Star.
London, England, 1830-04-20 00:00:00

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4- • 1;.4 ITION OF THE SUTTEE RITE.
11.7, TA,
A. D. 1829. REGULATION XVII.
A regulation for declaring the practice of suttee, or of burning or
burying alive the widows of Hindoos, illegal, and punishable by the
Crtiuntat Courts. Passed by the Governor in Council, on the 4th
Wei tither, 1829.
'rile practice of suttee, or of burning or burying alive the widows
ei Hindoos, is revolting to the feelings of human nature; it is no-
% here enjoined by the religion of the Hindoos as an imperative
duty • on the contrary, a life of purity and retirement on the part of
the :Mow is more especially and preferably inculcated, and by a
e.st majority of that people throughout India the practice is not
kept tip nor observed : in some extensive districts it does not exist ;
in those in which it has been most frequent it is notorious that in
many instances acts of atrocity have been perpetrated which have
been shocking to the Hindoos themselves, and in their eyes unlawful
end wicked. The measures hitherto adopted to discourage and pre.
vent such acts have failed of success, and the Governor-General in
ouncil is deeply impressed with the conviction that the abuses in
question cannot be effectually put an end to without abolishing the
pizetice altogether. Actuated by these considerations, the Go-
etrnor.General in Council, without intending to depart from one of
the first and most important principles of the system of British go-
vernment in India, that all classes of the people be secure in ob-
servance of their religious usages, so long as that system can be ad-
hered to without violation of the paramount dictates of justice and
ettnianity, has deemed it right to establish the following rules, which
. hereby enacted to be in force from the time of their promulgation
din,nehout the territories immediately subject to the Presidency of
Vett William.
2. The practice of suttee, or of burning, or burying alive the wi.
dons of Hintloott, is hereby declared illegal, and punishable by the
Criminal Courts.
3. First, All Zemindars Talookdars, or other proprietors of land,
whether Maigusaree, or akheraj ; all Sudder farmers, and Under-
rulers of land of every description ; all dependent Talookdars ; all
Naibs, and other local agents; all Native officers employed in the
collection of the revenue, and rents of land on the part of govern-
mem, or the Court of Wards; and all Mundula, or other head men
of villages, are hereby declared especially accountable for the imme-
diate communication to the officers of the nearest police station of
coy intended sacrifice of the nature described in the foregoing sec-
iton ; and any &minder, or other description of persons above no.
'iced, to whom such responsibility is declared to attach, who may be
convicted of wilfully neglecting or delaying to furnish the informa.
that above required, shall be liable to be fined by the magistrate, or
joint magistrate, in any sum not exceeding 200 rupees, and in de.
fault of payment to be confined for any period of imprisonment not
exceeding six months.
Second.—lmmediately on receiving intelligence that the sacrifice
declared illegal by this regulation is likely to occur, the Police Da.
rogah shall either repair in person to the spot, or depute his Mohur.
hir or Jemadar, accompanied by one or more Burkendares of the
Hindoo religion, and it shall be the duty of the police officers to an.
nounce to the persons assembled for the performance of the cere-
mony, that it is illegal, and endeavour to prevail on them to
disperse, explaining to them that, in the event of their persisting
in it, they will involve themselves in a crime, and become sub-
ject to a punishment by the Criminal Courts. Should the par.
tits assembled proceed in defiance of these remonstrances to carry
the ceremony into effect it shall be the duty of the police officers
to use all lawful means in their power to prevent the sacrifice
from taking place, and to apprehend the principal persons aiding and
abetting in the performance of it; and in the event of the police
officers being unable to apprehend them, they shall endeavour to
ascertain their names and places of abode, and shall immediately
eorrettunicate the whole of the particular to the magistrate, or
joint magistrate, for his orders.
Third—Should intelligence of a sacrifice declared illegal by this
reettlation not reach the police officers untill it shall actually have
taken place, or should the sacrifice have been carried into effect
iTiore their arrival at the spot, they will, nevertheless, institute a
Inn ~nquiry into the circumstances of the case, in like manner
34 on all other occasions of unnatural death, and report them for
the information and orders of the magistrate, or joint magistrate, to
whom they may be subordinate.
4. First, On the receipt of the reports required to be made by
the Police Darogaha, under the provision of the foregoing section,
the magistrate or joint magistrate of the jurisdiction in which
the sacrifice may have taken place, shall inquire into the circum-
stances of the case, and shall adopt the necessary measures for
bringing the parties concerned in promoting it to trial before the
Court of Circuit.
Second, It is hereby declared, that after the promulgation of this
regulation, all persons convicted of aiding and abetting in the semi-
tee of a 'Endo° widow, by burning or burying her alive, whether
the sacrifice be voluntary on her part or not, shall be deemed guilty
et culpable homicide, and shall be liable to punishment by fins or
by imprisonment, or by beth fine and imprisonment, at the &sae-
von of the Court of Circuit, according to the nature and circum.
stanc.s of the case, and degree of guilt established against the of.
le;:der ; nor shall be held to be any plea of justification that he or
she was desired by the party sacrificed to assist its putting her
r 3 death.
Thiel, Persons committed to take their trial before the Court of
Circuit for the offence above-mentioned, shall be admitted to bail or
not, at the discretion of the Magistrate or joint Magistrate', sub-
ject to the general rules in force in regard to the admission of bail.
5. It is further deemed necessary to declare, that nothing contain.
ed in this regulation shall be construed to preclude the Court of
Nizamut Adawlut from passing sentence of death on persons con-
victed of using violence or compulsion, or of having assisted in
burning or burying alive a Hindoo widow, while labouring under
at state of intoxication or stupefaction, or other cause impeding the
exercise of her free will, when, from the aggravated nature of the
offence proved against the prisoner, the Court may see no circum.
stances to render him or her a proper object of mercy.
The Amity transport arrived at Portsmouth on Satur-
day, in 118 days, from the Mauritius. She touched at
the Cape of Good 1-lope, which she left on the 25th of
Jan. at St. Helena, which she quitted on the 9th of
Feb. and at Ascension, when she sailed on the 16th. The
Maidstone and Falcon were the only ships at the Cape
when the Amity sailed. His Majesty's ships Eden and
Chanticleer accompanied the Amity from St. Helena to
Ascension. The Amity brings homeMajorMair, 99th hegt.
Capt. Webb, 41st Regt. and family; Lieut. Alartendale,
R.S.C. Lieut. Douglas, 44th Regt. Lieut. Goodhall,
55th Regt. Lieut. Nagel, 82d, and D.A. Conway, Esq.
Surgeon, R. N. and 85 soldiers, 10 women, and 22
children.

There is no page in the history of mankind so black as
that which records the intercourse between civilised and
barbarous nations. Of this an awful and striking in-
stance is exhibited in the feelings which exist between
the Indiana of Brazil and the Portuguese, who in one
district are stated to have given the natives clothes charged
with the poison of the small-pox, which, in consequence,
raged among them with such fury, that they were at last
compelled to destroy the infected with arrows.
The salaries and appointments of our diplomatists have
been frequently animadverted upon as extravagant and
lavish in the highest degree. An opportunity of compar-
ing them with those of a cheap Government—namely,
that of the United States, has just occurred, by which it
appears that the complaint is not unfounded. Mr. Law-
rence, the late American Charge d'Affaires at London,
had a credit opened with Messrs. Baring, Brothers and
Co. for 4,500 dollars (1,0001. sterling) as an outfit, and
for an equal sum as salary, on the return of Mr. Gallatin,
in 1827: and though Mr. Lawrence performed, for one
year, the joint services of American Minister and Secre-
tary of Legation, and was furnished with express autho-
rity from the Department of State, for receiving the
aforesaid salary and outfit, Mr. Clay, the American Se-
cretary of State, has declared the money to have been
illegally received, and makes now a merit of his modera-
tion in refraining from directing any proceedings to com-
pel reimbursement. Thus, the most important mission
of the United States to the Court of St. James is grudg-
ingly, and actually worse paid than are any of our Con-
suls General to the South American Republics. What
would these frugal economists say to the charge of from
14,0001. to 25,0001. per annum, for embassies to Courts
and capitals, some of which—Lisbon to wit—had not even
a resident sovereign ? The thousand pounds paid for the
outfit of an American Minister would hardly suffice to
purchase the chests containing the plate, china, and
snuff boxes, of one of our first-class Ambassadors—such
as those sent to St. Petersburgh, Constantinople, Vienna,
or Paris—or to liquidate the tailors' bills for the liveries
and trapping,' of their servants and suits. As to allow-
ances or pensions to retiring Ambassadors, such things
seen, to be entirely out of the question in America.