New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-09
BURNING CRIMINALS.

How far government is justified in using
| the religious faith of the people AZ a tool to
| subserve its own ends is called in question in
the recent burning of Abdoolah by the British
authorities in India AbdOoah, who it will
| be remembered murdered Chief-Justice Nor
man, lately, was, it appears, a MOhammedan.
and the reason given by the English Govern
ment for ordering his body 70 be burned after
execution il that the MOhGmmcdaDs believe
that Immediately after death every corpse Is
| visited by two hideous angels, Nallr and Mon
| kr. who examine it as TO its faith-the soul
returning to the body pending this examlna-
ton. But if the body DO utterly destroyed,
the soul is unable to find means to speak to
the angels, and is therefore lost. Hence, by
refinement of cruelty, the Christian Govern
mcnt seized upon this superstition to strike
terror into the hearts of its infidel subjects.
"AbdOOlah," we learn, " faced his sentence OF
death with compOsure, but on learning
" that his chance of salvation was to DO IT.
"rotrievably destroyed, his courage utterly
forsook him. and he died in despair"
The London Examiner, which gives the story
in detail, cOngratulates its readers on the
astutencss of tho Government in discovering
40 suro hold upon the terrors Of the Mussul-
man. awe have found the Achilles heel In
" the panoply of fhnaticism Without really
touching his prospects in tho next world, we
"can pull tho reins so as to keep HIM III order
" in thisn We fancy that the self-gratulatlOn
Of The English over their discovery VIII De
4hOrt-lived. 1t is but another instance OF Che
blind ill-luck which has marked their deal
ings with all their foreign possessions during
the last four years. The Government has
gone out of its way to snub Canada Queens
land, with the five other colonies, have been
permitted undisturbcd to slip the knot that
holds them to the mother country and now,
with curious faulty, it is about to array
against itself tho memorable religious preju-
dicos of not only the rcbeiliOus Wahabces, hut
the educated MOhammedans of India. The
Inassacres of CawnpOro and Lucknow, and the
irreparabe losses that followed were due to
CpTcIeSs disregard of the creed OF the Hin
docs in the matter of the kind OF
fat used in the cartridges furnished
to the Sepoys, an error which could
have been attributed to the resident officers,
who made it; but the present insult to dlf-
fcring faith IL law originating with the
Government after deliberate consideration:
The educated Mussulman will be shreWd
enough to perceive that the power of no gov
eminent extends beyond death, and that al
though this creed maybe an absurdity to the
Fnolshman, his using it for his own purposes
il trespass beyond his right I'll authority, as
well as tyranny.
Tho truth is that, whether foisting opium on
tbe Chinese, trading in slaves in Queensland,
or in the new machinery of cruelty brought to
boar on the Hindoo OF Mohammedan in India,
ENGLAND has given but a doubtful exposition
Of tbo high meaning of Christianity to her
heather subjects. Whether the Indian and
Chinese pupils to whom it was left for us to
carry the Gospel can testify that We have been
more faithful witnesses. it would be inexpe-
dent, perhaps, for us now to consider