How did the Governor-General William Bentinck react to the petition Bled by the editors of English and Vernacular newspapers ?
Before 1798, the colonial state under the East India Company was not concerned with censorship. But its early measures to control printed matter were directed against English¬men in India who were critical of Company misrule and hated the actions of particular Company officers. The Company was worried that such criticisms might be used by its critics in England to attack its trade monopoly in India. By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press freedom and the Company began encouraging publication of newspapers that would celebrate British rule. In 1835 faced with urgent petitions by editors of English and vernacular newspapers, Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws. Thomas Macaulay, a liberal colonial official, formulated new rules that restored the earlier freedoms.
