the work of the Warrior or Statesman, in charity, utility and lasting fame! And I could not help wishing that the Representatives of the Church of Christ in my own country had been present to witness this scene, that they might have seen how practicable it is to offer Christian instruction to our Hindoo subjects.' IMMOLATION OF FEMALES. Before the Author proceeds to shew the happy effects of Christianity in those provinces of India. where it has been introduced, it may be proper to notice in this place that other sanguinary rite of the Hindoo superstition, the FEMALE SACRIThe report of the number of women burned within the period of six months near Calcutta, will give the reader some idea of the multitude who perish annually in India. FICE. REPORT of the Number of Women who were Burned 'Alive on the Funeral Pile of their Husbands, within 'thirty miles round Calcutta, from the beginning of 'Bysakh (15th April) to the end of Aswin (15th 'October) 1804.' From Women burned From Gurria to Barrypore; at eleven different places* From Tolly's Nulla mouth to Gurria; at seventeen alive. 18 36 11 10 3 10 From Barrypore to Buhipore; at seven places From Burahnugur to Chanok (or Barrackpore ;) at 6 13 8 near Calcutta.. 115 The above Report was made by persons of the Hindoo cast, deputed for that purpose, under the superintendance of the Professor of the Shanscrit and Bengalee languages in the College of Fort-William. They were ten in number, and were stationed at different places during the whole period-of six months. They gave in their account monthly, specifying the particulars of each immolation, so that every individval instance was subject to investigation immediately after its occurrence. * See the names of the places and other particulars in Memoir of the Expediency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment in British India, p. 102. "By an account taken in 1803, the number of women sacrificed, during that year, within thirty miles round Calcutta, was two hundred and seventy-five. "In the foregoing Report of six months, in 1804, it will be perceived that no account was taken of burnings in a district to the west of Calcutta, nor further than twenty miles in some other directions; so that the whole number of burnings within thirty miles round Calcutta must have been considerably greater than is here stated.' The following account will give the reader some idea of the flagitious circumstance which sometimes attend these sacrifices. SACRIFICE OF THE KOOLIN BRAHMIN's Calcutta, 30th Sept. 1807. 'A horrid tragedy was acted, on the 12th instant, near Barnagore (a place about three miles above Calcutta.) A Koolin Brahmin of Cammar-hattie, by name Kristo Deb Mookerjee, died at the advanced age of ninety He had twelve wives; and three of them were * The Koolin Brahmin is the purest of all Brahmins, and is privileged to marry as many wives as he pleases. The Hindoo families account it an honour to unite their daughters with a Koolin Brahmin. "The Ghautics or Registrars of the Koolin cast state that Rajeb Bonnerjee, now of Calcutta, has forty wives ;* burned alive with his dead body. Of these three, one was a venerable lady, having white locks, who had been long known in the neighbourhood. Not being able to walk, she was carried in a palanquin to the place of burning; and was then placed by the Brahmins on the funeral pile. The two other ladies were younger; one of them of a very pleasing and interesting countenance. The old lady was placed on one side of the dead husband, and the two other wives laid themselves down on the other side; and then an old Brahmin, the eldest son of the deceased, applied his torch to the pile, with unaverted face. The pile suddenly blazed for it was covered with combustibles; and this human sacrifice was completed amidst the din of drums and cymbals, and the shouts of Brahmins.—A person present observed, Surely if Lord Minto were here, who is just come from England, and is not used to see women burned alive, he would have saved these three ladies.' The Mahomedan Governors saved whom they pleased, and suffered no deluded female to commit suicide, without previous investigation of the circumstances, and official permission that wives; and that Raj-chunder Bonnerjee, also of Calcutta, has forty-two wives; and intends to marry more: Ramraja Bonnerjee, of Bicrampore, aged thirty years, and Pooran Bonnerjee, Rajkissore Chutterjee, and Roopram Mookerjee, have each upwards of forty wives, and intend to marry more; that Birjoo Mookerjee, of Bicrampore, who died about five years ago, had ninety wives." This account was authenticated at Calcutta in the year 1804. See further particulars in " Memoir" before quoted, p. 111. In a discussion which this event has produced in Calcutta, the following question has been asked, WHO WAS GUILTY OF THE BLOOD OF THE OLD LADY? for it was manifest that she could not destroy herself? She was carried to be burned. It was also alleged that the Brahmin who fired the pile was not guilty, because he was never informed by the English government, that there was any immorality in the action. On the contrary, he might argue that the English, witnessing this scene daily, as they do, without remonstrance, acquiesced in its propriety. The Government in India was exculpated, on the ground that the Government at home never sent any instructions on the subject; and the Court of Directors were exculpated, because they were the agents of others. It remained that the Proprietors of India Stock, who originate and sanction all proceed ings of the Court of Directors, WERE REMOTELY AC CESSARY TO THE DEED.' The best vindication of the great body of Proprietors, is this, that some of them never heard of the Female Sacrifice at all; and that few of them are acquainted with the full extent and frequency of the crime.-Besides, in the above discussion, it was taken for granted that the Court of Directors have done nothing towards the suppression of this enormity; and that the Court of Proprietors have looked on, without concern, at this omission of duty.--But this, perhaps, |