The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-23 00:00:00

ASSASSINATION IN INDIA.

The Englishman of the 28th of February has
brought to light the existence of another body of as-
sassins, in the western provinces, who pursue a similar
system of murder to that practised by the Thugs—
with this difference, that they poison instead of strangle.
It appears that these miscreants have for years past
carried on a course of systematised plunder, in a me-
thod as destructive as, and more insidious even than

that pursued by the Thugs. These men have, in the
same way as the Thugs, a system of sacrificial ceremonies
to Bhowannee ; to ensure success on an expedition they
have, like them, language of their own. The only dif-
ference seems a greater disregard to the secret of their
calling, and greater readiness to turn King's evidence
against their companions. They call themselves Meeta-
wal!as,—which might be perhaps translated " sweatmeat
men," meeta, or " sweetmeat," being the term they apply
to the poison which, instead of the- noose, they make
use of in destroying or stupifying those they rob. The
district in which these murderers arc as yet known to
exist are Sarun and Patna. It has long been a matter

of common notoriety that intoxicating drugs are not
unfrequently administered, s‘ith a view to robbery,
by fukeers in that part of the country ; their victims
being, in general, unsuspecting travellers who may
chance to stop at their mutt or lucken, the tomb or
temple they reside at. The Meetawallas, however,
most of whom seem to be Hindoos, mendicants of the
Gesacn sect, attempt much more than this. They go
out, like the Thugs, in parties, under the ablest man
in the gang, as jemadar or leader. They travel the
country, making, however, no very distant journeys, in
sei 'eh of victims ; and in their trips appear usually to
take their way towards Nepaul. The jemadar exer-
cises his powers of pleasing or persuasion in inveigling
the persons they meet to join them, occasion being
taken of the caste of the travellers of Hindoo to assume
the character of men of the same caste, and get their
victims to allow them to prepare food in common. If
this be not practicable, the Meetawallas, who seem
to be well provided for such contingencies, make an
offer of dhall, salt, rice, or any article the other party

" WILLIAM SHARMAN CR AWFORD.
" Crawfordsburn, Sept. 19, 1837."
We have one word, and only one word, to offer in re-
lirence to the adscription of " unworthy motives" to Mr.
Crawford by " a portion of the Press." Obnoxious to the
severest censure as we held and do continue to consider the
political course which Mr. Sharman Crawford has lately
been pursuing, in making attacks day after day on Mr.
O'Connell's policy, we never have ascribed, nor do we now
ascribe to him, unworthy motives.
BATTLE OF THE DIAMOND.—The following is a let-
ter from a distinguished Correspondent of the Dublin
Evening Post, who was on the battle-ground at Armagh
when the butchery was perpetrated :
" Ennis, 18th September, 1837._
" Sir,—l deny that Sir Thomas Molyneux knows more
than any other man alive—or, if he does, he has not told
the truth—about the Battle of the Diamond. The honest
Member for Clare, Major Macnamara, and such of the men
of that regiment as are yet alive, know a great deal more
than any of the Rothsay Fencibles, and I shall prove
it by comparing the orderly-book of both for the
month of September, 1795. What more immediately
led to the battle was a riot that took place at' the
fair of Loughall, on the 4th of September, 1795. On
the next day, a party of the Clare militia, under com-
mand of our then very young Captain, marched into that
place (and never be it forgotten the horrible spectacle) where
we beheld the bodies of seven Roman Catholics, who bad
been butchered on the preceding day. And would it not
be surprising if the deed did not lead to retaliation ? For
several days after we had harassing duties, and then came
up to both parties. They were in battle array. A Mr.
M`Catin was the Magistrate with us. He called on the
Captain to order his men to fire on the Catholic party.
This was met by inquiring " what was to be done in respect
to that party yonder," meaning the Orangemen. " Oh,"
said Mr. M'Cann, " they are loyalists." " Well," said the
Captain, " I consider them both equally culpable, and
unless you allow me to disperse them both I shall not act ;"
and, accordingly, we marched away. The officer was re-
ported to Government, and Captain M`Namara received
thanks for his conduct. In a few days after the famous
battle was fought.
" You may depend on this, and if the Gallant Major is
called upon he will support me, if he will not say more on
it. Plowden's History of Ireland mentions it. I am, Sir,
" A CLARE MILITIA MAN OF 1795."
The Northern Whig has letters on the same subject, one
of which we subjoin :
" Sir—The following transaction must have escaped Sir
Thomas Molyneux's memory, or lie would have noticed it,
either in his letter or Orderly-book, particularly as it took
place within less than three months after the Battle of the
Diamond, and within one mile of Castle-Dillon bouse.
" On the evening of the 21st of December; 1725, a party
of Peep-o'-day Boys visited a number of houses in the
neighbourhood of Armagh in the search of arms, and in or-
der to turn out Catholic servants from Protestant houses,
agreeably to a notice formerly posted for that purpose. In
the house of Bernard Kearney, of Mullaloghran, they put a
poor Catholic female servant in fear of her life by threat-
ening to shoot her, if she did not immediately leave the
house, which, while on her knees begging for mercy, with
two or three guns presented at her, she promised to do.
" They after.vards visited other houses for similar pur-
poses ; and latte-ly that of Corrnac Dougan, of Rathdrum-
gran. Dougan, having been noticed to leave his house, got
five neighbour boys to stay with him that evening, but with-
out arms. On the party of Peep-o'-day Boys approaching
Dougan's house,•yhich they surrounded, a stone was thrown
at the door, and on Dougan opening it, to know what was
wanted, a shot was fired at him, the ball from which broke
his thigh bone, and he fell back into the house. The door
was then shut, the party guarding front and rear, until some ' e___ -
assistance was procured, and the door forced open. The The New Edition of Dr. Lingard's History of
first three men that came out, namely, Thomas Liggett, England, published in Monthly Fire-shilling Volumes, has
Patrick Hagan, and Owen Mallon, were shot dead ; the reached the Fourth Volume ; and the Engravings from
other two, John Magee and -- Conlan, escaped by lying Harvey's fine drawings increase in beauty as the work pro-
down. Dougan was brought to the county infirmary, and coeds—they are indeed perfect gems. The appearance o.
died there ; the other three dead bodies were brought into the volume is also more attractive as regards type, paper,
the chapel of Armagh, where an inquest was held on them, binding, Sec. It will be a cheap and beautiful edition of
and a verdict of wilful murder pronounced ; yet the mat- one of most original and standard histories in the ten-
ter was somehow bushed up, and no person was punished page, and though so much improved, the price will be little
in consequence. Magee is since dead, and the only sur- more than a third of former editions.
vivor of the party is Conlan. Another transaction seems . INliss Landon, in her new novel of " Ile Reign of
to have escaped Sir . Thomas Molyneux's memory; It is George 11., will doubtless bring to the aid of her
genius
entire acquaintance with the moral and political, as well its
all
marched into Arme
that of thirty-two poor wretches dragged from their homes,
the literary speculations of the time. One of the leading
mond, by a number ogh, from the neighbourhood of the Dia-
f crimps, who were engaged for that characters, we are told, is a young poet, strugglingwith
purpose, by a deceased Colonel, thee raising a regiment.no
all the difficulties of a literary career, sustained th
roughout
Those men were handcuffed, tied round with a hay-rope, by a lofty ideal of his art. The fair author has donbt
put on board for England, and their families left in distrac- been able to draw this character, to the life, from her
Cm, going through the street. I could not learn what experiences in the literary world.
became of them, other than the notice Mr. Grattan took ,
, rite following are the number of objections to per-
of them in the House of Commons, at that period. There
are a few of the cases I could relate ; but Mr.. linsor so«s who',claim the right or voting for the West Riding of
having taken up the matter, and concluded his letter to lerk. Ihe objections include those from Voth parties ;
the Evening Post with three of the transactions within my also those Irons the respective overseers of townships .
knowledge, and the business being pretty well handled, I Sheffield 588, Rotheram 75, Barnsley 199, Wakefield 789,
shall for the present decline anything rarther.—l am, &c. Leeds 1,306, Huddersfield gee, Delo 290, Halifax 1.027,
~ AN ARMAGH MAN," Bradford 1,316, Kcighley ;314, Otley 237, Skipton 78,
SCANDALOUS INTIMIDATION IN ARMAGH:—It used to Gisburne 87, Settle 207, Sedbergh 78,br Ripon 107, Pat,lev
be the boast of Presbyterianism that its principles were Bridge 49, Knaresborough 185, A e ford
Pontefractls7, Selley 96,
peculiarly favourable to civil liberty. Its champions were Snaith 67, Thorne 38, Doncaster 2.39, and l5l.
perpetually proclaiming the right of private judgment, and The granite to he used in the construction of the
protesting against all interference with the consciences new Houses of Parliament will be obtained from the New-
of men. What Presbyterianism in the abstract may be, lama quarries in Jersey. Neatly 300 workmen are at ,re.
of
stop not to inquire i but the Tory Presbyterians of sent employed in raising it.

, .
may require. The dressed food, or the raw article, in-
tended for the victim, is of course poisoned ; but in case
opportunity of thus administering it occurs not, it is
given in sherbut, or mixed with the tobacco in a
chill um. The drugs employed seem equally efficacious,
however exhibited, the inhaling of them being enough
not only to intoxicate but destroy life. The poisonous
mixture consists of dbuttoora root, opium, ganja, or
bhang, and one or two other drugs, pounded together,
and dried. Thus prepared, it is kept in a lota ready
for use. The effect appears usually to be first felt
about forty minutes after the poison has been taken ;
in forty minutes more the victim is generally dead, or
totally insensible. When the giddiness, which is the
earliest symptom of the working of the poison, is com-
plained of by the person who has swallowed it, 'the
Meetawal!a is ever ready with an excuse to account
for it, this being always followed by a recommendation
to lie down and sleep. When the effects are fatal, the
victim rolls thither and thither once or twice, and

dies ; but, whether from difference of constitution, or
in the quantity of poison taken, the victim is fre-
quently merely stupified, and, after being robbed
and str►pped, recovers his senses when the in-
toxication has passed off. The Mectawalla, how-
ever, appears indifferent as to this. If his victim die
before he leaves him, the body is usually thrown into
a river, if one is near, or a well ; it is sometimes
buried, but often left to lie where the man perished.
If the victim recover, and find his treacheroUs comps-

nions at the very place in which the attempt at murder
was committed (for they appear sometimes to take up
a temporary abode near a thoroughfare) his assertions
of having been robbed are outfaced by bullying and
bold denial, and the poor wretch seems generally still
so much under the effect of the drugs, as to be
dispirited, and in a half-stupid state, without energy
to prosecute the inquiry. The Meetawalla, however,
has no scruplaas to taking life. Several instances have
been discovered in which they have strangled their
victims with a rope, or murdered them with sword
cuts. They are on terms of fraternity with the Thugs,
and individuals of the two professions seem frequently
to know one another professionally as strangler and
poisoner. The gang of the Meetawalla varies in num-
ber from five to fifteen. There are Moosulmans among
them, who, like Moosulman Thugs, assist, without
compunction, in the idol sacrifice which precedes
each expedition. The animal offered is a goat, which
is slain, with the ordinary ceremonies, by the jemadar
of the gangs, and the head bruised. The Meetawallas
do not observe, as the Thugs do, any periodical order
for their expeditions : they appear to go out in search
of their victims as the whim, or their own necessities
urge them. Hence their journeys, as before observed,
are much shorter than those of the Thugs, but occur,
on an average, about once every four months.—
Asiatic Journal.