The idea of the White Man's Burden was promoted and popularised by Rudyard Kipling through his similarly titled poem written in 1899. By 1860 the British expansion in India was complete. Carnoy uses the White Man's Burden as a motivating factor for British expansion in the eighteenth century, a century before it was even conceptualised.

Contrary to Carnoy's assumption, missionaries often fought for the rights of the local population from the very beginning. Rev V. Taylor, after witnessing the execution of a Kannada peasant in Dharwar district, fought for the recognition of Kannada as a court language in the Bombay Presidency in 1836. This entirely Kannada-speaking district had Marathi village and district officers due to the pre-colonial Peshwa rule, and the system was continued under colonial rule.

The execution took place because the peasant charged with murder had given his testimonial in Kannada, which was recorded in Marathi by the native official, and the court proceeding was conducted in Hindustani. The prisoner, ignorant of both Marathi and Hindustani, unwillingly expressed assent to the confession. There was no circumstantial evidence against him.

He was charged with murder and later executed. Taylor effectively fought for the introduction of Kannada as the language of administration and education. Within six months Kannada was made a court language and twenty-seven Kannada primary schools were established in the district.