The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-22 00:00:00

MEETING AT THE LAST INDIA HOUSE.

(Concluded from our Paper of yegterday.)
BURNING OF IIINDOO WIDOWS.

Mr. POl-141)ER rose to move—
" That this Court, taking into consideration the continuance of
human sacrifices in India, is of opinion that, in the case of all
rites or ceremonies involving the destruction of life, it is the duty
of a paternal Government to interpose for their prevention : and
therefore recommends to the Donourable Court of Directors to
transmit such instructions to India as that Court may deem most
expedient for accomplishing this object, consistent with all practi-
cable attention to the feelings of the natives."

He hoped he should be acquitted of presumption in offering him-
self to the Court on a subject of euc,e difficulty and delicacy as the
present, when he assured them it was not from any fault of his
own, that it had not fallen into much abler hands. He would
much rather have acted in a very subordinate capacity on this oc-
casion than he was compelled to do ; but it had, however, so
happened, that one valued friend of his, who was much interested
in this question, had been removed by death, and another had been
employed on a distant service. From the Parliamentary papers,
from 1815 to 1823, inclusive, it appeared, that during those nine
years, no less than 5,425 widows were sacrificed on the funeral
piles of their husbands, in the Presidency of Bengal ; and, taking
the number immolated at the presidencies of Fort St. George and
Bombay, the number would amount to nearly 6,000 ; and the
number of children, of various ages, who became orphans in conse-
quence of this practice, in the presidency of Bengal alone, was
5,128, in nine years. Now, in discussing this subject, the first
point he would attempt to prove, was, that enough had not been
done by the Government at home and abroad on this important
question ; and, secondly, that more might now be done with per-
fect safety to the Government of India. The Hon. Gentleman
then proceeded to read copies of extracts from the Parliamentary
Papers, in which the ceremonies attending Suttees were minutely
described. These details, lie knew, roust greatly affect the minds
of those who heard him ; hut, as Mr. Fox had said, " true hu-
manity consists not in a squeamish ear, but in listening to the
history of human suffering, and endeavouring to relieve it." Mr.
Poynder then proceeded to state, that in 1805, when the
Members of the Council were Lord Wellesley, Lord Lake,
Sir George Barnwell, and Mr. Udney, a Proclamation was
published by the Governor in Council, stating, that it was the
wish of Government to grant toleration to every extent to the
religion of the natives, provided it was not opposed to the laws
of nature and morality ; and the Proclamation alluding to the
practice of Suttee, said that it was deserving of inquiry,
whether it might not be altogether abolished, and efforts to
that end were recommended, provided the attempt were not found
opposed by the strong religious feelings of the people. This re-
commendation was acted upon for a considerable time ; but in
1812, when all the members of the former Government had been
withdrawn, an order was issued by Lord pinto, allowing com-
plete toleration, hut omitting the salutary provision that it should
net be contrary to the law of nature and to morality. The Learn-
ed Proprietor then proceeded to read the regulations under which
licence for the burning of widows was to he granted, and also a
variety of documents, to show that sufficient means were not
adopted to inform the police of the intended Suttees time enough to
prevent them, where the burning was against the consent of the
female. He next occupied the attention of the Court for a con
siderable length of time in reading a vast number of extracts
from the official reports made to the Government of India, and
also from private communications which he had received, detailing
a long list of cases in which unfortunate females were forced on
the burning pile, and thrown back upon it again and again, after
their repeated attempts to get away, (though it was one of the re-
gulations that no force should he used on those occasions, and such
force, when ending in the death of the female, was declered pu-
nishable with great severity) ; but the extraordinary rapidity with
which the Learned Proprietor read those cases, rendered it not only
impossible to follow him, but even to bear him distinctly. Indeed,
considering the extreme quickness with which he hurried over
those statements, and the indistinct tone in which they were de-
livered, we were more than once impressed with the belief that
they were intended less for the ears of the assembly he then ad-
dressed, than for the eye' of a larger portion of the public, on
some future occasion, before whom, however, they could not ap-
pearas part of his speech unless he pronounced them in some way
or other. The only two cases which we could collect were the
following :—A young widow, about 15 years of age, was brought
to the pile where the body of her deceased husband lay. At the
instigation of her relations, many of whom attended, she ascended
the pile, but when she felt the flame, she rushed from it, and im-
plored them to spare her life. Her relations were deaf to her en-
treaties, and she was thrown back on the burning pile, and logs of
wood were thrown upon her to keep her down. Again, how-
ever, she burst through the flames, and succeeded in throwing
herself into a stream near the spot. Her uncle now approached
her, and endeavoured to persuade her once more to ascend the
burning pile ; but this she refused, and besought him in the most
piteous accents to allow her tc escape, and that she would beg
the rest of her life for her subsistence, and not be a burden to her
friends. A cloth was now spread on the ground, and she was de-
sired to place herself upon it, in order to her being conveyed home.
At first she doubted the intentions of her friends ; but her uncle,
to induce her to come, swore by the Ganges that nothing should
he done against her will, and that it was intended to take her
back to her home. She placed herself on the cloth ; but no
sooner was she seated on it, than the cloth was suddenly
wrapped up, and tied round her, and in that state she was
once more east on the bluing heap, which had now began
to burn furio- ply. Again, however, she attempted to escape, and
was bursting from the burning mass when her uncle approached,
struck her on the head with a sword, and put an end to her suf-
ferings. Her body was then consumed.--(The date or place of
this transaction we could not collect)—This could not be called
any thing but an atrocious murder, and five of the parties con-
cerned were tried for it, but none of them were convicted of the
capital offence. One of them was sentenced to five years of hard
labour, another to three, and the others to a slighter degree of
punishment. The next was taken from a letter which appeared
in the Bombay Courier, and was mentioned in the 4th vol.,
page 165, of the papers before the Court. It was that of a wo-
man who had been induced by the peisuasion of her friends, and
excited by the usual stimulants of opium and other drugs, to place
herself on the pile for the purpose of being burned with (we
believe) the body of her deceased husband. After lying there for
a short time, and the fire approaching her but slowly, she burst from
it, and with the assistance of a gentleman who was present she got
into the river (the Ganges). She said she had no objection to sa-
crifice herself, but the fire burnt too slowly, and that if they would
alter it so as not to protract her stolerinf,re, she would again place
herself on the pile. When she approached, however, she got alarm-
ed l y the appearance of the blaze, which now burst forth
furiously, and she refusal to ascend. Her friends irritated at
the refusal, took her forcibly by the head and heels and cast
her into the flames. She again escaped, and without any assist-
ance made her way to the river, into which she threw herself.
Thither her friends followed her, and endeavoured to drown her
by holding her down under the water. Some persons interfered, and
she was at length released from their fury. It was impossible
(the writer of the Bombay Courier observed) to fully describe
the horrible spectacle she presented on being taken from the water.
Her skin hung in black and shrivelled pieces from almost every
part of her body ; the flesh was burnt from her legs, arms, breasts,
and other parts of her body, which altogether exhibited an appear-
ance the most appalling. In this state her friends did not further
molest her. She was immediately conveyed to the hospital, hut
all human aid was now too late ; and after lingering for about
20 hours in the most excruciating agony, death put a period to her
sufferings. After several other cases, Mr. Poynder went on to
contend that enough was not done by the Government at home to
check those horrible outrages on human nature. In the second
branch of his address, he proceeeded to !hew that the horrid prac-
tice could he altogether abolished, without in any degree endanger-
ing the Company's interests in India. In support ofthis view of the
case he cited the opinions of a number of our public functionaries
in India, who had succeeded in preventing these suttees in very
many cases, some by refusing the licence, others by giving posi-
tive orders against it, and others again by using direct force. In
one case the prudent conduct of a local governor was effectual iu
saving the life of one young widow, who was about to immolate
herself. lie ordered that previously to obtaining the licence, the
woman should first burn off one of her fingers. She made the
attempt, but the pain was so great, that she was afraid to en-
counter a more generalacpcpeleidcaetdioinn osafvfiinrge
atopoloierr
üb,oorndya,naandomshae
refused to make any greater sacrifice to her husband's manes. In
another case the humane, and at the same time courageous, efforts
of two English ladies, en
similar fate. The Learned Gentleman was proceeding with other
eases, when,

Mr. R. JAcxsoN rose for the purpose of moving an adjourn.
ment. It was impossible at that late hour (nearly six o'clock)
the debate could he concluded that day with any hope of doing
justice to its importance. He, therefore, moved that the discus-
sion be adjourned to some future day.
tse debate on this subject should he resumed en that
After some short conversation, this motion was agreed to, and
t
adjourned to next Wednesday, with the under-
stan
ding rtu a t a
t-
h
day, and that the other matters which stand for discussion should
follow in their order.
Adjourned to Wednesday.