due order and
regularity in the expenditure of their Time and Income is considered an
object worthy of notice. It is compiled upon a method perfectly novel
in the annals of the Press, be it American, Asiatic, or European, and
may be had (per dak) in all parts of British India."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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