The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-22 00:00:00

JOURNALS.

baying and selling human kind has existed for a
very long time in Cooch Behar. It is usual among
four classes of persons—viz., fathers and mothers
eh° sell their daughters; husbands who sell their
wives ; priests and their di:ciples who sell the slaves,
male and female, whom they have acquired; and
other persons who sell their relatives when fallen
pecuniary distress. This manner of getting rid
of poor relations is, it seems, very prevalent, and
when a man quarrels with his wife one of his
favourite threats is to sell her to the Bhooteas, Wll°'
it seems, are eager purchasers, and have agents o 0
the border ready to negotiate any number of trans
actions of the kind. That the practice is carried o 0
purely for profit is evident from the fact that Ilia'
doges sell their children to Mahomedans and Malin'
medans to Hindoos, without any scruples as to reli;
glen, and as frequently as not for the purpose 01
prostitution. The evil, Col. Haughton tells us, is°.
long standing, but probably attained its height
during the period of misrule of the Rajah Narinderf
from 1800 to 1839. His son, Seebinder Nasal!),
suffered for his father's conduct, and became a better
man. His education had taught him to look with
disgust at the practice, and the colonel has no doily'
that but for the imbecile state to which he was latelY
reduced by debauchery he would have put a stop t°
it. The cause of his order not being carried int?,
execution is believed to have been the outcry raised
by the Ranees and females of the palace, who Were
apprehensive that they would be unable to obtain
voluntary service. In the appendix to the recoil
there are some curious illustrations of the Working
of the system. The manner in which poor men get
"sold up," in a literal sense of the term,is very often
as follows :—There are various dues and exactions,
under different forms, which are levied upon the
cultivators of the soil, amounting in general t°
three times the sum which they are bound b 7
their agreements to pay for the use of thel,r,
land, A ryot, say, has £2 per annum to ps2
for rent, and hopes by his labour to Ina°
the produce of his land biing in another £2 for t 1
support of his wife and family. All would go Wel'
probably, but there comes in a claim of £6 for
taxes levied by the native government. This ?!,3,
cannot hope to meet by labour; so "he sells Di'
children, and probably prostitutes his wife by die',
posing of her in mortgage"—we quote the official
language in which these horrors are described:
Even then the oppressor may not ba satisfied; and
having having lost wife, family, and everything he
possessed, the unhappy victim saves himself if lid
can by flying the country. One of the appende
documents is the petition of a public woman to tit°
commissioner for the recovery of a girl, whom Ole
had purchased when very young, " instructed,'
she significantly informs us, and brought up to PO'
stitution, which girl bad been detained by a flip
to whom she had let her out at so much a mouth.
She describes the transaction in the plainest Poe;
Bible language, treating it as a regular matter 01
business. It is this aspect of the system, indeed'
which is most repulsive; and it must, as Colonel
Haughton remarks, have a demoralising effect up°ll
the whole people; parents being tempted to dieire'd
gard the duties they owe to their children, 110.
other relatives impelled to look with a covetous er
upon widows and orphans whom the ordinary ill'
stincts of savages would lead them to pity and BOP
~a
port. This miserable state of things does noted",
exactly under British rule, but most certainly ',
British protection and administration. Co1013ec;
Haughton is, however, taking decisive steps t
bring it to an end, though he does not hope to Per'
form the task entirely at once. He has on his all
responsibility refused to recognise the legality °l.
sales, and has suggested a series of rules for tb°
suppression of the traffic which we can scarcely
doubt will be confirmed by Government. It r°6l/s
be expected, moreover, that the revelation
which have been made, and followed up die
closure action of authority, will lead to the 01:110
closure of similar practices which are known to
exist more or less in most parts of India, not e%:
cepting British territory. Slavery is an old cust°.
1
of the country, and though there is a great deal
uncertainty as to its extent, there is every reason,e
suppose that it is far from having died out. Vs
sale of female children is scarcely a marvel in r
land where a girl is an iecumbrance to the 190°4
and the power of the law is necessary to save bed
from being put out of the world altogether;
we believe there is no part of India where a pers°ll
be he European or native, who wanted to make 80.0
a purchase, could not be accommodated. Even 10
Calcutta it is probable that sales of young girls 0,./.0
frequently effected ; and it is believed by those eve,
have excellent means of judging that there are eas°?,
wealthy men in that city who have slaves in theto'
z-nanas. That the practice has not before hee.e
formally exposed is due to the old laisserfava.
policy, which it may be hoped has come to an "30
The European and native communities, since t'isi
very early days when our countrymen adapted lo°
r 0
customs—a great deal too much, have become 011/rt
and more estranged, and it is only under the preach,
healthy system, which has given the country iute
ro
ligib!e laws and really opened it up to the lresteie,
world, that we are beginning to know the peOP 0
In a further state of development, one of these day
we shall probably see an end to slavery.