CHARGE OF PLAGIARISM AGAINST THE ASIATIC JOURNAL.

IN the Bulletin Universel des Sciences, &c. for March, reference is made to an article on "Greek Fire," which appeared in our Journal for September last, accompanied by a remark that the authorities cited therein were borrowed, without acknowledgment, from two articles by M. de Montgéry, inserted in the Bulletin for the year 1824. Upon examination, we find that the French editor is perfectly correct; and we can only express our regret as well as our surprise at the circumstance, since the article was furnished for publication in our Journal by an individual (himself the conductor of a respectable work in this country) who was liberally paid for it as an original compilation.

Instances of deception like this the editors of all periodical works are liable to, in spite of the utmost vigilance: the frequency of them may perhaps, in the estimation of the authors, alter the character which they ought to bear. In two instances, articles have been offered to us which had actually appeared in previous numbers of our own work! one of these instances has occurred during the present month; the writer is an oriental scholar of some note resident abroad.

Whilst upon this topic, we may be allowed to advert to a similar charge brought against this Journal by the Bengal Hurkaru, a daily newspaper of Calcutta, arising out of the following circumstance. In the Asiatic Journal for January and February 1825 appeared an article entitled " Mission to Siam and Cochin China in 1822," which was therein stated to be the substance of some parts of the Report (it should have been the Notes) made by Mr. Crawfurd. This article was copied into the Hurkaru, owing to the editor's not calling to mind that it had appeared in all the papers of the Presidency some time before. When the editor of that paper was reminded of his oversight by one of his contemporaries, he turned round upon the work from whence he had taken the article, and in angry terms accused it of "literary larceny," intimating that such had been the common practice of the Asiatic Journal.

scorn.

Of the practice of this Journal previous to the period when the present editor assumed its management (the beginning of last year), he is neither able nor called upon to speak. That he ever knowingly admitted a wilful plagiarism, committed upon any other work whatsoever, is a charge which he repels with The principle upon which he acts is to specify the author or the publication (whenever it can be known) to whom or which he may be indebted for any article he thinks worthy of republication, excepting the following cases: 1, where the articles are forwarded to the Journal corrected by the original author, who desires to be concealed; 2, where articles are so far reconstructed, altered, or blended with original matter, as to make them in some respects new; 3, when the article has appeared in so many periodical works as to render its previous publication notorious, and its origin a matter of doubt. The instances of exception, including all cases, have been extremely

rare.

In respect to the article referred to by the Hurkaru, it was found by the present editor, on entering upon his office, amongst the materials left for publication by his predecessor. It had never appeared in this country; it was highly interesting; but its origin was entirely unknown to him. All he could do, therefore, he did; he mentioned the name of Mr. Crawfurd, and described the article as the substance of what that gentleman had written.*

Whilst

* There was also an article entitled "Journey overland from India," which was a continuation of what had previously appeared in this Journal, of the exact source of which he was equally ignorant.

Whilst the editor is thus repelling the charge of plagiarism, and declaring the rule which he prescribes to himself, in transferring from ephemeral publications, and giving prolonged existence to, fragments of intelligence which he deems valuable to European readers, he is far from admitting that the editors of eastern newspapers would have any title to complain if he omitted to acknowledge the particular source from whence such articles were obtained. No copyright would be invaded; for none, it is apprehended, exists in the contents of a newspaper; no injustice, or even want of courtesy, would be displayed towards the authors, for they are anonymous; nor could the sale of an Indian newspaper in this or any other country be injured by its contents being gleaned in Europe, after the lapse of six months from publication,

If the practice of copying from newspapers without distinct acknowledgment constitute plagiarism, all the London newspapers, are, à fortiori, guilty of it in an eminent degree. So far from its being a rule amongst them to acknowledge that they copy from each other, the rule is exactly the reverse: when exceptions occur, it is generally to serve a particular object. Nor is this practice confined to newspapers; most of the monthly works pursue a similar course, not only with respect to newspapers, but towards each other. If this practice can justify complaint, we have ourselves perhaps the greatest reason to complain; for although we abstain from preying upon our contemporaries, our pages are unmercifully pillaged by them, without acknowledgment. Even our best articles are copied into other works, sometimes with circumstances which denote contrivance on the part of the authors or editors. The peculiar nature of this Journal, which confines it to a certain class of readers, promises, probably, impunity to piratical writers. We never noticed these acts, except in two flagrant and audacious instances, wherein we privately intimated the fact to the editors, under a belief that they had been imposed upon.

That newspapers are not considered by periodical writers to be entitled to the courtesy of acknowledgment, we cannot give a more convincing proof than by referring to an article on "The State of Hayti," which appeared in the Edinburgh Review for January 1825, wherein whole paragraphs respecting the present character of the Haytians are copied verbatim from a weekly newspaper, then defunct, without acknowledgment.

This, we repeat, is not our practice. But let us see how far the conduct of the editor of the Hurkaru, the complainant, who ought to be extremely scrupulous, conforms to his own rule. We never paid any attention to the manner in which articles were quoted from our Journal in the Indian papers, until we observed this charge in the Hurkaru; when, upon looking over the file of this very paper, we found that a few days only after the accusation was made of an act which the editor stigmatizes as an "unworthy practice," an entire article, entitled "On the comparative Value to England of her East and West-India Possessions," which appeared in our Journal for January 1825, was printed in the Hurkaru, under the imposing aspect of large type, without acknowledgment. Unacknowledged it remained, until, shortly after, some of the positions in that article were attacked by a West-India partizan (who was most ably answered); then, but not till then, the editor avowed the source from whence it was borrowed. This omission might be accidental; but upon turning over a few more numbers of the Hurkaru, we found another article, taken from a succeeding number of our Journal, entitled "An Account of the Yakoots," a curious compilation for our work from recent Russian authorities.

The British and Colonial Weekly Register.

In this case, the editor of the Hurkaru pursued the following plan: he gave no intimation that the article was quoted from this Journal; but he subsequently quoted some minor articles to which the title of this Journal was subjoined. Our readers must perceive the inference which we are entitled to make from this artifice if we chose.

We should not have thought, nor shall we ever think, of branding such acts as these with the term larceny; although newspapers in India may obviously do us more harm than we can do them by borrowing without acknowledgment. Whenever they, or our contemporaries at home, derive information from our pages and avow their obligation, we esteem it an act of courtesy; when they omit such acknowledgment, we shall never deem ourselves entitled to com plain of injury, much less to indulge in abuse towards them.

Motives to concealment may possibly exist in others which are absent from us. The peculiar character of our work, limited to subjects connected with the East, forces us upon the resources possessed by Eastern works. Our readers naturally prefer articles of Indian growth to those produced at home.* It is a part of our plan, which we pursue at a heavy expense, to collect from all parts of the world, as into one focus, the scattered rays of light which may illuminate the English reader upon Eastern topics. We therefore not only import all the journals published in India, Australasia, &c. but obtain the periodical publications of Russia, Germany, France, and Italy, from whence we occasionally glean articles of great interest, which would be otherwise lost to the English reader. These are intermixed with others purely original, constituting together that variety of subjects and of style, which is essential to a work like this.

The latter part of our Journal is almost wholly compiled from the various journals of India: if we omit quoting a paper it is owing to the confusion attending the selection, often hasty, from a large mass. We reject private intelligence unless unexceptionably authenticated. We claim no other merit, therefore, from this department of our work than that which is due to a faithful and laborious condensation and correction of the contents of the pile of papers which comes before us every month. We say correction, for it is impossible to describe the toil we incur through the gross typographical defects, the vicious orthography and punctuation, which disfigure these papers. The Hurkaru is the chief offender in this respect; and we cannot help remarking, that, under all circumstances, the fact of that paper being the first to complain against us, recalls the story of the "Creaking Wheel," which the waggoner discovered to be the worst of the set.

*We have been accused of being too sparing of our extracts from Indian papers.

THE CONQUEST OF SEU.

From the Chinese Language.

IN crowded ranks firm stood the royal bands,

As on its base a granite mountain stands.

Lo! now they move, where Fame and Victory lead

Swift as if eagles' pinions lent them speed;

Impetuous as a torrent is their force,

Resistless as a mighty river's course :

Strong in their numbers, in their prowess strong,

In one continuous flood they sweep along.

ITINERANT PREACHING IN INDIA.

HAVING occasion, in an article on “Missionary Efforts in India" (p. 446), to advert to itinerant preaching in that country, which practice we assigned reasons for thinking to be attended with very equivocal results, a correspondent has transmitted to us a copy of the speech of the Rev. Mr. Warden, delivered at the sixth anniversary of the Calcutta Baptist Missionary Society, in defence of that practice. As we are always desirous that both sides of every question treated in this Journal should be fairly heard, provided the respective advocates are not above conforming to the necessary rules prescribed by us, we readily give insertion to the following extracts from the speech referred to :

"The manner in which our preaching to the natives in the streets, and places of public resort in this city, has been by some condemned, will render it proper that something should be said in favour of a practice which involves in it so large a share of this and other missionary societies' operations. Before offering some considerations by which we conceive our conduct to be warranted, I shall first glance at the objections which are commonly urged against it.

"This practice, it has been said, or insinuated, presents Christianity to the natives in a garb which is not attractive, or even decent; that to recommend it, our religion requires an imposing ritual. That a decent mode of representing its truths is not only congenial with the Gospel, but commanded by it, we readily admit: however, to those who believe that 'plainness in religion is elegance, and popular perspicuity true magnificence,' in our mode we conceive nothing will appear objectionable. Should any, however, be disposed to enforce the objection, we must remind them, that the best of forms are but forms at best; and as we do not expect they will attribute to any form, how decent or splendid soever it may be, the charm which the legends of antiquity ascribed to the tunic of the giant Nessus, which it was said, would reclaim the wandering heart, and fix it on its proper object, we shall not contend further on this point; but while we adopt a garb which appears to us most scriptural, leave others in the quiet possession of theirs.

"Again, it is said, that as the natives are greatly influenced by appearance, and that because such a mode as we have described is disreputable in their estimation, they will only despise our persons and efforts, instead of profiting by what we say. Allowing that by some proud and supercilious persons this feeling may be cherished, we would ask, whether that be a sufficient reason for abandoning the practice? If so, then it will follow, that we should change the substance as well as the vehicle of our religion; for surely none will say that our plan is to the corrupt heart more offensive than the doctrines of the cross, an object which is to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.

"But we are further told, that our plan presents divine truth to the mind in a mutilated form, and may lead to erroneous conclusions respecting it, from its not being seen in its connexion. That to an occasional hearer of the gospel, much of the excellence which consists in it as a body of Christian doctrine is unknown, is readily granted, and that the views which by such a means he acquires of it are defective, and perhaps partly incorrect, may be conceded; yet if it be denied, that even the partial knowledge which may be thus obtained, is of boundless importance, we are prepared to oppose the sentiThe temple of truth, it should be remembered, like the spiritual temple, the church, is composed of stones, which are a model of the fabric; so that while they form a constituent part of the whole, they present it in miniature: to speak plainly, each part of divine truth, while it forms an ingredient in the general system, involves all in itself. Thus if a heathen should be convinced of only this one truth, that sin is an infinite evil, because it is committed against an infinite God, and is the violation of infinite obligations, he is led to see the necessity of an infinite atonement to take away

ment.

749 sin; and as he cannot furnish this himself, to inquire where he can obtain it, until he be, perhaps, by the grace of God, led to know Him whom to know is life eternal. Nor is this a mere conjecture; examples of such an effect from such a cause are not wanting. To one we may advert; that of the individual, who, after travelling hundreds of miles upon his spiked shoes, heard from the lips of a missionary, who was preaching beneath a tree, the cheering accents: The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.'-'Let me hear it again,' said the man: and in what way that event terminated you all know.

"And whilst such are the nature and tendency of truth, the opposite is necessarily the character of falsehood. Error is not like a chain, which, if one link be destroyed, still remains firm and indissoluble in its two surviving parts; but it resembles the production of the weaver, the loops of which are so dependant upon each other, that if one be severed, the whole may be with facility unravelled. Thus, if you convince a man that divers washings and carnal ordinances avail only to the purifying of the flesh, he is led to question the truth of the shastres which impose such modes of purification, and the way is prepared for his forsaking idolatry. It appears, then, that the slight knowledge which in the way that we are considering, a person may acquire respecting the delusions of his own religion, or the pre-eminence of ours, is not entitled to the reflections which have been so unsparingly heaped upon it.

6

"But happily our ground is not merely unobjectionable, it is eligible. We may urge in its favour, that we have the warrant of scripture for occupying it. In the general command of Christ to his disciples, the duty is implied: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' And in the familiar parable of the marriage feast, by which the nature of Christ's kingdom is represented, it is emphatically said: 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.'

"Nor is this precept left without the most unexceptionable examples to recommend it. Not to mention the conduct of the most approved heathen philosophers, as Socrates, or the proud Pharisees, who thought it no disgrace to teach their disciples in the markets and chief places of concourse, we may remark, that almost every reformer of importance whose name has been handed down to us, was either compelled, or judged it expedient, to adopt the course which we are defending. Where, we ask, did that illustrious reformer Ezra, when he revived the worship of God, harangue the people? We have a short, but beautiful, account of it, Neh. viii. 'Upwards of fifty thousand people assembled in a street, or large square near the watergate. It was early in the morning of a Sabbath day. A pulpit of wood, in the fashion of a small tower, was placed there on purpose for the preacher; and this turret was supported by a scaffold or temporary gallery, where, in a wing on the right hand of the pulpit, sat six of the principal preachers, and in another on the left seven. Thirteen other principal teachers, and many Levites, were present also on scaffolds erected for the purpose, alternately to officiate.' And where did John the Baptist deliver his message? In the wilderness of Judea. But to go to the great model of all, where did Christ and his apostles preach? Not surely in synagogues alone, else what becomes of Christ's sermon on the mount, his discourse from Peter's ship, and his instruction at Jacob's well? And how shall we dispose of Paul's preaching in the market-place at Athens? Again, what will be said to the conduct of the glorious reformers from Popery, as the simple Latimer, whom we find from the trunk of a tree delivering the emancipating truths of Christianity? Or to come nearer our own time, what shall we say to the immortal Whitfield, who, from the side of a hill held his weeping thousands fast in the chains of his manly eloquence? If, therefore, we err, it is a glorious error; we err in a goodly company, and we err in a goodly cause: and the depth of our humiliation will only heighten our future bliss, as the lowering of the cannon only makes it describe the loftier compass.

66 'And, lastly, if the advantage of our system can, after what has been said, add any thing to its validity, we may urge it without fear of contradiction. The number of hearers that we thus procure, is unquestionably greater than by any other means we could expect and if in every respect a large audience be preferable to a small one, our mode is obviously advantageous.”