The National Register. — London, England, 1821-01-08 00:00:00

LETTER FROM TUE REV. W. WARD. misslosAaT IN INDIA. TO THE I o ADIES OE ?ATM AND THE UNITED 111210D011. There ire in Ilindosehon 75,000,000 of your sex who Call neither read our write; and 30,000,000 of these are British suujerts. In every country not ameliorated by Christianity tile state of woman 011 S always been most deplorable; but the klindou legislators have absolutely made their acquisition of the knowledge of letters a curse, and they are by a positive prohibition denied all access to their Scriptures. B. tog thus degraded, even by their sacred writings, women in India are in a state of ignorance and superstition, which has no parallel in the history of tribes the most savage and barbarous. A female is despised as soon as she is born: she conies into the world amidst the frowns of her parents and friends, disappointed that the child is not a boy. Every mother • g the tribe of Rajpoots puts her female • child to death as soon as born. While I was its Bengal I was 'Wormed of We case of a Rajpoot who hail Seared one of tits daughters, and she lived till she attained the age when India girls are marriageable. A girl in the house of a Rajpoot was, however, so extraordinary a circumstance that 110 'Weill chose to permit his son to marry her. The fattier then by:atne alarmed for her chastity and the honour of his family, and he, there fore, took her aside one day, and with a hatchet cut her to pieces! These are the circumstances into which your sex enter into lite in British India. In childhood and youth they have no education, no cultivation or any kind whstever. There is not a single girl's school in all India ; and the mother being herself entirely unlettered, mil being the devoted victim of a dark and cruel superstition, is utterly incapable of im proving her child. The first days of the girl are, there fore, spent its an inanity which prepares her for a life doomed to be spent in superstition and vice. • In the age of comparative childhood she is united in marria te e without any knowledge of or having ever seen her husband: when they meet together for the first rinse, they are hound together for life. Thousands who are thus married in a state of childhood, lose their hus bands without having ever lived with them, and are doomed to a life of widowhood; for the law forbids tnem to re-marry. Parents in some cases marry 50 or fib daughters to one Branifiun, that the family may be raised to honour by a montage relation to this man. These females never live with the husband, but in the houses of their own parents, or they leave the houses in which they have been thus sacrificed fur the supposed honour of the faintly, and enter the abodes of infamy and ruin. Supposing the female, however, to have been united to a person who really becomes attached to her; what a mother without the knowledge of the alphabet!— ' wholly unacquainted with mankind, and with all the employments of females in a civilized country; unable either to snake, to mend, or to wash the clothes of her household! She never sits to eat with her husband, but prepares his food, waits upon him, and partakes ot what he leaves. 14 a friend of the other sex calls upon her husband, she retires. Site is veiled, or goes in a covered palanquin if she leaves the house. She never mixes in public companies. She derives no knowledge from the other sex, except from the storks to which site may listen from the mouth of a religious mendicant. She is, in fact, a mere animal kept for burden or for slaughter in the house of her husband. A case lately occurred in Calcutta of a girl being burin alive on the Niteroi pile with the dead body of the youths with whom inc was that day to have been warn-11. You will be prepared now, Ladies, to expect that such a system of mental darkness will have rendered the sex in India the devoted victims of idolatry: and such victims no other country, however savage, however benighted, can boast. What must be the state of the female mind when toil limos are found throwing the children of their vows into the sea, when a guard of Hunk* soldiers arc necessary to prevent mothers throwing their living children into the jaws of the alligators, these mothers standing and watching the animal while it crushes the hones, tears the flesh, and drinks the blood of their own offspring! How deplorable the condition of your sex, when super sti.ion thus extinguishes every sensibility of the female, and every feeling of the mother, and makes her inure savage than the tiger which howls in the forest, which always spares and cherishes its own offspring. At the calls of superstition, many females immolate themselves by a voluntary death in the sacred rivers at India A nand of mine, at the junction of the J (mina stud the Gooses, at Allahabad, in one morning, saw, his own window, lb females, with pans of water fastened to their side's, sick theit.selves in the river, a few bubbles of air arising only to the surface of the water after they were guise dos it. The drowning of so corny kittens in England would excite more horror here than tre drowning ut lb of your own sex iu India! But horrors still deeper are connected with the state of female society in India. 'lite English magistrates in the presidency of Bengal, w theiv annual official returns to the Calcutta state, that in the year 1817 (three years ago) 706 women, widows, were tidier burnt alive or buried alive with the dead bodies of their tins hauds, iii that pal tof Britisu India. is there any thing like OM iu the whole records of tumor? Hese hires like these, and so nuineroits, ever been kindl ed any where else on earth—or graves like these ever bean opened f Two temales roasted alive every day ui o n e port 01 B.uit , h India alone 1 At noon-d sy, arid ht tile latest nee sit Numerous spectators, the poor widow, ensnared 411 , 1 drawn to tile funeral elle, IS tied to ilie dead heel), pressed down on the logins by strong levers, and bumiu alive, her screams amidst toe daisies tieing &tin/tied by shouts and music. Amidst the speeldlinS is her ow a eon, her first born, who, tren.endous idea: has set sir, 444 ale 1)41,, and tvatxtelik> our 11104rC.S o f tile flames %ditch are to Colisuille the In ing another to asses, the uwtlieu woo fed I from her breast, and dandled 1001 oil her knees, and who once looked op to hint as the support of the declining days r,f herself and his lather. I have seen three widows thus burnt Atte, and could - • _. • . i THE NATIONAL REGISTER have witnessed tunny more such spectacles t . ad they not beets to (ouch for my feelingssi r Other ‘ • ws are 4 fitalUed alivelNiere the .kmale takes the dead y upon her knee, as she sits in tite centre of a deep grave, and her children and relations, who have prepared the grave, throw in the earth 3n/till , ' her : two of these descend into the grave and trample the earth with their feet around the body of the widow. She sits an marmot:- strating spectator of the process : the earth rises higher and higher around 'her; at length it reaches the head, when the remaining earth is thrown with haste upon her, and those children and relations mount the grave, and trample upon the head of the expiring victim! 0 ye British mothers, ye British widows! to whom shall these desolate beings hook? In whose ears shall these ti sands of orphans cry—loosing father and mo ther in one day—if not to you? Where shall we go?— In what corner of this niis:rable world, lull of the in habitants of cruelty, shall we find female society like this?—widows and orphans like these ? Seventy-five millions in this state of ignorance! Say how long, ye who never saw a tear but ye wiped away—a wound, ' but ye attempted to heal it—a human sufferer, but ye poured consolation into his heart—how long shall these fires burn? these graves be opened? The appeal my •air countrywomen, is to you, to every female to Britain.— Government may do much to put an end to these immo lations; but, without the communication of knowledge, these fires can never be wholly quenched, nor can your sex in India ever rise to that state to which Divine Pro t 'acme has destined them. Don't despair. The victims are numerous: but on that account shall the life-boat not kart. the shore? — There can hardly be a misery, connected with I an existence, winch the pity and the zeal of British females, under the blessing of Providence, is not aisle to remove; and if this dreadful case be properly felt in every town of the united kingdom, these ammolatios must shortly cease for ever. Schools must be commenced ; _ knowledge must be communicated: and then the Hindoo female will be behiud none of her sex in the charms which adorn the female character ; in no mental elevation to which the highest rank of British females have attained. Other triumphs of humanity may have been gained by our Howards, our Clarksons, our Wilberforees ; but this emaneipation of the females and widows of Britfsh In dia must be the work of the British fair. FROM TUESDAY NIGIIT'S GAZETTE. BANKRUPTS. G. A. T. Bruggenkate, Little Kastcheap. merchant. Solicitor. Mr. Wilson s Devonshire Street. Bishop..gate Street. It. Reynolds, Shobrooke, Devonshire, tanner. Sole. Maven. Hurd and Johnson, Temple. K. liartlrmin, Liverpool, merchant. Sole. Messrs. Adlington and Gregory, Bedford Row. W. Swann, Shi&al, Salop, tailor. Sods. Messrs. Williams and White, Lincoln's Inn J. Bailey. Birmingham, grocer. Suds. Messrs. Long and Co. Giaj's Inn. J. and J. Landles. Berwick upon Tweed, merchants. Sole. Messrs. Raine alai Co. Temple. W. Elgie, Ruswarp, Yorkshire, corn merchant. Sots. Messrs. Milne and Parry, Temple. R. and R. and T. Parsons. l.yncurnbe and Widcombe. Somersetshire, corn factors. SOl. Mr. Potts, Sergeant's Inn. W. Shillito, Chapel Allerton, Yorkshire, dealer in cattle. Sol. Mr. Wilson, Greville Street, Hatton Garden. R. Hewitt, Noith Shields, linen draper. Solt. Messrs. Bell and Brodrick, Bow Church Yard. G. Webb, Cornitill, oealer. Sole. Messrs. Reyna and Ogle. Lord Mayor's Court Office, Comb'll. DIVIDENDS. Jan. 27, C. Edwards, Gough Square, furrier-27, T. Schott field, Kingston upon Thames, maltster-27, G. Hadley, Greenwich, diaper-27, A. F. Kemp, Austinfriars, merchant -27, It. and R. 'fownentl, Mitre Court, Fenchurch Street, mcr. chants-27, B. Snowdon, Harrow on the Hill. grocer-25, J. Woods. Jun. ?onsets, baker-24, J. Welch, Anusworth, Lan . cashire, cotton cloth nianutacturer-23, J. Hockey, Llangum. Monmouthshire, fanner-30, T. Dawson. Manchester, victualler —3O, J. Holt, Manchester, dyer—Feb. ti, W. 'Dimas, Great St. Thomas Apostle, agent. CERTIFICATES to be granted Jan. 23. H. Hay, Newcastle Street, Strand, printer—J. Lovell. York Wharf, Lambeth stone merchant—W. From° w, Great Yar mouth, chymist 2 J. lmbrie, Bucklersbury. waretiousetuan. HO MA RD BOUND SD I ps.—The following let ter has been addressed to Mr. John Bennett, the Secretary at Lloyd's by order of the Admiralty:— - (COPY.) • Admiralty Otfice, Jan I. " Stll,—llaving laid before my Louts ColllllllSiollt Is of the Admiralty your letter of this day's date, stating, that to consequence of the east 411111 .th-east gales, whaeh have prevailed during the last week, many homeward humid yes. sels are prevented room getting ado purl, having b.en at sea • time may he in want of water awl pros loon., and assistance f tie sevi rity of the weather, and es pa rssiup she request of the C •c. lOC managing the ailairs 111 Lloyd's that some ships of war may he (soli red out With sup plies lot the whet' of the trade ; I am commanded by their Lordship% to arquaiiii you, Cot the iiifurniat ))))) of the Com mittee, that dii CCIIIIIIII are given to the Admirals command ing at L'urtsuwutb, Plymouth, and Cot k, to semi out any of wen et uisers that they can get at for the above pin 110%C. •' 1 UM, &c. (Nipwd) J. W. CILOKLIL NI r. Junta Bennett „jun., t.toya%." A most respectable meeting was held on Thursday at Lambeth, fur the purpode of congratulating the Queen, addressing the King, and petitioning the House of Commons. It appears from the speech of Mr. Selitiltes that the act of striking her Majesty's name out the Liturgy will shortly become cogniza ble before a jury of Englishmen ; such an inteution had been hinted at some time ago, and we are glad to find it true. %%e snail not repeat our forma ar guments on this subject, or quote the legal autliJri ties advanced by this gentleman in support of his opinion, that every clergyman who so emits he: Ma jesty's mune is liable to a prosecution. ,_ 7 ........, 4 REFUGE FOR TIIE HOMELESS. ._ - _- 'On Monday night the Loudest Workhouse, part of `whiefi has been•granted for the us% of the Subscribers to the Fond for the Houseless i'oor, was opened for the reception of the wretched. The Committee had met e arly in toe day for the purpose of superintending some necessary alterations in the Workhouse fur the accom modation of the Houseless. While the Committee were employed in the new arrangements, an application was made by Mrs. Fry, who has had a very great increase of unfortunates upon her list, to the Directors, to permit the admission of such females as might be dischaigcd from the prisons in which she dispenses her coarities. The application was accompanied by an assurance that the Governors, in granting such a permission, would act up to the spirit of the Act of Parliament lot the Regulation of the House. The suitject is to undergo immediate con- sideration. It has been determined by the Committee, that the cases of applicants for admission shall undergo the strictest immediate examination that can be made, and that none shall be received who have a distinct legal claim upon . any . parish. The object the Committee profess la the saving front starvation, or the fatal effects of an exposure to the cold, those who have no recogni zable claim to parochial relief; the existing opinion, ihat parishes relieve all, being the most dangerous that can be entertained, furnishing an adequate apology to the affluent for withholding the requisite ant, and repre senting all beggars as ors:limes anti lazy wretches, woo would not apply for relief where law gave them a right to demand it. It has not escaped the notice of the benevolent men who thus " go about tlOng god," that cases are con tinually occurring in the metropolis different from this e which occur in the country, and for which a ditierent a or rather an additional mode of relief is necessary; that in the cottony, even in large towns, people have a know ledge of each other, and distress never rises to that fright ful height so often to be seen in perishing sojourners in the streets of London. Alembers are to be appointed (ruin the Committee to scour the markets and pent-houses of the metropolis nightly, in search of fit of for the notice of the Committee. Many a young man conies up to Londots full of expectations, and with little or nu money, and that unless he can get immediate employ, 1w is already half undone—that boys bred up in London without any means of livelihood, and, as often happens, of dissolute patents, are in a still worse coodition, and servants out of place are not much better off. The remedy this deplorable situation of a great part of the population of London for a time, will be the object of the Society which is thus rearing its head amongst the most sublime Institutions that have distinguished lie national character of Britain. It is true that one hundredth put of the misery which exists—of the misery which is not to be seen in the streets., but which lingers through shame, or sickness, or despair, in a garret, is not known to those who are able and willing to relieve it. Unfortunately the benevolent and charita ble have almost as lt difiiculty to break through forms and conic at the unhappy, and know their real wants, as the wretched have to come at them. It is necessary to state, that during the period when shelter was afforded last winter to the poor in Nlr.llicks's warehouse, in London Wall, 1,522 persons were reliev ed ; and that the expense incurred was little more dams upon an average, os. each individual. The Committee of last year ascertained, that there at all nines persons in the menorahs in want of nightly shelter. Several of the gentlemen who composed that Column tee, amongst whom were Messrs. Gauld, Ware, Statislield, and Hyde, traversed the several districts, and found the accustomed haunts of the miserable deserted by their former occti• pants. They visited also different watch-houses, and conversed with night constables, patrols, and others in different partsof the town, who all concurred its opinion that a vast improvement was discernible in the state of the streets during the night, since the opening, of the Refuge for the liouseless, and the Committee tali them selves warranted its asse • 4, that toe Asylum hail not only afforded relief to many indostri•ins a nd deserving persons, at a period when their aufferings were mare titan usually severe, but that it had also its no inconsi derable degree lessened the opportunity for, and the temptation to, the commission of ensue. MONUMENT TO TOE LATE KIN G.—The commence ment at the New Year is too be distinguish( d by an act of public justice to the memory of a Sovereign, whose reign must always be ranked as one of the most eventfol in the British annals, and of whose %tants there is, we believe, but one opinion among men of all parties and classes—we mean his late revered Majesty, Geroge 111. The plan of an appropriate monumental gionpe, to he executed in bronze, and erected in sonic public place, in commemoration of his Maj 'sty, has been suinutied by an eminent artist to the prior:opal members of the Royal Family, and several of the Nobility, most distinguisned for their taste in the Fine Arts. It has met with the most flat writs; approuation, and a Committee of Noble. men and Gentkinen has been formed, wilt the 5411C1.011 01 . the highest authority, and under tile immediate pa. trunage of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, to carry the plan into ininninate execution. Christmas morning, as the Rev. Thomas Hogan, Parish Priest of Newcastle, was vesting himself in order to celebrate first Mass, at eight o'clock, and the Chapel crowded to excess, one of the galleries suddenly gave way and fell ! The scene of conster nation which followed can be better conceived than described—nothing was to be heard but the cdcs of those in danger, and the lamentations of others outside, for the safety of their children and friends ; but by the singular ii.vance of the protecting hand of Providence nut a single individual was seriously injured. I