The true Democrat., 1856-04-08


 not only extreme present pain, but permanent Injuries, mutilation, and even not untrequently, death. Some of them exhibit all amount of dlabolical ingenuity on the part of the torture,r and degree of moral abasement and deyrada- ! ton m the victim of which our western minds | can hardly form conception; some, in fine, are so ioatnsome and indecent, at the same time so excruciating that, although they are set down hakedly Tn the report we must abstain from any specltc allusion to their nature.
 The two most common forms of tortue ap- 1 pear to be the hlttee Gin Teloogoo called Cheer ta,) and the Anu'dal, which in Athe same lan- 1 guage is called Gngeri
 The kittee corresponds with the thumbscrew of the European torturer. It is wooden in. strument somewhat like a lemon .squeezer be- tween the plates of which the hands the thighs Gin woman also the breasts,) the ears and other more sensitive parts of the body are squeezed to the last point of endurance, often to fanting and even to permanent disablement. In many places the kittee has been superseded by the more simple plan of violently compressing the hands under flat board, on which heavy pressureis laid, sometimes even by tue peo1as stand ing upon it; or of compelling the sufferer to in- terlace his fingers, and delivering him over to the iron grpe of the peons Cor polcemen) who sometimes rub their hands with sand in order to give them irmer gripe. In other cases the fingers are bent back till the pain becomes un- endurable.
 The 0nu1ldI IS more purely eastern torture It consists in tying the victim in stooping or otherwise painful and unnatural position, gene rally with the head forcibly bent down to the feet, by rope or cloth passed round the neck and under the toes. The posture, however, is varied at the caprice of the executoner. Some times the poor wretch is made to stand on one leg, the other being forcibly tied up to his neck. Sometimes the arms and legs are curiously n- terlaced, and the frame, thus violently distort- ed, Is kept bound up for hours, in condition little short of dlslocaton Sometimes a heavy stone Is laid upon the back, while thus bent; and 1t often happens that the peons amuse them selves by sitting astrde upon the unhappy suf terer who is undergoing anundal. More than one of the witnesses depose to the inhiction of this tortue under the fierce Indian sun upon number of defaulters placed together in rows for two, three, four and even six hours; and this in the immediate vicinity of the cutherry, or revenue office, and in the presence of the tahslider or native collector and of the assem- bed villagers.
 Occasionally man is held alofr from the ground by the ears, by the hair, and even by the mustacho; and the latter torture in some instances, Is applied so savagely as to tear away the mustachio by the roots. Sometimes a sort of bastinado is inflicted, sometimes violent blows on the shin, the ankles the elbows, or other highlyl sensitive parts. Prolonged immersion Tn the water tanks or the river; forcible com- presslon of the aims, the thighs, and even the body, by tlelng a coil of rope round them, aud then applying cold water 50 as to cause 1t to contract and sink into the flesh; burning 1t with hot iron; hanging heavy stones round the neck; the stocks; teng two or more individuals together by the hair, so that every movement Is attended with pain; placing necklace of bones or other disgusting or degrading materials round the neck-thes9 are a few of the minor iniljctions devised by these masters of the ori- enta school of torture. If we add to these few practices like those used at home by anna teurs of the turf or the ring, for the purpose of reducing tlesh; such as starvation, prolonged deprivation of sleep, compulsory driving up and down under broling sun; forcing the un- happy Wretchcs to run long distances, their hands being tied to the axle of bandy, or country carriagc--we think the catalogue of torture will be amtted to be tolerably complete k Wilt It be credited, for example, that t is not uncommon to apply to the most sensitive parts ot the body (euclosed in cloth or a cocoanut shel, or other similar receptaCie) biting insect or reptile such as the poollah or carpenter beetle, and leave 1t to gH1W tue flesh of the miserable sufferer? That b1 further rcine- ment of cruelty, meant to combine both pain and humiliation, tne defaultera are sometimes tied by the hair to the tai ot donkey or buf- falo? That they are occasionally hung up with the head downwards? And that it is an ordi- nary practice to put pepper or powdered chiIlies Into the eyes or the nostrilS and to apply these and similar irritating drugs in other ways too r3votjng to be hintel at?'
 The cases are given, in which these horrors were reduced to practice. Women tortured with the luttee applied to their breasts. Men, " nifty at tlme," undergoing the torture.- Death, in repeated instances, following it. La ceratlon and mutilation leaving the evidence of their cruelty behind them. In one case the party died from the effects of violence used to eXtort from him sum due the government of only twenty shillings. Indeed this sum is lar ger than that which torture was rosorted to, to coIlecT, I'll many instances mentioned.
 If refinement of cruelty like this is used for the intorcement of patry dues, the means en- pioyed by the police in criminal cases, are not likely to prove more humane. Thus we find tine officers of justice, in case of suspected rob-
  to the trees, and whipping them so that Gin one case in which complaint was made to the Eng fish magistrates and no notice taken) the wife died in eight days. In such cases, a bribe would have bought off the prosecutor and given lmpunity to the accused
 These crueties seem to have been practised universally. And the mode in which they are pallated or excused, must strike every one with astonishment In the first place, the go- vernmental tenure of land is such as exists no where on earth, and no civilized nation would tolerate. The native population of India is poor The soil is barren and unpIoiuctve- The "wealth of India," So far as the Indian himself is concerned, Is a fable. lift is reali- ty to the nabobs, it is because these trials by fire" this alchemy of torture, can extract even from these wretched millions an immense az. gregate of wealth.
 The torture goes on every year. The na- tlves expect 1t. It is the accredited mode of collecting debts; and the Indian officials, now that the facts are brought home to them, ex- plain that the people are used to it, that the native princes always acted thus on the fears and feelings of their subjects, and that there is no other method of reaching them, except through physical suffering!
 The English are fond of harping on the faults of other nations; but with what terrible se- verlty of retort might not the worst governed people in !chrlstendom, point them to the woe- ful and degrading chapter in ther own history this present living shame!