may not be the case. The question then remains to be asked.-Have the Court of Directors at any time sent instructions to their Government in India, to report on the means by which the frequency of the female sacrifice might be diminished, and the practice itself eventually abolished? Or have the Proprietors of India Stock at any time instructed the Court of Directors to attend to a point of so much consequence to the character of the Company, and the honour of the nation? That the abolition is practicable has been demonstrated and that too by the most rational and lenient measures; and these means have been pointed out by the Brahmins themselves.* Had Marquis Wellesley remained in India, and been permitted to complete his salutary plans for the improvement of that distant Empire (for he did not finish one half of the civil and political regulations which he had in view, and had actually commenced) the Female Sacrifice would probably have been by this time nearly abolished. The humanity and intrepid spirit of that nobleman abolished a yet more criminal practice which was * See them detailed in Memoir, p. 49. + Ibid. p. 47. considered by the Hindoos as a religious rite, and consecrated by custom, I mean the SACRIFICE of CHILDREN. His Lordship had been informed that it had been a custom of the Hindoos to sacrifice children in consequence of vows, by drowning them, or exposing them to Sharks and Crocodiles; and that twenty-three persons had perished at Saugor in one month (January 1801,) many of whom where sacrificed in this manner. He in mediately instituted an inquiry into the principle of this ancient atrocity, heard what Natives and Europeans had to say on the subject; and then passed a law, " declaring the practice "to be murder punishable by death.”—The law is entitled "A Regulation for preventing the "Sacrifice of Children at Saugor and other "places; passed by the Governor-General in "Council on the 20th of August, 1802."-The purpose of this regulation was completely effected. Not a murmur was heard on the subject: nor has any attempt of the kind come to our knowledge since. It is impossible to calculate the number of human lives that have been saved, during the last eight years, by this humane law of Marquis Wellesley.-Now it is well known that it is as easy to prevent the sacrifice of women as the sacrifice of children. Has this fact ever been denied by any man who is competent to offer judgment on the subject? Until the supreme Government in Bengal shall declare that it is utterly impracticable to lessen the frequency of the Immolation of Females by any means, THE AUTHOR WILL NOT CEASE TO CALL THE ATTENTENTION OF THE ENGLISH NATION TO THIS SUBJECT. TANJORE. THE Letters of KING GEORGE the FIRST to the Missionaries in India, will form a proper introduction to the account which it is now. intended to give of the Christian Hindoos of Tanjore. The first Protestant Mission in India was founded by Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, a man of erudition and piety, educated at the University of Halle, in Germany. He was ordained by the learned Burmannus, bishop of Zealand, in his twenty-third year, and sailed for India in 1705. In the second year of his ministry he founded a Christian Church among the Hindoos, which has been extending its limits to the present time. In 1714, he returned to Europe for a short time, and on that occasion was honoured with an audience by His Majesty George the First, who took much interest in the success of the Mission. He was also patronized by "the Society for "promoting Christian Knowledge," which was superintended by men of distinguished learning and piety. The King and the Society, encouraged the Oriental Missionary to proceed in his translation of the Scriptures into the Tamul tongue which they designated "the grand work." This was indeed THE GRAND WORK; for wherever the Scriptures are translated into the vernacular tongue, and are open and common to all, inviting inquiry and causing discussion, they cannot remain "a dead letter." When the Scriptures speak to a heathen in his own tongue, his conscience responds, "This is the word of God." How little is the importance of a version of the Bible in a new language understood by some. The man who produces a translation of the Bible into a new language, (like Wickliffe, and Luther, and Ziegenbalg, and Carey) is a greater benefactor to mankind than the Prince who founds an Empire. For the "incorruptible seed of the word "of God" can never die. After ages have revolved, it is still producing new accessions to truth and human happiness. In the year 1719, Ziegenbalg finished the Bible in the Tamul tongue, having devoted fourteen years to the work. The peculiar interest taken by the King in this primary endea vour to evangelize the Hindoos, will appear from the following letters, addressed to the Mission aries by his Majesty. "GEORGE, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, "France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. to the "Reverend and Learned Bartholomew Ziegenbalgius "and John Earnest Grundlerus, Missionaries at Tran"quebar, in the East Indies. "Reverend and Beloved, "Your letters dated the 20th of January of the present "year, were most welcome to us; not only because the "work undertaken by you of converting the heathen to "the Christian faith, doth, by the grace of God, prosper, "but also because that, in this our kingdom, such a lau"dable zeal for the promotion of the gospel prevails. "We pray you may be endued with health and << strength of body, that you may long continue to fulfil your ministry with good success; of which, as we shall be rejoiced to hear, so you will always find us ready to "succour you in whatever may tend to promote your "work, and to excite your zeal. We assure you of the ❝continuance of our royal favour. "Given at our Palace of Hampton "Court, the 23d of August, "GEORGE R. |