^^HIBRARYQ^ <^Um UIV ;n#' ^lOSAI Sir Of o • J -n f 6 UBRARYO^ ^UIBR 1 ? ■^/^iiJAiNll-iV\^ ^.OFCAIIFO% ^ ^lllBRARYQ<- -s^^tllBRARYQ^. 3AINn3\\V jojuvj-jo"^ %ojnv3jo^ .^WEUNIVERi/A <^il30Nv•sol>^ ^lOSAl 8 liVJ'JO' 'J njiM' .Mj lit iuii\;rnoi 'JUJMV JUI ■ if\r. Ai.irtf ^,. .T- I nr\n i r\\7 ^UIBRARYQ^, ^^•IIBRARYQ^ ^WEUNIVERJ/^ ^ ^' ^ ^' 'Or i ii2< %ojnv3JO^ \^my\^ ujhas from time to time contain- ed a series of articles, under various headings, treating of the progress of affairs with the Government Agency for the suppression of Meriah Sacrifices among the Hill tribes of Orissa, whicli, though professedly based 5 on official documents, nevertheless abound in par- ^ tial and erroneous statements and distortions of facts, their object being to exalt the character and justify ^ the measures of Captain MacPherson, to the j»reju- dice of others. These however would have remained unnoticed but for an article which appeared in the XX Number of the lieviev) in which the character and measures of officers now connected witli that Agency are so slanderously assailed, and truth so com- pletely sacrificed, as to induce some public refutation. Hence t?ie present pamphlet. No pretension what- ever is made to literary merit. But in reference to the facts stated, and the conclusions deduced therc.'from, the most searching examination is earnestly invited. Should the Eeviewer, or any other party, see fit to notice this pamphlet, it is hoped that in any objec- j| tions or counter-statements that may be offered in J reply, all vague generalities will be avoided, and a r specific statement given of the time, place, and date of 4) each occurrence adverted to. PAllT I. So much lias of late been said and written respecting the vari- ous, and, in some degree, conflicting plans and operations for the abolition of human sacrifice in the Hill Tracts of Orissa, that, but for the sake of truth, and fuir dealing, we should not have felt inclined again to request attention to it. We unfeignedly regret the necessity that has been forced upon us ; and our regret is the more painful, when we reflect on the character and position of the parties to whom, by the force of truth, we are in this instance constrained to be out and out, most unequivocally, though most reluctantly opposed. Honesty forbids us Lo write as if we were ignorant of the authorship of the articles in question ; and while we lament that such a one should have so far forgotten the rights of his neighbour, we unhesitatingly asseverate that the tale of Goomsoor affairs contained in No. XX of the Calcutta Review, is one elaborate fabrication of exaggerations and misrepresentations. It is painful to write thus ; but when the writer boasts of having had all the ofiicial documents connected with Goomsoor affairs placed at his disposal, it is difficult to imagine how he could have been ignorant of the true state of affairs — unless indeed the papers relating to the period of which he writes, icere withheld from him, and in that case it will be no easy matter to find an apology for his recklessness in writing so magniloquently and confidently, on a subject of which he could know— just nothing. "A man," says Luther, " obliges himself to babble strange things without know- ing what he says, when he undertakes a bad cause ; we strike our foot against divine truth, and the divine word, v/hen in compliance with the wishes ol others, we bustle through a scene in which we have no just cause to appear." Ju^t so with the eloquent Re- viewer. He has gone bustling through a scene with which he could be but very imperfectly acquainted, — ever and anon waxing laboriously eloquent, uttering strange things without knowing what he said or whereof he affirmed. This is the most charitable conclusion to which his fine writing conducts us. He has warmly espoused the cause of Captain MacPherson ; and seems determined at all risks to give him a triumphant " progress," if not through the streets of Rome, through the pages of the Calcutta Review. And he must be adorned, for the show ; laurels must bedeck the hero's brow ; and, if these are not to be found among the " glo- rious blossoms" of which the " freshening glow and budding promise of a genial spring," had erst awakened a joyful anticipa- tion, the achievements of others must be made to furnish them. To him — to him alone must be ascribed the merit of having abolished the Meriah, and tamed the inhabitants of Khondistan. All must stand aside that he may receive the honor due to the discoverer of the " grand central principle" for the abolition of the horrid rite of human sacrifice. " Peace and justice !" What a glorious combination ! What an inestimable boon to any people ! And yet, strange as it may appear, it does not seem that any of our hero's predecessors had ever dreamt of the benefits to be derived from the preservation of the one, or the wise administra- tion of the other. All that any of them ever did " does not amount to, does not approximate, does not even come within sight of, the specific use and application of the peculiar scheme of justice propounded by Captain MacPherson." But alas ! " The best laid schemes o' mice and men, gang aft a' glee." Let there be no reflections on the schemes. It is patent to the commonest understanding that, had the Government let our hero alone — or rather had not General Dyce, in the exercise of a ruth- less despotism, removed him from the scene of action, "there is scarcely any reasonable ground for doubt that long ere now the horrid rites of female infanticide, and human sacrifice, would have been abolished throughout the larger portion of the Khond terri- tories." Not that the labours of others are to be wholly despised. Among them are to be found " men endowed with noble and generous feelings"; and, albeit their plans and processes, when "fairly tried,— weighed in the balances of experiment," were found wanting, " they helped to shew how very deeply the ab- 3 horrent rite of the Mcriuh sacrifice had struck its roota into the physical, social, and moral being of the Khond tribes hitherto visited ;" and thus served to enhance the merit of our Indian Dejoces, who, by " an admirable combination of prudence, concili- ation and firmness," was able, in so brief a period, to produce among them such marvellous results. Honour to whom honour is due ; "and as we endeavoured to do ample justice to these prede- cessors in the work — indeed ampler justice than we have any reason to suppose had ever been publicly rendered to them before — we shall now pursue an impartial course with reference to their suc- cessor."* We are assured by the Reviewer that his " earnest desire has been throughout to do the fullest justice to all parties so far as the authentic materials within our reach could possibly avail us." &CC. &c. Charity — well stretched — would lead us to hope that the Re- viewer then had never seen the following extract from a minute of the Honorable Mr. Russell dated 19th January 1838. " Para 10. Captain Campbell has acquired a knowledge of the country and people of the hill tracts in the Ganjam district, under circumstances never likely to occur again ; and his local experi- ence, and personal influence, with the different hill chieftains, give him an advantage over any other person who could be appointed to the situation of principal Assistant to the Commissioner, my acquaintance with Captain Campbell commenced during the Milita- ry operations in Kimedy, and all I have seen of him has been on Service. I will not say that I have no private feelings towards him, for no one who knows his value as a public Officer, can do otherwise than feel an interest in hira, but I can with truth declare that the opinion I have stated is founded on public grounds only : and I am confident that, as such. His Lordship will pardon it, al- though perhaps not strictly regular, should the arrangement take place, I would recommend that Captain Campbell's services be considered available in all parts of the District, and that he should be employed as described in a previous para — retaining at the same time the immediate charge of the Corps of Peons." Calcutta EcTiew, No, XV. page 13. Or this extract from the minutes of consultation under "date the 27th January 1838, " Para 4. The testimony borne in this Para to the merits of Captain Campbell, and the peculiar qualifications possessed by him for the projected office of Principal Assistant to the Commissioner, is as creditable to that Officer as it is satisfactory to Government, and the recommendation submitted therein, for his appointment to that Office, will receive favourable consideration (should the pro- posed arrangement be sanctioned by the Government of India,) when Mr. Inglis the Sub-Collector in Ganjam shall either be pro- moted or leave the district." Or the following extract of a general letter from the Honorable Court of Directors dated 8th July 1840, No. 5. " We are much gratified at the success which has attended the efforts of Mr. Bannerman and Captain Campbell to put down the atrocious practice of human sacrifices in the Khond Villages on the borders of these Collectorates, by which already not only a large number of lives have been saved, but there is much reason to be- lieve that at least in those parts where our power is the most under- stood, an effectual check has been placed on the future perform- ance of these barbarous rites — Of the general course which has been pursued by the Local Officers, which is strictly in accordance with the instructions contained in paras 11 to 19 of our Despatch dated 21st November, No. 17 — 1838, we entirely approve." In the opinion of the Reviewer however, all that such men ever accomplished were but " twilight gropings — abortive but well meant experiments." Let us hear himself. " On the 15th De- cember 1841, he (Captain MacPherson) proceeded on his journey to the Khond country. Thither for the present, we shall not fol- low him. His labours in the Khond cause, we consider of far too great importance to admit of being dismissed with a slight or su- perficial sketch. From the great and unexpected success which attend them, as well as from certain marked and orifjinal features by which they were distinguished, alike in principle and mode of operation, we have no hesitation in declaring that they constitute a neio and distinctive epoch of their own, in the history of Govern- ment measures for the abolition of the Meriah sacrifice, With Lieutenant MacPhcrson's appointment, we consider that the first era of comparative ignorance, twilight groping, abortive but well meant experiments, and really philanthropic but somewhat disheart- ening conclusions, terminated ; and with his appointment we, in like manner, consider that the second era of maturer knowledge, fuller and more steady light, more skilful and successful experi- ments, and equally philanthropic but more cheering conclusions, commenced. The narrative therefore, of this second and more hopeful epoch we purposely reserve for a separate place in a future number." And this, we are told, is doing ampler justice to such men than had ever been done before. Is this the Reviewer's idea of justice when he dilates upon its administration, as the grand means of reclaiming barbarians ? Or, does it change its nature when ad- ministered among the more civilized tribes of our race ? It was in 1836-37 during our Military operations in Upper and ^ Lower Goomsoor, that the cruel rite of immolating human beings was first brought to light among the neighbouring hill tribes. Captain Millar of the 43d Regiment M. N. I., succeeded in res- cuing 12 victims, and his services were thus acknowledged by the Madras Government. "Captain Millar will realize in his own mind an ample reward for his most commendable conduct in having rescued 12 victims destined for these horrible sacrifices ; as the gratifying reflection of having been the means of saving so many human beings from a cruel and untimely death, cannot fail at all times to be a source of genuine happiness to him ; the discretion however with which he continued to efi'ect his humane purpose is entitled to the warmest and most unqualified approbation of Government." 'That most talented Ofiicer, Mr. Russell, to whose judicious management the Madras Government had entrusted the conduct of affairs in Goomsoor, was the first who brought the subject of human sacrifice among the Khonds prominently to the notice of Govern- ment. He then suggested the propriety of adopting certain measures, amongst others the selection of a suitable agent, for staying this horrid evil. To adopt the language of the Reviewer — and most fully the sentiment expressed by it— >-'The recomQien- J-f dation of so sagacious, experienced, and competent a funciionary as Mr, Russell, could not fail to carry the greatest weight." What then was his recommendation? One would almost infer from the lan- guage of the Reviewer that no one, except Captain MacPherson had any useful knowledge of the Khonds, and yet that " sagacious expe- rienced, and competent functionary Mr. Russell,"' who had the best means of judging of the abilities and fitness of the several Officers employed inGoomsoor, never once mentioned Captain MacPherson's name, in any of his able Reports, but records his opinion of Cap- tain Campbell's eminent qualifications as in the extract given above. The Reviewer however informs us that Captain MacPherson ** re- ceived his appointment simply and solely because, from the multi- plied proofs of superior fitness which his own labours* had afforded, he was honestly adjudged to be the best qualified for the success- ful accomplishment of its leading objects."! His was a special mission of preparatory inquiry, rather than of immediate action. The opening of routes and passes through the wild tracts — the encouraging of commercial intercourse between the hills and the plains by all available means, and the establishing of fairs, or marts for that purpose — the raising of a semi-military police force from among the hill men, upon a footing similar to that of thePaik company of Cuttack : — these and other kindred objects of a general charac- ter were those to which his attention was to be chiefly and more immediately confined ; while, in regard to the great ulterior pur- pose aimed at, viz. the abolition of the Meriah rite, the injunction was, that "he should cautiously approach any inquisition into human sacrifices. "J Previous to the year 1837, the late lamented Mr. Stevenson — a gentleman whose kindness of heart, and true philanthropy, united to much talent, are well remembered by all who enjoyed his friend- ship — succeeded in rescuing many victims from a cruel death. He also compiled a narrative of all the information he could obtain * Among these are specially mentioned, " the talent for original and recondite re- search displayed in an elaborate report," which, we are told, he "carefully arranged from copious materials, of which he obtained possession through his own indefatigable in- dustry ; and the courage and patience exhibited under the personal toil and tatlguei ■voluntarify encountered in prosecuting it," t Calcutta Review., No. XV, page 3, i Ibiil.. page S. regarding the Meiiah sacrifice, which Mr. Kussell the Commisaioner, -^ afterwards embodied in his report. Mr. Bannerman also, with his usual zeal and judgment, did much good service in the cause : and oiFered many most valuable suggestions, relative to the mode of legal procedure in the case of Panwas detected in kidnapping and selling children for sacrifice. It were unfair also not to men- tion Lieutenant Hill, who deserves the highest credit for the / extensive information he acquired regarding the Khonds and their country. Our immediate business however, is with the measures pursued by Captain (now Lieutenant Colonel) Campbell, and their results. And, with the mass of evidence before us, to which we would now respectfully direct the attention of our readers, we cannot hesitate to affirm that to him belongs the credit of having laid the foundation of successful operations for the suppression of human saciifice in the Goomsoor Maliahs ; and that the glory of Captain MacPherson as "a propounder of principles, a deviser of plans, and an executor of important deeds'* is — mere false glare. Notwithstanding the Reviewer's declamation about " the great and unexpected success which attended his labours in the Khond cause" — " the marked and original features by which, they were distinguished" forming the commencement of an "era of maturer knowledge, fuller and more steady light, more skilful and success- ful experiments, and equally philanthropic but more cheering con- clusions;" after an "era of comparative ignorance, twilight groping," "abortive experiments, and disheartening conclusions" — we hesi- tate not to affirm, that, when Captain MacPherson went to Calcutta in 1844, the Khonds were precisely in the same state of mind, with reference to the sacrifice, as when Captain Campbell left them in 1841. We are prepared to show that the removal of Sam Bissye, by which according to the statement of the Reviewer, "light and repose seemed to return almost at once to the distracted minds of the Khonds," was a most disastrous act ; while Captain Mac- Pherson's proceedings in Boad, so far from yielding the *" ripe and mellow fruit" which he may have anticipated, and which, the Reviewer declares, " were on the very eve of emanating from them," resulted in war and bloodshed. fThe Reviewer's obser- • Calcutta Review No. .\X, page 337, tibid. vations on the proceedings of General Dyce, a moAt humane, though firm, soldier, we can hardly trust ourselves to characterize — know- ing as we now do on the very best authority, that, of the period to which they refer, he had no official documents. Would any one gather as much from the confident style of abuse with which he bespatters — not the General, for it cannot affect him, but — the pages of his own Review. We hope, however, to shew, to the conviction of every unprejudiced mind, that the interference of General Dyce was specially ordered by Government, and was only too long delayed ; and finally that the suppression of the Meriah never made such rapid progress, as it has done since Colonel Campbell assumed charge of the agency in 1847. At ihe outset of our inquiry, we must beg the reader's especial attention to one important fact — one on which the settlement of the grand point in dispute greatly depends. Let it be remembered then, that Captain Campbell operated successfully in Barah Mutah and Athara Mutah, Chokapad, and in Sam Bissye's country; and that the stibsequeni measures of Captain MacPherson were exclu- sively directed to these same districts ; — these and these alone were the scenes of his marvellously romantic doings for the suppression of the Meriah rite. Page upon page of the Review is occupied with reports of the skill and prudence displayed by the Agent, in bringing the "minds" of the Khonds "spontaneously" to acquiesce in the great " religious change" ! Credat Judmis. Large demands are made on the Queen's English, to express the Reviewer's un- bounded admiration of the tact and foresight which his hero dis- played on every occasion. " By moral influences" — the "skilful administration of justice," — to the entire exclusion, it would ap- pear, of the antiquated notion that Governors are a " terror to evil doers" — the "minds" and habits of these barbarians were revolutionized by masses. It is however important to observe that the scene of these operations — viz. the Tracts of Barah and Athara Mutahs with the neighbouring district of Hodzoghoro had previously witnessed the tremendous power of our arms. Having themselves suffered terribly during the Goomsoor war, they had learned from dire experience to respect the authority and decisions of the perma- nent power. And — we repeat it, as an important faci — it was to these very spots that Captain Campbell had directed his efforts— they were the scenes of his personal labours, and veritable succeseeft. In the end of 1837 Captain Campbell ascended the Ghauts, de- termined to pursue a firm and bold, yet withal conciliatory line of policy. The following extract from a report to the Supreme Go- vernment, will concisely indicate his mode of procedure. After alluding to the hostile operations in Goomsoor in 1836-37 he goes on to observe — " But this fearful, though necessary display of our power was not Avithout a benefit as regarded the Meriah sacrifice, then first brought to light, for it enabled me, the Agent first selected to rule over them (the Khonds) to speak with an authority they knew how to respect. I acted then, as I have since done in Boad and Chinna Kimedy. I went frequently among them, and strove by every means to conciliate, and persuade them to abandon their horrid sacrifice; I decided their quarrels from the most trifling, to blood feuds of long standing, but I ever spoke the same language anent the Meriah, " you must not, and you shall not do it" ; I succeeded in getting their Meriah's, and exacted from them a pledge to ab- stain in future. Since that time joz^iZ^c sacrijice has been unknown in Goomsoor. But I never conceived that their hearts were changed, or that the intention or inclination to sacrifice did not exist if it could be done safely, and without risk. I had become their friend and had acquired a certain influence by settling their tribal feuds, and often have they followed me to the sea coast to have some case decided; but I did not think they were converted; self-interest and fear, especially the latter weighed something in the balance, but love for their ancient rite was stronger than either, and would have turned the scale if they had not been closely watched." This brief but comprehensive summary needs little comment. It is of itself sufficient to refute the Reviewer's assertion of the abor- tiveness of all measures until the advent of Lieutenant MacPherson. In Bara and Athara Mutah's, in Hodzoghoro and in Chokapad, Cap- tain Campbell pursued his purpose in the same firm and steady manner. Of its wisdom men of sense will judge for themselves. No means were omitted to wean the Khonds from their revolting rite. Year after year, unlil he went to China, were these tracts visited by Captain Campbell. Many suggestions were ofi"ered by him for the favorable consideration of the Madras B 10 Government; but that authority was timid, and very naturally dreaded the idea of aught that might, by any possibility, bring us again into conflict with the tribes of Khondistan. Their fears however might have been restrained. The measures proposed were not calculated to breed hostility. They embraced the con- struction of roads, especially one up the Koorminghia Pass ; the summary punishment of the victim sellers ; the purchase, if need- ful, of the Meriahs in the first instance; the necessity of the ex- tension of abolition measures to the Boad hills ; and the open and undisguised expression of the will of the Government on the sub- ject. Captain MacPherson's discovery of the " administration of jus- tice principle" — " The governing principle of a plan for the extir- pation of human sacrifices among the Khonds," — is held to entitle him to a place among our Copernicusses and our Newtons ! It is true, Captain Campbell was often called on to decide cases in which Khonds were concerned, who had become British subjects, by the annexation of such portion'^ of their territory as was included in the Goomsoor Zemindary. — But we find no trace of his deducing from these decisions any principle which might be turned to ac- count in the formation of a Meriah-abolition scheme. No, poor man ; his, unfortunately, Avas " the era of comparative ignorance, twilight groping, abortive but well meant experiments." But did it never occur to this philosophic writer, that art frequently, if not usually, precedes science ? was it not conceivable that such a prac- tical man as Captain Campbell, might be sufficiently awake to take advantage of any influence he might acquire in " deciding cases'"^ — (for " the administration of justice" must be left to deck our he- ro's brow) — and turn it to account for the advancement of the cause in which he is allowed to have had a sort of philanthropic interest, without writing interminable essays on the " principles" of his measures ? Let deeds approve the man. The Reviewer al- lows that Captain MacPherson's Mission was one " of preparatory inquiry rather than of immediate action. The opening of routes and passes through the wild tracts— the encouraging of the com- mercial intercourse between the hills and the plains by all available • Don' I forget, gentle reader, that these were the very portions on ivhich Captaia MacPherson's grand diucoverj was tested. u means, and the cslablisliing of fairs or marts for that, purpose'*** these and other kindred objects of a general character were those to which his attention was to be chiefly and more immediately con- fined ; while in regard to the great ulterior purpose aimed at, viz. the abolition of the Meriah rite, the injunction was, that " he should cautiously approach any inquisition into human sacrifices.""^' It may serve to show with what success some of his predecessors " groped in the twilight," if we here enter an extract or two from Colonel Campbell's account of his labours, furnished to Mr. Com- missioner Grant. " I represented in my letter, with all the force I could use, the necessity of extending operations for the suppression of tlie Me- riah, into Boad and Chinna Kimedy, but without success. I pointed out the first great step towards the civilization of the Khonds by the construction of a good road from Aska through Russellcondah ; and Koorminghia to Sohunpoor on the Mohanaddy ; by which troops might pass to and from the coast to Nagpoor, and by which thousands of Binjarry bullocks would bring the produce of the interior to the coast, and return laden with the Company's Salt, more than 40,000 rupees worth of which is sold at the Ganjam Salt places annually to the Binjarries for conveyance to Nagpoor, and other places in that direction. I offered to superintend the construction of this road myself on which I hoped, by various means, to induce Khonds to labour ; no notice tvhatever tvas taken of this recommendation^ " I entreated that Government would place at my disposal two Elephants, which I offered to feed at my own expense ; for my health had suffered much from exposure, from want of efficient carriage (the bullocks of the country being quite unfit for service in the Hills) ; and moreover that the more distant and difficult of access the Khond Mutahs were, the more necessary it was that they should be visited — even this humble request was unnoticed." " I successfully encouraged the Khonds by every means in my power to frequent the markets in the plains ; they were protected from the slightest molestation and soon became expert bargainers." " I instituted a strict search after the professed Meriah Kidnap- • Calcutta Review, XV. page 15. sj 12 pers, and apprehended three of the most notorioua, who were handed over for trial to the Agent." Will any one venture to contradict this statement ? Yet the Re- viewer referring to Lord Elphinstone's recorded sentiments on the subject, says, " He dwelt on the constant support which the Go- vernment had afforded to every expedient for improving, through the establishment of fairs, and the opening of new routes, the means of communication between the Khonds and the inhabitants of the low country ; and pointed to the aid which had been ren- dered in the rescue of victims and the condign punishment of Kid- nappers. But all these and such like measures*** could never cope with the real evil, or of themselves, suffice for the attainment of our object."* Whoever thought they would? Nevertheless palmam qui meruit ferat. After a lapse of time the Koorminghia road was sanctioned, while the other measures proposed were either unattended to, or positively disapproved of. " Cautious inquisition" and abstinence from all threats were recommended. Nothing daunted, however. Captain Campbell pursued his humane designs and aided by the intrepid old chief of Hodzoghoro, Sam Bissye, between December 1837 and December 1841, he succeeded in rescuing about 140 victims, in the Goomsoor Maliahs, exclusive of the serfs, or adopted children, whom he permitted the Chiefs of Chokapad and Goom- soor to retain, on " their assurance that they would answer for their safety, with their own lives." Unwilling to tax the reader's patience too much, we will only add here that, in January 1838, prior to the arrival of Captain MacPherson in Goomsoor to succeed Captain Hall, Captain Campbell was able to report to Government " that the public performance of the Meriah rite was at an end in Goomsoor." He was not however such a gull as to believe, nor such a guller as to report, that he had produced any " religious change" among the barbarians of Khondistan. On the contrary he distinctly stated his conviction that the desire to sacrifice was not rooted out of their hearts ; and that much still remained to be done to prevent their recurrence to the same horrid rite. In a letter addressed to the Acting Collector of Ganjam, and officiating • Calcutta Review, XV. pag«*s 43, 41, 13 Commissioner of Goomsoor &c.. and bearing date 1 7th January 1838, he thus records his opinion. — '* I have every reason to be- lieve that the public performance of the Meriah pujah, in the Goomsoor Maliahs, is at an end ; but if steps are not taken in the neighbouring Khond Mutahs, it will be hard to maintain the ground we have gained." The following extract from a letter of Captain Campbell's to the Commissioner for Goomsoor &.C., dated 15th January 1839, is quoted by the Reviewer.—" The more I see of the Khonds, the more is my opinion confirmed that unless we address ourselves to their fears as well as to their better feelings, our steps for the suppression of the Meriah pujah will be slow indeed ; further perhaps wholly nugatory, unless the same system is followed wherever the sacrifice is known to exist. I could not learn that any children had been purchased by the Khonds of Goomsoor, since I was last above the Ghauts, nor were any claimed by their relatives." Captain Campbell ascended the Goomsoor Maliahs in January 1841, and from his report submitted on that occasion to the Agent to the Governor in Ganjam, the Reviewer treats his readers to a few extracts, which he assures them will "best set forth his (Captain Campbell's) own experience and im- pression of the unsatisfactory state of things." The last paragraph extracted concludes with these words — " I still continue of opinion that unless more decided measures are adopted, the Meriah sacri- fice will not cease, though it may not be performed openly." Now, anxious as we are to write under the influence of that charity which thinketh no evil, we find it stiff, up hill work, to reach the convic- tion that, had the Reviewer been setting forth the doings of his own adopted hero, he would have closed his extract here. Long loud and lugubrious are his lamentations over every little obstacle that, at any time, chanced to be left in his way. We do not blame him for that ; but we do think that after having informed his readers that the Government granted to Captain Campbell " all the requisite equipment," he ought also to have given the following paragraphs from the letters that lay before him. — " I regret that indisposition has compelled me to return to the low country earlier than I had intended." This is the last sentence of Captain Camp- bell's letter of January 15, 1839. In his report of January 1841, after recommending generally the adoption of more decided mea- sures, Captain Campbell thus concludes, 14 " I most roispectfuUy suggest for your consideration and recom- mendation to Government, that the seller and purchaser of a human being for sacrifice, should be held equally guilty and summarily punished with imprisonment and hard labor or stripes, the latter punishment alone inflicted, with discretion on both parties in the odious traffic would, I think, be very efTeclual, more especially if administered at the time and place of detection ; and that a similar punishment though more severe, should follow conviction in any instance of a human victim having been sacrificed." " I beg to bring to your notice the great difficulties, delays and exposure attending a march through the Maliahs with bullock carriage, owing to which I have, on each occasion of visiting the hills, returned with fever, and my followers, less accustomed to cold, have suffered still more severely. With four Elephants every Mutah, every Village, could be visited, and in a comparatively short space of time ; and I need scarcely point out that the more remote and more difficult of access, the more important that they should be visited by the Government officers." Now we think that, in all fairness, the reader ought not to have been left ignorant of the fact, that no notice was ever taken of this urgent request. After having given us Captain Campbell's " own experience and impression of the unsatisfactory state of things" in January 1841, it might have been well to let us know the result of his five years experience also, as recorded in his last report to the Agent to the Governor in Ganjam, dated January 1842. " Af- ter the experience of five years," he writes, " I regret that I have no cause to change my opinion of the correctness of the principles expressed in my letter of the 16th December 1837, for suppressing the Meriah pujah, and which were carried out by me successfully as reported on the 17th January 1838. To those measures alone are attributable the subsequent cessation of the sacrifice in Goom- soor, and the fear and secrecy with which it is still performed in the bordering Mutahs." We do not forget that the kind hearted Reviewer, deprecates the excitement of such '' fears," and would rather call forth their " gratitude" by a practical appeal to their "keen appreciation of the value of justice." Perhaps a comparison of results which we hope immediately to lay be- fore our readers, may induce them to think that, in the adminis- tration of justice, the exhibition of sufficient power to support 15 Idwful authority and quell resistance, is after all a more benevolent and efficient mode of procedure, than incessant theorizings, confla- grations, and desolations. In the mean time we cannot help ex- pressing some degree of wonder, that persons blest with such a " keen appreciation of the value and importance of justice," and withal so susceptible of new " religious ideas," should be found so impracticable on the subject of manuring their fields v/ith the flesh, and life's blood of their fellow men. It is true they plead the right of every man to do what he likes v/lth his own — which he has bought with his money ; but surely it would not be difficult to teach such a " simple and unsophisticated race," the injustice of stealing and selling for slaughter a human being, who otherwise, has just as good aright to live as themselves. The influence which Captain Campbell had obtained through frequent personal intercourse, and constant communication with the Khond tribes was greater than can be readily imagined. He did use that influence with effect to Induce them to desist from their atrocious ceremony. The bombast, and ridiculous verbosity, which the learned Reviewer employs for the glorification of Cap- tain MacPherson, and his alleged discovery of the " administration of justice principle," as the grand means of suppressing the rite, we deem scarcely deserving of notice. Captain Campbell acted as the umpire of the people, their arbitrator and judge ; and we appeal to the Reviewer's otvn appreciation of the '• importance of justice" whether he satisfied its claims, when he took it upon him to write that, " when justice was thus, in any instance administered, it was simply for its own sake, and by way of accomplishing what was in itself an important end, without any direct or immediate re- ference to the attainment of other ulterior and equally important ends, such as the abolition of the Merlah sacrifice. The conse- quence was that, as regarded the extinction of this sanguinary rite, little or no real progress had been made, though for six years the Khonds had been British subjects, and various efibrts had been made by Government authorities towards its suppression." The whole of Captain Campbell's influence, in whatever way obtained, rvas employed, not for the construction of theoretic speculations for Reviewer's to criticize, but for the promotion of the benevolent object in which he was deeply interested, and earnestly engaged, 16 Jlis official reports, which the Reviewer, has doubtless read— of ought in "justice" to have read, before he undertook to write ae he has done, will shew that his judicial proceedings were carried on " in accordance with the spirit and forms of Khond usages." And what more, we would ask, did Captain MacPherson do — beyond making a deep impression on the mind, not so much of the Khonds, as of the Calcutta Reviewer. We utterly deny that Captain Campbell's administration was a " vague guess." It was "a positive demonstration." He did not indeed think that justice either was, or was felt by the Khonds to be, the "greatest of their ■wants." He knew that it was a " want," an " inestimable boon," and he satisfied its claims, that he might increase his power, — ever watchful to bring that power " to bear with steady and augment- ing pressure on the abolition of the Meriah sacrifice." We do not feel at present called upon to institute any comparison between the philosophic acumen of the two Captains, MacPherson and Campbell ; nor do we feel competent to decide whether " Empe- docles, Democritus, Pythagoras, and Plato were perfectly acquaint- ed with the doctrine of gravitation," — but if we might try our hand, in a small way, at deduction, we would venture to say, that, there/ore neither was Archimedes, nor the Benjamites ; and yet they managed, in one way and another, to throw their stones, with at least as much precision as Captain MacPherson has manifested in his operations on the Khond mind. In like manner we " guess," — it maybe a " vague guess," a " twilight groping," still it is our guess — that one might do much good in the administration of jus- tice, and use that good for the attainment of still greater good, without, in the first place writing lengthy essays on the "princi- ples" of his operations. Suffice it to say, that in the " administration of justice" Captain MacPherson did no more in the way of good, than tread in the footsteps of his predecessor. It is true then, that in January 1841, Captain Campbell reported that, the intention to continue the sacrifice existed with unabated force ; and that, unless more decided measures were adopted, it would not cease, though it might not be performed openly. And still later, in January 1842, in the same report in which he declares his opinion to be unchanged, regarding the correctness of the prin- ciples on which he had so successfully acted in the suppression of 17 the rite, in Goomsoor — while he affirms that, " to those measures alone are to be attributed the subsequent cessation of the sacrifice in Goomsoor, and the fear and secresy with which it is still per- formed in the neighbouring Mutahs ; but the impressions so created, are, I regret to say rapidly fading away, of which I have just had painful proof in the sacrifice of two children," he also adds, " it is vain to expect that persuasion will induce a half-savage people to leave off a practice, which has so long obtained amongst them, and in this I am borne out by the opinion of the Chiefs, as already detailed in my report of the 15th January 1839." Sad experience has fully confirmed the truth and correctness of that opinion. We maintain therefore that before the end of 1841, when he accompanied his Regiment to China, Captain Campbell had put an end — as far as an end has ever been put to the public performance of the Meriah among the Khonds of Goomsoor, though the desire to perform it was still strong in their minds. Vigilant, energetic and determined, yet withal kind and conciliatory measures were still needed to complete the work. It should likewise be observed that all that was done, up to this period, was accomplished by the jyersonal injluence of the agents employed without the aid of any separate establishment. Captain Campbell and others had from time to time communicated much useful information regarding the customs, and manners, and general character of the Khonds. The former especially had, again and again, pressed on the attention of Government the importance of " opening routes and passes through the wild tracts;" and did much to encourage "the commercial in- tercourse between the hills and the plains, and the establishment of fairs or marts for that purpose,"*'-' Now our assertion is that during his agency among the Khonds, Captain MacPherson added nothing of much importance, to our stock of knowledge regarding either them or their country — and that, so far from advancing the cause of Meriah suppression, he hardly retained the ground already gained ; while, by oppressive measures, which in his darker than " twilight gropings," he was led by false information to adopt, he jeopardized the whole scheme, and so irritated the Khond population that his removal from the district was, by com- * Calcutta Review, No. XV. page 2. 18 pelent authority, deemed essential to the restoration of peace and obedience. Captain (then Lieutenant) MacPherson, having been appointed an Assistant to the Commissioner or Governor's Agent in Ganjam, proceeded on his journey to the Khond country on the 15th De- cember 1841. Encouraged, then, by the Reviewer's report of •' the great and unexpected success which there attended his la- bours," let us thither follow him, and see if we can discover the " certain marked and original features by which these labours were distinguished, alike in principle and mode of operation." Let us leave, kind reader, the ^^ first era of comparative ignorance, twilight groping, abortive experiments" and such like " disheartening con- clusions," and allow us now to introduce you to the " second era of maturer knowledge, fuller and more steady light, more skilful and successful experiments, and equally philanthropic but more cheering conclusions" — hut, should the new " light" turn out to have been the reverse of " steady" ; should you find it dimmer — more flickering — more like a will-o'-the-wisp, than you may have been led to anticipate — we here at the outset of our journey protest against the disappointment being l.dd to our account. Captain MacPherson's first acquaintance Avith the tribes of Khondistan had been formed in the years 1836-37, during the Goomsoor war, while on Survey, under orders of the Commissioner of Goomsoor, and Souradah. From information acquired then and, says the Reviewer, also "in the following year, from intercourse Avith Dara Bissye the chief Khond Patriarch of Goomsoor, and other prisoners of Gan- jam," he drew up a voluminous report on the moral, social, and political condition of the Khonds in the regions, chiefly of Boad and Durpalla. This report, says the Reviewer, is a " full, clear, systematic, and authoritative dissertation on the whole subject of the Khonds — their country, its general configuration and superfi- cial characters, its geological features and routes — their relations to the neighbouring Zemindaries^ — their Government and organiza- tion in tribes and other subdivisions — their usages of mutual in- tercourse, social and domestic, as also of Civil and Criminal Law — their manners and customs relating to marriage, convivial habits, dress, habitations, medicines — their religion, priesthood and ritual observances — together with minute statistics relating to their 19 vegetable and other products, their professions, their Mutahs and Villages, the numbers of the houses and the names of the Chiefs. On all these and their kindred or connected subjects the Report sheds a full and steady light Avhich we look for in vain elsewhere. The whole is mapped out, and cantoned with the skill of one who was thoroughly master of his subject — every topic, whether lead- ing or subordinate, occupying its proper compartment, appearing in its relative dimensions, and having its proportional value atfixed to it. To the author, who has in it displayed so much talent for original and recondite research, and who has had the courage and patience voluntarily to undergo so much personal toil and fatigue in prosecuting it, — it is an honour. Nor must we withhold the credit that is due to the Government which shewed itself capable of appreciating such rare and arduous labours." This Report was submitted to the Madras Government early in 1841, and subsequently to the Supreme Government. The Re- viewer dwells much on the " talent for original and recondite re- search displayed" in the Report, which he tells us was drawn up " from copious materials which through his own indefatigable in- dustry," his hero had obtained possession of. His "views" therein set forth, were, he tells us, " so sensible, so rational, so bottomed on experience," that " both the Supreme and subordinate Govern- ments were induced to receive them with well merited favor." ' A statement"^ of the sources from whence all this information was mainly derived is furnished by the Reviewer, sufficient, in his opinion, " at once to establish its authoritative character." What may have been the amount of Captain MacPherson's obligations to the worthy Patriarch whose testimony is therein appealed to, we are not competent to determine ; but, in the conclusion of his " masterly report of the 8th May 1844," he himself entirely super- cedes them in favor of his " two chief native assistants, whom he characterizes in the following emphatic and generous strain" — To my head Moonshee, Baba Khan, I owe the acquisition, in the yeard 1837-38-39, of all the information respecting Khond usages which I had the honor to submit to Government in my printed report, * Calcutta Rtview, No. IX, page 21. 20 The ability and devoted zeal which he has since displayed in this ■work could not be surpassed. He commands, in an extraordinary degree, the confidence and aflfections of the Khonds, and of the rude instruments employed amongst them ; and his health has Buffered much," " Sundera Singh, son of the late Rajah of Souradah, has afford- ed assistance which has been equally valuable. Bred amongst the Khonds connected with his Zemindary, but still a well educat- ed Hindu gentleman, he brings knowledge and an hereditary in- fluence which no otlier man can possess. His services in the Khond country, during the Goomsoor rebellion, were acknow- ledged by a grant of land ; and he has devoted himself with the utmost zeal to the work in which I am engaged." " I venture to suggest that the bestowal by Government of a small mark of approbation upon these two servants may produce important effects. — There now exists extreme difficulty in inducing men of character and talent to engage in this work, from ideas con- nected with caste, from its great danger, its difficulty, and its bring- ing no desirable influence." ♦' The marked appreciation by the Government of devotion to it, even by conferring an honorary medal, might I conceive tend in an important degree to remove this difficulty." To this Hindu gentlman Captain MacPherson was undoubtedly much indebted. P. B. Smollett, Esq. acting Agent to the Go- vernor of Fort St. George in Ganjam, in his report on the Meriah question dated September 1845, submitted, on special requisition, to the Government of Fort St. George, thus characterizes him and his services. — " At the Head of the Establishment so organized was put one Soonder Sing, a descendant of the family of the former Eajahs of Sourdah, who was in his youth brought up and educated in the Khond Maliahs, and who is intimately and thoroughly fami- liar with the Khond language, Khond character, and Khond feel- ings. To the influence and knowledge which this man's rank and position give him with the tribes, all local opinion, out of the Agents own office, attributes any and whatever success has attend- ed the Government measures. If he died or was removed, it is said, I believe truly, that the establishment would be entirely paralyzed." 21 It must not be overlooked however, that, with all his pre-emi- nent qualifications for the office which he held, Soonder Singh, from his imperfect knowledge of Hindustani, (the only native dialect, ■we believe, in which Captain MacPherson could converse with him,) had this drawback, that his communications, made through the Oriya language, must needs he retranslated into Hindustani, for the benefit of Captain MacPlierson, But who was Moonshee Baba Khan ? To condense a long and instructive history into one or two sentences, this "Head Moonshee" was an ignorant Mussalman, who, possessing a certain degree of low cimning and tact, had acquired a fatal influence over his Mas- ter. Baba Khan was a few years ago, a menial servant, in Captain MacPherson's personal service, and, by some means or other, sud- denly rose to the rank of " Head Moonshee," though unable to write or read one word of Hindustani, Persian, or Oriya. It were unfair not to allow this notable pundit the benefit enjoyed by his compeer, of Mr. Smollett's testimony to his abilities. " This man is still Moonshee in the Maliah Establishment, and to this day he cannot speak a word of the Khond language. He, therefore, cannot communicate personally nor converse with any Khond, except with those few tribes on the frontier who under- stand the Oriya language colloquially — whence then did Moonshee Baba Khan derive his mine of information respecting Khond cus- toms, manners and religion ? If the information was founded on his reports solely, I should greatly doubt its authenticity." "We hesitate not to say, that this man did no small mischief in Khondistan by his corrupt and disgraceful practices. Any infor- mation which such a fellow might be the medium of acquiring, must indeed he utterly undeserving of credit. Referring to these same " devoted" servants of Government, who were deemed de- serving of an " honorary medal," Mr. Bannerman, writing on an- other subject to which we shall by and bye have to direct the notice of our readers, thus expresses himself — " Considering the question- able channels through which this evidence was, I presume obtain- ed, viz., through the instrumentality of the Moonshee Baba Khan, and the now Maliah Sirdar Panda Naik, the declaration * * * are in my humble opinion, of no more value as evidence than so much ^vaste paper." 2% That these men were notoriously corrupt, and moreover, that the members of the agency were not unacquainted with their vici- ous practices, we have abundant evidence before us. We shall in the meantime, however, content ourselves with referring our readers to the letter of Captain W. W. Dunlop, inserted in a subsequent* page of our pamphlet. Are we then to discredit all the findings of Captain MacPherson of which the Reviewer says so much ? By no means ; we believe all the most important of them, might have been found in the official statements of his predecessors, and to these Ave are bound to give credit until we see reason for withholding it. Such reason, in the case of Moonshee Baba.Khan, and Sunder Singh, we have in abundance, and must more than doubt the " authenticity" of any information obtained through them. With such assistants then, did Captain MacPherson enter on his labours in December 1841. " In pursuit of the special objects of his mission, his route lay through the Khond district of Pondacole, Avith its six thousand inhabitants ; and Bori with its twelve or fifteen thousand. At Guddapore and Sonapore in Bori, he Avas also visited by Khonds from the fertile and populous district of Guladye, Avith its seven or ten thousand souls ; as also from the Hill parts of Bondoghoro ; from Kiraedy, both Southward and WestAvard, to the boundaries of the Jeypore and Kalahundy Ze- mindaries ; and from the- tracts which lie toAvards the West and North AVest, as far as Shubernagherry." "From the arrival of Lieutenant MacPherson in Ganjam," (Ave again quote from Mr. Smollett's report,) " the interference of the Governor's Agent in Khond affairs terminated. Mr. MacPherson. organized a separate establishment of his own, technically deno- minated, the Maliah Establishment, at an expense of Rupees 500 per mensem, apart and distinct from the Establishment of the Governor's Agency, and sanctioned under date the 5th October 1841. The only charge the Governor's Agent has since exercised has been the dispatch to Government under his official superscrip- tion on the cover of the Khond Agent's voluminous and discursive reports of his progresses and operations in Khondistan." *. * * "Besides his establishment he Avas accompanied and es- corted by a guard of Sepoys of the 27th Regiment, commanded * See page, 23 by Captain MacDonald." This campaign however, was speedily terminated, by severe sickness which disabled the Agent himself and nearly the whole of his attendants. The expedition altogether occupied but iwentt-five days, inclusive of halts ; " but," says the Reviewer, " though the period of sojourn above the Ghauta was thus untowardly shortened, it was improved to good purpose." Indeed it must ; for in the report of his progress, which occupies 94 paragraphs, the tribes Avhose country was passed through, the numbers of the population of each, their customs, religious, social, and general, are all dilated upon and described. Besides that the conditions of the Hindu population, not Khond, residing in the hills is fully discussed; and the appearance of the country, its products and commercial capacity are largely descantedupon."*' In this brief period also, the Agent seems to have operated very powerfully on the Khond mind. Acting, we presume, on the principle that coming events cast their shadows before, he tells us that he " halted in the first valley within the hills, until he felt quite satisfied that diff'er- ent ideas were both established there, and had in some degree preceded him.''' These halts must have made large gaps in the period of twenty-five days ; but no matter, the time sufiiced to communicate " desirable impressions," and " establish new ideas," to such an extent as to throw deep into the shade the doings of all the Dejoces' and Brooke's ancient and modern. But let his friend sound forth the triumphant psean. " In these and similar ways, by an admirable combination of prudence, conciliation, and firm- ness, were fear, mistrust, and jealousy supplanted by the opposite feelings of dawning hope and kindly confidence. The change which ensued was like that which follows the melting away of ths icy accumulations of a long and severe winter. It had about it all the freshening glow and budding promise of a genial spring. It looked hopefully to a summer of glorious blossoms and an autumn of mellow fruit." Marvellous doings ! you may well exclaim ; and in order to ap- preciate them as they deserve, we beg you to remember that, to- gether Avith the acquisition of the " copious information," so well Mr, 1'. B, SmoUelt's Report. 24 set before you by the Reviewer, all was the fruit of twenty-five days — yes twenty-five days includiny halts, passed among grossly ignorant barbarians, of whose language, customs, habits and religion, Captain MacPherson — Head Moonshee — and all, were, on their first entrance among them, profoundly ignorant ! Before taking our leave of the wonders of these twenty-five days, it may be well to remark how thankfully the smallest contri- butions from his hero, are accepted by the Reviewer, who could see nothing in the operations of his predecessors but " abortive ex- periments." " But" writes he, with a laudable disposition to be pleased, " had no fruit resulted from the mission, beyond the dis- covery, for the first time of certain Khond tribes who practised in- fanticide to an almost unparalleled extent, and of certain other tribes who did not practice the atrocious Meriah sacrifice, — such discovery would have been an ample reward for all its labours and sufferings." In estimating the value of the " improved and more authoritative form" in which Captain MacPherson " was now in circumstances to submit, or rather resubmit for the consideration of Government, the definite plan of operations for the gradual sup- pression of the Meriah sacrifice," it is certainly of importance to remember, that human sacrifice is not practised, and that female infanticide only partially prevails, in the tracts which were traversed in this short, but marvellously productive visit. After setting forth in his usual magniloquent style, the various " findings" of Captain MacPherson (which as before observed, he might have " found" in the official papers of his predecessors) the Reviewer comes forth with the grand discovery, " that justice was the greatest of their (the Khonds) wants — the want, too, the regu- lated supply of which would be universally hailed as the greatest boon ;" and hence the inevitable conclusion, that " the admitiistra- iion 0/ justice i?i accordance with the spii-it and forms of Khond in- stitutions,^' is the " grand central principle of his proposed scheme for the abolition of human sacrifice among the Khonds." Captain MacPherson's views, we are told " were wrought out by himself as the result of independant research and actual experience. They arc on this account the more creditable to their author, and in- trinsically the more valuable. They may also be well regarded as eminently philosophical— admirably accordant with the conclusions 25 of the speculative or discursive faculty, as well as tlie authentic records of past history." The records of time, ancient and modern, are ransacked for like examples of the power of the administration — of— justice princi- ple, and such " keen appreciation of the value of the boon," by barbarous nations. But in vain ; — we challenge the records of all time to produce any thing like the recorded results of these 25 days. All that such men as Dejoces, Kloff, or Brooke ever ac- complished, " does not amount to, does not approximate, does not even come within sight of the specific use and (mceessful) ap- plication of the peculiar scheme of justice propounded by Captain MacPherson." The Khonds however, did not manifest their gratitude towards their benefactor in the same expressive manner that the Medes adopted towards their Dejoces. Whatever may have been their regard for his " great wisdom and prudence" — even with the prospect of his being able to " put an end to their calamities," they did not unanimously resolve to elect him as their King. His loyalty to Queen Victoria prevented them from taking any such liberty as that — so hints the Reviewer ; but perhaps another consideration may be found to have acted with equal power in this case. With all their eagerness for "justice" — which according to one not unacquainted with their character, " in Khond acceptation seems to mean, the coercion of all other tribes into a like state of subjection with themselves, — they probably did not find that the Agent's " principles" were as de- sirable in practice among their hills, as they are philoso- phical in theory when displayed in the pages of the Calcutta Review. Be that as it may, we will now leave the Southern districts of Khondistan, and proceed with the Reviewer and his hero, not to — but toivard the eastern districts of Goomsoor, Here we ascend the ghauts and visit Bara and Athara Mutahs, and Hodzoghoro. Captain MacPherson has now been appointed to act as Principal Assistant to the Governor's Agent, vice Major Camp- bell, who has accompanied his Regiment to China. We feel bound here to allow a due meed of praise to his " prudence," and " pene- trating foresight." Notwithstanding the Reviewer's, somewhat summary and contemptuous dismission of the opinion, that the D 26 fears as well as the heller feelings of these wild mountaineers must be to some extent wrought upon, in order to secure the sup- pression of the Meriah, Captain MacPherson, albeit he was still " upborne by an undoubting faith in the general adaptation, and efficacy of his well digested, and long matured plans," having, for their " grand central and vital doctrine," the " administration of justice" — in our opinion acted prudently in confining his opera- tions at first to those districts, where the people were already under the influence of a salutary fear, arising, as formerly stated, from their experience in 1837 of the Siicars power. Whether he found them sufiiciently awed for the working out of his " peculiar scheme," or not, we may hereafter see. It is of some importance to mark the condition of the people at the period on which we now enter, 1842. The Reviewer's own account is favourable. " As regards the general civil order and tranquillity of these tracts of country, he was enabled to report favourably. When the province became British, public peace had been maintained. The happy result was, a great diminution of the amount of bloodshed ; contests had been on a small scale ; and the murderous axe had been rarely used. Numerous decisions of questions of disputed right had been passed by the local authority. These had taken effect, for the most part from the weight of our authority, and from their justice alone — no agency having been employed to execute them, but that of Sam Bissye, the principal Khond Chief.*" In a discussion held with the Chief people of Athora Mutah, Captain MacPherson states that " the desire of peace was plainly the leading idea in every mind." ' The greatest happiness that we seek for,' said all the Patriarchs, is this, ' that the only axe known in Athara Mutah shall be the wood axe, and that every man shall enjoy his own in peace,' Considering that all this had been effected by former labourers in the cause, " without the aid of any separate establishment, and by their personal influence" we feel strongly inclined to regard it, as pretty good evidence that those gentlemen did more than "grope" in the "twilight," or conduct "abor- tive experiments." Nevertheless, when Captain MacPherson cora- » Csloutta Review, XV. r-ige 29. menced his l.ibnurs as Agent, the aspect of Khond affairs, wo are told, was " unpromising and uninviting." Among the many strange things which he foimd, on his approaching the highlands of Goomsoor, one was, that " Sam Bissye, his familj-, and Hindu dependents in Hodzoghoro, were regarded by the Khonds and in point of fact were the great supporters of the rite.'''' This hoary chieftain, plainly the evil genius of Khondistan, had, *' necessarily no idea of public or private justice, but those of the Khonds, or those of the tyrannies of the hill rajahs ;" " and, in fact, his super- stition, his cupidity, and his extreme obstinacy of temper, naturally acquiring strength with age, now present important obstacles to the attainment of our objects." So wrote the Agent. Unhappy Sam ! your doom is sealed. O that extremely obstinate temper of yours. You would not bend to " Head Moonshee" Baba Khan, and your ruin must be the expiation of such obstinacy, and independence. The Reviewer keeps prominently before his readers the " very circumscribed authority," the " very limited powers" of the Agent. We are not however aware that any restrictions were laid upon him, which had not also been laid on Captain Campbell during his labours in the same cause and among the very same people. No matter, Captain MacPherson, to his honor be it recorded, " resolved with cheerfulness and alacrity to attempt all which his very limited powers would allow." But before we follow him farther to see how he carried out that laudable resolution, it may be well to give some authentic account of that " misplaced old man" Sam Bissye. This chief is the hereditary Patriarch of Hodzoghoro. During the insurrection in 1836-37, he rendered invaluable services to the Commissioner Mr. Russell, for which he was rewarded wiih the Jaghire of Panchgaddah, the village of Paral in the low country, and appointed chief Bissye of the Goomsoor Khonds, Avith the title of Bahadur Bakshee. The following account of him given by Colonel Campbell in a letter to the Supreme Gorernm.ent, very faithfully pourtrays his character and services. These views were supported by the testi- mony of Mr, Bannerman, who considered the treatment which Sam Bissye received as " cruel and tyrannical." High testimony was also borne to his character by Captain Hill of the Ge- neral Trigonometrical Survey, who had known Sara Bissye in- 28 timately during the Goomsoor War, It was a day of evil omen for Captain MacPherson when he interfered with this " wily chief" as the Reviewer is pleased to designate him, Extract from Report of Colonel Campbell. " The character of Sam Bissye, whose restoration on the grounds of justice, policy and humanity I earnestly plead for, is directly the reverse of this (alluding to the Dulbera's character). — Brave, resolute, and determined, he exerted and maintained the most powerful influence over the minds of the whole of the Khonds of the Athara and Bara Mutahs. Panchgaddah and the village of Paral was conferred upon him for almost invaluable services ren- dered during the Goomsoor rebellion. I know the high value en- tertained by the Honorable Mr. Russell of the services of Sam Bissye, and how materially these services tended to hasten the termination of the war — I know too, from long personal experience, how suitable he was in every respect for the post assigned to him in the hill country ; how capable of settling and adjusting the dis- putes of the Khonds, in arranging any internal feuds that constant- ly spring up amongst them, and if left unchecked, and unsettled, surely and rapidly extend to all the adjacent hills. At this very time, for want of such a Chief as Sam Bissye, there is confusion and anarchy amongst the Khonds of Tenlilghur, and Poornaghur, which is gradually extending to Bodadish, while the Dulbera ^ Ootan Sing remains inert and useless, unequivocally manifesting his incapacity for the position he occupies. There never was a greater mistake than in supposing that to displace the ruling Chief Sam Bissye, and to instal Ootan Sing in his office, was ' to com- plete the conquest of Goomsoor.' I venture to affirm that there has been no peace in the villages of Tentilghur and Poornaghur gince that unfortunate act ; and I deeply lament that it ever re- ceived the sanction of the Madras Government." " The charges which led to the deposition and exile of Sam Bissye and his family, were to the effect that he acted in opposition to the Government, and sanctioned the sacrifice of a child (the daughter of a woman named Pody) who was a ward of Govern- ment. Now the evidence on which the conviction rested was de- 29 rived from the testimony of a Khond assembly in which Captain MacPhcrson states, ' a lie cannot live for a moment.' My own experience of the Khond character is as great as Captain Mac- Pherson's, and I have no hesitiition in asserting that no such moral purity exists among them, as is thus inferred ; but on the contrary, when their own advantage is concerned, or at the instigation of others, they will readily bear false testimony and confirm it by an oath. The Khonds are far more truthful than their neighbours of the plains, but very distant indeed from that perfect state which instantly detects, exposes, and expels a falsehood. In addition to the Khond council there were several depositions taken and for- warded to the Government, and amongst these was one from Pody, whose child was the alleged victim by permission of Sam Bissye. Here I would observe, first, that these depositions were taken after the suspension from office of the deposed Chief Sam Bissye." " 2d. That they are admitted by Captain MacPherson to be nothing more than attested Memoranda." " 3d. That they were never shewn, nor, up to this hour, have been shewn to Sam Bissj^e ; hence he has been deprived of the opportunity of any defensive or explanatory statement ; and lastly, that the woman Pody most positively and unreservedly denies that her child was sacrificed, or that she ever said she was." " For my own part I disbelieve the charges against Sam Bissye. Under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty and during a period extending over five years, I found in him a zealous, active, and faithful coadjutor in every measure adopted for the suppression and subversion of the sacrifice in the Maliahs of Goomsoor ; ever prompt and ready, to rescue and deliver the destined victim. I found him to possess unbounded influence over the Khonds, and he never used that influence in opposition to my views. — I believe that nothing but strife and discord has resulted from his removal ; and I consider it essentially necessary to the peace and welfare of the country, and eminently conducive to the ends and interests of Government, that he be reinstated in all the rights and privileges formerly appertaining to him ; whether considered as an act of sound policy, or a measure of pure justice, I believe it alike de- sirable and imperative." 30 We cannot withhold the following letter of Mr. Bannerman, the Governor's Agent in Ganjam on this subject. Not that we are now discussing the question of Sam Bissye's guilt or innocence of the charges imputed to him by. Captain MacPherson ; but as the Keviewer with his wonted impartiality has led the public to consi- der this "old traitor," as the impersonation of all that is atro- cious, we deem it but fair to show that, in this case as in every other, the proverb holds good, " ogni medallo ha suo reverso" ; and the reader will very shortly be able to judge for himself, of the accuracy with which Captain MacPherson had measured this man's influence with the Khonds, irrespective of any question as to his being the Meriah advocate. Does it not seem, however paradoxi- cal, that Sam Bissye could be, as the Reviewer asserts, so detested by the Khonds, as to lead them to insinuate a wish for his removal, while at the same time, he is stigmatised as the Champion of the Sacrifice ! But the truth is he was neither hated by the Khonds, nor the abettor of the Meriah sacrifice. " I may observe, however," writes Mr. Bannerman, " that having a personal and full knowledge of Sam Bissye's pro- ceedings in the management of the Goomsoor Maliahs, from his appointment to the Chiefship by Mr. Russell up to the time when I quitted the Ganjam District, on leave in Novem- ber 1843, I had the means of forming an opinion as to his conduct ; and I have no hesitation in stating that, T, from the first, discredited the allegations that were made against the old chief; and having, since I returned and resumed my office, attentively perused what has been adduced in support of tliese charges, I still wholly disbelieve the gravest and most important parts of them: that he sanctioned and promoted the sacrifice of a child, that had been especially committed to his caie, or even that he attempted to delude the Khonds by the false pretence, that he had obtained permission to sacrifice a limited number of victims annually ; and in short, that, to the utmost of his power, he obstructed the mea- sures of the Meriah Agent." " In reference to the concluding passage of your letter under reply, I beg to state that the only documentary proof of the mal- fciisance imputed to Sam Bissye, that I am aware of exists, is con- tained in Captain MacPherson's reports under dates the 22d April, 31 • 2d December 1843, and 8th May 1844, and more especially in the Appendix to the latter report, purporting to be minutes, in English, of the evidence of certain persons, touching the delinquencies of Sam Bissye, but when, and under what circumstances recorded, does not distinctly appear. I presume that you have in your pos- session the office copies of these papers, but if you should not have them at hand for reference, I shall be happy, if you de- sire it, to transmit for your consideration the originals as submitted by Captain MacPherson. Considering the questionable channels through which this evidence was, I presume, obtained, viz., through the instrumentality of the Moonshee Baba Khan, and the now Waliah Surdar Punda Naick, the declarations said to have been given by the mother of the child, Soomaruh, and other parties, that it was sacrificed by the order of Sam Bissye, are in my lium- ble opinion of no more value, as evidence, than so much waste paper ; and in submitting these documents, you will observe that Captain MacPherson himself stated explicity, that his conviction of the truth of the charges rests not upon the Minutes of Consul- ... p • j- • i i i .^ ^i . p tation of the Madras testimony 01 individuals, but upon that of Government, 1st June ^^^^^ k^oj^jI Assemblies alone. From the 1844, Para 1. '^ From Captain Mac- papers I find on record, it would appear that Pherson dated 3d July ^ ^ ^'^ 1844. ' the Government regarded proofs of this na- ture with some degree of distrust, as they seem to have had in view the expediency of subjecting Sam Bissye to a regular trial and its consequences ; the course however was not deemed advisable by Captain MacPherson, who in reply to the suggestions, intimated his opinion, that " the infliction on Sam Bissye of a severer punishment through judicial proceedings, than that which, on his representation, had been sanctioned by the Go- vernment, Avas unnecessary to its objects in the Khond Country." With the utmost deference to the Government which has been led to extend its approval to these proceedings of the Meriah Agent, I am bound frankly to say, that I consider the treatment Sam Bissye has experienced, in his removal from office ; in the con- fiscation of his property ; and in the banishment of himself and his sons, to have been as unwise and impolitic, as it was tyranni- cal and unjust ; and I look upon this to have been the first false step in the deplorable cour.se of coercive measures that ensued. 32 and have led to so much misery and desolation ; naturally causing feelings of deep resentment among those who experienced these severities, which I fear cannot fail to have the effect of postponing, to a more distant period, the attainment of the benevolent objects of the Government in respect to the wild tribes in the Hill Tracts of Orissa. It is quite possible, however, that I may be altogether wrong in the views which I entertain on this subject ; but I have no doubt, now that the pernicious influence of the late Agency servants has been removed, you will have no difficulty in obtaining ample and unexceptionable evidence, touching all matters of fact, which will enable you to form a true and conclusive judgment in regard to the course of measures that has been lately pursued in these tracts." In a document, already referred to, Mr. Smollet thus writes con- cerning the banishment from Ganjam, of Sam Bissye. " His de- nouncement, before the country was visited, his removal from office, his ultimate banishment with all his family and the confisca- tion of his estates, in the low country, conferred for previous ser- vices performed and acknowledged, are facts abundantly instruc- tive." A great deal is attempted to be made of Sam's having per- mitted the sacrifice of a " child of State, living in Athara Mutah upon his express security," Of this the Agent is said to have had " superabundant and constantly accumulating evidence." Of what sort it was, may be gathered from his reply to the following ques- tions put to him by General Dyce. " 1st. In whose presence, and at what place, were the depositions of the persons noted in the margin, taken relative to the sacrifice of Poddie's child in 1843, by the authority of Sam Bissye of Poornaghur ? Poother. 2d. Were the depositions all taken at Dang'a Mullico. <• .i, • ^ one time, and the names ot the mterpreters on the occasion ? 3d. ^Vhere are, the original depositions now lodged ? Deegee Mullico. 4th. To whom did Poddie the mother of Jeg'g-a Mullico. Droobadigalo. the child said to have been sacrificed, make her complaint on the subject of the sacrifice ; 33 and did slic receive any, and what reparation ? 5th. Were the depositions read or explain- ed to Sam Bissye, and did he make any writ- ten defence, or defence of any kind ; and if so, where is it recorded ?" To tliese important queries Captain MacPherson replied as fol- lows. " I beg to say that the original depositions relating to the sacri- fice of Poddie's child, are doubtless among the records of the Agency sent to you ; and that I presume it appears upon the face of those depositions, Avhen ihey were taken ; and that they were taken before me. As I heard the statements of some, or all of the deponents repeated many times, and at different places, before and after they were written down, I cannot recollect when they were written, except, that some were certainly taken near Poornaghur ; and as I had the aid of many different persons on different occasions in interpreting thera and statements connected Avith them ; and as the records made, bore in no degree a strictly and technically judi- cial character — they being merely attested memoranda — there were necessarily no special responsible interpreters. The depositions were never read to Sam Bissye, who, consequently, made no de- fence to them. My report which they accompanied, dated 8th May, 1844, explains their character. The Khonds who sacrificed Poddie's child, promised to make her something like the usual re- paration for a child, but I do not know^ exactly how much was pro- mised or paid, Poddie complained to me." General Dyce's own testimony ought not to be omitted here. Tt is contained in a letter, dated 25tli May 1847, and addressed to the Secretary to the Government of India. " I would avail myself of the opportunity of this letter to press upon the favorable consideration of His Honor the President in Council, the case of the deprived and expatriated Chief Sam Bissye, Bahadur Buckshiof Goomsoor, whose services to Mr. Russell, were warmly acknowledged by the Government of Madras. I have no- ticed the extraordinary influence of his name in the many and vari- ous inquiries which I have recently had cause to make ; but my attention was more particularly directed to the case by the circum- 34 Stance of the woman, Poddy, (the sacrifice of whose child with the alleged permissive sanction of Sam Bissye led to his removal and exile,) solemnly avowing to me that her child never was sacrificed ; that it died when Lieutenant Colonel (then Captain) Campbell was in charge of Goomsoor ; and that the testimony, which it was stated she afforded on the subject, was never given by her. I felt it my duty to address Mr. Bannerman on the subject, and likewise Cap- tain MacPherson. I transmit copies of their several replies, and Lieutenant Colonel Campbell offers a very strong opinion on the subject, and is earnestly anxious for the liberation and restoration of the old Chief." " The wisdom and foresight of Mr. Russell's arrangement is amply proved by the fact, that, from the period of his nominating Sam Bissye as chief of the Bissyes, and up to the time Captain MacPherson assumed charge of the Agency, the Goomsoor tracts were free from commotion or discontent ; and the proofs of the folly of Captain MacPherson's interference are as abundantly afford- ed by the events of the last few years, and by the state of excite- ment and revolt into which the unhappy people had been driven. I beg most respectfully to urge the liberation and restoration of this old man, upon grounds of justice, as well as of policy, and as an act which would be highly gratifying and acceptable to the whole of the chiefs and people of the country, and beneficial to the interests of the Government." We need not comment on such testimony. Our object is not to exaggerate the value of Sam Bissye, but to give the reader some idea of the feelings with which men, best capable of forming a sound judgment, regarded the chief of Hodzoghoro, so greatly vilifi- ed by the Calcutta Reviewer. We shall, by and bye, see how egregiously Captain MacPherson Avas duped regarding the real sentiments of the Khonds towards Sam Bissye, and how greatly he erred in his estimate of the character of his protege Ootan Sing Dulbera of Tentilghur. Having thus far introduced our readers — a " select few" we fear — to Sam Bissye Bahadur Buckshi, we proceed in company with the Reviewer to contemplate Captain MacPherson's first dealings with the Goomsoor Khomls, One would almost conclude from the ex- 35 pressions of the Reviewer* that he labours under the impression, if he does not mean to convey it, that in 1842, his hero actually ascended to upper Goomsoor, for the purpose of examining into the state of affairs in Bara and Athara Mutahs, andHodzoghoro. We beg to assure him, that he did no such thing. He never entered the hill country of Goomsoor in 1842, but remained after his return from his celebrated visit to the infanticidal districts in January of that year, comfortably situated at Nowgaum, twenty miles distant from the base of the Goomsoor hills. Doubtless Khonds visited him, only it is important to beai in mind where those visits took place. Quietly located, then, at Nowgaum, " the administration of justice, in accordance generally with the Khond ideas and usages, being the grand, central, and vital doctrine of his system, he did not wait till cases of disputed rights presented themselves for set- tlement ; but invited, and in every lawful way encouraged the bringing of such cases to him at once, for adjustment, whenever they might arise." " Causes flowed in upon him," and he labored hard to supply the " greatest want" of these " simple and unso- phisticated people." Nor did he labour in vain ; for he soon had the " unspeakable consolation" of witnessing the inspiration of general confidence "in the naturally suspicious and obdurate breasts of the Khonds." Indeed sooner than, " in his most san- guine mood he had ever ventured to anticipate," he found that he had gained their confidence. Accordingly *' in terms of his ap- pointment, he next began to make cautious inquisition" into the subject of the abolition of the Meriah. " In the end, as the result of friendly, but almost interminable discussions," carried on for about a fortnight with certain Patriarchs, and men of influence from Barah Mutah, who, at his invitation had come to him, at Nowgaum, he found the willingness of the Khonds to relinquish the rite upon certain conditions. The chief of these were that they should receive protection and justice from Government ; that punishment should be inflicted on any Khond of Barah Mutah who should henceforth perform the sacrifice ; that they might sacrifice * Calcutta Reriew, No. XV, page 29, and also No. XX, page 287, where the Reviewer speaks «f Captain MacPhersQH " again ascendint? the Ghauts ia Januftrj-; 1813," 36 animals to their deities, and denounce to them the sacrilegioua Sircar, who would not suffer them to make more costly offerings ; and that Sam Bissye should be coerced as well as themselves. These terms were submitted to the councils of the tribes, by whom they were " universally agreed to." This spontaneousli/ j^'offered agreement was believed, — with what reason we shall afterwards see — to be " made in sincerity." The Patriarchs of Athara Mu- tah, with their tribes and their councils, were next operated upon in a similar manner, and with similar success. The Patriarchs in- deed " could not be prevented from offering to relinquish the rite of sacrifice, tipoii the condition of their receiving protection, and peace, and justice from the Government. ^^ The people of Loherin- ghia and Cottinghia — among whom the evil genius of Sam Bissye is said to have been at work — alone, " declared that they would not abandon their ancient worship." Thus did the " administra- tion of justice operate like a spell, in relaxing the frost of ancient hereditary prejudices. The iron fetters of an inveterate and awe- inspiring superstition were at once loosened. And the prison doors of a ghostly vassalage were partially thrown open to the admission of principles that might prove the heralds of gladsome light and liberty." Here then we have before us the whole result of Captain Mac- Pherson's operations with reference to the Khonds of the Eastern districts of Goomsoor. We say ivith reference to, because he has not yet made his appearance personally among the hills — though the Reviewer records that " as regards the civil order and tranquil- lity of those tracts of country he was enabled — certainly not from personal observation and experience — to report favourably." To shew that we have not depreciated the effects produced, or alleged to have been produced by the torrents of "new ideas" and "de- sirable impressions," poured into Khondistan from the judicial battery erected at Nowgaum — 30 miles distant — we here pre- .-ent our readers with Mr. Smollett's account of the same, abridged from the Agent's own report. " In this report the views that should guide his future operations were largely entered upon. He proposed to limit his operations, at first to the Khonds of Goomsoor, as more accessible, living in a less pestilential climate than those of Bodagodah, and more actuated 37 by fear, arising from their experience in 183 7 of the power of the Government; consequently fitter instruments to work upon, than bolder and more independent races." " The Khond Agent mentions in this dispatcli that he had re- cently seen a deputation of Khonds from the Borah Mutah, offering to abstain from sacrificing human victims on certain terms, viz. that they should receive justice from the Government, that they should be permitted to sacrifice animals, and that they should be allowed to denounce to their gods the British Government as the suppressors of their cherished religion. To this was tacked a hint that they would only pledge to abstain from sacrifice for five years, unless Sam Bissye, a Hindu placed in high authority by Mr. Russell over the Khonds of Hodzoghor, where sacrifice extensively prevailed, was removed from office." " The Khonds of the adjoining Atharah Mutah followed with a like proposal covenanting to receive for the relinquishment of their beloved rite, peace, protection, and "justice." In Khond accepta- tion the word justice seems to mean the coercion of all other tribes into a like state of subjection with themselves." " The dispatch concludes with strong charges of villainy against Sam Bissye, of his receiving presents, being personally corrupt, of his encouraging sacrifice, lending himself to injustice — conniv- ing at civil war for a paltry bribe ; incapacity and superstition were said to be increasing with his years." Now we ask in sober seriousness, what real progress in the abolition of the Meriah has been made, to warrant the note of triumph raised by the Reviewer, while he contrasts this " so great and unexpected success" with the " abortive experiments" of all his hero's predecessors. We defy any one to make more of it than this, that Captain MacPherson, at Nuicyaum^ acting as Captain Campbell had done before him, in the heart of the Khond country, ac- quired apparently a certain degree of influence over the tribes of Bara, and Athara Mutahs— Cottinghiah and Loheringhiah excepted : and that he succeeded in persuading them to renew conditionally their pledge to abstain from the rite of human sacrifice — the vcrij thing to which they had^ u^'C0^'DITI0NALLY pUdged themselves to C'ajjfain Campbell, 357998 38 As to the condition alleged to have been proposed to Captain MacPherson, we cannot help expressing our belief that nothing of the kind ever entered the minds of the Khonds — whatever report may have been made, or translated to him. It was indeed a " new" and rich " idea," that these mountaineers should stipulate to receive from Government, "protection, peace, and justice" as the price of their abstinence from their chief religious service. But the fact is, that, for five years, since 1837, they had actually been receiving the stipulated conditions. From whom do they mean to protect us ? was the significant question urged by queen Pomarre, when the French profiered the blessing of their protectorate to her and hers, and we think it far more likely that the Khonds would put some such question to the invaders of their mountains, than that they should voluntarily sue for "protection, justice and peace" at their hands. Such then, we say, were the results by which Captain MacPher- son's "scheme was tested and authenticated, in such a manner as to enable him to come forward, no longer as a mere theorist how- ever sound, but as an experimentalist who had actually verified the soundness of the theory" which "from the first" — we have seen to what extent — " was based on actually observed facts." And this, reader, is the " great and unexpected success," which we are told might well have hurried the Agent " impetuously forward in his new career," though he wisely preferred to " walk slowly for the sake of treading surely ;" and we have therefore the benefit of a " mas- terly recapitulation of the leading points and features of the former expositions of his plans." " Our earnest monition," therefore "is, that as a simple act of justice, our readers," and the readers of the Calcutta Review, " may not suffer their honestly formed views of the essential merits" of previous plans and operations, " to be obfuscated by the dust and smoke which unhappy controversy," or violent partizanship has succeeded in raising, about more recent proceedings. With all our admiration of the eloquence of the learned Reviewer —and making all allowance for the fervor of spirit by which, in his view of Captain MacPherson's wonderful success, his thoughts arc raised to the Hero of a hundred fights ; the magnanimity of Pagan Rome, — the deeds of Duncan,AVellcsley,Bentinck;Hardingc ; 39 — and deeply sympathizing in his lofty " wishes for Imperial Bri- tain," we beg to express our earnest wish for himself, that the next time he undertakes to write on Khond affairs, he will endeavour to get possession of facts, and not be under the sad necessity of sub- stituting flowery declamation, for plain wholesome truths. We are now at the commencement of 1843, and the Agent has not yet visited the Goomsoor Khond country, since he assumed office in the Ganjam district ! Distributing justice, and operating through the Chiefs or Patriarchs, who visited him at Nowgaum, he appears to have acquired a certain amount of influence with the Khonds of the two districts, where the terror of our arms had been previously established, and where Captain Campbell had suppress- ed the public performance of the Meriah. He is also very anxious to depose that " misplaced old man" Sam Bissye, Chief of Hodzo- ghoro. The two " great tribes of Bara and Athara Mutah's," be it remembered, " had after long and deliberate discussion, spontane- ously profFerred to relinquish the sacrifice, mainly on the condition of obtaining protection and justice, and actually pledged themselves ac- cordingly. True to his own part of the agreement "when he ascended the Ghauts in January 1843, and had finished his preliminary inquiries, he recommenced his favorite office of administering justice," Captain MacPherson reports that, the whole number of suits placed upon his file in the Bara and Athara Mutahs, was 136, " of which 102were decided on their merits, while 34 remain undecided, gene- rally on account of the absence of evidence." All the 136 cases were therefore attended to ; and he informs us, " there was much trou- ble in procuring the regular attendance of defendants and of evi- dence." There were " two cases of murder ; three related to victim children ; five to married women ; fourteen to betrothed women; thirty-nine to land ; sixty- three to cattle; six were cases of assault ; and there were four cases of robbery." The Reviewer is rather chary of dates, when treating of his friend's progresses and wonderful deeds ; but when we take into account the time ne- cessarily taken up with " preliminary inquiries" — the qualifications of even the "head Moonshee" employed, — and the time requisite for " watching the result of all those operations," one would sup- pose that the Agent must have spent at least a few months above 40 the Ghauts. Here then is ei statement of liis progress, extracted from the Records of the office of the Principal Assistant Agent in Ganjam. 1843. January — from 9th to 23rd Coornainghia 15 do 24th to 25th Jeminghia 2 do 26th to 31stPedesekiah 6 February do 1st to 3rd Rodenghiah 3 do 4th to 5th Coorminghia 2 do 6th Moojaguddah 1 Total 29 Twenty-nine days ! A short space one would think for effecting " so important a change in the Khond habits and religious princi- ples." The Reviewer himself is well acquainted with civil and ecclesiastical history. Can he point out any other instance, where so "great" a "religious change" was effected under similar circum- stances — the instrument employed not understanding a single sylla- ble of the language of the people over whom he exercised so pow- erful an influence. He speaks of the " singular moral and intel- lectual aptitude of the Khonds to receive the new ideas which it Avas desired to communicate to them ;" but allowing their " apti- tudes" to be, as much as you please, superior to those of their fel- low barbarians in any land, we may safely " asseverate" that the pen of the historian never before chronicled such a change of mind, and habits and " religious principles," as it is alleged Cap- tain MacPherson accomplished between the 1st of January and the 2d of February, 1843. Throughout the lohole of his proceedings — that is to say the pro- ceedings of 29 days, deducting the time occupied in travelling from place to place, and in making "preliminary inquiries" — " the only sources from which he derived any authority, besides the administration of justice, were persuasion and personal influ- ence. It now became an object of great importance to watch the result of all those operations in their bearing on the subject of the abolition of the Meriah sacrifice." Where, or for what length of time this " watching" was kept up, we have no information. It surely did not occupy much of the 29 days spent above the Ghauts. But, be that as it may, the result ig given in a lengthy report dated 41 22(1 April 1813. And what is the result ? We challenge any man to make more out of. it than this, that in Bara and Athara Mutahs, where Captain Campbell had suppressed the public performance of the rite, and obtained «?2co«f?/V/o;/«^ promises that it should not be performed, the Khonds gfuerallj' remained true to tlieir pledge. We would give Captain MacPherson every credit for whatever he did, in retaining the ground already gained ; only let there be no deception as to the actual amount of work done. Captain Mac- Pherson himself never moved beyond Koorminghia and Hodenghia ; Hodzoghoro teas not visited, though declared to be full of victims. Seventeen out of 29 days, were passed at Koorminghia on the bor- ders of Athara and Bara Mutahs, which could not therefore have been much traversed, and one day at Majagadah, below the Ghaut. No doubt Khonds came to his Camp, and perhaps as much was done, as, under such circumstance's, and within the limited space of a month, could reasonably be expected. Such a plain statement as this may not be exactly to the Reviewer's taste ; but we defy him to contradict any part of it. Having however done " enough to redeem the ancient story of Dejoces from the imputation of be- longing to the legendary or the fabulous," though he was not him- self called upon to assume the regal office, he found that " he had not over estimated the readiness of the Khonds to place them- selves" — where they had been placed without their readiness since 1837 — "under the authority of the British Government, for the sake of peace, security, and order." Nevertheless, his continual harping upon the necessity, for new and more extensive poivers, " to give full effect to the measures so auspiciously begun," leads one involuntarily to suspect that the change was, after all, not quite so " religious" as was at first supposed. No sooner did the Agent comedown from the Ghauts than the "Old traitor Sam Bissye went up with an enormous lie in his right hand," and succeeded in persuading some of the people to perform the Meriah again. It may serve as a good comment on v/hat the Reviewer has so often reiterated, regarding the impropriety of any movement which might act on the fears of the Khonds, if we transcribe his remarks on this untoward affair. " If, before, all had expected to witness an instant and unequivo- F 42 cal manifestation of the mind of the Government, with redoubled anxiety was the expectation cherished now ; after so public and insolent a defiance of the reiterated deprecations of its Agent. But, alas, no such manifestations of the determinate will of the Government was immediately forthcoming. The Agent himself was left wholly in the dark as to its intentions or plans ; so that he was still in a state of utter helplessness, devoid of all power to execute any measure for the arrest or the reparation of the evil so rapidly ia progress. The sacrificing party remained for a time after the sacrifices, in fearful suspense— hourly dreading the arm of vengeance which their own sense of guilt represented as up- lifted to smite them. But when not hours merely, but days and weeks and months passed away, and yet no descending stroke ex- perienced, or even seen to be any longer threatening to descend upon them — they rallied, took courage, enacted the bravo, and ex- ulted wiih insolent triumph. The situation of the chiefs and of all others, who, in reliance upon the support of the Government, had led the reforming movement, was, as may be imagined, in the highest degree distressing. Yea more, when it was now positively seen that the will of the Government, as represented by the Agent, might, with snch freedom from all hazards, be set at nought in one respect, it was naturally and almost necessarily inferred that it might equally be set at nought in all other respects. And in order to turn this inference into a reality, several parties actually proceeded, with the greatest boldness and assurance, to re-possess themselves, by force, of lands that had been formerly adjudicated to others. Fortunately, however, it was in the Agent's power promptly and eflfectually to vindicate his Civil decrees, and thus to restore some measure of confidence to the well disposed, as well as inspire sa- lutary general impressions among all."'" In tliis Report also, the Koorminghia Ghaut road, so warmly re- commended by Captain Campbell, is pressed upon notice ; and reference is made to " his still discouraging experience of the climate of the country" — It should however be remembered, that when Captain MacPherson was employed on Khond afiairs, the • Calcutta Revievr. No. XX. page 291. 48 Government allowed Lim Elephants and 500 Rupees a month for Cutcherry establishment — advantages which Captain Campbell never enjoyed. Absolutely unable to make any more out of the Agent's Report of 22d April 1843, we conclude our remarks upon it, with another extract from Mr. Smollett's Report submitted to the Government of Madras. "In January 1843, Captain MacPherson made his first visit for .preventing sacrifice to the Goomsoor Khonds. He found the climate nearly as fatal to the health of his party as in his previous exploring rambles, and he expresses an opinion that longer resi- dence than a month in these tracts is impossible. The Report dated 22d April 1843, is very long, it describes his favorable reception by the Khonds of Bara and Atharah Mutahs agreeably with their former deputations, their general pledge to cease sacri- ficing, the manner in which he dealt out civil and criminal justice, and ascendancy he acquired by his monil and religious instructions —all is represented as having been voluntarily done on the parts of the Khonds, nothing but good advice and soft persuasion was used, and the dispatch ends with renewed charges of villiany and intrigue against the "misplaced old man Sam Bissye." After so much fine writing and "masterly Reports," one feels anxious to hear of more work done — progress made beyond the circumscribed tracts of Bara and Atliara Mutah. But, alas ! No, The Reviewer's next sentence dooms us to disappointment. — " On the 2d of September 1843 Captain MacPherson, addressed the Governor's Agent Mr. Bannerman." We arc therefore treated to a "recapitulation of the course of past events,'' and a doleful la- mentation that, " as yet he had not been honoured by any indica- tion of the vijws of the Government relative to those operations and exigencies." But there must be some mistake liere. "The soundness of the principles on Avliich the Agent acted, having been fully verified by experience," there surely can be no objection to his being invested with sufficient " authority" to confirm the great "religious change" so auspiciously brought about. *'In order to this," however, " it is necessary to review the past" — that past — exclusive of the 20 days' ramble over districts where human sacrifice is hardly known— consisting of visits from Khonds to the 44 Agent at Nowgaum, in tlie low country, 30 miles distant from their homes ; and a sojourn of some 28 days between Koormingbia and Rodengbia. However, the past is reviewed " in a second chapter of the Khond Chronicles. Sam Bissye's character and conduct are painted in the blackest colours ; his removal and banishment are loudly called for and a manifestation of the mind of the Government to support the Agent's authority is urgently pressed against his next visit." What ! silent still, and silent all ! Yes ; incredible as it may • appear, after the " earnest yet calm and dignified strain" in which Captain MacPherson addressed his appeal to the " Madras Go- ment, through his immediate superior Mr. Bannerman, about Jive months after he had represented the urgent grounds of his extreme anxiety to receive toithout any delay the instructions that were ne- cessary, alike for the maintenance of the work achieved, and the guidance and efficiency of his future proceedings" — instead of ■what might have been reasonably expected, " the voice of a trumpet pealing aloud with no uncertain sound," there was — " silence, and long delay." This Avas surely very trying to one's patience, es- pecially in circumstances of such success as " might well have hurried one impetuously forward." But what was Avorst of all, the chief native assistants, Baba and Sundera, were " sorely dis- heartened." Poor fellows ! " Their great antagonist, Sam Bissye, Lord of the ascendant," "how could they help indulging in the gloomiest forebodings?" " They were in fact beside themselves; and it was by a great effort that " these philanthropic worthies were kept in a reasonable state of mind." Now all this we can- not characterize but as a piece of the most exquisite absurdity. It says little for the writer's acquaintance with native charac- ter if he can really suppose it authentic — as if these two corrupt natives cared one straw how many hecatombs of human beings were slaughtered by the Khonds, provided only they were enabled to get money — no matter by Avhat disgraceful means acquired. Such a " romance" is fit only for Punch. He alone could do it justice. It no doubt furnished a fine opportunity for the Reviewer to display his rhetorical skill, but we affirm it is vox et prceterea nihil. As even the Reviewer has acknowledged it to be beyond his power to do more than " picture to himself, the Agent's forlorn 45 position," tve neod not try to describe it. He kindly lielps us however to "fancy liim holding sad soliloquy," saying within his own secret chambers of imagery, " why this long, long delay — Avhy not in a word, at once deliver me from a state of such unne- cessary apprehension and doubt, torture and agony." Yes me, and my painfully philanthropic head Moonshee and devoted Soondera Sing, Still he laboured hard '' to keep up the game." "I have been labouring hard," he wrote to a friend ; "have had many of my hill people, Khonds included, down here, and have diffused ideas, and made demonstrations which are bringing the minds of all into a state more fit to be acted on as I desire, than I could have hoped so soon : and I am still ar- ranging and contriving for a grand coup, when the time shall come — if it shall come — that I shall be enabled to act." At length comes the " astounding discovery" that the April Report had never left the bureau of the Governor's Agent in Gan- jam — we must pause for a moment here and offer a remark or two on what the Reviewer is pleased to term Mr. Banncrman's expla- nation and defence. There appears a wdde discrepancy between the views of Mr. Bannerman respecting Sam Bissye, as stated in a letter formerly quoted, and those that are expressed in his letter of the 19lli September 1843, "He was now (19th September) en- abled to state that the chief ground of the doubt which he enter- tained, as to the trustworthiness of the information relied upon by Captain MacPherson, had been in a great measure removed." This doubt had reference to our old friend Sam Bissye, regarding whose proceedings, Mr. Bannerman at that time, had no fresh information^ besides Captain MacPherson's own unsubstantiated assertions. Afterwards, when he personally sifted and investigated the matter, he was thoroughly convinced that Sam had been the victim of in- justice — Then, why write the letter quoted by the Reviewer? We reply, he never did xorite it. Mr. Bannerman was too ill to attend to business, and just on the eve of embarkation for the recovery of his health, when Captain MacPherson visited him, and himself drafted the letter which Mr. Bannerman adopted after making some alterations. Mr. Bannerman's state of health at the time was in- compatible with close attention to any kind of business. It is much against our will, that we have been oblig-nl 'o notice this 46 fact; and if the Reviewer had not so ostentatiously paraded the alleged letter of Mr. Bannerman, we should not have alluded to it at all. But, of the weight lo be attached to any opinion on Sam Bissye's case, therein set forth, the following extracts from Mr. Bannerman's explanatory letter, addressed to the Government of Fort St. George, though not so strongly expressed as we believe the facts of the case would have warranted, will yet enable any one to form a pretty correct judgment. " I conceive that it would be unbecoming on my part to venture on any remarks in reference to the views taken, and the conclusions that have been finally arrived at, connected with the case ; but I solicit the indulgence of being permitted to ofier one word of ex- planation, on a point personal to myself which is adverted to in Para 95 of the Special Report of Mr. Grant, that has now been communicated to me." " Mr. Grant has therein pointed attention to an apparent con- trast between my letter to your address dated 19th September 1843, submitting Captain MacPherson's recommendation for Sam Bissye's deprivation of office, and his son's removal from the Khond Country ; and my subsequent denouncement of the mea- sures consequently adopted, as contained in a communication to General Dyce under date the 10th April 1847 ; and Mr. Grant has commented upon a difference he supposes to exist between the general tone of these two letters, with the intention, I conceive, of throwing discredit on my statements — In explanation of any vari- ance there may be found in the style of the two communications alluded to, it so happens that the former dated the 19th September 1843, was drafted by Captain MacPherson himself, and the draft, partly in his writing, is still in my possession. The circumstances under which tliis occurred, are, that I was very ill at the time, im- mediately before my departure from the district on sick leave, and Captain MacPherson having come to visit me, was so obliging aa to prepare a draft of the aforesaid letter forwarding his own Reports, which I adopted after making some alterations ; I now take the liberty to mention this fact, in consequence of so much stress having been laid by Mr. Grant upon a supposed discrepancy in the opinions held by me at different times regarding the conduct of Sam Bissye." Notwithstanding all that is said and intimated of Captain Mac- 47 Phcrson's straight forward proceedings, it appears, that more than one of the Governor's Agents saw reason to hold a different opinion on that point. In his able Report already so frequently referred to, Mr. Smollett thus writes : — " It seems to me, indeed, that an effort has been long made to keep from the public eye all information on the work going on in the Khond Regions of Ganjam,but what should be distilled through the Public Reports of the Khond Agent, I heard something on my arrival of the dislike and jealousy with which any thing ordered, or step — taken by the Governor's Agent, that might have a possible tendency, however remotely, to affect the Khond operations was regarded, and I have observed much of that feeling afloat since. But be that as it may, though I have never endeavoured to spy into the mysteries of that department, it is obvious to the dullest mind that the " Khond work" is regarded as a labor in which the Go- vernor's Agent has no concern. The servants employed in it no- toriously keep aloof from the Agent, whether under orders, lest the secrets of the mission should ooze out, or from their own free will and accord, matters not — Since I have had the honor of hold- ing the Post of Governor's Agent here I have never seen an indi- vidual employed in the Maliah Establishment, and I mention this to shew thit if my Report brings to light no new facts, there were no legitimate channels open to obtain them, that were not already accessible to the Government." At length the long expected instructions (dated 18th November 1843) arrive, and Captain MacPherson soon after paid his second and last visit to the hills, as an Assistant to the Ganjam Agent. These instructions were simply that he should go on, and do the best he could, for the suppression of human sacrifice— with per- mission to suspend Sam Bissye from his Doraship, and endeavour to find evidence of his heinous guilt. Tliis no doubt the " head Monshee," and his compeer Sundera Singh could very soon furnish. But in the mean time, the case being urgent, " these orders, in the beginning of December 1843, were made adequate to their object, by the mode of their execution." A decree is promulgated " for the actual removal of Sam Bissye out of the Khond country." This " operated like life from the dead." No sooner was our heio au- 4B thorized " rigorously to deal out eifective blows" than victory began to return to the righteous cause of which he was the cham- pion." Surely now we are about to reap the "mellow fruit," after having so long feasted our eyes — or imaginations at least, on the "glorious blossoms." Patience, gentle reader, patience. Learn from the example of Baba and Sundera under their trying circum- stances. " Captain MacPherson with his wonted alacrity, proceed- ed direct to Hodzoghoro, the proper district of the wily chief" (Sam Bissye, Champion General of the sacrifice in Goomsoor !) " where his power was yet undiminished, in order to establish there the authority of Government, and introduce the religious change now in progress elsewhere." Mark this '■'■ alacrity.'''' We are now in 1844, and, although Hodzoghoro is but eight miles from the top of the pass, he whose "ardour was only matched by his prudence," has never once been there since he came to the district in 1841 ! Sam, however, is doomed, and that is a great deal. The Bara and Athara Mutah Khonds were still found firm to their pledge, and a considerable number of Meriahs were delivered up to Captain MacPherson. "A consolidated front of opposition" however still meets the Agent at Hodzoghoro ; and all his mea- sures are thwarted by the family of Sam Bissye — the chief who had so nobly aided Captain Campbell in his eflbrts to suppress the cruel Meriah rile. Tlie Agent's court was therefore moved to the " neighbourhood of Sam's village" to exhibit to his people "the blessed effects of the justice of the Government." " No plan more judicious could well have been devised" to inspire them with ar- dent longings to receive stich "justice" at the hands of Government. It must no doubt have made a deep impression upon their hearts, when they saw their old and venerated chief driven into exile, without even the semblance of any trial, or the means of offering any defence. Well might the Agent of the Governor in Ganjam write — " His (Sam Bissye's) denouncement before the country was visited, his removal from office, his ultimate banishment with all his family and the confiscation of all his estates in the low country, conferred for previous services performed and acknowledged, are facts abundantly instructive." But all this was in the use of inacfiful means : and the " administration of justice in accordance 49 with Khond usages." Verily, then, they needed "new ideas;" though from such "moral influences," one could hardly expect them to receive many of a very desirable sort. Captain MacPherson having remained among the Goomsoor hills, about 24 days — from the 7th to the 30th of January — of which 12 or 14 days were spent in Hodzoghoro, announced that "the con- quest of all Goomsoor was completed." As this is his final appear- ance above the Ghauts until 1846, shortly after he was appointed Agent in the Hill Tracts of Orissa, we shall let him blow his own trumpet, and state his triumphs in his own language. We must however preface the pecan with our warmest protest against his conduct, with reference to the idol which was brought, by his order, in triumphant procession from Sam Bissye's temple to the Dul- bera's village. The transaction was no less discreditable to him- self, than it was disgraceful in the Reviewer to labour with such Jesuitical casuistry to defend it. " Extracts of a letter from Captain S. C. MacPherson, Principal Assistant Agent, to T. A. Anstruther, Esq., Acting Agent to the Governor of Fort St. George in Ganjam, dated Gopalpore 8th May 1844, No. 38." "Para 6^ — When effect was given to my suggestion with respect to Sam Bissye, I immediately met the Chiefs and challenged their acknowledgment that the past was vindicated, and a guarantee given for the future. Sam Bissye's deprivation of office, accredi- ted by his exclusion from the Khond country, produced efiects more immediate and general than I had hoped. Light and repose seemed to return almost at once to the distracted minds of the Khonds. My authority was soon, more than restored. Only a few of the Chiefs and a small part of their people had actually violated their engagements. All desired to place themselves under a wise and strong authority for the sake of peace and justice. By far the most influential portion desired also to complete the re- ligious change to which they had soleranly committed themselves. The party favorable to the sacrifice, regarded its abolition, as now inevitable, and gave up all their remaining victims. Both parties dreaded equally the restoration of any semblance of authority to Sam Bissye, and prayed that Sirdar Punda Naick, my most able G 50 instrument for the two Tribes might be permanently appointed in his stead. All pressed for justice, and decrees were executed by the parties as soon as passed." 12. — " I determined, after anxious deliberation, to make the re- storation of the god of the Tribe to his rightful minister, the means of the attainment of my objects. By this act, I should 1st signal- ly falsify to the Khonds the opinion of my want of power, on which the delusions by which they were possessed were mainly founded, 2d Its undeniable justice must command approbation and produce confidence; and 3d I should, by it, throw great influence into the hands of the Dulbera, my tried partizan, enabling him to form a party in every branch of the half Tribe of Hodzoghoro. In any event, the league would be broken up. Sam Bissye's family would see their folly and join me at last ; and when they would be con- victed of plain falsehood as to my power, parties and dissensions must arise in Hodzoghoro and my proved authority must be ap- pealed to, — when my work shall be accomplished." 13. "I acted in this manner. I summoned the Khonds and the family of Sam Bissye to a council at my tents ; intimated my resolution to the latter and the Dulbera alone and directed the im- mediate transference of the god. While the parties proceeded to Sam Bissye's village with that object, I detained the Khonds in spite of the eflTorts of his family to draw them off, to prepare their minds for the event, and, if possible to gain command of them. It was my first opportunity of conversing with them freely, and at length in the absence of their guides. I stated plainly my views of the course whicli they were pursuing, and of that taken by Sam Bissye's family ; and they did not deny that their motives and all the facts were as alleged. I found moreover that their minds Avere far more deeply penetrated than I had hoped, with the gene- ral ideas which I had desired to communicate to them ; that the faith of an influential few in Sam Bissye's family, already wavered, that I had many well disposed auditors, and no recusant ones, as at the beginning. The result of an hour's conversation in which I was admirably supported by the pledged Khonds, was the ad- mission that the benefit alone had arisen to the Khonds from con- nection with the Government; and that the arguments against the sacrifice, drawn from the goneral experience of mankind, and 51 from that of the tribes who had partially reUnquished it, in parti- cular, were unanswerable. They acknowledged the injustice and impiety of Sam Bissye's theft of the god of the tribe ; but they had not learnt my resolution to restore him, when he carne in sight in charge of the Dulbera. The Khonds were astonished and moved, but quickly recovered themselves. I demanded whether the transference was not an act of pure and necessary justice. The older Chief of the tribe, the representative of its common pro- genitor, immediately replied, that it was ; — and that those alone who looked to present interests, and not to right, had acquiesced in the illegal appropriation of Sam Bissye. All the Chiefs admit- ted that this was true ; and, finally, all expressed confidence that the restored god would increase his favors to the tribe — The act, as the decision of the great religious and social question of the two districts, was regarded as an overwhelming proof of my autho- rity. The Chiefs remained with me throughout the day, and then went to consult finally with the family of Sam Bissye. The ac- complishment of my objects was now certain." 14. " The two next days were spent by the Khonds in consulta- tion alternately with me, with the Dulbera, with my pledged Chiefs, and with the family of Sam Bissye." " They at length declared that they were convinced that they had been deceived, as to the mind of the Government, and as to my power, that they could not resist the wisdom and the strength of the Government, and that they would consult v/ith and bring to one mind, all the branches of the half tribe." 15. " I cannot easily communicate a just idea of the impor- tance of this resolution to the objects of Government. The very stronghold of the ancient faith, where its rites had never been interrupted for a day, where its champion had hitherto defied at- tack, had yielded — and to moral influence alone. The conquest of all Goomsoor was completed. The moral effect of this fact upon the whole Khond population known to us, was necessarily very great." Here then is a triumphant victory, and gained "by moral influ- ence alone." The Dulbera, Sam Bissye's successor is becoming rapidly an object of great veneration as the following three ex- tracts testify. 52 " The confirmation of the resumption by the Dulbera of Ten. tilghur, of the office and official lands of his fathers according to Khond usage, in the district of Hodzoghoro. This was very strongly desired by four-fifths of the tribe, and acquiesced in by all except a few personal friends of Sam Bissye. The Dulbera is now, in fact fully re-established as Hindu Head by his tribe ac- cording to its usages. His most able services and tried fidelity cannot be too highly rewarded, and he is absolutely necessary, as Head of his tribe, to the work still to be accomplished. We can- not bear to have a Chief of doubtful character upon the Bengal frontier." 2d Extract.—" The Dulbehra is the first Hill Chief who joined the Government in the Goomsoor war. He is a very sensible moderate and just man, and has seconded my objects with extraor- dinary zeal and success." 3d Extract. — "The Chiefs of Hodzoghoro now assisted daily at my Court, and their people began to resort to it. The civil and religious influence of the Dulbera extended gradually, and he was treated in form as Head of the whole tribe." Before proceeding further, let us distinctly call to mind the points that have been ascertained. We have seen that hitherto. Captain MacPherson's operations have been limited to the districts, in which Captain Campbell had suppressed the public performance of the Meriah — that there the terror of our arms had preceded those operations — that Captain MacPherson's personal visits to the hills occupied altogether about 53 days — that he has rescued a number of Meriahs, and, in his own opinion, in which he is backed by the Reviewer, accomplish- ed a great religious change, completed the conquest of all Goom- soor, and secured for a long deserted tribe, the presence and in- creased favor of its god ! — that the opposition of Sam Bissye had long baffled him, but that that Chiefs banishment from the hills, oc- casioned the return of " light and repose to the country" — and that the Khonds were delighted with their new Dulbera and with Punda Naik. We are now to show that Captain MacPherson was egregi- ously duped — that instead of "light and repose" his measures had introduced anarchy and confusion — instead of a great re- 53 ligious change, there was just the same intention, or at least the same strong inclination to sacrifice, as ever — that their wmcfs and hearts, which Captain MacPherson thought he had gain- ed by the administration of justice, were precisely in the same state as when Captain Campbell left them in 1841. Our evidence on this head is Assistant Surgeon Cadenhead, the officer who, on Captain MacPhcrson's special request, had been appointed to con- duct Khond affairs, during that officers' absence — Mr. Cadenhead visited the hills about the end of 1844, or the beginning of 1845^ the " conquest of Goomsoor," be it remembered, having " been complete" early in 1844. Did the Reviewer see the following let- ter ? We sincerely hope he did not. It certainly would have been hard work for him to swallow the whole magniloquent description of " light and repose," " a great religious change" the " marked and unexpected success" of his hero ; but we cannot think that, if it had been placed in his hands, he would have passed it over with- out any notice at all. Extract of a letter from Assistant Surgeon J. Cadenhead, Acting Principal Assistant Agent, to P.B. Smollett Esquire, Acting Agent to the Governor of Fort St. George in Ganjam, dated Gopalpore 17th March 1845, No. 15. " 1 next proceeded to visit the sacrificing tracts of Athara and Bara Mutahs, and Hodzoghoro." " In Athara and Bara Mutah's every thing was tranquil ; never- theless there Avas still an intense longing on the part of the great body of the people to return to ancient usages. Men's minds were far from easy under the relinquishment of the sacrifice. The ge- neral feeling was given expression to in council by the Chiefs who said " the country is happy but Government has not yet permitted us to celebrate a sacrifice !" On tracing the speech to its source it appeared that it did not convey the views of the Chiefs themselves but of the body of their constituents, who told them, " that the abolition of the great rite was chiefly owing to their want of energy in not fully making known to the Government the ideas of the people at large on the subject," and threatened " that if they made no effort to procure the sanction of Government for its renewal they would appoint others who would." The immediate expres- sion of the firm unvarying determination of Government sufficed 54 to show to all how hopeless the expectation that the renewal of the rite would be concurred in by it." "InHodzoghoro I found the people much distracted by the intri- gues of the Sam Bissye family, sometime previously an emissary had arrived from Sam Bissye himself, with messages to the Chiefs holding out sanguine hopes of his speedy release, and his return to Hodzoghoro, and therefore a restoration of old usages. By hold- ing out these hopes, and at the same time threatening wholly to dissolve the connection of the family with the district, unless un- der certain conditions, those of the family still in the hills and their adherents among the Paiks, contrived to bind the Chiefs to their interests. Having excited the hope of a speedy renewal of the great rite of their religion through Sam Bissye's return to power, Poorunder Bissye and Rajib Bissye suddenly announced that " as it was clear that the Khonds had forsaken the cause of a family, who owed their fall to their support of the Khond interest, to adhere to their more prosperous rival the Dulbera they intend- ed to seek their fortunes elsewhere." In furtherance of this plan they commenced their journey. The Khonds, on this believing their intention of carrying their threat into execution to be sincere ; pitying the state of the family ; alarmed at the odium which would fall upon them for deserting the fallen fortunes of their former head ; and fearing, also, that they should through the departure of the family, forfeit the almost certain hope which had been held out to them of seeing their religion again fully established, with allits ancient ceremonial, went after them in a body ; and by the most ample promises, induced them to return to Poornaghur. They then entered into a solemn engagement, confirmed by oath, to support each other. The Khonds agreeing in no respect to acknowledge the authority of the Dulbera, and by their opposition to him, their passive refusal to recognize the authority of Government through its administration of justice till it should consent to their views, and by open demand to procure, if not the restoration of Sam Bissye, the appointment of his son Poorunder to power in Hodzoghoro." Here then is the much boasted success, compared to which the efforts of Messrs. Bannerman, Stevenson, Hill, Campbell, &c. were but " twilight gropings" and " abortive efforts." To this conclu- 55 sion must we come at last, that Captain MacPherson in Bara and Athara Mutahs, and Hodzoghoro did no more, perhaps somewhat less, than Captain Campbell had done, whose firmer and more de- cided policy was far more likely to have produced beneficial eff'ects, than mere "judicial decisions," hasty visits, and the summary re- moval of a most influential man — even backed as all this was by the transference of an idol to a friendly tribe. Let the following sound and excellent letter from the Guvernor's Acting Agent in Ganjam be well pondered — It establishes all we have contended for, and will well repay perusal. " I have the honor to forward a second"^' Keport from Assistant Surgeon Cadenhead on the subject of the suppression of human sacrifice in the Khond country within this Agency."' *' I may be permitted to observe that these last Reports, if they give a correct representation of the present state of feeling among the Khond tribes of Goomsoor, contain a direct admission of the general failures of the measures heretofore taken, in acknowledgment of how small an advance has actually been made, inweaning even these tribes, said tobe "under influence," from their savage religious rite, and proof, if proof were needed, of how little reliance can be permanently plac- ed on what has been termed " the conquest of the population from their ancient faith by moral influence alone." In last years' operation " the manifestation of the mind of the Government in the removal of Sam Bissye from ofiice and in his banishment from these tracts with most of his family was represented to have " shed light and repose on the distracted minds of the Khonds," and all were re- presented as " desirous of completing the religious change to which they had solemnly committed themselves." Now it is said that all the tribes, even those of Goomsoor, retain their savage longing after the old religion, and are determined to return to human sacri- fice unless the Government are able, and can coerce all the sur- rounding tribes equally with themselves. '• From what I hear and from all I can leain on this subject, I am inclined to believe that the present operations arc nearly valueless. More than what has really been already achieved — viz., the rescue * Dated Bprhampore, 8th April 1845, No. 15, 56 of a considerable number of victims, and the abolition publicly of the sacrificial rite in some tribes most accessible to our efforts, and under command, could not be expected from the cursory visits of an officer, however zealous, for a few days annually to the tribes inhabiting these vast tracts. If the scheme for humanizing these wild people is to be carried out fully (and it will be a work of years) it must be done by a much more extended agency than that now in the field. The parties employed on it should be freed from other duties, and should make the country to which those opera- tions extend, their head quarters, for a large portion of the year. Locations may be found sufficiently healthy." The same able servant of Government, saw no cause to alter his opinion in September 1845, as the following extracts from his masterly Report to Government, of that date, abundantly testify. " Captain MacPherson's second and last visit took place in Janu- ary 1844. Meanwhile Sam Bissye had, under orders from Govern- ment, been suspended from offi.ce and removed from Hodzoghoro. This manifestation of the Agent's powers seems to have changed the face of every thing, the advocates of sacrifices were found depres- sed, the abolitionists triumphant, the mind of the Government had been declared, light and repose returned to the distracted minds of the Khonds of Bara and Athara Mutahs — and the Agent an- nounced that a great religious movement had been established. His end and aim were achieved." " Proceeding to Hodzoghoro to improve the advantages obtain- ed, the Agent there found the influence of Sam Bissye still para- mount through his family, though he himself had fallen from power. Finding all negociations with them fruitless. Captain MacPherson reinstated in his dignities, which Sam Bissye had usurped, an old Hindu chieftain or high priest called the Dulbera of Tentilghur, escorting with much pomp and great rejoicing, into his Camp, the idol formerly in his keeping. All were now gratified at this atten- tion to their ancient priests, and all congratulated themselves at the final overthrow of Sam Bissye's tyranny and oppression, and every thing betokened the acquiesence of the people and their ab- stinence from sacrifice, when sickness again drove the Agent from the scene of his labours." ♦' Shortly after this, Sam Bissye, with all the most powerful 57 members of his family were banished to Palconda in Vizagapatftm, and Sirdar Punda Naick, a stanch partizan of the religious move- ment party, was established in charge of the Bara and Athara Mutahs, and nominated besides to the Sirdarship of Panchagodah." "In July 1844 Captain MacPhorson proceeded to Bengal on, leave, and has not yet returned. His place was occupied by Mr. Assistant Surgeon Cadenhead, who took the Khond Agency on the same independent footing that his predecessor enjoyed. Mr. Ca- denhead's Reports of his visit to the hills, have recently been before Government." *' Of these it need only be said that on visiting the Hodzoghoro Mutah, he found the Dulbera insulted and derided, without au- thority or power, and deprived of his lands. The Khonds, said to have been delighted to escape from Sam Bissye's tyranny and op- pression, were again banded together under one of his relations, previously held to be too insignificant for removal, and all expres- sed their determination to revert to sacrifice. The tribes however, yielded to Mr. Cadenhead's remonstances till his back was turned, when they again rebelled, and the Bara and Athara Mutah Khonds, following in the train, announced their intention of returning to their superstitions unless the people of Boad were coerced with them- selves." " This is a Summary of the Ganjam Khond Proceedings, omit- ting some long disquisitions on the infanticide tribes, and of the opinions which have led to this custom told in a way to me unin- telligible, and passing by some interminable letters on proposed future operations, in which all the previous Reports are recapitu- lated. The conclusion I come to from the whole is, that a great delusion exists as to the extent of the ascendancy obtained by the Agent. It is impossible to suppose that two short visits of a Month each, and the homilies then administered to the rude tribes by the Khond Agent, have effected a great religious movement. What seems to have been gained is this, the tribes nearest Goom- soor in whose minds the fear of our power is deeply engraved, have been partly coaxed, but mostly coerced into an abandonment, openly at least, of their sacrificial rite, with its attendant abomina- tions. That coercion and constraint is continued by the appoint- ment of Superintendants over the gained tribes, who are pledgpd H 58 to the abolition Party, by the punishment of parties denounced by them as participators in the sacrifice, by the removal of all the opposing party from office and power, and by the detention of Patriarchs and Paiks in the low country who oppose the Agent's views. The banishment from Ganjam of Sam Blssye is another measure calculated to inspire deep fear. It is by these and such acts that the Agent's ascendancy has been gained, and is main- tained. This is the opinion I have formed in the matter. There has been no real heart-felt change in the men's natures, and in their religious opinions, nor could such be hoped for without a miracle." " But though the ground gained is of small extent, it is as much as could be expected with the means employed, although not so much as might be supposed from the tenor of the Agent's Reports, so far as their meaning can be guessed at through the cloud of mysterious and variegated phraseology in which they are envelop- ed, and it is gratifying to see that what is gained, has been obtain- ed without the use of external force or violence, but by peaceful means alone." " As regards the Draft Act for improving and extending the power of Agents for the suppression of Meriah Sacrifice, I beg to state that I concur, generally, in what seems to be the intention of the Supreme Government, viz. that there should be unity of system pursued, that the operations should be carried on under one Head assisted by a certain number of coadjutors, separated from all other work, and entrusted to one controlling authority." " With this view I approve of the Khond Agent being separated from the Office of Assistant Governor's Agent in Ganjam, and placed at the Head of a Department solely devoted to Khond operations." " But I do not see the necessity, nor can I ever admit the ex- pediency of removing from the jurisdiction of the Revenue Offi- cers of Cuttack, nor from the superintendance of the Agent in Ganjam, any portion of the tracts of country specified in Section n. of the Act No. XXIV. of 1839. That is to say I think it quite unnecessary, for the furtherance of the Khond operations, that the Civil or Jiidirial functions of the present authorities in any 59 ancienl Zemindaries in the low toiiiitry, should be suspended either wholly or in part." It thus appears that Captain MacPhersou was cruelly misled, not only with reference to Sam Bissye, and the Khonds generally ; but even with reference to his own protege the Dulbera of Ten- tilghur : and we must say that the blame in a great measure, lies with himself. He could have had no sufficient evidence of the real state of matters, when he announced his triumphant success. The utter incapacity of the Dulbera, was well knoAvn to Captain Campbell, who ever viewed him as an uninfluential and secondary character. How Captain MacPherson could have made so fatal a mistake about the respective status of Sam Bissye and the said Dulbera, in the estimation of the Khonds, would be passing strange, did we not know the character of his native assistants, and the slight opportunities he had of knowing either the one or the other. In aftertimes, when dire experience forced the truth upon him, or rather, perhaps, when his native Agents could no longer hide it from him, he thus records his altered views of the Dulbera in a public letter to the Government of India. " Although he had acted for a time so as to justify his elevation, he had latterly so far disgusted all by his grasping avarice, his want of courage and his bad faith, that I was compelled to contemplate an arrangement for his supercession." Ere we conclude this part of our commentary, we desire to make honorable mention of an Officer, who, alone and unaided, did good service in the Boad Hills. Captain Hicks of the Bengal Service is the Officer we allude to. The Reviewer, in his ac- customed style, has professed to praise him, while in reality he was only being made use of, in like manner with the others, as a foil to display the superior virtues of his own hero. The Madras Offi- cers, Messrs. Stevenson, Bannerman, Hill, Campbell, &c, are visited with fair words, but the reader is politely informed that the " at- tempts" of these gentlemen were " abortive ;" and— then — " grop- ings" made in the " twilight." Next Colonel Ouseley is brought upon the stage, with no other apparent object than to shew his folly and furnish a smile at his expense, so that, by the force of contrast, the ability of the Reviewer's own pet, might shine forth more brilliantly. True he calls the Colonel ii brave soldier, and 60 professes to admire his warm and honest zeal. But happily for that excellent Officer, he does not require the Calcutta Reviewer as a witness to his character; his long and able services, his intimate acquaintance with the people of the districts entrusted to his charge, his unwearied endeavours to develope the resources of the country, are too well known and appreciated to require eulogium from any quarter. The Reviewer after all his panegyrics, doubts " the wisdom or the efficacy of the summary measures proposed." Just so with Captain Hicks ; after bestowing upon him many laudatory epithets he quietly adds — referring to Mr. Mills as well as Captain Campbell — "But what precisely to do or how efficient- ly to do it, so as hopefully to reach the seat of the malady was the problem — Not able from their skill in diagnosis to hit either the root of the disease, or suggest the appropriate moral remedy, they were ■willing for a season to resort to sundry half measures, and mitigating palliatives. But having evidently no very clear percep- tion of the real nature and source of the difficulty to be overcome, no thoroughly intelligent apprehension of the precise means adapt- ed to overcome it,* they could have no absolute confidence in the success of the measures they were led from circumstances to pursue." It might perhaps, have been well for some others had they en- tertained less absolute confidence in their success : they might then have seen the necessity of looking more narrowly into the truth of what was reported to them. When contrasting his deeds with those of others, the Reviewer should have men- tioned that, for his campaign in the hills, Captain MacPherson had a military escort of troops of the line. Elephant carriage, and a monthly allowance of 500 Rupees for a Cutcherry, while Captain Hicks, (as well as Captain Campbell,) had to rely solely upon himself, and met with little support from any quarter ■ — if we except Mr. Mills, whose warm admiration of his energetic conduct was expressed to the Government on several occasions. Colonel Campbell soon discovered in Boad that the visits of Captain Hicks were not forgotten by the Khond Chiefs, who, often and Cultuttd luNiiW; No, XI. iiage Oa. Ibid, page 106, 01 often spoke of " Hicks Sahib," both to himself and to his Assist- ant Captain MacViccar. The following letter was in consequence addressed to the Government, by the Agent, who felt it was due to Captain Hicks' services thus to notice them. " I much regret that at the time of forwarding my Report dated the 16th of April, regarding the late operations in Boad and Goom- soor, that I omitted to notice, as I had fully intended doing the frequent mention in the Boad Khond Maliahs, of the name of Cap- tain Hicks of the Bengal Service." " This Officer from what I learnt from the Chiefs of Iluttaburry, Bulscooppah, Biseparrah, Borogotza and Dommosinghi, had evi- dently made a very favorable impression on the Bissyes and others, who stated that they would have acted up to the agreement enter- ed into between him and them, had not either Madwa or Nowbo- ghon Khonro subsequently performed the sacrifice and there was no " Sahib" to notice it ; so, passing with impunity, others follow- ed the example." " It seems due to Captain Hicks to mention these circumstances ; the impression made upon my mind at the time was, that he had done excellent service while in the Boad Hills." I have the honor, Sec. (Signed) J. Campbell, Lieut. Colonel, Camp Berhampore, ) Agent in the Hill Tracts of Orissa. 8th June 1848. j For a succinct account of Captain (now Lieutenant Colonel) Campbell's labours among the Khonds of Goomsoor, we would refer our readers to the clear and satisfactory statement which he gave in to Mr. Commissioner Grant. This document well deserves a careful perusal. It will be found in our Appendix marked A. PAR T I I. We now enter on the second part of our most unpleasant un- dertaking ; but having already expressed, and, we believe thus far fully vindicated, on no equivocal grounds, our opinion of the spirit of exaggeration and injustice, that extensively pervades the rhe- torical flourishes of the Reviewer, we shall at once proceed to lay before our readers the still more exceptionable misrepresentations perpetrated by him, in reference to the subjects which will now engage our attention. Lest however, in the prosecution of our task, our style and temper should appear to assimilate too closely with that rapturous applause of one party, and indiscriminate censure of another, which characterizes these rhapsodies, we beg the reader to observe, that we are indebted to the Reviewer himself for the turgid inflated phraseology, which we have sometimes adopted, for the sole purpose of exposing its bad taste and misapplica- tion. Let us have a fair hearing : but let the reader not condemn without first glancing over the articles in the Calcutta Journal, which have at last compelled us to enter the lists against one, whose unquestioned eloquence and unhappy facility in the art of writing, forbids any idea of competition or imitation on our part. We should indeed have abstained from all appearance of such pre- sumption, had not the review of Captain MacPherson's Report and •'various official documents hitherto unpublished," that appeared in December 1848, but only reached us in the February following, left us without alternative. The subjects then, to which we now request the readers' atten- tion are, Captain MacPherson's Infanticidal measures ; — the Re- viewer's " small Irish Boulah-like rebellion" ; — General Dyce's " ut- terly mistaking the real spirit, and intention of his commission ;" — and Captain MacPherson's " great object being the moral and religious advancement of the Khonds." We shall then proceed to make a "remarkable disclosure" relative to the surrender of upwards of 1 70 Meriahs in 1846 — and to prove that the alleged 63 "melancholy doings of the last two years" have pvoducocl vesuUs, the very reverse of those so gratuitously assigned to them by the Reviewer. We commence, then, with the subject of Female Infanticide, which was, Ave are told, ^'Jbr the first time, brouglit to light by Captain MacPherson in the course of his visit to the Southern Khond districts early in 1842"; when the Agent "at the very outset confronted by the most formidable difficulties," &:c. "though the period of his residence above the Ghauts was thus untowardly shortened," " improved it to such good purpose," that " a vast deal of new and valuable information was obtained" and " by an admirable combination of prudence, conciliation and firmness, fear, mistrust and jealousy, were supplanted by the opposite feelings of dawning hope and kindly confidence." When " the change that ensued was like that which follows the melting away of the icy ac- cumulations of a long and severe winter.' It had about it," the Reviewer assures us, " all the freshening glow and budding pro- mise of a genial spring" — nay more, " it looked hopefully to a sum- mer of glorious blossoms and an autumn of mellow fruit." The fact of Mr. Russell's having first revealed, as the Reviewer in an earlier number informs us, the "important and appalling fact" of the existence of Female Infanticide in those tracts, at once divests this " remarJcable disclosure^' of part at least of its novelty. And we are about to supply information, that will nip " the budding promise of a genial spring." At present we will only remind the reader, that this " residence of but ttventy days in the Hills'' is the identical visit on which we have already bestowed some comment ; where the visit, as in the annexed memorandum, is described as occupying 25 days, the additional five days having probably been passed, in travelling to and from the immediate scene of these ex- ploits, and he need only call to mind Mr. Smollett's most just remarks then quoted, to satisfy himself of the necessarily apo- cryphal character of a vast deal of the " new and valuable information" supposed to have been so obtained ; and we ex- pect, that all our readers, who will but peruse the glowing article on Captain MacPherson and the Khonds in the XVth No. of the Calcutta Journal, from which we have given a specimen or two above; imless indeed his imagination shall have reached the " sum- 64 mer" meridian glow of the Reviewer, will gladly spare us the hopeless task of reducing the turgid style so frequently assumed, to the proprieties of ordinary language. We come then to the Reviewer's statement, which occurs at page 316 of the same Journal No. XX, of a practice " revolting to the feelings of humanity," which was, for the first time''' — the Italics are not ours — " brought to light by Captain MacPherson, in the course of his visit to the Southern Khond districts early in 1842. This was the abhorrent practice oi Female Infanticide''' which he goes on to inform us "was ascertained for certain to have prevailed in five districts, namely, Pandacole, Guldi, Deg'i, Buri and Cun- dami." In Degi, it is added, the practice of destroying them was limited to a few tracts on its border, next to Guldi, As he proceeds to " unfold the measures adopted by the inde- fatigable Agent for its abolition," and " to inquire into the further light which the experience of two years tended to throw upon the subject," the Reviewer tells us, " the usage was now fully ascer- tained io owe its origin and its maintenance partly to religious opin- ions, and partly to ideas, from which certain very important fea- tures of Khond manners arise." But " on so delicate and difficult a subject we," like the Reviewer, " deem it better to let the Agent set forth his own views," and therefore refer our readers to the article, for his own exposition of the case, as given from his Report dated 10th July 1844. It is described as a " painfully interesting extract" — and such it would be to us also, had not our knowledge of the Agent's very brief and superficial acquaintance with these Hill tracts, and their " population of, at a rough estimate, about 60,000," as also of the serious errors, into which he was betrayed concerning them, fortified our finer feelings against so rude a shock, by the strong appeal that knowledge makes to our incredulity. Leaving then " this painfully interesting extract" where it is, we go on to notice as briefly as may be, the measures by which, having first addressed himself, after the well-selected example of " every practising physician's" "diagnosis,'" "minutely to inspect the social malady for whose cure or removal he was expected to operate —to trace it, if possible, to its source or primary seat — to lay bare its roots — and to fix and define its originating predispos- 65 ing proximate causes" the Agent proposed to compass the abolition of this inhuman rite. Doubtless the humane reader, as the Reviewer anticipates, >YilI " be eagerly desirous to learn the nature of the measure employed, and vehemently long for and anticipate the success." But we regret "the budding promise of a genial spring" of desire and an- ticipation was not destined to see " a summer of glorious blossoms, nor an autumn of mellow fruit." Let us however cheer his disap- pointed " moral sensibility and kindly sympathy" with a hope at least of improving prospects, though under other auspices. We hasten, therefore, to enquire " how fully and successfully he [the Agent,] endeavoured to accomplish all this," including the minute diagnosis above described, and we learn, that " the chief causes which at least sustained, if they did not originate it," " the social leprosy of the fell practice of Female Infanticide," " were these— a belief in its conditional injunction by the Deity: — a belief that the practice conduced to the birth of male offspring : an opi- nion, that the destruction and bloodshed, which spring from the capricious dissolution of marriage ties by the women, made the usage the less of two evils." This careful diganosis accomplished, the Agent proceeds to ap- ply his remedial measures, regarding which the Reviewer says "that within the 18 months previous to July 1844, these varied operations included the settlement of a large number of questions of every class, in every part of the nearer tracts of Pandacole, and affected to a considerable extent the whole population of Guldi and Degi," while the Agent himself informs us, that " the authority of Government was completely established in Pandacole and in Degi, and the people of these districts anxiously desired the complete extension to them of its justice and protection, as those are afforded to the tribes of Goomsoor." Surely this " summer of glorious blossoms" must be succeeded by " an autumn of mellow fruit !" But the reader will probably desire to hear somewhat, of the more special means employed in the cultivation of this promising field. Of these, the Reviewer gives us the author's epitome — the first paragraph of which is as follows : " With respect to these, I have held — 1st, that the alleged in-, junction of the deity, by which the usage is justified, is, plainly, I 66 but a conditional permission, authorizing it at the utmost, only in so far, and for so long as the men of any tribe shall find them, selves unequal to maintain the peace of society undisturbed through their women, — unequal, that is, to the first duties of manhood ;■ — the admission of the necessity of the practice by these tribes, ne- cessarily placing them in a position of inferiority to all of man- kind, who are not compelled by their incapacity to do justice in questions of propriety arising out of the marriages of their daugh- ters, to destroy them in infancy." It occurs at page 321 of the Review. We must however here pause, to express our surprize and regret that, without one disapproving remark, nay — without moderating his usual eulogistic tone, a writer in the Calcutta Journal should record in his pages an argument, even against the " fell practice," that so directly panders to the cruelly-degrading superstitious belief of these poor semi-barbarians, in the existence and power of their imaginary deity, whose alleged conditional permission, he, at the same moment, tells us, was one of the " chief causes which at least sustained, if they did not originate" the social leprosy. Neither is our regret diminished, by a similar exhibition of a novel definition of " the first duties of manhood." Such a definition might aff"ord an appropriate supplement to Pope's lampoon on the female sex. But Ave hesitate not to say, that it very ill becomes the Agent of a professedly Christian Go- vernment, in the exercise of the powers vested in him for the suppression of cruelty and vice, and the promotion of benevolence and virtue. T\\Qjirst duty of every moral agent in childhood, man- hood and old age, is, to love the God that made him ; and the second is to love his neighbour. But what exact place, in the scale of moral and social duties, is to be assigned to that of " maintain- ing the peace of society undisturbed through the women," we are not prepared to say, though we are quite decided in refusing it the place here assigned to it ; and feel assured that, divines and mora- lists would alike unite, in reprobating such application of it to poor untutored Khonds. An official of the London police would, no doubt, assign its place in the social scale more correctly. We should not, however, have dwelt so particularly on this sub- ject, though it does serve to illustrate the " every lawful expedi- 67 dent" to which the Agent resorted in addressing himself to " the singular moral and intellectual aptitude of the Khonds to receive the new ideas," had R stood alone ; but we find the Reviewer in- dulging his fervid admiration of the Agent, in the following strains. " Making the amplest allowance for their past ignorance and blind hereditary belief, he, [the Agent] did not, in the first instance, arraign and denounce the practice which he laboured to abolish, as deliberate presumptuous sins, but rather as sins of ignorance — not as wilful crimes, but rather as deplorable errors. It was, however, eagerly admitted by all the people addressed, that if the usages which we condemned were not founded upon express ordinances of the Deity, or upon necessity, they were deep crimes." Marvellous aptitude of " all the people addressed !" who dares denounce as ignorant serai-barbarians the eager recipients of such specific applications ? We shall however find from his Report of March last, that his successor not only dared to denounce the prac- tice of human sacrifice as " cruel and guilty in the sight of God and man," but that no evil> to say the least, resulted from such daring. He at once declared " that the rite was an odious and outrageous crime ;" and yet failed " to awaken any natural feeling or sentiment into uncontrolable hostility." This seems a fitting opportunity to observe, once for all, the too obvious fact, that Captain MacPherson appears to have carried with him, throughout all his operations, one leading and " de- plorable error" — " God was not in all his thoughts." His over- scrupulous dealing with the alleged conditional permission of the Deity, — his worse than an absurd definition of tlie first du- ties of manhood, his partial denunciation of the fell practice of female infanticide, his triumphant re-establishment of an idol, of which we may yet say more hereafter ; and last, but not least, his jealous exclusion of missionaries and even their friends, as far as in his power lay, from the districts under his jurisdiction, are sad attestations to the justice of this remark : and we venture to affirm that, so radical an error must, eventually, prove fatal to any under- taking ; but more particularly to one, that has for its object the morE.l improvement of God's responsible creatures. But we must return to our more immediate subject, and request our readers' attention to " another special n;easure to which Cap- 68 tain MacPherson resorted, and which resulted in effects of great importance." Of this we desire to receive the author's own ac- count — it is given in the following words at page 323 of the Journ- al, extracted from the same Report of July 1844. " I conceived that between a people organized on the principle of family, and patriarchally governed, amongst whom contracts between individuals are also engagements between tribes, and the important class of marriage contracts gives rise to the strongest feelings, next to those of religion, which connect society — I con- ceived, that between this people and the Government, a new bond of connection, involving influence of the highest value to this Avork, might be created through the marriage to its Chiefs of the female wards of Government saved from sacrifice — I, accordingly, ahout twelve months ago, after careful preparation, bestowed 53 of those wards — Khonds and a few Panwas — in marriage upon Chiefs and men of influence in Pondacole, half of Guldi and Degi. In the operation, I subjected both the principals and their followers /or a long period to the influences of which I have already spoken,— settling the disputes of all ; and reasoning with all, while I at the same time exhausted every art by which I could hope to engraft ideas analogous to those of family connection, upon the existing ideas of civil connection with the Government." •' The degree of influence which has been acquired through the gradual development of this measure has surpassed my expecta- tions. Slight difi'erences in manners and feelings respecting per- sons devoted as victims, rendered both parties at first averse to marriage ; but an entire change of feeling on this point took place. When it was found that the bestowal of a ward of the Government denoted its favor and confidence, and was the beginning of a new and beneficial relationship to it, — that the interests of the Govern- ment followed its children undiminished into their new families and tribes, giving to these special claims to consideration — then arose the strongest desire to obtain these wards in marriage." " I have since laboured to strengthen and multiply the ties be- tween them, and all connected with them, and the Government, through the maintenance of regular intercourse with them, and the careful observance, as far as possible, of the forms and the duties, and the use of the language of the paternal relation. Thus ideas GO of connection and of authority, analogous to those which arise from natural affinity, have become blended in the minds of these people, to a certain extent, with their existing ideas of civil con- nection with the Government. Even in Guldi, where our direct authority is not yet established, the influence arising from this quasi-family connection has produced very important results."''^" Before proceeding any further, we beg the reader to pause and contemplate *' the general results of these varied measures in the two years assigned to their operation." But to aid him in forming a just estimate of the "signal success that continued to crown the well directed efforts of the Agent," we must remind him, that the scene of this " signal success" is a mountainous tract, for far the greater part of the year inaccessible to Europeans or Natives of the plains— from which classes alone fit instruments for the application of his specifics could be obtained — that the Agent's own acquaintance with those tracts is limited to what might have been obtained dur- ing the " residence of hut twenty days in the hills'' so often advert- ed to — that even that short period was curtailed " owing to severe sickness, which soon disabled himself and nearly the whole of his attendants" — that he himself positively never again visited those tracts even for one day, in confirmation of which assertion we an- nex a memorandum of all his visits to the Maliahs during the period of his authority in the Ganjam Agency — that he himself, knew nothing whatever of the language spoken by the tribes, amongst whom these varied and difficult operations were carried on — and that the following is his own account, extracted from his Report of 12th April 1843, "of the native Agency available for such peculiar service." " I believe that there exists but a single Hindu, who is one of my chief instruments, sufficiently well Instructed to comprehend the objects of the Government and who is master of the Khond language. A brother of this person understands, but does not speak that language, but he will be a most important aid. One Mussulman comprehends our object and influences the Khonda with great intelligence and tact, but knows very little of their • " Fifty.five infants have there heemaved." TO tongue." These three individuals, are Soondera Singh and his brother, and Baba Khan, the qualifications of two of whom we have seen cause to believe the Agent greatly mistook. For it is notorious, that the last was promoted from a menial servant to the office of Head Moonshee — is utterly uninstructed in any language, — and the very little, he is said to know of the Khond language, amounts to really nothing ; while of Soondera Singh it is also well known that, with the language in which he communicated with his master, Hindoostanee, he is very imperfectly acquainted, and therefore, if he did comprehend the objects in view at all, must have proved a very imperfect medium for conducting such a "diagnosis" and conveying such arguments and appliances, as those by which we are required to believe these signal successes were achieved. In fact, let the reader consider the serious obstructions, mental, moral, and physical, with which the Agent must have had to con- tend, at every step of his progress, and briefly advert to the de- gree of influence said to have been acquired, through the gradual development of this measure, as described by the Agent himself in the above extract, and he will not deny, that here is exhibited the most remarkable phenomenon of triumphant proselytism, that, so far as we can learn, was ever yet recorded in the history of suc- cessful propagandism — The triumphs, remarkable as they con- fessedly are, of the Anti-Corn Law League, and the most favorable results of Missionary zeal and self-denial that have yet been re- ported to an applauding audience in Exeter Hall, are cast into obscurity — ^they have sufl"ered an irretrievable eclipse before this surprizing exhibition, of " the singular moral and intellectual apti- tude of the Khonds to receive the new ideas." The alleged moral and intellectual aptitude of these untutored savages, to receive new ideas [is itself a marvellous phenomenon in the intellectual history of the human race. Consider good reader, the Agent, the instruments at his disposal, the difficulties and obstructions, moral, social, mental and physical that must have encountered him at every step ; — of all which the Reviewer seems sufficiently sensible, when the notice of them tends to enhance the merits of the Agent ; — think for a moment of the barbarous tribes on whom this " propounder of principles, deviser of plans and executor of 7i important deeds" had to operate, and judge lor yourself whether like " his original Report of 1841," that from which the above ex- tract is given, naust not present " itself as a remarkable monument of indefatigable industry, unconquerable perseverance, and no or- dinary mental perspicuity, good sense and judgment !" We can- not follow the Reviewer through the indiscribable extravagancies of the paragraphs from which we transcribed these glowing and emphatic expressions ; but we considered it imperative on us to give, in his own words, a sample, taken at random from these enthusiastic utterances of fond admiration. The Reviewer's earnest disclaimer of " any undue personal bias or favoritism towards Captain MacPherson" we dispute not ; but we must say that, if the glowing rhapsody which furnishes these expressions, owes its birth in any measure to the perusal of a portion, considerable or otherwise, of Captain MacPherson's Report of 1842, it displays a wonderful aptitude for the marvellous on the part of the Author. Let us now see, whether we cannot, while disposing of the sub- ject before us, vindicate our " honestly formed views of the essen- tial merits" of the case, from the charge of being merely " obfus- cated by the dust«and smoke which unhappy controversy has suc- ceeded in raising about his" [Captain MacPherson's] " more re- cent proceedings." But to these rather striking examples of the Reviewer's turgid gasconades, we must first add one more extract bearing on our present subject. He tells us, that " much pains were bestowed on obtaining a correct return of the female children born and preserved in Pondacole, Decji, and the partly gained half of Guldi — shewing their tribes, branches, villages, and fathers' names, during the two last years — and the Agent had the high satisfaction to state that above 170 female infants, — 70 in Ponda- cole, 45 in Degi, and 55 in Guldi — had certainly been saved in these tracts in that period : and that of this number, two-thirds had been saved within the last 15 months, through the direct and varied influences which he had brought to bear upon them." Here we surely realize " the budding promise of a genial spring" which, together with the 53 female wards of Government, bestowed after careful preparation, upon chiefs and men of influence in the 4 iv same districts, certainly " look hopefully forward to a summer of glorious flowers and an autumn of mellow fruit." Be it remembered, that " the indefatigable Agent," after the memorable " residence of but 20 days in the hills," never per- sonally visited the scene of this budding promise. It happens, however, that his successor has done so — we therefore proceed to lay before our readers the particulars of what he was enabled to gather on the spot, as reported to the Government of India under date the 17th March 1849. Para 2. " Early in November I proceeded to the Maliahs of Sooradah where Infanticide largely prevails. The remedy for this inhuman and unnatural crime is a perplexing and difficult question. During the past year, I have endeavoured to collect authentic ac- counts of the rise and progress of this cruel practice — Several foolish fables have been narrated to me, but on close questioning the people themselves, they one and all pleaded poverty and the in- fluence of long transmitted tradition as their justification. " Our fathers did so, what can we do, we are poor, and we do as they did." Para 3. " While thus they referred to the example of their forefathers, there was not one of them that could give any thing approaching to a consistent account of Ihe grounds, save those of poverty, which rendered this practice imperative. I have already narrated to the Government the legend which finds most currency among them, and it is a remark- able fact that it was never alleged hy any ojie of them that they tvere moved to this odious rite hy motives of religion ; or that their gods were in any icay concerned in the matter. It is no easy task, even in a civi- lized land, to glean from the more intelligent members of the com- munity a narrative of the origin and the progress of innumerable customs and observances which are nevertheless most rigidly and superstitiously adhered to — how greatly is the diflficulty augment- ed, when we have to deal with a people whose moral and intellec- tual nature has yet to be developed." Para 4th, "I am fully aware of the abstruse and intricate theory which Captain MacPherson, in his Reports on the infanticide of these districts, mentions, as the sustaining and originating cause of this great evil ; but I am persuaded that that officer has been 73 grievously imposed upon by those whom he selected as his instru- ments for acquiring information ; aud it is singular that it never occurred to him, to doubt the correctness of the narratives so minute and metaphysical in their character which were laid before him, when it was known that these narratives were supposed to have emanated from a people ignorant and unlearned to the last degree, without a written language or the slightest knowledge of letters, wild and barbarous in all their habits, retaining no traces of a lost civilization and the faintest recollection of ancestral traditions ; embroiled so incessantly one with another, and engaged so con- stantly and actively in tribal feuds, as often to cause almost the total suspension of cultivation. Yet such are the Khonds, and I feel assured that if the former Agent had only visited these people more extensively in their own villages, his account would have been widely different. Unhappily he was far too sanguine, hence he readily believed and embodied in his Report, all the favorable ac- counts which he received, of the wonderful reformation that had taken place, with respect to the preservation of female children who were said to abound in several villages. The change was much too rapid to be credible. History affords no example of a conversion so sudden as he describes it to be — reason, and the facts of the case strongly assert, that so good, so great and so diffi- cult a reform, can only be one of time and civilization." Again, after alluding to a "mendacious rascal," who had im- pressed the Agent wiih the belief that the " wards of Govern- ment" united to Khonds always reared their female offspring, it is observed — "iVb«« I saw these ladies {the wards of Government) myself ^ hut their female children tvere not forthcoming : when evasion was useless, they admitted that, at their husbands' bidding, they had de- stroyed them ; nor did such confession seem to cost them one pang of remorse, so blunted amongst these women is the strong passion of maternal love. In other villages, where it was hoped that this crying evil was checked, personal observation demonstrated, from th» extreme disproportion of the sexes, that no progress had yet been made, and that the reports of the Native Agents were utterly unfounded and undeserving of confidence." - "^Para 5. " It is vastly more easy however to point out the de- ' Colonel Campbell's Hojiorl. 74 fects of the past than to suggest sound and practical remedial measures for the future. In my meetings with these rude people, I did not fail to make use of every argument that appeared to me likely to carry weight, and I applied and illustrated my observations and remarks in such a manner as I hoped would implant them in their memories. Some of the Khonds, when asked why they re- mained unmarried, replied, that they were deterred from matrimo- ny by poverty, wives being expensive. I shewed them how they might be procured at a much cheaper rate, if female children were reared, and not thrown away. I urged on all the duty of desisting from so horrid a practice, and I strove by every possible means to enforce the views which I desired them to adopt. I found all the difficiilty (which is equally great with the sagest as with the most eavage of mankind) of dealing with people, whose minds were pre-occupied — the most incontrovertible arguments crumble to pieces where such is the case — conviction may be professed ; but in a little time, old thoughts and old habits gain the ascendancy, and conversion is as far off as ever. I assured them it was not mere assent to my sayings that would satisfy the great Sircar, whose representative I was, but that punishment would follow a violation of the promise which they were willing to make. Para 6. " Accordingly they all signed an agreement binding themselves henceforward to rear their female offspring. I do not place much credit on the solemn professions of semi-barbarous tribes ; but I could devise no better expedient, and my presence was urgently required in the Hill tracts of China Kimedy. I told them, however, that I should soon revisit their country, and I an- ticipate some good results from their being now satisfied that, ia future, ocular demonstration will alone convince me that they had fulfilled their pledge." *' I endeavoured to establish a registry of the men, their wives and children ; but was compelled to abandon the attempt. On discovering my intention, the people fled in great alarm, asserting that they were sure to die, if I persisted in my design of numbering them." *' Before leaving this subject, I would observe that we must look to the diffusion of sound and useful knowledge, especially amongst the rising generation, as the principal and most effectual means of arresting the wide spread evil. Fear may, and I hops 15 Mill, for a time, act as a restraint ; but the permanent abolition o( the practice cannot be expected from this source ; neither will it be possible to deal with the offence in the regular course of law—r no evidence could ever be procured to insure conviction — punish- ment when inflicted, must necessarily be arbitrary. Until then, we shall be enabled to establish village Schools, and introduce other wholesome measures for the moral elevation of this people— the best means of stemming the torrent appear to me to consist la maintaining a constant intercourse and paying occasional visits ; always insisting on seeing the children and visiting with various! marks of displeasure the Chiefs of those villages where the rela- tive number of the sexes is so disproportionate as to leave no doubt of the destruction of the females ; while on the other hand, the preservers of their infants will be specially rewarded, receiving 6uch presents as will plainly evince the favor of Government." •' I am painfully aware how slender these appliances seem for the eradication of such a gigantic plague ; but I have bestowed that attention which is due to the consideration of so deeply in- teresting a subject ; and after long and anxious thought, I can de- vise no more hopeful remedies than those now suggested. Con- stant supervision and vigilance are at present, I judge, our only practical instruments." " As we returned to the plains, the whole of upper Goomsoor. Chokapaud, Gallery, &c. were visited. / also had my camp at Degi, a valley which has not been visited by an European since I v/as there myself in 1840 — it is supposed to have been the scene of much female infanticide. / believe no such rite ever existed there — • from the number of females compared with the total population it seems impossible that there could have been any destruction of in- fants — The people affirmed that tKe practice had never, so long back as they could recollect, obtained among them ; and I believe it : it is quite certain that for many years it cannot have prevail- ed ; and the report must have been imposed upon Captain MacPherson (who was never himself at Degi) by designing natives who asserted they had saved 50 Infants !" Let the reader compare the information now before him, obtain- ed by close questioning the people themselves, with the results of Captain MacPherson's boasted "diagnosis," his minute inspection of 76 the social malady, Sec. — the " deep impression" and the eftecta of great importance in which this special measure is said to have re- Bulted, and we shall then have little need to point out the now well ascertained futility of the " hope to engraft ideas analogous to those of family connection" — But we apprehend that it would be difficult to discover a third person to talk, write, or even dream of the " singular moral and intellectual aptitude of the Khonds to receive the new ideas." That the plain matter-of-fact statements of Colonel Campbell will effect any change in the Reviewer's views, obfuscated as they are by the dust and smoke, which his own in- discriminating and enthusiastic admiration of Captain MacPherson's visionary reasonings, impracticable schemes and incredible results has raised around him, we cannot expect ; and as the exquisite absurdity involved in the extravagant belief of the " singular moral and intellectual aptitude of Khonds for receiving ne>f ideas," must, we apprehend, be the exclusive property of Captain MacPherson and his Reviewer, we are not disposed to indulge in a pitiful lament over the disappointed promise of a " genial spring" of whose " budding," we could not but be most incredulous. But to return to Colonel Campbell's Report and the extract. We despair of any rational explanation of the careful preparation of 53 female wards of Government, bestowed in marriage upon Chiefs and men of influence said to have been subjected — both the princi- pals and their followers, for a long period to certain influences of far too subtile a nature to admit of their successful application, un- der so many disadvantages and difficulties as we have pointed out, by a very limited and defective native Agency, employed on the rudest and most unpromising materials. Neither the opportunity nor the instruments, for such a preparation, had any real existence. Colonel Campbell's Report reveals, we apprehend, a " pre-dis- posing proximate cause'^ of the fell practice, which at once seta aside the application of expedients lawful or unlawful to counter- act the " alleged injunction of the deity," and recommends itself to tbe approval of experienced and practical men by its own con- sistency with the character of the untutored savages who assigned it, while it accords with their own knowledge of the reasons given for the same fell practice in other places where it has been found to prevail, — is also adequate to account for the existence of 7T the inhuman rite, and admits of a remedy simple and easy, when compared with one that involves subtile " arguments and con- siderations addressed to Infanticidal Khonds," the supposition of whose singular aptitude for receiving new ideas we can only treat as a marvellous conceit. That it divests these " obscure and difficult phenomena" of much of the mystic character, with which Captain MacPherson evidently delights to involve his subject, and deprives the " vast deal of new and important information" with which he returned " richly laden," •• after a residence of btti tive7ity days in the hills,^' of another feature of its novelty, seeing that it tends to simplify the remedial process, is to us a matter of gratulation. But these are not the only flaws, which Colonel Campbell's in- vestigation of the delicate subject, has detected. It will not be forgotten how we are told, that female infanticide was ascertained for certain to have prevailed, amongst other districts, in Degi, where also remedial measures are reported to have been applied with great success, and much pains bestowed in obtaining a correct return of the female children born and preserved, sheivi?iff their tribes, branches, villages, and fathers' names during the last two years. Colonel Campbell, however, had his Camp in Deegee or Degi, and finds that " no such rite ever existed there''' Of this he had ocular demonstration in the comparative number of female infants whom he actually saw. He had also direct parole testimony to the same fact, in the affirmation of the people, that such practice had not been known there, within the memory of man. This we think few will deny, disposes of yet another item of " new and import- ant information ;" and proves how purely imaginary, as respects Degi, are the " much pains bestowed in obtaining a correct return of female children born and preserved," and of other minute parti- culars so carefully set forth. It would be superfluous to enquire after the remainder of the 170 female infants said to have been preserved, 45 of the number having been proved on such clear evidence, positive and circumstantial, never to have needed the protection of the Agent or his employe. As for its limitation in Degi to " a few tracts on its border," we know not what is intend- ed. Degi is a long valley, about nine miles in length and between two and three in breadth. A word or two must, however, be still accorded to the case of the 53 female wards, the bestowal of whom in marriage, with so many precautions, " was the beginning of a new and beneficial re- lationship." Colonel Campbell we have seen, actually saw these ladies ; but their female children were nowhere forthcoming ; and they were at last constrained to confess having destroyed them at the bidding of their husbands, affording a sufficiently distressing, though by no means unexpected, example of the extravagancy of the supposition, or rather assertion, that " the influence arising from this quasi-family connection has produced very important results" even in Guldi, where a foot-note informs us " 55 Infants have been saved." But having laid before the reader the facts ascertained by Colonel Campbell, by personal enquiry on the spot, we feel that further comment would be superfluous. " The budding promise of a genial spring," as every practical man must have expected, has vanished. It would be waste of time to seek further for " glo- rious flowers" or for " mellow fruit." We must be content for the present with the hope that, a feasible plan of operations having been at length adopted for its suppression, this inhuman practice will in due time yield to patient application. There is, however, one peculiar and prevailing feature of Cap- tain MacPherson's Reports, which, though it can scarcely escape the most superficial peruser of those voluminous, and too frequent- ly ambiguous, records, we deem it but fair to notice, as it may pro- bably have influenced, in some degree, the statements of his en- thusiastic encomiast. We allude to that peculiarity of style, which leads the reader to conceive that the writer of those documents must have been personally present in the midst of their mountains and valleys, plying the inhabitants directly with his " arguments and considerations," " settling the disputes of all, and reasoning with all ;" — in fact that all his operations were conducted by him- .self in personal communication with the people. How else can we account for the Reviewer's language when celebrating his hero's achievments in the infanticidal districts. For instance, he tells his readers in his last article on Khond affairs : " on \iisjirst visit, the information received by the Agent," &cc. afterwards " subse- quent and more searching investigations," See. and then we find him writing of the " distrust which he (the Agent) found to prevail on 79 his Jirsl visit." Could the reader possibly suppose that this Jint was also his last visit to those districts ? Yet such it most assured- ly was, and we defy contradiction. It remains for those who adopt such a style to explain its consistency with historic and official ac- curacy and perspicuity. We will only ask any rational and unpre- judiced reader to examine for a few minutes, with the help of the map, the memorandum of stations visited by the Agent which will be found in the Appendix, and compare the information he will there obtain of 25 days expended in a tour to the Sooradah Maliahs and the infanticidal districts, and 53 days in those of Goomsoor,with the impression his mind will have received from a perusal of the Re- ports and the Reviewer's " historic narrative" of the " skilful and indefatigable labours" of the Agent. We do not say that a longer residence is asserted, but we aver that it is strongly implied in the style of both these writers, and that it has a strong, if not inevituble, tendency to mislead the reader. " In June 1842, he had visited some of the Goomsoor Khond districts," says the Eeviewer, " chiefly on an embassage of inquiry." Yet it is quite certain that neither in 1841, nor 1842, had our ambassador entered any one of the G^oo/zWcjo;- Khond Districts. On the 8th January 1842, he returned from his celebrated "residence of but 20 days" amongst the infanticidal Khonds, and, in January 1843, he visited the Goomsoor Maliahs for one month. When a second edition of the " historic narrative" is demanded, we should suggest the propriety of the historian's modifying his style a little in this respect. We state our second subject in the Reviewer's own words as follows: "In an evil hour, a small Irish-boulah-Iike rebellion, broke out in a remote district, wholly unconnected tcith the Agenfs aboli- tionary measures — its sole object being, to set up as a Rajah, some member of the petty royal family of Goomsoor." It was indeed "in an evil hour" for the credit of his Review, that the author hazarded the singularly infelicitous assertions, so confidently obtruded in the above quotation from his last article on Khond affairs. To account " for the occurrence of a statement so entirely at variance with indisputable facts," in a Journal that pro- fesses to supply authentic information for the guidance of future 80 generations, we are left to a choice of alternatives, either of which fixes the author between the horns of a dilemma, from which we at least can see no mode of a creditable escape. Either he possessed the official documents, on the authority of which he makes his as 8€rtions, as he certainly leaves his reader to imagine that he did, or he enjoyed no such advantage. If he did possess them, he must have grossly falsified their contents [albeit we are unwilling to en- courage the supposition] ; if he did not possess them, he stands convicted, without excuse or apology, of making rash and hap- hazard assertions, calculated to mislead every reader unacquainted with the facts, and seriously to prejudice the reputation of the Government and its servants, as parties to proceedings which can only be vindicated on the supposition that the facts of the case are the reverse of what is here asserted of them by the Reviewer. It would indeed be difficult to justify the supercession of the late Agent and his coadjutors, if the late insurrection in the Hill tracts of Orissa is correctly described as a " small Irish-boulah- like rebellion," a tempest in a tea-pot, and ^^ wholly unconnected with his abolitionary measures." We shall presently proceed to shew how the " unconquerable perseverance" of the " irresistible Agent," failed him at the first burst of this "tempest in a teapot." In the meantime, we will allow the Agent himself to describe " the religious significance of those events." Let us, in order to secure our rear from some unlooked-for am- bush, hear him declare the state of feeling amongst the tribes at the opening of 1846 — for which purpose, we will accompany him on his visit to the Boad Maliahs in February of that year. The details of this visit are given in his Report of the 1 7th May 1 846, to the following extracts from which, we solicit attention. Para 7. "I found the Boad tribes more prepared than 1 had ven- tured to hope, to adopt the required changes. The methods of procedure, and the Agency employed in Goomsoor, reinforced by the invaluable Khond instruments gained there, soon availed to induce every tribe, represented by its Chiefs, in full communication with their people, to place itself in the practical relation to the Government, in which the tribes of Goomsoor stand ; their sub- mission to its authority being signified in the usual way, by their seeking its adjudications in a spirit of confidence and obedience in 81 cases which, from the magnitud'3 or the peculiar nature of the interests involved, their own tribunals were incompetent to deter- mine." Para 8. * * * "This change of opinion, to bring aboijt which, has been the aim of all my past operations, having been thus fully admitted, every tribe was pledged by its representatives to relinquish the rite : and then the holders of victims brought them in with emulous haste, so that in seven days above I 70 were made over to me without my sending even a single peon, or any other emissary from my camp." A few short days however, served to overcloud this bright pros- pect. Certain confederates, whose names and machinations con- cern not our present subject, " convinced the Khonds of Boad that the Government had resolved to measure and assess all the land in the Khond country as it should fall under their authority, to sub- ject the people to forced labour, and to punish the leading men for past sacrifices : that their ill advised delivery of their victims, imported their unconditional submission to its will: and that," it is added, "as I was about to depart, they must at once rise, and by demanding their restoration in arms, shew the Government that they were prepared to maintain their rights." We have ourselves adopted the Italics. An armed Khond mob did accordingly demand and obtain the surrender of upwards of 170 victims, protesting however, as we are informed, by their delegates, " that they had no thought of reverting to the sacrifice." We further learn, that the same confederates used all their efforts to induce the tribes of Goomsoor to join the movement, but with- out success, " save in one section of the half tribe of Ilodzoghoro." Here we have a very decisive movement of the Khonds of Boad extending, even by the then Agent's confession, in a few days, to the half tribe of Hodzoghoro — the primary object of which was to demand, in arms, the restoration of the victims so recently deliver- ed up " with emulous haste," and to resist the future delivery of Meriahs to the Agent of Government. How does this tally with the positive denial of any connection between the said rebellioa and the Agent's " abolitionary measures," of which the delivery of idl victims was notoriously one ? We shall, however, see still more salisfactorilyj by reference to 1 82 his Report to the Bengal Government of 15th Oct. 1846, what was the Agent's deliberate opinion of the " religious significance of those events j" of the events themselves, and of those that suc- ceeded them, we shall presently have more to say. From paras 17 and 32 of that Report, we extract the following passages : " It was certain that the Government which instantly enforced the least of its serious demands, had expressly resolved not to en- force the suppression of the sacrifice under any circumstances ; and that its true object was to tax the Khond country, if its population should evince a disposition to submit, by the relinquishment of the sacrifice upon my simple requisition" * * * " And finally it was held to be perfectly certain, that if the Boad tribes, after the Earth goddess had given them power to conquer back her victims, should relinquish the sacrifice, before the Government should show unequivocally by its acts, that it required its suppression as the irresistible Agent of the God of Light — which the Rajah and Koorti Vas were responsible that it would never do — until thea any thought of the relinquishment of the rite must necessarily in- volve all in hopeless destruction." * vf -a. a ^ change of the ancient opinion, with respect to the relation between the God of Light and the Earth goddess, as it af- fects the lot of man, produced by the experience of the tribes of Goomsoor, enabled the sacrificing tribes of Boad to re- linquish the sacrifice, in obedience to the command of the Go- vernment, regarded as the expression of the will of the former power. They afterwards received the conviction from Koorti Vas and the Rajah that such a command had not in reality been, and would never be, imposed upon them ; and that command being in- dispensable to their hopes of justification to the Earth Goddess, and of protection by the God of Light, ihei/ necessarily resolved to maintain their great rile.^' Surely it is here unquestionably proved on Captain MacPherson's own authority, that the non-delivery of the Meriahs was the mea- sure first to be disposed of — that which the tribes, under the influ- ence of the Rajah and Koorti Vas were especially leagued to re- sist; while it is equally indubitable, that the delivery of all the Meriahs in their possession was a leading abolitionary mea- 83 sure. Need we say more. The '■' religious significance" of the contest, as respects the Khonds of Boad and a part of Hod- zoghoro, demands, the eradication of the conviction of the Boad tribes, that "the Earth Goddess had given them the power to conquer back her victims," and that the Government should shew unequivocally by its acts that it required the suppression of the sacrifice, as the irresistible Agent of the God of Light. Here then is a stand-up fight between — to use the Agent's mythological phrases — the God of Light and the Earth. Goddess : on their success in which depended, as the Khonds sup- posed, their continued exemption from taxation, forced labour, and other oppressions. If the Agent's words mean any tl)ing, they have supplied us with an unmistakeable "causative connection between the said rebellion and the operations of the Khond Agen- cy," which however the Reviewer most emphatically and repeatedly denies. Throughout the two "Reports, the contents of which are the subject of these remarks, the " religious significance" of the ques- tion at issue, between the Agent and the Khonds, assumes a pro- minence, that no reader can mistake : and we think that more than enough has been adduced to satisfy even the Reviewer, that a close connection did and does exist between the small Irish-Boulah-like rebellion and the Agent's abolitionary measures. "VVe shall, therefore, as briefly as is consistent with our desire of fairly dis- proving the Reviewer's assertion of the contemptible insignificance of the insurrection, proceed to trace by the most unequivocal signs, its presence in every part of the tracts subject to the Agent's juris- diction, from Russellcondah to the Mahanuddy. We have already noticed the voluntary delivery to the Agent of 170 victims in the short period of seven days, as related by Captain MacPherson, in his Report of the 17th May 1846, and the sad reverse that so early overtook him, which compelled the surrender of these unhappy creatures to an armed Khond mob. Perhaps the Reviewer is not aware, that, when Captain MacPherson was, 12 months afterwards, happily removed from the Agency, upwards of 120 of these very victims remained in the hands of the Boad Khonds, proud trophies of the triumph — to adopt the Agent's style — of their Earth Goddess, over the irresistible Agent of the God of Light— 5» 84 We will not, however, here anticipate the promised disclosures relative to that ignoble failure ; but shall confine ourselves to the period, when " it was deemed necessary to send General Dyce to allay" the " tempest in a tea-pot." The dimensions of the Reviewer's tea-pot will best be understood by a glance at the annexed map, and — albeit we are not sure that we do not mistake the drift of this elegant metaphor, the boiling contents thereof will represent numerous detachments of troops, occupying its more prominent positions, whose occasional collisions with the scattered inhabitants, when driven from burned and plundered villages to seek a refuge in the hills and jungles, constitute, we presume, the ebullitions of the boiling fluid. On what grounds the Reviewer ventures authoritatively to re- cord such a parody on the sufferings of his fellow-creatures, totally destitute as it is of any foundation on fact, let him explain. The public prints of each of the three Presidencies — though he might have cause to doubt their entire accuracy — certainly had a right, in common courtesy, to expect that their almost unanimous testimo- ny to the disturbed state of the Hill Tracts of Orissa at that time, should be met by some less uncourteous disproof than the most positive simple contradiction can imply. The official documents pa- raded at the head of the article ought to supply some shadows of proof at least. But no: the character of the Calcutta Journal needed no concurrent testimony. Let us further see how that character has been sustained. The " tempest in a tea-pot" we have said, extended from Rus- eellcondah to the Mahanuddy. In evidence of this, we annex a list of the various posts in Goomsoor and Boad, which, at the time of General Dyce's arrival were occupied by Troops of the Line at Captain MacPherso7i' s oiom requisition ; as well as in the districts siibject to his jurisdiction ; in addition to which there were three posts on the confines of those districts, held by the 41st Regt. N. I. for the express purpose of securing the neighbouring talooks of the Gan- jam Collectorate from the further incursions of the insurgents of the Hill Tracts. A wing of the Khelat-i-Ghilzee Regt. also occu- pied Burmool ; The 18th Regt. M. N. I. on its route fromNagpore, for the express purpose of aiding in the extinction of this " small irish-Boulah-like rebellion" furnished six Companies at the instance 85 of Captain MacPherson to act against the insurgents — with in- structions from himself, to observe on their march the precautions usual in an enemy's country. A Company of the Madras Artillery, and a Detachment of the Nizam's Irregular Horse completed a tolerably respectable force for quelling a " tempest in a tea-pot." The 29th Regt. M. N, I. was also on its route from Hyderabad, to lend its aid, if required, in quelling " the said rebellion" ; of the importance of which Government must, therefore, have taken as widely different a view from our Reviewer, as Captain MacPherson evidently did of the " ;y'%/o?<5 significance" of the insurrection. It is superfluous to burden our pages with references to official or other documents, to prove that Dr. Cadenhead was, at this time, prosecuting active military operations against the troublesome Boad Khond Chief in the neighbourhood of the Podentilla pass — that Captain Dunlop was engaged with refractory Paiks in the hill valley of Chokapaud and its neighbourhood — that a Detachment of the 50th Regt. N. I. on its march to the support of Dr. Cadenhead, had been exposed for nearly a whole day to the fire of the insurgents, who succeeded in capturing its camp equipage — and that Lieut. Colonel Green in command of the Field Force, was operating against the insurgents in Goomsoor ; while the Agent himself from above the Ghauts, where he maintained his position by the presence of a strong Detachment of the 22d Regiment N. I., supported by a party of the Ramghur horse, wrote, under date the 10th February 1847 from Raionendi, " I may observe, as you are probably informed, the rising in Goom- .?oor below the Ghauts commenced about the 10th of December last. Its chief ostensible objects appear to have been the resto- ration of the Zemindary family of Goomsoor, and the re-establish- ment of the influence, in the Khond country, of Dora Bissye, now represented by Chokra Bissye. It was undertaken in immediate connection with an eflbrt which Nowboghon Khonro, a Khond Chief of Boad has maintained during the last 12 months, to supersede the authority of the Rajah, and of the principal Khond Chiefs, in the Hill Tracts of that Zemindary ; and to defeat the objects of Government." Observe then, the insurrection in Goomsoor below the Ghauts, commenced in December 1846, while that in Boad had been mairt- tained for 12 months, toiih the special vieio of defeating the objects of Government ; and yet the Reviewer has the efFrontry to assert, in direct contradiction to the Agent himself, that it broke out in a remote part ; and that its sole object was to set up a member of the petty royal family of Goomsoor. If we are to believe the Agent, the "objects" of the more remote rise, were perfectly distinct from those assigned for that nearer home, and of prior development, by at least 10 months. The " sole object," says the Reviewer, *' was to set up as Rajah, some petty member of the royal family of Goomsoor"— the extract given however, shews him and Captain MacPherson to be decidedly at variance, and we believe both to be wrong in giving any prominence to the supposition. The Reviewer will probably regard with suspicion any informa- tion, unsupported by positive demonstration, whether it tends to invalidate his unwarrantable assertions, or even to sustain his most cherished delusions respecting Khond affairs, of the entire character of which he has been so unaccountably duped. But our readers, who are habituated to exercise their own discrimination on the events of contemporary history, may be told that there exists, in the Ganjam Agents' Office, an authentic copy of a proclamation of Captain MacPherson's, dated the 19th December 1846, in which rewards are offered for the apprehension of certain leaders, amongst whom, the only Goomsoor man mention- ed is Chokra Bissye, a hitherto insignificant person, brought from Ungool for the express purpose of fomenting an insurrection al- ready commenced. The four remaining leaders named in that document, are Chiefs of Boacl, Can this be accounted for, if the sole, or even a prominent object, of this " miserable miniature rebellion" was what the Reviewer is pleased to assert ? The very idea of Boad Khonds rising in revolt, against " the irresistible Agent of the God of Light," with the ^^ sole" view of setting up a member of the petty royal family of Goomsoor, is so ludi- crous that the mere proposition would at once secure its rejec- tion by any person competent to treat of Khond affairs. Yet this is the " sole^' object admitted by the Reviewer, to the exclusion absolute of every other, in a sentence studiously forced upon his readers' observation, for a " small Irish-Boulah-like rebellion" 87 that broke out In a remote district. It is utterly at variance with the Agents' own account, not of the sole object, but of the com- plicity of objects, to which this " tempest in a tea pot" owed its rise. The short sentence in fact, on which we have now been commenting, alone affords conclusive evidence of the Re- vjewer's " profound ignorance and all-devouring credulity," or of his entire disregard to naked truth in his handling of this chapter at least, of the " Khond chronicles." To avoid tiresome repetitions we have designedly reserved our remarks on the character of " the said rebellion" as exhibited in the acts of rapine and violence that marked its progress, for another occasion. But we submit, that we have fully vindicated the character which we assigned to the Reviewer's assertions, on which we have now commented, by showing, that the ex- tent of the " small Irish-Boulah-like rebellion" — if indeed we have been fortunate enough to apprehend the meaning of that choice epithet, — was nearly, if not quite, commensurate with ihat of the Agent's jurisdiction, — that the outbreak *' in a remote dis- trict was" closely " connected with the Agent's abolitionary mea- sures," one object of it being " to resist the future delivery of the Meriahs ;" while we have also given the Agenfs atdhority for assigning at least tivo objects for the insurrection in lower Goomsoor perfectly distinct from those to wkich the insurrection " in a remote district" is said to have owed its origin ten months earlier. Oa approaching our third subject, we would premise that it is by no means our intention to discuss the particulars of the violent philippic in which the disappointed Reviewer is pleased to give vent to his spleen against General Dyce. For we are assured that we shall, by a brief discussion of a sentence or two of that intempe- rate attack, so fully expose the writer's ignorance and injustice, as to render all further comment superfluous. Those we select run thus : " still more unhappily, it came to *' pass that the said General, on his arrival in Goomsoor, utterly *' mistaking the real spirit and intention of his commission, began. 88 " officiously, gratuitously and arbitrarily to intermeddle with mat- " ters which in no way whatever belonged to him. His sole and " exclusive vocation was, to put down ' the tempest in a tea-pot' " rebellion." Let our readers judge what was the " spirit and intention of his commission" from the following expression of the hopes of the President in Council, at Fort William, addressed to General Dyce, in a letter from G. A. Bushby, Esq., dated the 27th March 1847. Para 2. " The President in Council, I am desired to state, was in " hopes that, on your assuming command of the troops on the '■^ frontier, you loould have been in possession of mstructiofis from " the Madras Government, ichich tvould have empowered you to '^^ take ujion yourself complete political authority in the ivhole of the " territory formerly under the control of the Agent in the Hills of *' Orissa ; and that you would have employed Captain MacPherson " as your Assistant, on such duties only as you might be pleased " to confide to him. Such was the intention of the Supreme Go- *' vernment, and on the receipt of my letter of the 19 th instant, *' you will doubtless have so understood it ; and I am now further " directed to communicate to you that it is not in the contempla- " tion of the Government of India, longer to employ Captain Mac- •' Pherson in his late office, the duties of which you are desired to " administer until other arrangements shall be made and commu- *' nicated to you." Such an exposition of the hopes of the President in Council certainly render all further comment on the gratuitous ex- pressions of the Reviewer's indignation unnecessary. Lest, how- ever, it should be supposed, that the authorities at Madras had disappointed the hopes, and frustrated the intentions of the Su- preme Government, by withholding their instructions, and that General Dyce's intermeddling was only justified by a fortunate coincidence, we subjoin an E.\.tract from the orders conveyed to that officer on his first proceeding to undertake " the import- ant duty for which he had been selected," as the Adjutant Ge- neral of the Army of Fort St. George expresses it in a letter dated the 23d February 1847. " But while the Commander-in-Chief is willing that every con- sideration should bo shewn to Captain MacPherson, which can- 89 dour and delicacy can suggest, he desires me to impress upon you that there is a paramount duty to the State, and to the uncivilized tribes now unhappily in rebellion, to which all else must give way, should it appear to you that the objects of Government are not likely to be attained, unless you assume both Political and Mili- tary Authority. "Whether you act in co-operation with Captain MacPherson, or in the exercise of Political power, His Lordship considers that much good may be effected by conciliatory measures, and giving the people in opposition to our Government, a clear and correct view of the benevolent intentions entertained towards them, while by a judicious demonstration of your force, you exhibit the power to protect our own subjects, and destroy the resources of an enemy, if he renders warfare inevitable. 6. " The Marquis of Tweeddale wishes that you should establish the most direct intercourse icith the Chiefs of the Hill Tribes, and have explained to them, uith the least possible intervention that the measures of Government are carried on simply for their welfare and improvement." The following is the 2d para of an Extract from the Minutes of Consultation dated the 17lh of the same month, under which General Dyce's appointment immediately took place. 2. " His Lordship in Council authorizes the General Officer, Commanding Northern Division, to exercise full Political Authority in the Khond districts, during the continuance of Military opera- tions, under the limitations, and in the circumstances specified in para 9th." The para here referred to (the 9th) we also give — it is contained in a letter from the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India dated 4th January 1847. *' But it appears to the President in Council that it will be high- ly expedient immediately to place under the direction of a discreet and experienced officer of the Madras Army, the movements of Troops and the Military operations that may become necessary to- wards the restoration of tranquillity ; and he would suggest to the Most Noble the Governor in Council that the Major General Com- manding the Northern Division, or any other General Officer who may be selected by the Madras Government for the command, may 00 be ordered immediately to proceed to the Frontier and take the Field, with such Troops as may be collected in the vicinity of Rus- selcondah ; and the President in Council requests that if this officer should find matters approaching to pacification, and the hostile spirit of the tribes subdued, he will permit the Agent for the sup- pression of human sacrifices to carry out his own measures, and will aflford them his cordial support ; but if on the contrary it should appear indispensable for the restoration of order and sub- mission to the Government, to assume a hostile attitude and com- mence Military operations, from the time of their commencement, Captain MacPherson will be directed to hold himself in political Bubordination to the General Officer Commanding the Forces, to whom he will afibrd all the aid and information in his power, but will not in any manner interfere excepting as ordered so to do by the Commanding Officer ; and the President in Council desires that full Political as well as Military power may rest with the Command- ing Officer during the continuance of Military operations." The reader is, we conceive, now in possession of abundant mean$ to form his own independent judgment of the General's *' sole and exclusive vocation", and of the character of the Reviewer's " historic sketch." It remains, however, to notice the limitation which seeaas not to be expressed with sufficient perspicuity and precision, in the 9th para of Mr. Bushby's letter above quoted, " If on the contrary," says that gentleman, " It should appear Indispensable to the restor- ation of order and submission to the Government, to assume a hos- tile attitude and commence Military operations ; from the time of their commencement. Captain MacPherson will be directed to hold him- self in political subordination to the General." Hence the doubt of which, that officer enjoyed the benefit. With reference to this point, we will observe, that General Dyce reached Russelcondah on the 7th March 1847 — and on the 24th, after the receipt of a letter from the Officiating Secretary to the Go- vernment of India dated the 19th, referring to his " appointment by the Madras Government" to the command of the Northern Division of the Madras Army, and to exercise full Political authority in the Khond districts during the continuance of Military operations," <^ffr the receipt of this communication, that officer assumed the powers, 01 •which the spirit and letter of his instructions so clearly vested in him — Bespeaking the attention of our readers to the particular di- rections, conveyed to General Dyce by the Adjutant General of the Army, viz. to give "the people in opposition to our Govern- ment, a clear and correct view of the benevolent intentions enter- tained towards them" and " to establish the most direct intercourse with the Chiefs of the Hill Tribes," — which could only be effected by direct communication — let them decide with what shew of justice the charges exhibited by the Reviewer, of " officiously, gratuitously, and arbitrarily intermeddling" are advanced. We need not repeat what was said under our last head, to prove that a state of things, corresponding to that contemplated by the Supreme Government, had arisen, and rendered the assumption of the delegated authority imperative. But without entering into minute details, we will add, that before the assumption of those powers, *' the General's total ignorance of Khond affairs" had been enlightened by personal communication with the Agents of Ganjam and Vizagapatam and the Khond Agent himself, — by informa- tion received from Bir Khonro, Sirdar Nursing Naik, Rajavah Bissye and others, then in confinement ; — by personal obser- vation of burned, plundered and deserted villages ; — by communi- cation with Lieutenant Colonel Green and the Officers Command- ing Troops in Military occupation of the whole country ; — by pe- rusal of the Agent's voluminous despatches ; — and by direct know- ledge of the futility of Captain MacPherson's attempts to induce the fugitive inhabitants to return to their deserted homes ; as well as by other unequivocal indications of hostility, that constituted altogether a " casus belli," which nothing could avert, but the most direct and energetic interference. The districts of Boad and Goomsoor, above and below the Ghauts, were filled with disorder and distress, the consequences of burnings, plunderings, summary imprisonments and other coercive measures, such as we have re- ferred to, and shall have to adduce when we come to expose the weakness that, to use the Agent's words in describing the feelings of the Khonds of Boad towards a chief rebel, " had made their name formidable, by leading them successfully to resist even the Government." To advance aught further anent the propriety of relieving 9^ the Agent from the charge of a district in which his mensure* had produced such lamentable effects, seems to us superflu- ous : but we may mention that General Dyce was not the first to contemplate that measure — as we know that, prior to his mission to Goomsoor, the question of a successor to Captain Mac- Pherson, had engaged the attention of the Governments of Bengal and Madras. To comment on all the examples of scurrilous invective and os- tentatious insult, that deface the pages of the Review, and are specially dedicated to the celebration of his hero's " tri- umphant vindication," after having so fully exposed his " profound ignorance" of some of the most important features of "this misera- ble miniature of rebellion," would be as superfluous as it would be irksome and unpleasant. We pity a man of the author's known character, ability and attainments, who could " in an evil hour' suffer himself to be hurried into so unscrupulous an advocacy of a radically bad cause. We must, however, observe with respect to the reputed " tri- umphant vindication," if such indeed it really was, so exultingly paraded, that with the author of it, — we have no controversy. We doubt not but that he undertook the painful task imposed upon him, with the best feelings towards all parties. But how long the particular influences, to which he was so exclusively subjected, ad- mitted of his preserving that spirit of impartiality which is essential to a fair investigation and adjustment of the conflicting interests of any two parties, we cannot determine. We do however know that, among the results of the Commissioner's labours were the restoration of the " old traitor," Sam Bissye to his paternal inheri- tance and country, [his Jagheer being withheld] — the convic- tion of Moonshee Baba Khan, for corrupt practices, and " possibly Soondera Singh ;" but certainly Poorunnah Kistniah and others— the free pardon of the rebellious Bissye's of Chokapaud and the future payment of batta to the Samusthan Paiks, the refusal of which by the late Agent had caused so much serious discontent and mischief. Are, we ask, these results to be received as specimens or proofs of a triumphant vindication or " signal victory ?" The restoration of the man who " had so foully and treacherously de- secrated his office" ; the conviction for corrupt practices of one, and 93 probable convicLion of the other ** of the twoChuf Native Servants" — Avhom he — the Agent — " characterizes in the following emphatic and generous strains," as the Reviewer informs us, ill-accord with any idea we can form of a triumphant vindication ; and as we have good grounds for believing, that the late Agent's summary and despotic treatment of Koorti Vas and Bir Khonro were disapproved by the Supreme Government, to us the Reviewer's exultation over the " signal victory," assumes somewhat the appearance of a ruse to cover a failure. With these additions to his knowledge of events which the Reviewer so partially relates, but copiously expatiates upon, the reader will he able to appreciate his declaration that " It afTords us no ordinary satisfaction to report authoritatively the trium- phant vindication" of Captain Macpherson. We confess our inability to palliate so flagrant a violation of truth and justice as is here exhibited, except indeed the " profound ignorance and all-devouring credulity" with which General Dyce is so gratuitously charged belongs of right to the Reviewer. All the powers of rhetoric will not avail you, traducer. " Mutato nomine de fe fabula narratur." It was never our intention to engage in a set defence of General Dyce's conduct, neither do we believe that any of our readers will suppose or think that it requires to be defended against the effusions of indiscriminate partizansliip which characterizes the last article of the Calcutta Journal, but feeling that the vituperative attack on that Officer has been further abused as a vehicle for insinuations against other unnamed parties designated "enemies," "foes," &c. and having already so fully disposed of the charge of "officiously, gratuitously, and arbitrarily intermeddling," we avail ourselves of the opportunity to lay before our readers, a few extracts from the correspondence' of Officers, '^including the members of the late Agency who, from having themselves been engaged in quelling the " small _^Irish-Boulah-like rebellion," enjoyed opportunities of knowing the real state of affairs in the districts subject to Captain MacPherson's jurisdiction, that render^heir testimony of primary importance in deciding on thereal character and extent of the in- surrection. We will first give an extract from General Dyce's letter to th« 94 Adjutant General of the Army dated 20th March 1847, which will we think, satisfactorily prove his sense of the need of immediate interference, and of the reasons which induced him to forbear ex- ercising the powers, which it has been shewn the Government of Bengal considered him, from the outset, to have been vested. *' I have the honor to report for the information of His Excel- lency the Most Noble the Commander-in-Chief, my having moved out to this place (GuUery) on the 14th instant, with the view of affording Captain MacPherson all the aid I consistently could, in giving effect to his measures for the restoration of tranquillity, and likewise of ascertaining, from personal observation, and any sources within my reach, the actual position of affairs in these dis- turbed districts. From the above date, up to the present hour, there has not been the slightest change in the aspect of affairs, and I venture to aver that, under the present local authorities, per- manent tranquillity will never be restored ; and my opinion is based upon the following circumstances: — 1st. The extreme hatred manifested throughout these districts against Captain MacPherson and his Establishment, the result as is generally stated, of the op- pressive conduct of the Agency towards the inhabitants of these Mutahs. 2d. The constant and heavy drain upon them both for coolies and for supplies. 3d. The employment of the Samusthan Paiks upon various duties without remuneration, contrary to their express stipulations with Government ; and above all, the harsh and cruel measures resorted to, whenever it has been necessary to display the power of the Government (as it is termed) against any of these ignorant and deluded people. I have now been at this deserted village for six days, and although Captain MacPherson has been likewise here, with Sirdar Soonder Singh and another influential man of his establishment, not a creature has returned, nor is there a prospect of their doing so, notwithstanding a procla- mation has been issued offering pardon to all, save the principals, in the late outbreak. It is obvious that the spirit of universal dis- trust in the minds of the people, against the locally constituted authorities, will not, and cannot be allayed by any temporary return of the villagers, of which, as I before stated, there does not appear the slightest probability." " I have seldom walked out without being intercepted by these 95 poor unhappy people casting themaolvea at my feet and entreating me to enquire into their grievances : and from all I have observed, as well as from information I have sought, I am impressed with the strongest conviction that the feeling of disaffection now so rife and universal in these districts, arises from no opposition to the Government, but is solely and exclusively directed against the local authorities ; and all those people to whom I have spoken declare that they will do whatever is required of them, if their complaints are enquired into, and if they are relieved from the rule of the Agency." " Whatever information I have acquired, whether from the peo. pie themselves, the servants of Government, or from so much of Captain MacPherson's correspondence as he has been pleased to shew me, all irresistibly impelled me to the same conclusion ; in- deed, these latter documents plainly and unequivocally demonstrate that conciliatory measures have never been adopted, as they exhi- bit an almost continuous narrative of burning and plundering vil- lages, Avith occasional destruction of grain, until the entire commu» nity and not " a mob" has been excited by these inhuman pro- ceedings. I trust however that the positive orders I have issued to the troops since my assuming command have for the time at least checked such disgraceful proceedings, and which I am informed have been carried to a most lamentable extent by the Principal Assistant Dr. Cadenhead ; but I have to regret that the reports from the troops which were detached and have been acting under his orders have not yet reached me. I beg to anne.K copies of a public, and extract from a private letter from Major Rose of the 50th Regiment, who commands at Chalee, which will throw some light on the painful subject of these incendiary proceedings." * * * *' Although Captain MacPherson can afford me no in^ telligible information of the use to be made of the detachments iu their present positions, he is opposed to their withdrawal ; and as the provisions of para 9 of Mr. Secretary Bushby's letter preclude any interference, I am left utterly powerless, and compelled to wit- ness the puerile and supine endeavours of the Agent, to restore or- der and tranquillity, at a period of the year which renders it im- perative that there should be vo delay, and when instant energy and decision arc required. If I conceived myself warranted in 96 adopting and carrying out my own measures for the settlement and tranquillity of these and the adjacent districts, I would not hesitate at once to withdraw a considerable portion of the troops ; and I. would venture to state that the whole might in a very short time be altogether removed." The following is from Major Rose Commanding at Chalee and alluded to above. " At Boodinghee, where I was first stationed, after leaving the Khokolobah District, I frequently patrolled the jungles in the neighbourhood of my Camp, but could not fall in with any of the inhabitants. My attention however was attracted to the misery which must fall upon the people from the ruined villages, and destruction of grain which every where met my eye, and I heard of large numbers of cattle having been taken. " I sent out a small party under a Havildar to endeavour to get speech of the people, details of which I reported to ColonelGreen, in a letter dated Boodinghee, 3d March 1847, but I was removed to Chalee two days after, so that no satisfactory results were arrived at. " On arrival at Chalee, I found the village burned, but there were a few people on the plain who ran off on our approach. There were also some Buffaloes grazing near. " My duty here was, by Captain MacPherson's order, to burn temporary retreats and grain, and to break even the chatties. Lieutenant Pinkney joined me here, and the work of destruction was carried on with considerable activity up to the receipt of Ge- neral Dyce's order, directing offensive operations to be discon- tinued. " During thet imel was thus employed, I met with no opposition, and only occasionally saw very few unarmed people who ran away immediately on our approach. *' I found the utmost difficulty in commencing negociations with the people, as I could by no means get near them, and I could not expect that they would put faith in such a sudden change on my part, so sudden indeed, that on my return one morning late from a destroying expedition, and while the men's arms were being in_ spected previous to breaking off — the order to cease was put into my hands, and I was enabled on the spot to communicate the same to all present, and to warn Sepoys and Followers, that I would 07 punish all people taking property or molesting the inhabitants in any way. " An old man had been the previous day caught at a village, and handed over to Lieutenant Pinkney, but as I had not a hope of getting near any of the other people, I asked Lieutenant Pinkney to let me have him. I immediately untied his hands, and after some consideration and conversation with him, released him, fully explaining to him the change of views on the part of Government, and directed him to proceed to the jungle and publish the same, giving him a supply of Tobacco, Rice, Doll, &c. He returned with his son and another man— these I treated in precisely the same way, and they also returned apparently feeling satisfied that I would not harm them. Matters were not however progressing satisfactorily, and I saw plainly that the immunity offered by the Agency, of which Captain MacPherson was the official Head, was held in the greatest dread. The Proclamations which were sent, signed by Captain MacPherson, I did all in my power to publish, but I could get no one to take them, except the old man Threbe Mullicho, and he most reluctantly took one, but brought it back, saying that no one would look at it or take it from him ; and from his account I thought it my duty to return the Proclamations to Lieutenant MacViccar as totally useless. " Subsequent to my having permissi(m to use Brigadier General Dyce's name as the representative of Government, in the overtures of pardon and protection, two Khonds visited my Camp, and their reception, together with the information conveyed to them, was such as to induce several heads of families to come in the evening, and next day they brought straw for sale. " These people said they had nothing left — that all had been taken. They, I have reason to believe, had located previous to my leaving Chalee. "The Proclamation by General Dyce was fully e.xplained toThrebe Mullicho, and was at once received. He was sent to Khistekole with it ; but I left Chalee before he could have returned. " Several of the Chalee people have been I understand guiltless of rebellion throughout, and they told me they had gone to Pusserah by Captain Dunlop's advice, there to be protected from the insurgents, who Avoiild have endeavoured to coerce them to N 08 join. These people came to me ami said they wished to return to their houses, but that they had nothing left — their houses were burnt — their cattle taken. " The whole of the buffaloes and cattle from this place were taken by a party of Khonds, and driven off under the sanction of the Agency, soon after Lieutenant Pinkney's arrival, and the situa- tion of the villagers is as near as possible — total destUuliun. Their houses, farm implements, and grain burnt ; and their cattle taken. "A party of my men under a Havildar who had been sent to try and negociate with the villagers, found 14 Khonds loaded with grain looted from a village hard by. The Havildar very properly brought the men and loot into camp, and I would have sent them into Gullery, where the Brigadier General then was, but Mr. Pinkney represented that these men had been specially per- mitted to act thus, and that they were not aware of the prohibi- tion. I sent the loot back to the village whence it was taken, by my own coolies, and dismissed the marauders, with an intimation that they would be severely dealt with, if I again caught them so employed. " A number of Khonds who came with Mr. Pinkney went to the neighbouring villages in search of plunder, but on hearing of the new regime, and my determination to carry out my orders, they soon decamped. " The natives of Captain MacPherson's Agency, appear to have been held in the greatest terror and abhorrence by all to whom their names were mentioned." Again, in communicating with the Political Assistant to the Briga- dier General, Major Rose writes as follows : " I do myself the honor to enclose two Proclamations forwarded to me by Captain Mac- Pherson for distribution, as I find it quite impossible to get the inhabitants to come near my camp. One old man only (alluded to in several of my former letters) comes, and he most unwillingly received one of the Proclamations ; but he has brought it back saying that the people are afraid to take it into their hands even. " I beg through you, most respectfully but earnestly, to urge on the attention of General Dyce, that unless some prompt measures be taken to induce these people to return to their spots of cultiva- tion, build their houses, and otherwise take advantage of the short 90 time betwixt this and the rains, to prepare for the cultivation of their land, I fear there will be much misery and loss of life. I speak of the part of the country where I now am, and where I liave an opportunity of seeing the actual state of matters. " There are neither houses, farming implements, nor cattle ; and the burning and destruction of grain with Captain MacPherson's orders, have gone far to deprive the people of food and seed to put in the ground." In his letter to the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, dated the 29th March 1847, the General writes as follows : Para 5, " A letter from Captain Robertson above the Ghauts, reached me on the 27th, with the intelligence of a trifling skirmish between his party and a body of Khonds in the supposed interest of Chokra Bissye, who has returned the copy of the Proclamation which Captain MacPherson's Moonshee for- warded to him, stating that he was prepared to fight and not to negociate." 7. " I will not at present enter into any account of the extraor- dinary detention of numerous prisoners for very protracted periods (10 and 12 months) without any positive charges against them, while their goods have been confiscated, and their cattle sold ; but I merely advert to the fact, as one amongst many causes of the ex- cited feelings of the people, Avhich is now I confidently trust, dying awaj." Extract from a letter from the Superintendent Tributary Mehals, dated 1th April 1817, to Brigadier General A. Dyce, fonvardirig copy of a letter and of its native enclosure received from Captain Dunlop. Para 3. " It appears to me that, had Captain MacPherson seen fit to extend a pardon to Bir Khonro, when he gave himself up, on the faith of the safe conduct guaranteed to him by the Rajah of Ungool, and also by Captain Dunlop, not only would his father and brother have come in, but the Rajah of Ungool would have withdrawn his countenance and protection from the insurgents. It is also I think much to be regretted that it was not deemed advisable to accede to the proposition made by the Rajah in regard to Chokra Jiissye. This Rajah has always evinced a refractory and disaffect- ed spirit, and was not likely to have omitted to avail himself of 100 such a good pretext as the one afforded by Blr Khonro's imprison- ment, to foster and encourage disturbances, which would enable him to prosecute his own designs against his neighbours. On the late occasion, the seizure of a valuable portion of the territory of the DuspuUah Rajah (called Jurmoo) appears to have been his object." From Captain Dunlop to the Superintendent Tributary Mekals, al- luded to above. " I have the honor to enclose a statement made by Jemadar Shaik Kurrim Bux to me, regarding what occurred when he was sent to the Boad Khond Mehals with Mohesseer Khonroin December last, by which it would appear that the principal cause of the late op- position to Government, arose from the servants of Captain Mac- Pherson's Cutchery having exacted bribes from the hill tribes in the beginning of 1846. The Jemadar says he did not acquaint me with this fact before, because Blr Khonro had requested him to say nothing about it, otherwise, as he was going in to Captain MacPherson, it might produce ill consequences to him, were it known that he had brought such accusation against Captain Mac- Pherson's Cutchery servants." Extract from a letter from Mr. Cadenhead to General Dyce's Politi- cal Assistant dated I5th April 1847. " Under instructions from the Agent in the Hill tracts of Orissa, communicated to me verbally, I destroyed several jungle . retreats and grain stores in that Mutah, (Bopalmendi.) I conceived that the object to be effected by this measure was two-fold. 1st. To make some restitution to the Khonds of Linepurrah for the most wanton and savage destruction of their Villages and property by the people of Bopalmendi, who had acted for four months with the Boad mob under Bir Khonro, in attacks upon that Mutah ; and 2d. The punishment of the people of Bopalmendi, the small sec- tion of a tribe, for resistance to the authority of Government and the leading Khond Chiefs, maintained for four months in the face of every possible effort to induce them to submit — punishment espe- cially required by the circumstance that the whole of the Goom- soor tribes would be placed in the most critical position, from the 101 rebellions in the low country being rekindled by Chokra Bissye, should that section of a tribe be permitted to maintain its resis- tance with impunity. And I therefore gave the property which I found in these jungle retreats and grain stores to the Khonds of Linepurrah, and destroyed what they could not carry away. In the course of these operations, several villages, wholly deserted and emptied of property were, almost necessarily, destroyed by these Khonds, in revenge for the destruction of their villages. I do not know whether these were the villages specified in your letter." Extract of a letter Jrom Ensign Wyld, \^th Regt. N. I. dated RusseU condah 22d May 1847. " I have the honor to inform you that I have in my possession a cow and a calf, which were given me by Mr. Pinkney, late Second Assistant in the Hill tracts, and which were part of a herd of cattle driven into the Field Post of Chalee by that gentleman's order, and afterwards distributed by him." From Lieutenant Hughes, \%th Regiment N. I. dated Russelcondah 2\stMaij 1847. " I have the honor to state for the information of the General Commanding the Division, that the only occasion on which either myself, or any Sepoys under my command, took cattle, &c., during the late disturbances in Goomsoor, was when on the morning of the 11th March 1847, Lieutenant Pinkney gave me a cow which had been driven into Camp on the previous evening." From Captain MacPherson to his Principal Assistant Mr. Cadenhead dated Coormingiah Sth March 1847. " With reference to your letters of the 24th and 26th ultimo, I must express the very deep regret which I feel, that it should have appeared to you to be absolutely necessary to destroy many ham- lets in the tract of Nowbighon Khonro. *' I am aware that you entirely share my feelings of distress, re- specting this deplorable necessity whenever it has arisen, and I have no doubt that you had solid grounds for the conviction, that by acting as you did, a very large amount of evil would be pre- vented : but the measure is so very lamentable a one. and so deep- 102 ly repugnant to the spirit of these operations, that I must beg that you will not in future, save in cases to which no rule can apply, re- sort to it towards any village not expressly designated by me. I anxiously trust that no occasion for such designation will again arise." Ffotn Captain MacPherson to General Dyce ftcithout date. J " After seeing you yesterday and entirely agreeing with you, that offensive operations should be put a stop to at once, I wrote to Pinkney to that effect in a letter, which Colonel Green promised to take out to him but left behind. Your orders would supersede the necessity for it. I cannot express in any degree the pain that I have felt, that you should not have received the impression that the destruction of the property of these poor people, to the extent authorized by me, was calculated to produce a great saving of misery — to save these tracts from being again swept by fire by these Paiks and robbers, and by our miserable shot ; and I venture slill to hope that you may see some reason to incline to my view. You may perhaps glance at what I wrote to Mr. Cadenhead, before I came here. I have since, as I mentioned, requested him to cease from any thing resembling offensive measures." From Mr. Cadenhead to Captain MacPherson, dated 2%th March 1847. " The persons sent by me to Nowbighon have returned ; and they say that Bala Krushen Dass also set out to-day to return to you, so that it is probable that you will learn from him the state of affairs before receiving this. The messengers sent by me state that they met Nowbighon and all the chiefs of Kotrekeai, and that Nowbighon's reply to the message was that if Bir Khonro should be forgiven and set at liberty, he would certainly submit. The messengers say that Bala Krushen Dass before going to Antmullick to see his family, met Nowbighon Khonro and delivered your let- ter to him ; and that then Nowbighon's intention was to submit immediately ; but that between the time of the delivery of your letter, and Bala Krushen Dass' return with the messengers from me, all the chiefs of Kotrekeai Had met Nowbighon, and the re- sult of their united counsels was to require the liberation of Bir as a condition of submission ; this is not unlikely to be true, as there seems every reason to believe that (illegible) and MoondiaMuUicho 103 (not legible as I mentioned in a former note) and other leading chiefs, are opposed to submission. However this may be, it seems to me that neither Nowbighon nor his partisans in Kotrekeai have been brought to a state compatible with the objects of Government and the peace of the country, while they demand terms of submis- sion. To prevent any chance of mistake on this point however, I have now sent Cham Soondra Putnaick with a letter to Nowbighon ; if he has any intention of submitting, I think he will come in, or his representatives ; of course if he submits, the people of Kotre- keai will come in likewise. Cham Soondra Putnaick will return the day after to-morrow, and of course I shall lose no time in let- ting you know the result. As Cham Soondra displays great earn- estness in the matter, I venture to entertain some hope that he will be successful in his mission." Replies hy Captain Dunlop to Mr. Gratifs interrogatories enclosed in letter dated Wth December, 1847. 1. *' I was only one entire day in the Mutah of Bopalmendi (the 31st January 1847.) Mr. Cadenhead was with me, and con- ducted the operations : he arrived late on the evening of the 30th January with me, and left with me early on the morning of the 1st February. Some grain Pootoos were destroyed on the 31st, trees cut down, and two villages destroyed — one of which was burned by the troops with Mr. Cadenhead ; and the other, he sent men across the valley to destroy. 2. " The day before Mr. Cadenhead and I entered the Mutah, I was informed that most of the villages had been fired, and Pootoos destroyed by a party of troops under Captain MacPherson. I only know of one village left standing, when Mr. Cadenhead left the Mutah — it was the one occupied by the troops ; the name I do not recollect, 3. "The only village occupied by camp followers and troops, was the one above alluded to. It was left standing when Mr. Caden- head left the Mutah, and was then occupied by Lieutenant Haugh- ton's party, Avho was told by Mr. Cadenhead to destroy the village when he left it." With reference to these replies, certain other queries wore put, and the following are the answers. 104 1. " The first mentioned village was burnt (to the best of my recollection) by the Sebundies and other people attendant on Mr. Cadenhead (in what capacity I do not know.) I am not aware that either the men of the 50th Regiment, or the Khondah Paiks, who were present on this occasion, set fire to any of the houses. 2. " I saw, in company with Mr. Cadenhead, the burning of this village ; and to the best of my recollection it was burned by the description of persons above mentioned. 3. " Mr. Cadenhead was present at the village when it was burned. 4. " The persons employed in burning the village were attend- ant on Mr. Cadenhead ; they had left the Camp to go out with him, and had previously been employed in destroying Pootoos. 5. (I was) " With Mr. Cadenhead close to the first village burned. 6. " I heard Mr. Cadenhead give instructions to the people about him in the immediate vicinity of the village to set it on fire, which was done ; but I cannot speak positively at this distance of time, as to whether the order was conveyed in Ooriali or Hindoo- stanee ; the order was given generally to those about him, and was carried into execution, as far as I recollect, by the description of persons before mentioned. 7. (The other village burnt by men sent across the valley to destroy it, was burnt) " By the same description of persons as set fire to the first village. 8. " I did see the burning of the second village ; and, to the best of my recollection, it was set on fire by the Sebundies and other followers of Mr. Cadenhead, 9. "The second village burned was immediately opposite the first village — I should say about 800 yards distant, across an open valley. Mr. Cadenhead was at, or near, the first village, when fire was set to the second village. 10. " Those who set fire to the second village, were immediately previous to doing so, in attendance on Mr. Cadenhead. 11. "I was with Mr. Cadenhead the whole time (of the burning.) 12. "I did hear Mr. Cadenhead give instructions to the people about him in h general way to burn that village ; the order was 105 given when the first village was in flames ; but in what language it was given, I cannot distinctly recollect. 13. " I did hear the instructions to burn the villages. 14. " Near the first village, Khonds from Lineparrah had been passing during the day, with loot from the Pootoos of Dootamendi ; but at the time the villages were set on fire, I saw no Khunds near them ; and I am perfectly confident there were none near either village at the time they were fired. A party of Khonds of Lineparrah, carrying grain, passed the first village after it had been set on fire. 15. "I did hear Mr. Cadenhead tell Lieutenant Haughton, that unless the people came in, he was to destroy the village where the troops were encamped in Dootamendi, when they left it. We come next to the Reviewer's account of Captain MacPher- son's contemplated " educational training of such of the rescued victims as were under age and capable of scholastic instruction." " His fixed purpose was, as early as possible, to carry education into the hills — his great object being, through the moral and reli- gious advancement of the Khonds, by educating them, to complete and render permanent, the change in their ancestral faith and usages, which he had first brought about, through personal, social, and political means." Of the Agent's " pioneering measures," we have had a notable example in the utter, and, we should have conceived inevitable, failure of "another special measure," the bestowal after careful preparation of fifty-three female wards of Government, upon Chiefs and men of influence in Pondacole who, as Colonel Campbell as- certained on the spot, and every practical man must have antici- pated, obliged them to destroy their female off'spring. Are we to seek proofs of his " great object" in bis partial denunciation of this abhorrent practice ?— his plain pandering to their degrading belief in a false pagan deity's " conditional permission" of female infanticide ? — his violent seizure of an idol and triumphant re-es- tablishment of it in its ancient shrine, in order, the Reviewer in- 106 forma us, " to falsify to the Kliontls the prevalent opinion of his (the Agent's) want of power ?" Even supposing the transfer of this ♦' piece of lumbering materialism" did consist in " the restora- tion of that whicli had been stolen, to its rightful possessor," — which we deny, — the grand parade of such a transaction, was as in- consistent with the repeated orders of Government, forbidding the interference of its servants with the idolatrous practices of their subjects, as it is with that " undeniable justice, which must com- mand general approbation, and inspire general confidence." If it was regarded by " the assembled Khonds" as an " overwhelming proof of the Agent's justice and authority," it must inevitably have acted in equal degree at least, on their " singular moral and intellectual aptitude," to establish the idea that the British Govern- ment had considerable respect for this " piece of lumbering ma- terialism," and in an equal degree to obstruct any future measures for their " religious advancement." Was this to further " the change in their ancestral faith and usages" ? Was it to promote " the religious and moral advancement of the Khonds," that the Agent having secured for himself the long coveted " summary autocratic power required," omitted to take one single step to elevate them in the scale of morality and reli- gion ? — that he excluded Missionaries from all access to the Khond country, and intimated to one of his European Assistants, that his mmply visiting these worthy men, when they happened accidentally to be in his neighbourhood, would destroy the confidence in the European members of the Agency, not only of all the Cutchery serA^ants, but of the inhabitants of the country likewise, while the latter at least were altogether as heedless of such visits as of the passing breeze ? — that he persevered in this groundless objection, with a pertinacity, that left his Assistant no choice, between seces- sion from his Agency, and a pusillanimous, unworthy, acquiescence in the mistaken prejudices of the Agency ? What the Reviewer would have his readers believe, when he says " it is especially worthy of note, that throughout the whole time, a schoolmaster (the Italics are not ours) was employed to teach the boys to read and write Uriya, &c." he must himself ex- plain. We know to a certainty, that when Colonel Campbell assum- ed' charge of the Orissa Agency on 1st May 1847, there were af 107 Nowgaum upwards of 109 rescued Meiiuli children for whose education no provision whatever had been made ; unless such pro- vision consisted in the simple nomination of the " Schoolmaster" of the Reviewer, who is a poor ignorant Panwa, wedded to a Meriah girl, and about as well prepared to undertake the care of a School, as the Calcutta Reviewer is to instruct the public in the real stale of Khond afTairs. Perhaps the Reviewer can give us some clue to the cause of all these children being left under the care of one so utterly incompe- tent to instruct them, when Captain MacPherson was in possession of full power to send them to the excellent Mission Schools esta- blished at Berhampore, Cuttack, Chicacole, Vizagapatam, or even Balasore — The neglect of this very obvious measure, to promote the religious and moral advancement of these poor creatures, is as irreconcileable with the alleged fixed purpose of the Agent, as is the idea of the fifty-three female wards of Government having undergone " careful preparation," previously to their being bestow- ed upon their Infanticidal lords as aforesaid, with the real facts of that signal failure. The Reviewer is altogether mistaken when he says that, " as Acting Agent, he gave some eight or ten boys into the charge of the Military Chaplain at Vizagapatam, who made them over to a Missionary there, from whom they effected their escape back to Captain MacPherson, a few months after." The facts of the case are as follows. Captain MacPherson, in February 1844, sent from Berhampore eight boys, to the Mission- ary in question, and eight boys and two girls, to the Military Chap- lain. Eight of the boys were selected for education in the excel- lent establishment which Mrs. Gordon of Madras has for some years superintended, with so much efficiency, zeal, and benevo- lence ; and there they still remain. One boy continues under the charge of the Missionary, and the two girls are receiving their education at the Girls' School, connected with the Mission at Vi- zagapatam. Four boys were transferred to the Mission at Chica- cole, and three (two from the Chaplain and one from the Mis- sionary) effected their escape ; with reference to one of whom Captain MacPherson himself states, under date 3 1st July 1844, from Gopalpore, that he had re-appeared there some days before, 108 adding, " The sole reason lie states for leaving you is his fear of being put on board ship," — a reason for their flight Avhich the Missionary had also ascertained. The escape of three out of eighteen, we submit, affords no reason for abandoning this best method, of providing for the rescued Meriah children ; or leaving upwards of 100, under the care of an ignorant Panwa at Nowgaum. In the progress of his discussion of this subject, the Reviewer gives us a detailed account of " a singular collection of Khond literature," " now in the sole possession of its truly meritorious and indefatigable author, Dr. Cadenhead," which he trusts " the Go- vernment of India will not lose a day in obtaining and publishing," and he terminates his remarks on this subject, by expressing his inability adequately to explain how " it did not occur to the res- ponsible authorities, to enquire what progress or whether any had been made by Captain MacPherson and his coadjutors in the ac- quisition of the Khond language." If the Reviewer will but recal to memory, the ungenerous reflections he so gratuitously cast upon the " the responsible autho- rities," they cannot fail to satisfy even his mind that the writer of *' the series of Khond articles in the Calcutta Review," was not likely to be burdened with any explanations they — the authorities — may havetooffer respecting their administration of affairs inKhondistan. We have no desire to depreciate, in the slightest degree, the value of Dr. Cadenhead's labours in this or any other department ; but we must say that, being informed by the Reviewer himself that, " towards the end of 1845, Dr. Cadenhead began the acquisi- tion of the Khond language — but had been able to make compara- tively slow progress, from the numerous demands upon his time and attention — the increasing difficulties in the Agency, having compelled him again and again, temporarily to suspend his labours in the matter :" and further knowing how that gentleman was en- gaged from November 1816 till his removal in the April following from the Khond country, we feel that, however distinguished he may be, by a peculiar aptitude for acquiring new languages, the real intrinsic value of his " singular collection of Khond litera- ture," has been obtruded on the Government and the public, in a manner little calculated to gratify its author's feelings, or to establish the Revicwer'a claim to counsel the responsible authori- ties, on this or any other subject connected with their measures. It may however serve to demonstrate, how unwarrantably the Re- viewer volunteered in December 1848, his evil report of " the melan- choly doings of the last two years," when we slate, that the present Agent, shortly after his accession to office ia May 1847, deeming it of the first importance, that the unwritten language of the Khonds should be reduced to a written didect, and the means provided, as early as possible, for the regular instruction of that people, was unable to discover in the records of the Agency, any indication Avhatever of such a project having ever engaged the attention of his predecessor. Could he then, by any process of reasoning, be led to suspect, that the late Head Assistant had availed himself of the opportunity furnished at the expense of Government, to make the " singular collection of Khond literature" described by the Reviewer, and yet had deprived the Government of all or any advantage derivable therefrom, by quietly carrying it off in his own pocket and effectually leaving " not a trace behind ?" Under these circumstances, what better method could be adopt- ed than to apply, as Colonel Campbell did, for the services of an Officer qualified to undertake this arduous task ? Taking warning from the sad reverse that overclouded " the freshening glow and budding promise of a genial spring," no burst of rapturous applause, at this wise but novel measure for extending and establishing the influence of Government, by providing the means of carrying education into the hilh shall escape us, but we may venture to say, that Colonel Campbell's choice fell upon an Officer, whose previous solid and extensive acquirements in Oriental literature afforded the best grounds for anticipating the most favorable results. That Officer is Lieutenant Frye of the Madras Army, who, without any personal remuneration what- ever, and with no other aid from Government than the payment of a few Native Writers, to take fair copies of his papers, at the close of 1847, undertook his difficult task, with a disinterested zeal and alacrity, that do as much credit to his public spirit, as the suc- cess he has already attained, redounds to his ability. Without the aid of Dr. Cadenhead's or any other persons kbouvs, albeit at the outset they might have proved of most valu- 110 able assistance, the language has been reduced to a written form by Lieutenant Frye's unaided efforts ; and he is himself able to read, write and speak it with facility. There is good reason to expect that next year will witness the opening of a new era in the history of Khondistan, in the commencement of a system of edu- cation amongst its hills. We have perhaps, furnished a sufficient explanation of the Re- viewer's difficulty in respect to this object. But what the " con- siderable expense incurred by sanctioning a special Agency for its accomplishment" may be, we are as much at a loss to determine, as we are to discover, the grounds of sundry other assertions, that occur in the course of the Reviewer's " historic narrative." Ere entering on the disclosure promised, we will, by way of elucidation, make a few more remarks on the contents of Captain MacPherson's two Reports, which supplied so full a re- futation of the Reviewer's inexcusable assertion relative to the sole object of the " tempest in a teapot." To discuss the con- tents of those letters as fully as we could wish, would be to extend our limits and to try the forbearance of our readers to an extent that we could scarcely justify. But as the Reviewer has omitted all mention of the remarkable transactions which we are about to chronicle, and many of our readers will now for the first time hear the Report of them, we deem it but fair to give, as briefly as possible, an idea of the Agent's own account of that af- fair, and of our reasons for entire dissatisfaction therewith. We have already noticed the delivery " with emulous haste," of upwards of 170 victims to the Agent, the sudden estrangement of the Khonds, the surrender of the unhappy Meriahs to the clamours of an armed Khond mob, and the causes to which es- pecially this sad reverse was ascribed by the Agent. Let it be observed that, by his own shewing. Captain MacPher- son only entered the Boad Maliahs on the 26th February 1846 ; that seven days at least were then occupied in receiving the victims delivered up " with emulous haste ;" and that in a few days so total a change had come over the spirit of their dream, that the Ill Khond Chiefs with few exceptions, ceased to communicate with the Agent, while " on the 14th March, the third day from that on which the estrangement was first distinctly manifested," a " large armed Khond mob" had obtained the surrender of the unhappy victims — the acknowledged property of the Government. This sudden and disastrous reverse, is ascribed to the successful intrigues of the Boad Rajah and his uncle Kurti Vas, who are said in this brief period to have succeeded in convincing the tribes, in direct contradiction to the experience of years and of their own recent conviction, " that the real object of Government was not to suppress the sacrifice, but to subject them to taxation and ser- vile labour ; and that their voluntary concession to the first de- mand, inevitably involved their submission to all the intended ex- actions." We have, it is true, heard of the " singular intellectual and moral aptitude of Khonds, to receive the new ideas ;" and how, by a residence of but 20 days amongst the Infanticidal Khonds, " fear, mistrust and jealousy, were supplanted by the opposite feelings of dawning hope and kindly confidence ;" and if we had not also seen, that the Reviewer was, in the rapturous eulogy of which these words form a part, merely exhibiting what he calls *' the heightened colourings of poetry and the wild distortion of oratory," we might have been better prepared for this example of the alleged " aptitude of Khonds to receive the new ideas." But, when we further remember that " no false charges can live in a Khond assembly," we are necessarily constrained to look for some more adequate cause than is to be extracted from the account of intrigues of the Rajah and his abettors, for this sudden and de- cisive change from " a spirit of confidence and obedience," to one of all but universal estrangement and of open and violent opposi- tion. In plain words, too large a demand is here made on our credulity. Some more cogent reason must, we feel assured, have been the origin of their sudden conviction that the Government desired revenue from the hill country. The effects of this sudden estrangement however were not con- fined to the surrender of upwards of 170 unhappy victims ; the Agent immediately " withdrew from amongst the excited tribes 112 of Boad tlirec miles across the Goorasoor fvotitier," whence, he in- forms us, the Rajah, who had accompanied him, was the same day eent back, while he himself " promptly strengthened his escort, by a requisition on the Officer Commanding Russellcondah, to complete the escorts of himself and his Head Assistant to 100 men each." Here another great difficulty presents itself to us, which no " balance of considerations" presented in these Reports, by any means removes. That the Agent, who so forcibly expresses his sense of the value of " the prestige of the power of Government," unless his judgment was overwhelmed by the fear of instant and impending events, could so far delude himself as to imagine, that it was only " at the risk of the temporary confirmation of their delusions," that he surrendered upwards of 170 victims to the clamorous importunity of a Khond mob, armed or unarmed, is to us a marvel. To what we ask, could those Khonds attribute such surrender, and the subsequent retreat, but to the fact of his being alarmed, or " unauthorized to meet resistance in any sbape" ? " My small party I should observe," he says, " was sufficient for the disperson of any Khond mob, and for the main- tenance of my ground ; or for my retirement to the low country thereafter, although not without the loss at least of unarmed fol- lowers." We see not that this loss was in the least to be appre- hended ; and we feel that no " balance of considerations" pre- sented, especially the main one, the empty worthless guarantee of the imbecile Rajah of Boad, for the safety and re-delivery of the victims, could counterpoise the certain loss of " the prestige of the power of Government ;" and the equally certain loss of the in- valuable prestige of British invincibility and firmness. Nothing accounts for this unwise departure from his expressed determina- tion to " yield nothing to force." To the above, and what we have before adduced on the authori- ty of these two Reports, we will only add that, on the 19th March the armed Khond mob from Boad, having followed the Agent's movements, was dispersed by a volley which wounded one man, since said to have died — that another mob swelled to about 1,000, appeared atPoornaghur on the Ist April, of whom four Khonds fell 113 under a volley from the Sebundies -who, joined by the Sepoya, chased them and burned their village ; and that the Agent, -Nvhose object was to suppress the outbreak, which had extended now into Hodzoghoro, arrested five principal insurgents, burned five villages, ordered the demolition — by the same means, of three others, and reached Russellcondah on the 15th April, satisfied that all, "both in Goomsoor and in Boad, were convinced that the authority of the Government was to be maintained." Any just grounds for such satisfaction, we confess we cannot discover; neither can we refrain from observing that a great portion of these two prolix Reports, presents, to our mind, very much the aspect of the ingenous devices of an artful boy, to conceal the mis- chief which, under the apprehension of posterior consequences, he fears to disclose. After this long, but it is hoped not unnecessary, preface, we pro- ceed to chronicle what we believe to be the correct account of the re- markable transactions, which entirely escaped the Reviewer ; when in December 1848, he resumed what was termed" the historic part of our«arrative" of Khond affairs. From his own Report, it appears that having on the 18th Febru- ary 184G explained the vicAVs of Government to the Boad Rajah, and required the exertion of his utmost influence, to induce the Chiefs to conform to them. Captain MacPherson followed Lim into Boad eight days afterwards, and" found the Boad tribes more prepar- ed than he had ventured to hope, to adopt the required changes." Of the reality of this change, the Agent received the recorded substantial proof — " that in seven days, above 170 victims were made over to him, without his sending even a single peon, or any other emissary from his Camp." We have seen from Captain MacPherson's Report, the sad reverse which induced the surren- der of these poor victims to their barbarous masters, on the 14th March, and the withdrawal of the Agent across the Goomsoor frontier. Of these events, there were, necessarily, many witnesses; and as their effects have been, as the Agent clearly foresaw, exceedingly prejudicial to the prestige of British character and influence in the Hill tracts, we have been at considerable pains to obtain a full and authentic account of them— and the result of our enquiries, ad- r lU dressed to numerous eye-witnesses, — including the Rajah, several of the Agent's own servants and the whole of the Boad Khonds— is that, the Khonds, on the occasion referred to, assembled tumul- tuously, and in considerable numbers, in front of the Agent's camp at Bispurrah, vociferating their determination to fight, unless the victims were restored to them — that between three and four o'clock on the afternoon of the same day, the said victims were uncondi- tionally surrendered, while the Agent with his Camp, having struck his tents on hearing of the revolt, disappeared in the course of that very night ; or, as the witnesses referred to distinctly affirm, •' fled" to Kunjeur, carrying the Hajah of Boad along with him. Shortly after the arrival of the Agent and his Camp at this place, it was reported, that the exulting mob, armed with bows, ar- rows, and battle axes, was at Sangremendi, meditating the forcible recovery of their Rajah, whom they supposed to be a prisoner. "Whatever may have been the circumstances which induced his at- tendance on the Agent, or of his early dismissal, we are not careful to learn. Suffice it to say that the Boad potentate with his uncle — par nohile fratrum — for the pacification of a storm raised^^nas the Agent tells us, by their own intrigues, was hurried back into the Boad Mallahs. We have seen by the Agent's Report, how little this availed; and from the same source, have learned some particulars of " the ex- act measure of retributive justice," had recourse to in order to check the progress of the insurrection, which, under the influence of " Sam Bissye's sons, in concert with Kurti Vas," had now extended into Goomsoor. A motive assigned by the Agent for the conduct of Kurti Vas in these proceedings, is the personal pecuniary benefits which he is said to derive from the continuance of the sacrifice amounting to about Rs. 600 per annum. Such a motive, however, we have reason to believe, never existed; and we have good grounds for asserting that he never derived the gain of a rupee from the performance of that inhuman rite — But if he did, might not an equivalent easily have been given to secure the services of a person, exercising such com- manding Influence as this Chief, which from the Agent's Reports, he would appear to have possessed? Could " the most conpicuous per- sonage, as a propounder of principles, a deviser of plans," &c,, not 115 have exercised his " knowledge, aptitude and experience, beyond all other men, living or dead," of which the lloviewer makes such proud boast — faiily to gain this influential chieftain to his purposes ? We have already expressed our opinion, that the cause a3- signed by the Agent for the sudden conviction of the Khonds of Boad, viz. " that the real object of Government must be the taxation of the hitherto untaxed Khond Country," is quite inadequate to account for the production of this sudden and almost universal conviction, and immediate and successful violent demonstration of hostility to the Government, Even the singular aptitude of these mountaineers, must have required some cogent argumentum ad hominem, to effect this rapid transition from a " spirit of confidence and obedience," to one of " distrust and revolt." Tlie mystery however vanishes when we learn that, the exactions and oppressions of the Agent's Cutchery are, throughout the hill tracts, universally asserted to have produced the armed resistance of the population. Hence it is obvious how a usage and the consequent evil, " re-acted on each other as cause and effect." We can fully imderstand the force of such an appeal to their feelings of personal interest. The con- nection between a corrupt extortion of money by Government ser- vants and a sudden persuasion that revenue was the real object in view, is obvious. We shall presently submit an extract or two from the present Agent's report to Government on this subject, •which will be found strongly to confirm what we have now ad- vanced, and, with other evidence, place the fact beyond doubt. We must, however, solicit yet a little more attention to the guarantee, under which we are repeatedly informed tlie surren- der of the victims took place. It is first reported in the following words. The Rajah " prayed earnestly that I would afford him a chance of saving his honor and his Raj, by giving him an oppor- tunity to bring the Khonds back to a right state of mind ; and this he undertook to effect, with the privity of a number of the principal chiefs, if I would make over the victims to him, which ifc was evidently necessary to his object that I should do, upon his solemn guarantee for their safety, and their re-delivery to the Government." And on this guarantee the Agent writes "I made over the victims to the Rajah, being perfectly assured of their safety, and of his power, a little sooner or later, and of hia IIG intention, to fulfil his engagements." We shall leave the Rajah to dispose of this unaccountable delusion of " the most conspi- cuous personage, as a propounder of principles, a deviser of plans and executor of important deeds." He, the Rajah then, stoutly and vehemently denies all knowledge of, or participation in, such pledge or guarantee. H6 affirms that, prior to the Boad emeute, he was desired not to inter- fere, and was thus virtually deprived of all power in the Hill tracts of Boad; and it must be acknowledged that there is both force and pertinence in the remark with which he accompanies his emphatic denial, viz. that if he was unable to prevent the Khonds from violently taking back their Meriahs, he could not possibly pledge himself for their re-delivery. Further, how came the Agent's assurance of the Rajah's power *' sooner or later to fulfil his engagements," to be so completely falsified, that when his services were dispensed with late in March 1847, upwards of 120 of these luckless Meriahs remained in the hands of their rebellious masters ? According to the Agent's narrative, the Rajah, a few days after his dismissal from Kunjeur " assembled the Chiefs, and begged them to enable him immediately to make peace for himself and the Khonds, and to restore the victim wards of the Govern- ment in token of their sincerity. But they, excited by the late events, and urged hy Kiirti Vass to move against me in Hodzo- ghoro, would not listen to him." This individual, to whose con- tinued intrigues and influence, the disappointment of the Agent's expectations is frequently — and for months — almost exclusively at- tributed, was first "removed to Aska" before the 21st August, and subsequently — unheard and untried — consigned to chains in the Criminal Jail at Itchapore ; yet the redemption of the Rajah's alleged pledge still remained in abeyance on the 24th March 1847. The surrender of the Meriahs, be it remembered, was one of the remarkable events that signalized the 14th March 1846, and was followed by the coercive measures adverted to — which im- mediately preceded the Agent's withdrawal to the low country, while we are informed, by himself, of incessant endeavours during the succeeding months, to confirm and foment the spirit of reeis- 117 tancc to Government — llial an attack on the Dulbera of TentUgliur, in which " six villages of the Diilbeia were burned," occasioned the despatch of "40 Scbundics with about 100 Paiks to keep the Tentilghur border;" that the "tract of Moodigaum" had twice been attacked, the Khonds driven in, and their villages burnt; and that though the assailants were repulsed and several of their num- ber wounded, " they renewed the attack in a few days with a like result." These, with other strong indications of a prevalent spirit of disaffection and resistance in the Hill tracts, contribute to swell the bulky Report of the Agent when proposing, for the considera- tion of the Supreme Government, the measures to be pursued after the cessation of the rains. Let us further observe, that Captain MacPherson and his two Assistants, entered the Hill tracts in November 1846, with strong escorts in addition to his own Sebundies and Paiks, and was sup- ported by Captain Houghton of the South Western Agency as well as Captain Dunlop of the Cuttack Commission, expressly deputed " to afford to the Tribes unequivocal proof of their co-operation in the Khond Country of Boad," where, Avrote the Agent under date the loth October 1846, " I conceive that recent events have demonstrated that my authority, conjoined with that of the E,ajah, will not avail to produce, even in Boad, the conviction that must be established in it, and throughout this quarter of Orissa, as the necessary foundation of the work, that it emanates from the will of the Supreme Government ; and that the local authorities are one with respect to it." Bearing these remarks in view, what must have been the real state of these tribes w^hen, at the time General Dyce assumed political control, all these demonstrations and appliances, coercive and otherwise, had only effected the re-delivery of from 45 to 50 of the surrendered Meriahs? Where are the halcyon days which the fond imagination of the sanguine Reviewer pictur- ed ? Are these the mellow fruits of the seed of a grand central doctrine of peace and justice ? Peace we have seen clearly enough, to satisfy the most incredulous sceptic, had for a time bid adieu to the hills and valleys of Boad and Goomsoor. " A casual coincidence of time and space," " wholly unconnected with the Agent's abolitionary measures," — 'withoxit reference to the plunder- us ings, burnings, summary imprisonment of political offenders, and the Military operations of the era of supercession, have been converted by the Agents' own antecedent demonstration, into an extensive and determined insurrectionary movement " to resist the measures of Government," in the very foie front of which — whatever other measures the Agent might have contemplated, or the insurgents dreaded — stood, from first to last, the abolition of the sacrifice, and the surrender of the victims to its protection. That we have been enabled to supply the information given, relative to the untoward occurrences of March 1846, and their disastrous results, which the Reviewer disposed of so much more to the advantage of his hero — than we think the facts of the case in the hands of either party justify, is due in a great measure, to the reports circulated through the public press, which it will be seen the Government of India deemed worthy of a notice, denied to them by the Reviewer. Let the reader glance over the following paragraphs, addressed to Captain MacPherson by Mr. Secretary Bushby, under date the 2d May 1846. " I am directed by the President in Council to desire that you ■will forthwith make a full and detailed Report of all your proceed- ings in respect to the disturbances which have occurred in the tracts which you have recently visited, and that you will transmit to the Government the latest information which you have obtained of the effect of your operations. " The President in Council, considers it highly blameable in you, that you have not regularly reported your proceedings in an offi- cial form. Vested as you are with a large discretion, and exercis- ing extensive powers, it is the more necessary that the Government should be kept well informed of your measures and of their recep- tion by the chiefs and people with whom your administration is conducted. Your neglect of this necessary part of your duty, has kept the Government in ignorance of the truth or otherwise, of the accounts which have been circulated through the press — of your having been in a difficult and dangerous position, in collision with the Khonds — and the President in Council cannot but feel most anxious for your own statements and explanations of the transac- 119 tions that have occurred. You will not fail in future to report your proceedings regularly." We must next solicit attention to the same functionary's reply to Captain MacPherson's letter dated 17th May 1846, which will prove, that we have not been the first to express dissatisfaction at the "untoward circumstances" reported by the Agent, and so reluct- antly, if we may judge from his delay in recording them ; or, to adopt once more the Reviewer's own words when entering the " secret chambers of imagery" of his hero, he favors us with his sad soli- loquy on the cruel fate of his earnest appeal to be vested with summary autocratic power. " Why this long long delay ? What can be the cause of tliis unbroken silence, this mysterious secrecy ? Does (will) Government disapprove of my (his) measures ?" Let the Secretary to Government's own words which follow, supply the answer to these significant queries. " Your report of the 17th instant (May) has been submitted to the President in Council. *' I am directed to express the regret of His Honor in Council, that your operations for the suppression of human sacrifices among the Khonds have, in this first season of proceedings, been attended with untoward circumstances, not anticipated by the Government. " The account which you have now transmitted of transactions which ought to have been reported with official punctuality, as they occurred, does not satisfy the Government that you have not aggravated the difficulty of the position in which you have been placed, by neglecting to communicate fully and constantly with Government, on all matters connected with your mission ; and ihe more particularly, on such circumstances as were impeding or were likely to impede, the success of your operations." * * « * " Again, it was a very serious error, when you had been com- pelled to resort to measures most deprecated by the Government, in engaging in hostilities attended with lamentable consequences, and you found it necessary to call for military support, to imagine that Government would be satisfied to receive the only accounts which it possessed of the position in which you were placed, from common rumour or newspaper reports. 120 " It Is also to be observed tliat the Government labours under a great disadvantage in forming its judgment on complicated events, such as are described by you to have attended your negociations, from a mere summary of their nature and results, furnished after the events to which they gave rise, have been brought to a close. You have indeed put it out of the power of the President in Coun- cil, to form a correct judgment on the whole subject of your pro- ceedings, by not supplying the Government with regular narratives of what you were doing, between the date of your Despatch of the 20th February, and that of your Despatch under acknowledgment." In commenting on the alleged object of the insurrection in the Boad Maliahs in March 1846, we were led to expressed our firm belief, that the sudden, extensive, and strong reaction described by the Agent, owed its origin to some cogent argumentum ad hominem, that would account for the electro-magnetic-like effect, produced so suddenly even on Khond aptitudes. We now proceed to produce proofs, thereanent, which we then rested chiefly on the necessity of the case. First then. Colonel Campbell who ascended the Ghauts on the 6th November 1847, and proceeded to Chokapaud, found that all the Bissycs and people had fled in alarm, at the probable conse- quences of their late insurrection; but he states, " whenever any one did come in, or was brought in, the uniform tale was, that past extortion of money had caused the insurrection in the valley." The Bissyes, themselves, at a later period of the season, were induced to come in — And what is their testimony? " The Bis- syes adhere unflinchingly and unhesitatingly, to the fact of their being driven to rebellion by money having been demanded from them. The Boad chiefs all averred, with positiveness and unani- mity, the same thing, as the cause of their insurrection." Let it be observed that tliis positive and unanimous testimony only proveg a fact of daily occurrence in every part of India — a fact which, hitherto unknown to the experience of Khonds, fully and, we should say, of itself satisfactorily accounts, for their strong conviction, that the object of Government was the realiza- tion of a revenue ; — and we apprehend that it will be extremely difficult, to say the least, to admit the explanatipn which Captain MacPherson in his Keports. so earnestly labours to establish. 121 But we have further testimony to the same effect, and from a perfectly distinct and independent source, which we feel constrained to produce. In the records of the Orissa Agency there still exists a letter, from Dr. Cadenhead to Mr, Pinkney, hearing date GuUery the loth January 1847, of which the following is a true extract. "I know the nature of the communication you have to make, as to the cause of this business ; as you will see when I tell you that I have sent oflf three Sebundies to seize Pooroom Kisternah, and have written to Shubrick to zuft his property in Gongoo- Any thing more disgusting than this, could hardly be conceived." When it is known that the Pooroom Kisternah, mentioned in this extract, was one of the Cutchery servants whom we accuse, and whom Mr. Grant convicted of corrupt practices, we need scarcely help our readers to express in plain words " the cause of this business," which proved so unpalatable to the Head Assistant. We have still another witness however, to whose testimony we re- quest particular attention, as it satisfactorily exhibits not only the corrupt practices of the Native servants of the Agency, but a know- ledge of the fact, on the part of its European members, that does little honor to their administration. It is contained in a letter from Captain W. W. Dunlop, late Assistant to the Commissioner and Superintendent of the Tributa- ry Mehals Cuttack Division, to J. P. Grant, Esq. Commissioner of Enquiry in the Hill tracts of Orissa, dated Vizagapatam, 31st August 1847. " Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter, No. 45, of the 21st August 1847 (at Vizagapatam on the 30th August 1847) and in reply thereto, beg to state with reference to paras 1st and 2d, that I have referred to the draft of my letter to the Superintendent of Tributary Mehals, of the 4th April 1847, and find the passage you allude to, written, as it was intended to be understood, thus : " I have reason to belifive that none of the members of the Agency are unacquainted with the fact that Baba Khan, Soonder Singh, and others of their Cutchery were accused before them of taking bribes, both in Goomsoor, and from the Hill trjbes in Boad and that it only requires that they should be questioned on this subject to arrive ut the whole truth." Q 122 "With reference to the 3cl para of your letter, I sliould have wished, if possible, to have avoided mentioning my authority for supposing that the late Agency were aware that their Native sub- ordinates were accused of corruption ; and you will perceive from the conversation I had with Mr. Cadenhead the Principal Assistant to the late Agent, my reasons for not having at once clearly stated in my letter to the Superintendent of Tributary Mehals that which I now find myself necessitated to do. In a conversation with Mr. Cadenhead at Burmool, after he had been directed to withdraw from Boad, and subsequently to the statement made to me by Jemadar Kureem Buksh, of what had occurred when he was en- deavouring to persuade Bir Khonro to go in to Captain MacPher- 8on, I asked Mr. Cadenhead if it had ever come to his knowledge that Baba Khan and Soonder Singh had been accused of corrup- tion, and that it was one of the reasons for the opposition to Cap- tain MacPherson's measures. Mr. Cadenhead replied — he had long known that Baba Khan, Soonder Singh and others of Captain M.'s Cutchery, had been accused of extorting money from the Chiefs of Goomsoor and Boad Hill Districts ; that he had repeated- ly spoken to Captain M. on the subject, and urgently entreated him for the honor of all concerned in the Agency, to have the matter fully enquired into ; that Captain M. replied that the services of the accused were so essential to him in carrying out his measures, that he must not have it ever supposed that the slightest suspicion attached to their integrity, and that he could not therefore make their conduct a subject for investigation. Mr. Cadenhead conti- nued, " finding expostulation with Captain M. on this subject of no avail, I then considered it my duty to co-operate with him in the way he thought best for the attainment of his objects, but I sincerely regret now that I did not tender my resig- nation, as I plainly see that the honor of all concerned in the Agency is at stake. Out of regard to Captain M. I would not voluntarily give publicity to what occurred between us on the subject ; but were 1 called on by a Court of Enquiry, or other competent authority, to state what I know, I would be oblig- ed to divulge all ; and unless placed under similar circumstances, I do not wish you to mak public what I have now told you." "In reply to the 4th para in your letter, I beg to state that a 123 Chupprassee of the Commissioner's office, attended the Jemadar, and must have been present when the circumstances, which form the subject of his Report took place. His name I do not recollect, but it can be easily obtained citlier from the Jemadar himself, or on application to the Commissioner's Office at Cuttack." Again on the 28th September Captain Dunlop writes to the Commissioner as follows : * * a- * a- " When at Buvmool in April last, the Kajah of Boad's Mooctear Publab Sassan came to me, and made a statement regarding cer- tain bribes the Rajah had give to Captain MacPherson's Native Omlahs, in order to induce them to persuade Captain M. to allow him to quit the Hills." " Memo : The purport of the statement made by the Rajah of Boad's Mooctear, was, that Baba Khan and Soonder Singh told the Rajah, on his requesting them to persuade Captain MacPherson to allow him to leave the hills, that they would do so if he, the Rajah, gave them one of his golden bracelets, value sixty Gold Mohurs : that the Rajah gave the bracelet. Some days after which, they told the Rajah, that they had been unsuccessful, but if he would give them the other bracelet of the same value, they would again speak to Captain MacPherson, and had no doubt they would succeed : that the Rajah gave the other bracelet : and that his pre- sent object in sending his Mooctear to me was with the view of recovering the bracelets. The Mooctear in his statement likewise said that the Rajah of Boad had at another time been persuaded by Baba Khan and Soonder Singh to give them 500 rupees at Bisparrah : that a Duffadar of Captain M's. named Sooltan Saib had received 50 rupees and Marta Put Naik 100 rupees from the Rajah." The tenor of these letters is too clear to admit of dispute, and their authority above exception. We therefore dare not anticipate an attempt to evade their force, much less to convert the conni- vance at crime which the first reveals, into a device for the promo- tion of virtue, morality and religion ; although it is not impossible that, the author of a panegyric on the " arguments and considera- tions addressed to the Infanticidal Khonds" may be prepared to 12-1 parry them, by a special pleading akin to that, by wlucb the forci- ble removal and triumphant establishment, on its ancient shrine, of " a piece of lumbering materialism" designated " the emblems of the God of Light," became an act of "undeniable justice, which must command general approbation, and inspire general confidence :" — as the Reviewer, adopting his hero's language and sentiments, is pleased to characterize that " overwhelming proof of the Agent's justice and authority." This, we presume to say, established fact, affords a rather strik- ing illustration of the " painful part" assigned by the Reviewer, to the Agent's " Chief Native Assistants" " Baba and Soondera," who, he assures us, " were sorely disheartened" — " they were in fact beside themselves, and it was by a great effort, that they were kept in a reasonable state of mind — not despairing of the future utterly." Why ? Because " their great antagonist Sam Bissj'e, Lord of the Ascendant," could not be expected to tolerate or acquiesce in their mal-practices — Let the reader judge — We do but anticipate his verdict ; " hinc illse lacrymae !" With what show of reason, Ave may ask, is the hero of such ex- ploits as are described, declared in December 1848 to have " given indisputable evidence of possessing peculiar qualifica- tions, alike in the way of knowledge, aptitude and experience, beyond all other men living or dead," for the furtherance of this philanthropic work. Is not such an assertion, a scandalous reflec- tion on the capacity of every other person to whom Government has yet entrusted the conduct of its affairs in those districts ? Yet this is but a feeble example of the many detractive remarks that signalize a passage which, as a climax of absurdities, would claim for the hero, a niche in the temple of fame beside the noble and intrepid Rajah of Sarawak ! We feel that the extent to which we have carried our remarks on this subject will have been a trial for the forbearance of most of our readers ; we cannot, however, dismiss it altogether without reference to the very brief and delusive notice, accorded by the lievieiver, to this most disastrous period of the history of Govern- ment measures for the abolition of human sacrifice in the hill tracts of Orissa. " About the close o/'1845" the Reviewer infarms us, his hero "was 125 enabled to return to his favorite work, and at once, in virtue of hi.-* enlarged authority, commenced an aggressive movement on the principality of Boad." A few sentences follow, in which the Re- viewer deplores " the incalculable evils which had sprung from the long delay" — any port in a storm — " in passing the legislative Act ;" amongst which is enumerated the loss of " the real and happy crisis for striking a decisive blow" which " undoubtedly was at the close of 1814." His hero however, nothing daunted, " entered on his chosen task, with his accustomed energy and zeal — determined to grapple with and demolish every opposing obstacle, by the va- riously adapted application of the same means which had hereto- fore cleared for him a highway to the goal of trium])h. Nor were his calculations falsified. Amid obstructions the most intricate and interminable, he soon began to make decided progress. And had he been left to pursue his own measures unmolested, there is scarcely any reasonable ground to doubt that long ere now, the horrid rites of female infanticide and human sacrifice, would have been abolished throughout the larger portion of the Khond terri- tories."* This paragraph was committed to press in December 1848. It relates to the inglorious and disastrous campaign, which was signa- lized by the surrender of upwards of 170 unhappy victims — the property of the British Government, to the clamorous violence of a Khond mob, and other equally untoward circumstances, already sufficiently discussed. Yet this same paragraph, proceeded from a person professing to possess official information, on the subject he treats : — a person whose writings at least indicate an intimate acquaintance with the most private sentiments and feelings, as well as with the official correspondence, of his hero. Who, we would ask, molested him in the pursuit of his own measures ? Mr. Bushby, in the letters from which we have given a pithy extract or two? Except Dr. Cadenhead in 1845 — when, as we have seen, affairs wore no flattering aspect, no European, unless under his own requisition, entered the Hills, until, "in an evil hour, a small Irish-Boulah-like rebellion broke out" and it became as Mr. Bushby expresses it under date the 4th January 1847, ' Calcutta Keview, No. XX. pages 335, 35C. 126 " highly expedient immediately to place under the direction of a discreet and experienced Officer of the Madras Army, the move- ments of Troops and the Military operations which may become necessary towards the restoration of tranquillity ;" because, as he states in the third para of the same letter-, " it seems evident that these movements are in some degree closely connected with the excitement produced by that Officer's (Captain MacPherson's) measures ; and the President in Council is not yet convinced that every prudent and conciliatory method, of preventing alarm and excitement, has been resorted to by him." It would be a sorry compliment to our readers to offer any com- ment on the Reviewer's fallacious eulogies of the past, or of his, we are thankful to say, already falsified evil vaticinations of the future. We feel that far more notice has been accorded to his wild rhapsodies than they really have any claim to, and we shall there- fore conclude, by reminding our readers of the terms in which, iti September 1847, the Reviewer delivered himself, when lamenting the removal of his hero from the scene of these disastrous events. " Still more is it to be deplored that a course of events, uhich promised so successful an issue, should have taken the turn it has done, in consequence of contemporaneous local troubles, most of which, though wholly unconnected with the main work of the Khond Agency, yet came to be untowardly blended and confounded with it." Is not every assertion contained in this short but pregnant sen- tence, falsified by the facts as well as by the arguments we have ad- duced ? The latter we confess weigh powerfully with us ; and the facts we are prepared to subject to the most searching investigation. It is no part of our undertaking to explain or account for the delusions into which others have been betrayed. But with respect to the motives that actuated" the large armed Khond Mob" which succeeded in obtaining the surrender of their Meriahs on the 14th March 1846, we have enquired carefully of many Khonds in the Boad Maliahs, and one result of our enquiry is, that that tumultu- ous assembly, consisting of Khonds and Hindoos, were actuated by the desire — not simply to recover their Meriahs, or to resist oppres- sive exactions of money only, but further to recover their adopted children or serfs, who had been indiscriminately taken from them by Captain MacPherson's people. Many Khonds to whom we 127 addressed our enquiries on this subject, expressed themselves to the following effect. " He has taken our Meriahs and Serfs and is asking for money — whence are wc to procure it r lie may be taking our wives next — let us fight him and drive him away, and he will never come back." The Hindoos of the Hills, we are aware, possess many Serfs, and our information leads us to believe that they were rated, accord- ing to the number they possessed, and their ability to pay ; hence the Khonds and Hindoos were alike deeply interested in the re- sistance so suddenly organized, and so successfully displayed on that untoward occasion. The reader will not fail to observe how closely this tallies with the information obtained by Captain Dunlop, and detailed in a letter addressed to the Superintendent of Tributary Mehals from Burmool in April 1847. It is expressed in the following words. " I may here mention that I asked the Ungool Rajah if he was aware of the cause of the resistance made to Government in Boad. He replied, that in the early part of 1846, when Captain MacPher- son went to the Khond Mehals to get Meriah children, he was not content with the number at first produced, but demanded more. The Khonds then gave i^p some of their servants : and Captain M's. Omlah told them " we must have money too ; do you think Government is going to be at all this expense for nothing ?" The Khonds then took counsel together, saying, " we have given up the Meriahs, and even our own children, the Circar now demands money ; if we give that, the next demand will be for our wives — let us resist." We need only observe that, to us, it appears quite incredible that information to precisely the same effect should, as we have shewn it was, be obtained in every part of the Hill Tracts, by persons so wholly unconnected with each other, and yet be devoid of truth, but we will leave our readers to judge of the real cause of such correspondence. Let those who ri^y doubt its truth, account in the best way they can for such remarkable correspondence be- tween the information thus obtained, and the facts for which no other occurrences yet proposed can be accepted as an efllicient cause. With respect, however, to the alleged delivery by the Khonds of 128 some of their servants, it may be as well to add that, amongst other little items of intelligence, which in spite of the Agent's care to secure for himself a monopoly of the news department for those districts escaped his vigilance, was a rumour, that, at an early date after the ill-omened " aggressive movement on the principality of Boad," found its way into the public prints, respecting which. Captain MacPherson informs the Government, in his despatch of the 17th May 1846, a report had appeared that they were " persons stolen from their parents and sold to me." The Agent adds " the absurdity of the report must be apparent to the Government," and, he alleges the impossibility of such being the case, on the ground of the victims being perfectly well known to each other and subjected to a separate examination when brought to him, respecting the victims of their tribe. He further states that " the lists of fellow victims given by them invariably agree, and all the victims received by me have been thus designa- ted by their fellows." All this may be very true and, in ordi- nary cases, present a very efTectual check against imposition, but we can scarcely be expected to believe that this or any other effi- cient means of detecting such frauds could have been applied, when, as already observed " the holders of victims brought them in with emulous haste,sothat in seven days above one hundred and seventy were made over." These unhappy victims could, by no possibility, have been subjected to any very accurate scrutiny, for " the Khonds became suddenly distant" and, after furnishing the Agent with abundant occupation in endeavouring to discover the causes of their estrangement and counteract their " secret councils" compelled him to re-surrender the entire number to them on the 14th March. Now, as by his own shewing he did not follow the llajah into Boad till the second or third of that month, while seven out of the following ten or twelve days were occupied in receiving the victims, and one at least must have been devoted tothemeeting at which the Agent " itj^t all its Khond and Hindoo Hill chiefs assembled by him, and stated fully to them collectively and indivi- dually the general intentions of Government," if all these opera- tions were efficiently performed within this short period, we shall be prepared to acknowledge, — not only that the Agent possessed a singular aptitude for the furtherance of this scrutiny, or for tho 139 famous " diagnosis," but that the Report alluded to was indeed ** an absurdity," and the information that drew our attention to it, most probably a piece of mischievous scandal. Before we proceed to dispose of the Reviewer's most unhand- some and unfounded reflections on the " melancholy doings of the last two years," we must request our readers to take a brief retros- pect of the reaUi/ melancholyproceedings of the last year of the late Agent's disastrous career in the exercise of " summary auto- cratic power," vested with which, "about the close of 1845 he was enabled to return to his favorite work, and at once, in virtue of his enlarged authority, commenced an aggressive movement on the principality of Boad." One of the early fruits of this movement, it will be remembered, was a mischievous conviction that almost universally seized the Khond tribes of Boad, that the suppression of the sacrifice was merely a tentative measure, intended to try the aptitude of Khonds to endure the burdens hitherto unknown, of taxation, forced labour, and other oppressions. This, we submit, has been traced to its true source, in the malpractices of the Native servants of the Agency. The next disaster was the surrender of upwards of 170 Meriahs to the clamours of an armed mob, followed up by the flight of the Agent, and the subsequent mob collisions, burnings, plunderings, &c. These however have too recently engaged our attention to need repetition, but the greatly enhanced diflficulties that must thence have arisen to obstruct future operations are worthy of note. Such evil consequences were anticipated by Captain MacPher- son himself, as when, in his Report of the 17th May 1846 he en- deavours to explain the motives that actuated him during the ex- citement attendant on the untoward occurrences of that inauspi- cious season. " My first object," he says, " at this difficult juncture, plainly was to prevent the Khonds from compromising themselves bj. 130 actual collision with the Government." And again, " Should the impending collision not be averted, all the tribes of Boad would eventually commit themselves under the influence of Kurti Vas, to open hostility to the Government, which would then leave no alter- native but their direct coercioti." How deeply they did commit themselves we have seen. Omitting however all notice of many equally expressive remarks that present themselves in the same Report, as well as in that dated 15th October following, we shall lay before our readers a significant account of the feelings of triumph with which the vanquished Agent informs the Government of India, that "the group of tribes under the guidance of Kurti Vas now pledged themselves to implicit obedi- ence to him, to enable him and the Rajah, whom they considered to be perfectly identified with him, to maintain their common in- terests ; these claims on his part to the gratitude of the tribes and to the favor of the Earth Goddess being especially acknowledged by all." 1st. " That he had restored their religion to the Khonds after they had entirely abandoned it under false impressions." 2d. " That he had replaced in the mouth of the Earth Goddess her food which they had allowed to fall from it." 3d. " That whereas the Khonds of Boad had hitherto borne such a character for timidity, that the tribes of Goomsoor had treated them with contempt, he had made their name formidable by leading them successfully to resist the Government.^* How formidable they succeeded in making themselves may be col- lected from the circumstance of a little army having,as we have seen, been assembled and distributed through the Hill tracts of Boad and Goomsoor, only a few months after the date of the above extract : which, notwithstanding the mythological garb in which the in- formation it conveys is clad, reveals a state of feeling amongst the tribes in question corresponding with the apprehensions ex- pressed in our extracts from the earlier despatch. That these feelings were not subdued, at the period of the Agent's departure, is clear from the state of the country at the time of General Dyce's arrival, of which enough has been said ; and we shall presently see that, they were still in active operation, when Colonel Campbell as- cended the Ghauts in the end of the year, as also on his return from 131 Ungool in March 1848, when he found himself committed " to the direct coercion" contemplated by Captain MacPherson, as an " only alternative." We have no desire, after the Reviewer's example, to exaggerate either the difficulties, or the successes of the present Agency ; but as it is clear that no fair estimate of the latter can be attained, unless the former also be allowed their weight, we would observe that, amongst these difficulties was that of restoring the lost " pres- tige of the power of Government," which the removal of the chief conspirator, and the detention of his master in the Agent's camp had by no means served tore-establish. For, as we have already seen, when Colonel Campbell assumed charge of the Agency in May 1847, the victors still rejoiced in the possession of upwards of 120 of the living trophies of their victory. It should also be noticed that one very natural effect of the mal- practices of the Native servants of the late Agency, had been to pro- duce a strong conviction on the minds of the Khonds, that Govern- ment was insincere in its attempts to suppress the sacrifice ; and that, as a consequence, not only was the shaken prestige of the power and firmness of the Government Agent to be restored, but a conviction of the sincerity and purely benevolent intentions of — the Government — and its servants — substituted, for the ap- prehension of taxation and oppression — the fear of taxation and oppression must be replaced by " the opposite feeling of kindly confidence," to which the " aggressive movement," against the principality of Boad, " had unhappily given so rude a shock." It must also be borne in mind that many and serious obstacles to the restoration of peace and good order, necessarily resulted from the proceedings of the Agent, that more immediately preceded his supercession, such as the summary and ignominious imprison- ment of Kurti Vas and Blr Khonro, and many others accused or suspected of political offences, — the burnings and plunderings of villages and property — frequently by one party of Khonds unad- visedly pitched against another, it would appear by the Agent's own order — who, consequently, were arrayed in open feud to avenge acts of hostility, or to recover property seized and appropriated, during this era of upheaving, disarranging, and complicating all existing relationships. 132 A new element of disorder had also arisen from this chaos in the appearance of the Goomsoor King-maker Chokra Bissye, whose newly acquired power was owing to the simple circumstance of his extraction rendering his name useful to the insurgents of the Hill tracts, for the advancement of their designs against Captain Mac- Pherson in lower Goomsoor. To him the insurgent Chiefs of the hills had so deeply pledged themselves, that many, though heartily siek of revolt, would yet lend no assistance to effect his capture. The rebel Chiefs of Chokapaud, with a population wholly de- voted to their will, and driven into revolt by the same causes, must either be forcibly overcome, or — their conviction of the oppressive designs of Government being removed, if possible, by conciliation and persuasion, — induced to surrender themselves to its justice and clemency. Being ourselves entire sceptics, as to the alleged " singular in- tellectual and moral aptitude of Khonds to receive new ideas," wc have no hesitation in asserting our belief, that these, and other untoward occurrences of this disastrous period — which will readily suggest themselves on a little consideration of the facts we have adduced, constitute a mass of difficulties and embarrassments, in the way of the present Agency, such as never at any former period of this benevolent undertaking, obstructed the progress of the good work. Neither should it be forgotten, that an entirely new Native Agency, which should enjoy as far as practicable the con- fidence of the tribes, had also to be formed. Having premised thus much, we proceed to lay before our readers certain assertions of the RevieAver, so fully calculated to convey a false and injurious impression of the proceedings of the present Agency, as alone to supply a sufficient incentive for our endeavour to counteract their influence. In his Article published in December 1848 then, we find him lamenting in a sufficiently pathetic strain the fall of his hero, " and the consequent indefinite postponement of those splendid results to the cause of civilization and humanity, which ivere on the eve of emanating from them in the form of ripe mellow fruit^'' ■while it is added, " The melancholy doings of the last tivo years, have of course served to upheave, disarrange, and complicate, all pre- viously existing relatio7iships.^' 133 We have no quarrel with the frequent rapturous gasconades in which the Reviewer delights to celebrate the " indefatigable indus- try, unconquerable perseverance, and no ordinary mental perspicui- ty' judgment, and good sense," with other unrivalled excellencies of his hero. But when we find these eulogistic effusions, inter- spersed with unjust detractive remarks, highly derogatory to the character of other valuable servants of Government, and their pro- ceedings — as whatever might have been the design of its author, the above extract most certainly is, we are again imperatively called upon to enter "our earnest monition" also, to our readers " that they may not suffer their honestly formed views of the essen- tial merits of these, to be obfuscated by the dust and smoke, which unhappy controversy has succeeded in raising about the more recent proceedings of the Khond Agency." On Avhat grounds the Reviewer ventures to extend the " melan- choly doings," adverted to, over a period of 20 months subsequent to the removal of his hero from the scene of his disasters, we will leave him to shew. Meanwhile we shall proceed not only to disprove the detractive assertions in the sentence quoted, but, further, to establish, that at the very time when the article in which they are unhappily found, issued from the press, not only had great progress been made in reducing to order the social chaos of Khon- distan, but that remedial measures had, with encouraging prospects of success, been extended to hitherto neglected districts. We are now it is true, four months in advance of the period when this evil report was so gratuitously volunteered ; and if the pro- ceedings and their immediate results, as described in the fol- lowing extracts from Colonel Campbell's Reports to the Government of India, carry us forward to a period proportionately in advance of that to which, strictly speaking, the Reviewer's unhandsome re- marks apply, we trust no apology is necessary for so far exceeding the exact limits of a reply, when it is remembered that we record nothing beyond the immediate labours in which the Agent and his coadjutors were actively engaged, at the moment that the Reviewer was 80 unjustifiably publishing to the world these injurious reflec- tions upon their proceedings. We commence with extracts from Colonel Campbell's Report of the 16th April 184S, 134 '^ It affords me much satisfaction to be enabled to report for the information of the Right Honorable the Governor General, the complete and unconditional submission and surrender of the Bis- syes of the valley of Chokapaud on the 11th instant. " The whole of the Troops have returned to quarters, and univer- sal tranquillity pervades both the hills and plains. " The determination of Government to coerce the Rajah of Un- gool, and the intention of using my services in the direction of this expedition, reached me on the 24th of December at Borogotza, and the course to be pursued in Boad was then evident. My As- sistant Lieutenant MacViccar was placed in charge of Boad and Goomsoor, with directions to abstain from all aggressive move- ments, unless absolutely necessary ; and to keep the disaffected in check, until the Ungool business was over." " The Ungool Chief was deposed, and the expedition brought to a close early in February. During the course of these pro- ceedings in Ungool, excepting a very trifling disturbance in Punchgudda, the Jagheer of Sirdar Punda Naik, Boad and Goom- soor remained in peace. Information reached Lieutenant MacVic- car of the design of Majoro MuUicko, Lengo Gillo and Rasso Mullicko, in Athara Mutah to perform the Meriah sacrifice, and a girl for that purpose was obtained from Bondaghur and brought by Majoro Mullicko to Atharah Mutah ; shewn to and approved by their supposed deity, and the day for sacrifice appointed." " It is most gratifying to be able to report the seizure of Majoro Mullicko, which at once stopped the sacrifice ; and the subsequent rescue of the victim, who had been hurried away to a village in the district of Bondoghur." " I may as well add here that Longo and Gillo Mullicko, the confederates of Majoro, who had evaded every effort to capture them, were at last very clearly caught on the occasion of my late visit to their country ; while Rasso Mullicko the reputed author of all the dissensions in Atharah Mutah, and the firm adherent of the Meriah, is likewise in our custody. There is no further fear of any resumption of sacrifice in Atharah Mutah." " On the 19th of February I received the permission of Go- vernment to leave Ungool and to proceed to Boad and Goomsoor. Three Companies of the 29th, the Head Quarters of the 41st com- 135 prising about 170 men, and a body of liamghur Irregular Horse, were to be employed on this service — The Ungool affair having produced no effect whatever in these Maliahs." "ChokraBissye had obtained influence in Boad, by pledging him- self to the Khonds of those Maliahs, to secure for them the unin- terrupted performance of the Meriah sacrifice. This bold pro- mise, added to the most positive assurances of their reten- tion of the victims then in their possession, was precisely adapted to gain the devotion and attachment of the Khonds and their leaders. The question of the Meriah was now at issue; the Rajah and others had vainly endeavoured to persuade the Khonds to restore at least those Meriah victims which they got back in 1846, but they steadily, and in the most positive manner refused to do so ; not one would they give up ; the struggle about to ensue was definitely to settle the point whether the Government could or could not enforce its will — hitherto the Khonds had been triumphant, and the tokens of their success unhappily were still in their power." " A careful distribution of the little force was made, so as to occupy as many points as possible, while offensive operations were still strictly prohibited." " The Mutahs of Domosinghi and Rutteebaree were the scenes of our first endeavours — in approaching them, some slight opposi- tion was experienced, but without any eflfect ; the villages were entirely deserted ; after many and tedious efforts, a few were got to come in — they in turn used to bring in more ; and the concilia- tory treatment they met with, induced others to venture. Some- times it was necessary to surprize them in their hiding places, when they delayed to appear, but no violence or injury was ever done. When at last the Chiefs approached and matters were ripe for the discussion of the great question which brought us there, the evasions, falsehoods, and stratagems, which were resorted to, to bafile our efforts, were most harrassing. I do not think that there was much reason to expect aught else from a race sunk in such depths of igorance, superstition and sensuality. I know they have been styled " a clear-minded and truthful people," but how or where they could have inherited these rare and precious bless- ings, is very far beyond my conception. Why the Khonds should 136 be different from all other savage and barbarous nations, I know not. Between the New Zealand savage, who regales himself on human flesh, and the Hill Khond Avho pitilessly immolates a hu- man victim, there is nothing to choose — the one has not outstrip- ped the other in civilization, nor have either (except in a few fa- vored spots) yet had the opportunity of emerging from their bar- barism. The Khonds may not be quite so expert at a lie as their more civilized neighbours of the plains, but a regard for truth for its own sake, they have none, absolutely none whatever." " Long and tedious counsels were held, and every argument considered at all suitable to persuade them to desist from an ab- horrent rite, was applied and enforced. It must however be ad- mitted, that the determination manifested, and the plain and forcible exposition of the views of Government, and the kindly treatment they experienced, after their acknowledged misbehaviour, produced the most effect. They felt the clemency which was meted out to them, because they saw how far otherwise it might have been— On several occasions, bodies of them who were obstinate were surround- ed, and they well knew that the command to fire had but to be given, and their destruction was inevitable. On several occasions, also, when they pertinaciously withheld their Meriahs, their villages were surrounded, and they were informed that, if they wished to be re- leased from the presence of the Sebundies, they had only to give up their victims and come to the Sahib ; they invariably did so, and bound themselves in their own most solemn manner never again to sacrifice." " It were profitless and tiresome to recount the circuitous routes we journeyed — districts unheard of and unvisited by any European, were traversed over ; and more gloomy pestilential regions were rarely seen : but it was of the last importance that the work in Boad should be a thorough one, — at least, that the foundation should be solid ; and it could not have been so unless we had shewn our- selves in every part, and thus effectually demolished their last hope of being able to keep their victims to perform the sacrifice." " Moreover, many Chiefs of influence inhabited these Mutahs, and their personal submission was absolutely essential, to satisfy those who had already come in, that it was no partial business : 137 that what had been exacted from them, would in like manner be exacted from all — and it was so, to the astonishment of many." "I had a further object in penetrating those uninviting regions — there were several old-standing disputes between Chiefs of dif- ferent districts, which the visit afforded a favorable opportunity of settling." "And again, I was desirous of discovering the best practi- cable route for a direct road from Goomsoor, through Boad, to Sohunpore, and I now venture upon personal experience to state that, viewed in whatever light, whether as regards population, the supply of water, provisions, traffic, &c. the following will be found the most advisable track." " Russellcondah. M. Moojaguddah 8 Coorminghia 12 Poornaghur 9 Coinjuro 9 Bispurra 10 Catringia 9 RonuracoUo 9 Gotchapurra 9 Dhoi 10 Sohunpore 6 Russellcondah to Sohunpore 91 miles." " I will prepare and forward for His Lordship's information a list of the districts visited, with the names of the Chiefs, and the number of Meriahs each delivered ; and I need only now observe that with one or two exceptions, every influential man in Boad has completely submitted to the will of the Government, pledged themselves by swearing in their most solemn manner on a Tiger skin and some earth, henceforth to abstain from the performance of the Meriah;_and in token of their submission and obedience, delivered 235 victims, which include all those which were re-de- livered in 1846 and had not been sacrificed; and also 11 Avhich Colonel Ouseley had written about." " Chokra Bissye's few adherents were, along with himself, fairly hunted out of the country, and many have sneaked back to their s 138 villages, heartily sick of rebellion. I am credibly informed that their sufferings have been most severe— several sought refuge in Sohunpore ; and it is currently reported that the Chokra himself intends going to Colonel Ouseley. He bitterly upbraided the Boad Bissyes for deserting him ; and it v«?as soon made manifest that the Chokapaud Bissyes had behaved likewise, and returned to their valley." " I despatched my Assistant to Chokapaud, while I proceeded myself to visit Upper Goomsoor and settle the old-standing dispute of Sarungudda, which was fortunately effected, but not without trouble. After a little delay at Chokapaud and Chalee, the Bis- syes surrendered. I had instructed Lieutenant MacViccar to en- deavour to effect their submission without i^ledging the Circar to any line of treatment, saving the fairest trial and investigation. This was accomplished as I wished ; and the Bissyes accompanied Lieutenant MacViccar to Russellcondah. The feud between them and the people of Posera has been amicably arranged, and Choka- paud is completely tranquil, as well as every other part of Upper and Lower Goomsoor, and of Boad." "I would also desire to observe that the Rajah of Boad with his Paiks rendered good service, and I invariably supported his autho- rity with the people of the Maliahs. He very strongly protested against being made responsible for the re-delivery of the Meriahs restored to the Khonds ; and professed his utter inability to ac- complish it himself; nevertheless, he very creditably exerted him- self; and his protracted sojourn in the hills has no doubt been a cause of groat expense to himself and his establishment." " Bir Khonro and his Paiks gave valuable aid. Nowboghon Khonro was always present when required, and kept his country in unbroken tranquillity." Our next extracts are from the same Officer's Report of the proceedings of himself and his Assistant, at the close of the last and commencement of the present year. They will reward perusal ; and afford abundant evidence of the indefensible character of the Reviewer's " profound ignorance," of this period also of the oper- ations of the Khond Agency, Avhile they, together with the extracts given from the Report of the former year, bear sufficiently clear testimony to the truth of what we have advanced, relative to the 139 increased ditficulues and embarrassments consequent on the unto- ward proceedings of the kite Agent, which liis panegyrist never- theless declares " were on the eve of emanating," " in tiie form of ripe and mellow fruit." The Report from which we extract tlie following passages, is dated 18th March 1849. " From the Sooradah Maliahs, I directed my course to the hills of Chinna Kimedy. The annual sacrificing season was at hand ; intelligence (which I communicated at the time to the Government) had reached me of a large massacre which had been resolved on, and no time was to be lost ; I hastened onAvards ; and my sudden, though not altogether unexpected appearance, stayed the murder- ous proceeding. The Khonds, knowing what had occurred in Goomsoor and Boad, must often have expected a visit — long delay doubtless encouraged their hopes of a further respite." " I was fully alive to the necessity of proceeding with the ex- tremest caution on my first introduction to a wild and warlike race of men, who of necessity were prejudiced against m.o as a subver- ter of their ancient and much loved rite. I was sensible that any false or hasty step might plunge me into war with the whole of these tribes ; and horrible indeed would be a warfare in these dense forests and almost unknown mountains, where the climate is not the least deadly foe we should have to contend against. I am truly thankful that such an evil has been mercifully averted ; and although we did not altogether escape fever, it pleased God to shield us all from severe suffering, and to prosper our mission beyond the most sanguine expectations." " In the outset, I had the good fortune to conciliate and gain the confidence of the llajah Adikundo Deo of Chinna Kimedy, the Tat Rajah Rognat Deo of Guddopoor, and their subordinate chiefs. This Avas a great step ; for without their aid and active co-operation, I could scarcely have hoped to accomplish the object in view, save by recourse to measures of severity, painful even to contemplate." "I purposely avoided placing these Rajahs at any time in antago- nism Avith their hill subjects, wherever the slightest appearance of coercion Avas needful — as in one or two instances Avhere reluctance and delay Avere exhibited in the deliA'ery of the Meriahs, I ncA'er allowed them to appear on the scene, but confined all such acts 140 exclusively to my own establishment, and thus no ill feeling was engendered." " I followed my invariable course of procedure when dealing with Khonds, employing an intermediate Cutchery Agency as lit- tle as possible, and placing myself at once in direct communication with all classes ; hence they soon began to view me as a much less terrible Ogre than their imaginations had conjured up, and in time I began to acquire a little influence over them." " From the very first, I openly and in the most plain and intelli- gible manner proclaimed the chief design of my appearance among them. Without any disguise or circumlocution, I told them that the Government had sent me for the sole and avowed purpose of putting and end for ever to the inhuman and barbarous murders yearly perpetrated by them, and if needful enforce the cession of all the victims held in possession, and destined to die this cruel death. All their other ancient usages, I impressed upon them, Avould be strictly respected — the Government was anxious to be- friend them, and willing to assist them. If any were suffering op- pression, redress should be afforded, and justice meted out with an impartial hand ; but this Meriah sacrifice, this inhuman practice, must at once, and for ever be laid aside." " This plain speaking was eminently beneficial — there was and could be no mistake in their minds regarding the unalterable re- solve of the Government ; they were shut up to resistance or ac- quiescence, there was no middle course ; and the presence of the Troops added not a little to the weight of my declarations." " I have appended a paper marked A shewing the division of the Chinna Kimedy Maliahs into seven districts. The several districts which are superintended by a Hindoo chief or Pater, are sub-divid- ed into Mutahs and villages, governed respectively by a Pater or Khond head, styled Majee as in the Maliahs of Sooradah ; a title corresponding with that of MuUicko in Goomsoor, and with Khonro and MuUicko in Boad. The Hindoo chiefs of Districts in Goom- soor and Boad who are of the Soodoo caste are called Bissyes." " The Paters pay allegiance to their respective Rajahs, to whom they annually present a Nuzzer of Rupees 12. From their official standing amongst the Khonds they are empowered and entitled to levy certain contributions in kind — money transactions being al- 141 most unknown. If for example a Majee dies, the Hindoo chief receives as his due a pair of bullocks or buflfaloes. He is like- wise authorized to impose fines which are usually fixed accord- ing to the ability of the offending party. When, for instance, a man elopes with the wife of another, or with an unmarried wo- man, the culprit is mulcted by the Pater of the district in pro- portion to his substance." " Between the several districts, there is but little intercourse, owing to the quarrels and hostilities which appear to have existed from time immemorial. As we become more intimate, we may find out a remedy for this state of things and establish permanent- ly the amicable relations which have been so long interrupted. In the secondary range of mountains the villages are far apart, and the valleys with very few exceptions present a poor and barren ap- pearance, contrasting in this respect most unfavorably with the more fertile and richly cultivated valleys of Boad and Goomsoor. Water is less abundant than on the higher range ; and bleak, bar- ren, and uninviting is the country in every particular. It displays no variations of scenery : the eye beholds only one succession of mountains, thickly covered with the ordinary sized Dammer tree and with Bamboo." " The districts on the upper range or table land are more pic- turesque ; open valleys may here be seen in a high state of culti- vation and abundantly watered. Throughout the mountains how- ever, whether bountifully or sparingly dealt with by nature ; hu- man sacrifice or female infanticide prevails, with the exception of the large and fertile districts of Sarunguddah, Chundraghurry and Degi of Coradah, where happily infanticide and the immolation of human beings is unknown : elsewhere, in every direction, the Me- riah rite is celebrated with surpassing cruelty. The manner of this demoniacal performance I have already narrated, and it need not be repeated. As in Boad and Goomsoor so in Chinna Kimcdy, the end of the sacrifice is the propitiation or deprecation of the Earth god — Human blood must flow, or the ground, at the bidding of their sanguinary deity, will refuse to yield its increase." " In Mahasinghee, which is divided into four Gurriahs, one hun- dred purchased individuals were found — several of them had the marks of irons on their wrists and ankles, which shewed that thev 142 had been fettered to prevent escape. Only fifty-four out of the hun- dred were destined for sacrifice — the remainder had been bought as serfs or for adoption, either by the Hindoo inhabitants, a consi- derable and influential body, or by the Khond Majees." " When I was fully satisfied that no foul play was intended towards these slaves or foster children, I ordered their re-delivery, first taking a registry of them and receiving from their several proprietors the usual security, together with a written agreement, wherein they were bound carefully to preserve these individuals, and produce them whenever desired to do so by the Agent." " I am convinced I should have excited a storm which might not so easily have been allayed, had I determined on the removal of these slaves and adopted ones. It was no easy task to procure their attendance ; the victims destined for slaughter were procured with much greater facility, but I could account for this circum- stance, by the fact of my having last year removed from the Bead country (which marches with Mahasinghee) this description of people, and hence the fear that I should act similarly in Chinna Kimmedy. Such was not my design, nor should I have taken this class from Boad, had not the lateness of the season (consequent on the operations in Ungool) and its attendant dangers to all ranks, deprived me of the time required to institute a thorough investi- gation ; besides which, the lawless conduct of the Boad tribes, in forcibly reclaiming their Meriahs from my predecessor in March 1846, and in subsequently inviting into their country, the rebel Chockra Bissye, to aid them in fighting for the preservation of their sacrifice, imperatively demanded that we should assume a determined attitude, so as fully and completely to vindicate the past. During the present season, the foster children and slaves have invariably been returned to their owners in the Boad Maliahs. Many of them, both in Boad and Chinna Kimedy had formed alliances with the Khonds and Hindoos. As a matter of course, I always gave them the option of coming with me if they wished it ; the bare idea of separation elicited many unmistakeable traits of afTection, which satisfied me that I did well to return them. There is not the slightest cause for alarm on their behalf." " Daily and almost hourly were these Avild mountaineers of Chinna Kimedy assembled in my Camp. I wearied both the 143 Khonds and myself with overy argument I could think of to induce them to desist from a practice cruel and guilty in the eyes of God and man. I very especially directed their attention to the fertile districts of Sarunguddah and Degi, where no human blood is shed to appease a sanguinary god. I recalled to their minds their own law of " a life for a life," and challenged them to gainsay if they could, its justice when applied to their own practice of slaying their fellow creatures. I related at length how the Circar had traversed over Goomsoor and Boad ; had swept away every Meriah from those countries, and utterly abolished the revolting cere- mony. I told them how their brethren in those neighbouring hills had most solemnly pledged themselves never again to sacri- fice a human being, and how abundantly they had prospered in house and field since abstaining from the rite ; but above all I em- phatically declared, in terms most plain and intelligible, the firm and unalterable resolve of the Great Circar, at all risks to stop these atrocious murders. I did not for one moment profess to regard their abominable custom as a " deplorable error," but I made known in sufficiently expressive language, that the rite was an odious and an outrageous crime." " It would be as tiresome as profitless, to recapitulate further details of our many interviews. "When they were held, and by whom attended, has already been reported in the weekly diaries. I had not quite all the speaking to myself, for I invariably called on them to reply, whether my speech was fair or unfair, true or false. They were not likely, I knew, to raise many objections, or to offer much dissent : their general answer was, " it is true, it is just," and often added, " our fathers sacrificed and taught us so to do, the Great Government has sent a mighty chief to forbid the practice, and they must be obeyed ; let us then do as our brothers have done, and sacrifice buffaloes, goats and pigs, in place of human victims." " After our conference, an agreement was drawn up in terms as above ; the document was then signed by all the principal men present. Certain binding Khond formalities being observed to strengthen their pledge, and then re-delivered to me by the Chiefs themselves, who severally held the paper. Presents of strips of red Cloth, Baize, &c., were then distributed, and small sums of 144 monej' given ; my tent and its contents were inspected with won- dering curiosity, and the assembly broke up." " As may very naturally be supposed, when it is considered that this was our first visit, a considerable degree of reserve was fre- quently evinced by the mass of the people who feared to enter the Camp ; groups of men women and children sat gazing on at some distance, exhibiting much amazement at the novel sight. No effort was spared to conciliate all ranks, and to prove that our object was single in coming among them ; and I am happy to think the opinion entertained of us was not unfavorable. The strictest discipline was maintained in Camp ; and in no one part of the country did person or property receive the slightest damage." "It only remains that we renew our intercourse with these peo- ple as early as practicable after the rainy season, and deepen the impression already made. I have already reported the occurrence in Mahasinghee of two human sacrifices; and however much I may regret the circumstance, I cannot express my surprise, for it was an act naturally to be expected. No exertions would, I apprehend, have availed to suppress the performance of the rite altogether in one season ; but I have heard of none else." " Two hundred and six victims were rescued from Chinna Kime- dy. I doubt not some were hidden from us or carried to a distant part of the country. Next season we must endeavour to discover their retreat and bring them away." " From Chinna Kimedy I proceeded into the Boad Hills, where my Assistant Captain MacViccar had been travelling for some time: the results of his visits having already been communicated, no minute detail is necessary." " The entire abolition of the rite of human sacrifice which so recently prevailed throughout the extensive Maliahs of Boad is a subject of sincere congratulation. Not one drop of blood has been shed this year on the altar of their barbarous superstition ; nor was there manifested in any quarter the least disposition to break the pledge of abstinence which they had vowed last year. The whole of these hills have been traversed, and the same pleasing results exhibited in every quarter." " It may be profitable to dwell for a little on the causes which have produced these most gratifying effects throughout the hills of Ho Boad and Goonisoor, for it appears to me of the last importance that the grounds upon which the suppression has been effected should not be misunderstood ; and there seems great danger of misapprehension here, judging from an article in the Calcutta Re- view, professing from Official documents to give an account of the progress of the measures adopted for the suppression of human sacrifice in Goomsoor. In that article there is a magnificent array of language united to a grievous perversion of facts." " In the Boad country we need in the first place to be most thankful to God, whose bountiful harvest bestowed upon the Khonds, so powerfully and mercifully seconded our efforts : to His hand too we owe it that, during the year, the Khonds enjoyed immunity from all but the most ordinary sickness, and next we may ascribe much of our success to the felt and acknowledged power of the Government to enforce its will ; that will having been openly and unreservedly, without the slightest compromise or hesitation, and in the most straight-forward manner declared to the Khonds, wherever and whenever they were met by myself or my Assistant, and pro- claimed universally throughout the country. There was no cautious inquisition as formerly recommended, but the glaring fact was dealt with as an enormity which the Government neither would nor could longer suffer to continue to esiyt. I mention this promi- nently, because the success which has attended our labours in Boad and elsewhere, conclusively demonstrates the advantage of a firmer, bolder, and more determined line of policy, than was deemed pru- dent in the days of our earlier connection with these hills ; and I venture to assert that if I had met with the same support in 1838- 39 that I have since done, the good work of Meriah suppression would, in all human probability, have been as far advanced in Boad and Chinna Kimedy in 1841, as it now happily is in 1849." "It could not rationally have been expected that moral per- suasion (I do not however allude to the Gospel, the great restorer of our fallen humanity, although we know how slowly even its leaven works) would or could with such rapidity convert a race of people shrouded in the grossest darkness, who are governed like all others by their inferior passions, which forming into habits of licentiousness, predominate in the individual and permeate society. Superstition, which for centuries has been rivetting its oppressive 146 chains, is not quite so easily dislodged from the minds of such a people, or from the minds of any people : history, sacred and pro- fane, concur in their testimony on this point. If then the propen- sity of our lapsed powers be thus corrupt, and who can deny it ? if such our proneness to turn back to our idols, why do we look for greater strength of mind and purpose in the savage and uncivilized Khond ? Yet a few soft words and moral arguments are supposed to have sufficed to eradicate a practice which for ages has obtained among them — a people ignorant of the nature of a moral obliga- tion — without one idea in common with ourselves, and most im- perfect notions of right and wrong, are to be weaned and convert- ed from a most sanguinary superstition in a brief space of time, by the irresistible force of moral arguments !" " I should indeed have been astonished if the prosperous re- sults which have blessed our efforts in the hills, could have been attributed exclusively to the weight and influence of the moral reasonings we adduced, to impress upon the Khonds the heinous nature of the Meriah sacrifice ; — such discourses should never be omitted ; but every where and on all occasions impressively urged upon them ; yet the effect is transient and could scarcely be other- wise — had we rested on our arguments, I fear we should have effected little ; but we vigorously supported them with tangible demonstrations of an intention to act with decision, if they de- murred to our conclusions, and the result has been seen. Hence it is that when this year they assigned their motives for abstaining from their ancient rite, they scarcely ever made allusion to the persuasions which had been urged upon them, in respect of the immorality of this practice : but they laid marked stress upon the Circar's determination, and the futility of all resistance. They said ' they had once looked for help from Chokra Bissye, but the past years 1847-48 had proved the broken reed they leaned upon, and taught them to expect no aid from him ; therefore they obeyed —there was no alternative' — they had lost nothing by their obedi- ence — their crops had been most fruitful — their households kept in undiminished health ; hence they would never more oppose the Circar's will ; but if sickness, blight, or murrain overtook them, they would appease the anger of their god by animal sacrifices.' " " Upwards of 100 fresh victims were brought in from Boad this 147 year, and of those that absconded from Nowgaum nearly all have been recovered. Serfs and adopted children were re-delivered to their respective owners," " When the present generation, and perhaps their children, shall have passed away — when, throupfh the medium of schools, and other modes of civilization, such as roads, fairs, the introduc- tion among them of better implements of labor, teaching them improved methods of clearing and irrigating the ground, &cc. we shall have been able to change the current of their thoughts and feelings, and to direct them into a better channel, I shall have some hopes of their being as fully convinced in their hearts, of the utter folly, uselessness, and sinfulness of the Meriah sacrifice, as they now are of the impossibility of performing it save at a risk, which they most wisely prefer to avoid. They are not insensible either of the advantages which flow from the friendship of the Circar, and would not willingly forego them." " We must therefore maintain the ground we have now won — the triumph in Boad has so far been complete; but care and cau- tious watchfulness must still be exercised. If then a vigilant supervision is kept up over Goomsoor and Boad, we may most fairly and reasonably conclude, that the sacrifice of human victims is for ever at an end; but I have been most anxious that there should be no misunderstanding as to the real extent of our labors, or of the grounds upon which the suppression of the rite actually rests; hence I have continued my observations to a length which I hope will be forgiven." " I would also respectfully observe that I have not alluded to the, great precursor of civilization, the Gospel; not because I am insensible of its fitness for these wild races (who have no predilec- tion for Brahmins) but simply because it is not within the province of the Government of India, to introduce any Agency of the kind. I may however with propriety express the hope that, in due sea- son, these poor savages will be visited by the teachers of a higher and purer wisdom than that of man." " The total number of Meriahs rescued this year is 307, making an aggregate of 547 in the two past seasons. I append a state- ment shewing the manner in whicli they have been disposed of, and also a nominal roll." M8 " The road up the Coorminghia pass is at last in progress ; but I fear will not be finished this season, owing to delay in the ar- rival of the Sappers required to superintend and direct the work- men." " One hundred and eighty-four miles of new routes, never be- fore traversed by Europeans, have been surveyed this season in the Khond country. I have again paid particular attention to the most direct and practicable road through Goomsoor and Boad to Sohunpore on the Mahanuddee, which I most earnestly recom- mend, not only as facilitating in a Military point of view, the com- munication with Nagpore, but opening up an easy line of road for the extensive traffic which is even now carried on by the Brinjar- ries, who are the chief purchasers of the salt manufactured in the Ganjam district, and which they dispose of in the interior. The moral efifect on the Khonds, of a well frequented road passing through their country, would be very great ; and I shall submit a sketch of the proposed road, and the new routes traversed this season, as soon as it can be prepared." Comment on these statements is superfluous. But we may be permitted to offer a brief compendium of results, to satisfy unpre- judiced minds, that the Supreme Government may yet reap some fruit from their philanthropic enterprize ; and we submit that we have fully established our object, which was to shew that, the proceedings of the present Agency have hitherto been, and still are, the exact reverse of what the Reviewer has ventured to pro- nounce them. The reader will remember that in May 1847 Colonel Camp- bell assumed Office as Agent in Orissa, vice Captain Mac- Pherson, and that we have now entered on the year 1849. The country enjoys complete tranquillity and the revenue has never been more flourishing than during the two past years. The sacrifice of human victims has ceased throughout the hills of Boad ; during the past season, not one drop of human blood was shed ; — the victims surrendered by Captain MacPherson have all (save those few that had been sacrificed) been recovered by Colonel Campbell. In Chinna Kimedy a broad foundation has been laid for the suppression of the cruel rite ; and this has been eff'ected without resorting to any coercive measure?. During these two 149 years, 547 Meriahs have been rescued, and no violence done either to person or to property in any quarter. About 120 or more little children have been placed under the care of the Missionaries at Berhampore and Cuttack. The married Meriahs have all been provided for, and, together with a goodly number of the youths, settled in villages and set up as farmers, through the liberality of the Supreme Government; others have been apprenticed to different trades, while a few arc learning gardening. About fourteen have been placed under the protection of private indivi- duals, and about twenty-five have enlisted as Sebundies. Measures also are being adopted to improve the breed of cattle in Khon- distan. Lieutenant Frye has so far advanced in the acquisition of the language, as to hold out an encouraging prospect of commencing a system of instruction in the hills during next season. Between the Government Agent and the Khonds the most friendly feeling ex- ists. There is also fair ground to hope that a check has now really been put upon the fell practice of female infanticide. To this it is but right to add that from December 1847 to March 1848, the season for active operations in the hills, Colonel Campbell was withdrawn from his immediate charge, to conduct an expedition against Ungool, which resulted — within a few days of his entering that Zemindary — in the capture of the Rajah, and of every ill dis- posed man of influence in that country. These satisfactory results however are, with singular felicity, classed amongst the " mel- ancholy doings of the last two years !" Whether the Calcutta Re- viewer may likewise be pleased to consign them to the era of " abor- tive but well meant experiments," time will determine. But loe will take leave to express our grateful acknowledgment of the great success which it has pleased God to confer upon the " doings of the last two years," under the auspices of Colonel Campbell. And while we are desirous of preventing ourselves or our mea- sures from being " obfuscated, by the dust and smoke which un- happy controversy has succeeded in raising about his more recent proceedings," we heartily deprecate all vain-glorious boasting on the pait of ourselves, our friends, or the Press, and are sincerely anxious that all the praise for the measure of success, which has crowned the labours of the present Agent and his coadjutors in 150 this noble and benevolent undertaking, may be ascribed to Him, to whom alone belongs the glory and the praise of any and every good result ever yet produced by human Agency. CONCLUSION. In the course of these most unpleasant discussions we have, more than once, intimated our knowledge of the Author of the series of articles on Khond affairs ; but it was not until we had proceed- ed far in the preparation of our remarks that the author was pleased to declare himself openly, by forwarding to Colonel Camp- bell the Copy of a letter dated Calcutta the 2d April 1849, and ad- dressed to Mr. Halliday in returning the last of the Khond papers " placed," he says, " at my disposal, by special permission of Lord Hardinge." Being satisfied that the writer was actuated by no malevolent de- sign, in penning even the intemperate philippic against General Dyce that disgraces the pages of the Calcutta Journal, we refrain from recording his name. But a sense of the justice due to parties who, as well as their measures, have been subjected to such unmerited obloquy and reproach, constrains us to expose the very unsatisfactory grounds on which he has assumed the office of historian, judge, and critic, of the proceedings of the Khond Agen- cies, since the close of 1845. With this view we submit the following extracts from the letter referred to. *' The Reports placed at my disposal, embraced a period of 10 years, commencing with the masterly one of the Honorable Mr. Russell — 1836, and extending to the close of 1845 — the time when Captain MacPherson last proceeded to the Khond country with enlarged authority." It is added, " Here I beg that it be speci- ally noted that the official reports, connected with the operations of this last visit, and which led to the enquiries of Mr, Grant, were not lent to me. Of these operations therefore, I did not feel myself warranted to furnish any detailed account," 151 And further, "My own sole object," was " tlie elicitation of truth, I would endeavour as heretofore to do the most rigid justice to all parties, according to the evidence presented to me. I could have nothing to do with the bitterness and exasperation which have unhappily of late been mingled up with the Khond Agencies. The introduction of such feelings at all, in connection with the progress of a great philanthropic measure, must be sin- cerely deplored. Besides their unchristian character and tendency, such feelings have a powerful influence in blinding the understand- ing, obscuring the judgment, and originating misconceptions, sur- mises and ungenerous suspicions of every kind and degree." Our remarks have, already, so far exceeded our proposed limits as to forbid publication of the entire letter, the rather as by so do- ing we should be induced to extend them to all its details, but with respect to the writer's professed desire " to do justice, rigid justice, and to form an historic narrative," we confess it has never been our misfortune to witness a more unsuccessful attempt to carry out a good design ; and we feel assured that, the faithful historic muse will as fully concur with us in rejecting from her pages the frequent perversions of fact that obtrude themselves on the reader's notice in the course of the " historic narrative," as justice will, in repudiating the unfounded decrees so authoritative- ly and, we may add, so recklessly paraded in the same pages. Need we recapitulate the instances in which Ave have found the Reviewer taxing his glowing imagination — pressing into his service every figure of speech except common sense, and ransacking his rhetorical treasures for tropes and metaphors, in which to express his certain, but mistaken, foresight of an autumn of mellow fruit, of the maturity of which, common discernment must have forbidden the indulgence of even a rational hope ? Or shall we recal to the reader's memory, how history — ancient and modern, political and philosophical, civilized and savage, " of modern Asiatic Islanders and ancient Asiatic Medes," has been laid under contribution, and even the peculiar phraseology of the Sacred Volume itself desecrat- ed, to celebrate the imaginary triumphs and exploits of the modern Dejoces and his myrmidons ? But we forbear. The disclosures in his letter now under notice, leave little scope for conjecture as to the authorities that ruled the Reviewer's 152 judgment of Khond Agencies and affairs since " the close of 1845." Of subsequent operations, he did not feel himself " warranted to furnish any detailed account." Yet we find no diffidence in an- nouncing the results of his hero's " aggressive movement on the principality of Boad," to have been a " decided progress." May we not ask in which direction ? With equal confidence his readers are assured that, had the Agent " been left to pursue his own mea- sures unmolested, there is scarcely any reasonable ground for doubt that long ere now the horrid rites of female infanticide and human sacrifice, would have been abolished throughout the greater part of the Khond territories." That Captain MacPherson's infanticidal measures proved utterly futile and abortive, we have satisfactorily proved. Neither was he himself entirely ignorant of this failure, as we find him stating, in a Report dated 11th November 1846, that in Sooradah he feared they were " preparing to maintain their rights as formerly by arms, and ceasing generally to preserve their infant children." For the effects of the " aggressive movement" on the abolition of human sacrifice, we must beg of our readers to refer to our remarks on an oc- currence, the most untoward of any in the whole history of Govern- ment measures in Khondistan. " I could have nothing to do with the bitterness and exaspera- tion which have unhappily of late been mingled up with Khond Agencies" says the Reviewer. Was it then with a hope of coun- teracting the unchristian tendency of such feelings, that he pre- faced his paean over the "triumphant vindication" of his hero, with the most unfounded aspersions of the character and measures of General Dyce and his " Cupar justice" — interspersing them with injurious insinuations as to the motives for those measures, which he asserts " cannot fail to cover his (Capt. MacPherson's) enemies, with the confusion and disgrace which their ill-omened counsels and machinations have retributively entailed?" Who, we ask, are these " enemies ?" what " the meshes of his foes ?" They may refer to the exasperated Khonds — but wc leave it to our readers to decide whether, as they appear in the pages of the Reviewer — mixed up with other equally injurious inuen- does, these scandalously aspersive reflections can be separated from the irritated writer's direct attacks on the character and 153 « proceedings of the piincipal actors in the events of that period ? Was it with a view to allay these unhappy feelings, that the Reviewer in December 1848 — by his own confession, possessing no Reports '•^beyond the close of 1845," denounces "the melancholy doings of the last two years;" and, after his chosen hero's autho- ritative removal from the scene of his disasters, declares on we know not what authority, in December 1848, that "he had given indisputable evidence of possessing peculiar qualifications alike in the way of knowledge, aptitude and experience, beyond all other men living or dead,'' for the furtherance of a work, which his latest measures had done more to obstruct and confound than all his former labours (of one jot or tittle of the praise due to which we at least would not rob him) had ever done to advance ? But we should have to notice almost every sentence of the Re- viewer's vituperative lament over the " removal of the Agency," if we proceeded to comment on all its particulars, and perhaps ourselves incur the imputation of forgetting what is due to justice, conciliation and charity, in exposing yet further the absence of these virtues, which characterizes this part of the Reviewer's perform- ance. The Government, by his own admission, not having placed at the Reviewer's disposal the Reports subsequent to the close of 1845, it remains for him to explain the grounds on which he was " ena- bled authoritatively to report" " the deliberate verdict of the Su- preme Government," on the contents of about two thousand Jive hundred folio pages, the fruits of a twelve months' investigation of a most searching character." We have, already, assigned reasons for believing that, the vaunted vindication was not quite so tri- umphant as the Reviewer would have us believe, and we would, fur- ther, ask any honest and intelligent juror to estimate the weight due as evidence to any amount of testimony, neither submitted to the test of cross examination nor remark, by the parties whom it is assumed to have so deeply criminated ? We feel assured that neither his intemperate attack on General Dyce, nor his gratuitously evil re- port of the " melancholy doings of the last two years," will be justified by the decision of the Commissioner or the Supreme Council. It remains therefore for him to explain the nature of his authorities. The official reports of the period referred to, we V 154 • know he had not; and with the present Agents we presume he- will not pretend to have had any communication. We are there- fore induced to the helief that he is indebted for the information on which his assertions are based, to private exparte or newspaper reports. The Reviewer may not be aware that the very General whose character he has ventured, with such ostentatious insult, to traduce, received under date the 4th June 1847 at the close of his services in the Hill Tracts, the following expression of the sense enter- tained by the Supreme Government of their value. "The President in Council discharges a pleasing duty in con- veying to you the cordial acknowledgments of the Government of India, for your zealous and successful services in the Hill Tracts of Orissa, whereby it may be hoped that permanent tranquillity will be restored in the Districts, lately the scene of serious disturbance."' And we submit that it is inconsistent with the principles of jus- tice, candour and truth, to leave us to inform such of his readers as this pamphlet may reach, that the official documents paraded at the head of the Reviewer's article, reached no further than " the close of ] 845." That they had consequently failed him, exactly three years previous to the publication of his ostentatious report of the " decided progress" said to have been the result of an " aggressive moment on the principality of Boad" in 1846 — of his scurrilous philippic on the " Cupar justice" of General Dyce, per- petrated, according to the Reviewer, in 1847 — and of his " abso- iutely unfounded and calumnious" misrepresentation of "the me- lancholy doings of the last ttvo years." The Reviewer may, indeed, be utterly unconscious of being sway- ed or actuated by any undue personal bias or favouritism towards Captain MacPherson ; we however find, in the predominant influ- ence of such feelings on his part, the only conceivable palliation of his offence against the second great commandment, in volun- teering statements personally injurious — not to one, but to many persons, as well as distortions of facts, which in reference to Khond affairs, occupy so prominent a place in the Caleutta Journal. Justice is indeed an " inestimable boon," of the value of which Europeans, and gentlemen of all nations, have perhaps as keen an apprehension as semi-barbarous Khonds. But if his hero sup- 155 piled this " greatest of all social wants" in such total ignorance of the real merits of the cases under adjudication, as the Reviewer has displayed in doing "justice, rigid justice to all concerned" in the contents of his articles on Khond affairs, it can be no matter «f surprize that the Khond tribes, without exactly feeling that *' he would bo precluded by allegiance to his own sovereign from yielding to any such requisition," but seriously questioning, " were the decisions of the Agent as satisfactory as were those of Dejoces of old?" in order to "put an end to their calamities," "did not unanimously resolve to elect him as their King''' : nor yet that the present Agent should not hasten to avail himself of the Reviewer's services to correct the mis-statements, and injurious reflections regarding Khond affairs, which he has himself so gratuitously and assiduously laboured to foist on the public. It is not our province to expose the " unchristian character and tendencies" of him who so eagerly " taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." Neither do we desire to question the sinceri- ty or good intention expressed by the Reviewer in the conclud- ing para of his letter to Colonel Campbell, wherein he is obliging enough to say, " according to the evidence before me, I tried to do justice to all parties ; and if you point out where, m ignorance^ I may have done injustice to you, I shall do all I can to repair it." But we have a reluctant delicacy about requiring any person of the Reviewer's character and circumstances, publicly to unsay and undo so much of what he has so positively and deliberately said and done in the assumed character of judge, critic, and historian. And we submit to our readers whether, after what has been laid before them, " the responsible authorities" could be expected to entrust the vindication of the character and doings of the Khond Agency to one, who, either from ignorance or incapacity of any kind, has done so much to damage both — as far as his credit ex- tends, in public estimation. We exceedingly regret the necessity that Induces the application of such strong expressions of censure and reproach to a person of the Reviewer's known character and profession. But we desire that the Khond Agency may enjoy, according to its deserts, the approval of all good men ; and feel proportionately aggrieved, when we find its best endeavours to promote the interests of humanity, so injuriously and 156 unjustly misrepresented. A sense of what is due to the present Agent and his Coadjutors, specially as public servants, and to the good cause in which they are engaged, compelled us to come thus prominently forward. It must however be observed that, it is in the distinct character of a candidate for distinction amongst periodical writers, and in that alone, that we have to deal with our unpro- voked assailant. We feel strongly that his indignation at the failure and re- moval of his chosen favorite from the Khond Agency, has hurried the Reviewer, in ignorance, we doubt not, into a very unjustifiable violation of Christian principle and precept; but we will not as- sume an office which would be more appropriate to the functions of his particular calling. We do however hold ourselves excused in reminding him, that the same philosopher and divine, one of whose arguments — as will probably be remembered, was made available for elevating his hero to the rank of a philosophic dis- coverer of a " grand central p7'inci2)le,^^ has published a celebrated Avork on Moral Philosophy which, with all its faults, has been found to afford valuable instruction, and contains the following examples, "Inconsiderate slander is a differeTit offence, although the same mischief actually follow, and although the mischief might have been foreseen. The not being conscious of that design, which we have hitherto attributed to the slanderer, makes the difference. " The guilt here consists in the want of that regard to the con- sequences of our conduct, which a just affection for human happi- ness, and concern for our duty, would not have failed to have produced in us. And it is no answer to this crimination to say that we entertained no evil design." We have no room for the illustration which follows, but we give the closing para of the same section. " Indiscriminate praise is the opposite of slander, but it is the opposite extreme ; and however it may be thought to be an excess of candour, is commonly the effusion of a frivolous understanding, or proceeds from a settled contempt of all moral distinctions." Indiscriminate praise may indeed be the opposite of slander, but being the opposite extreme, partakes — on the principle that extremes meet, of not a little of the character of its opposite. A 157 more striking illustration of this tlian the rhapsodies of the Re- viewer afford, is not easily found : for who does not feel, as he passes from the " era of comparative ignorance, twilight groping, abortive but well meant experiments," to that which the rhapsodist is pleased to celebrate as "a new and distinct epoch of maturer knowledge, fuller and more steady light, tnore skilful and successful experiments," — who, as he proceeds with the Reviewer from the first to the second epoch, is not arrested by a " predominant spirit and distinguishing character ?" The once honored Agents of the former sink into contempt, with- out reference to directly-disparaging statements. And the reader cannot divest himself of the feeling that the high-flown eulogies of "the most conspicuous person," are eminently calculated, if not di- rectly intended, to operate as an antidote to the praises of the earlier Agents in this good work, before " the most conspicuous person" became a candidate for the undivided honours of a field in which — "whatever success may at any time have attended his labours, was, to an extent, that has not yet been acknowledged, the fruit of seed sown by his predecessors. In conclusion, we again express our extreme regret that we should have been forced to take any part in this unhappy contro- versy. And we assure the Reviewer that the most hyperbolical and rapturous eulogies of his hero's exploits, real or imaginary, Avould never have drawn forth a single remark from us. Hearti- ly do we wish that he had "had nothing to do with the bitterness and exasperation which have unhappily of late been mingled up with Khond Agencies." But we feel that, so far from pursuing the wise and christian-like course described in the para of his letter to Mr. Halliday, of which these words form a part, the Re- viewer has himself done " more than any other man living or dead," to perpetuate such feelings in reference to Khond aSairs, which, adopting his own language — " besides their unchristian cha- racter and tendency" " have a powerful influence in blinding the understanding, obscuring the judgment, and originating miscon- ceptions, surmises and ungenerous suspicions of every kind and degree." APPENDIX. A. 1. In 1833-34 I was employed with my Regiment the 41st in suppress- ing the disturbances in Kimedy Zemindary, and commanded the Regi- ment for six months vice Major Baxter killed. 2. In February 1836 I joined the Commissioner Mr. Russell at Now- gaum as Assistant and Secretary, and on the 14th of the same month marched with a Detachment under Major Butter via Bencote and Doho to Pattingia above the Ghauts in pursuit of the llajah of Goomsoor Dhu- naje Bung, and did not again return to the plains till the 4th of June, when the rains compelled the cessation of Military operations. 3. In the latter part of 1836 I was appointed Assistant to the Col- lector (afterwards Agent to the Governor of Fort St. George iuGanjam), and again ascended the Ghauts on the 19th of December via Corada and Digi with two Companies of the 6th Regiment under Major Reid, and continued in Khondistan with the exception of a short interval of sick- ness, till the final suppression of the rebellion. It is not necessary that I should describe the Military operations nor detail the numerous affairs in which I was engaged, sufficient to say that, I obtained the approbation of my immediate superiors, and my conduct both in Kimedy and Goom- soor was noticed by Government in General Orders. 4. In June 1837 the lamented Mr. Stevenson Agent to the Governor in Ganjam died, and was succeeded by the Principal Collector Mr. Inglis until the arrival of Mr. Bannerman in February 1838. 0. Instructions from the Madras Government respecting the steps to be taken for the suppression of the Meriah sacrifice among the Khonds (the existence of which cruel rite had become known during the opera- tions for subduing the rebellion in Goomsoor) were looked for with much interest by the European authorities in the district, more particularly by myself to whom had been intrusted the charge of the recently distracted Zemindaries of Goomsoor andLooruun above and below the Ghauts, but no instructions of any kind were sent. 6. The season for sacrificing was at hand, and no time was to be lost. The remembrance of the Military operations among the E bonds of Goom- soor was sllll vivid, and tlie effect was very sensibly felt by the Khonds of Boad. I accordingly addressed the Acting Agent on the subject, and immediately prepared to ascend into the Goomsoor Maliahs which I ac- complished in December 1837, and after an absence of about 25 days, returned to Nowgaum with 105 victims of various castes and ages. 7. The plan I pursued was this, — I procured from Sam Bissye and others as much information as I could of the names of the Khonds, &c. who possessed Meriahs, no easy task. I then sent messengers to the dif- ferent heads of Mutahs and villages in Athara and Bara Mutah, and in Hodzoghoro and Tintulghur (most of whom have received the Lari or turban of investiture from my hands) with orders to come to me at Woadragerry, and to bring with them all the victims they had purchased for sacrifice, as the Government was determined to put an end to the practice of immolating human beings. 8. The Mutahs nearest to Woadragerry at once attended with their Meriahs, few in number, for they have suffered much during the rebel- lion. Some Khond Chiefs came without them, but these assisted by Sam Bissye and Pundu Naik and others and the information previously obtained, were detected and sent back to comply with the orders, and were afterwards dismissed with the others, and desired to attend again on a day named. 9. Gradually the more distant Mutahs and villages seeing how the others had acted and had been treated by me, brought in their Meriahs, and when all the Mutahs had assembled on the day appointed, I told them through Sam Bissye, Pundu Naik and ethers who had previously been instructed, that the Government had determined that the Meriah sacrifice, the immolation of human victims, should cease. The children they have purchased from Panoos and others were the children of the Sircar, and so were the Khonds who had now become the subjects of the Sircar, and entitled to its protection. Some then asked if they might sacrifice buffaloes, goats, pigs and fowls. They were told to sacrifice as many as they pleased ; but not even one human being under pain of severe punishment. 10. Sam Bissye and Pundu Naik reasoned with the Khonds and im- pressed on them the necessity of strict obedience to the order, and I have no doubt made use of stronger language than I have used, for they both seemed to consider the suppression of the rite a great virtue. The as- sembly was then arranged and certain Khond oaths administered, after which my sword was passed from Chief to Chief, each undertaking for himself his people and descendants to abstain henceforward and for ever from the sacrifice of human beings on pain of certain penalties and plagues to themselves, their children, cattle and property. The assembly after the distribution of a few presents was dismissed, and the people re- turned to their homes, the rescued children having been previously sent to Nowgaum. 11. About 20 children of different ages exclusive of the 105, were restored by me to different Chiefs on their earnest solicitation and on the security of each other and of Sam Bissye and of Pundu Naik, these children they promised to adopt into their families, for which purpose and as servants most of them they declared had been purchased from their starving parents or relations (for there was a grievous famine in the land) and I have recently seen one of these restored children with Go- bem Mulliko the Chief of Pattingia, and the others I am told have been carried away by Captain MacPherson as JNIeriah children. 12. I proposed to carry out my views for the suppression of Meriah sacrifice by conciliation and the judicious exercise of authority. The Government of the day disapproved of my having used threats, and de- sired that henceforward persuasion and conciliation alone should be em- ployed, and that authority was to be entirely kept out of sight, and desired that as few men as possible in future should accompany me as an escort, for fear of creating excitement. 13. As was my duty I acted in strict accordance with the orders con- veyed to me. 14. Neither did the Government approve of my proposal to purchase any victim whose safety I could not secure by any other means short of violence. A writer in the Calcutta Review sneers at this proposal which was condemned, because " the price given for one victim would serve to purchase another." Does not the same reasoning apply to the bribes sanctioned to be paid to the Junies or Khond priests and others ? When on my own responsibility and without instructions of any kind, I ascend- ed the Ghauts in 1837 to the rescue of Meriah victims, and having de- termined on the course to be pursued, it was my duty to be prepared for every emergency that might arise, and a very probable one presented it- self in the case of a Khond replying to my demand to deliver up the Meriah, — " If you wish to put a stop to the Meriah sacrifice and to take my property from me, this child cost me six rupees, give me the money and take the child." What reply could 1 give ? Knock him on the head ? Or leave the child to do with it as it seemed to him good, or agreeing to his terms tell him as I would have done, the next time I catch you with a Meriah I will give you something else than rupees ? 15. I was soon after promoted to be Principal Assistant to the Agent, and Captain Hall of the 49th Regt. succeeded me as Assistant, and I w continued to watch over the Khonds of Goomsoor till January 1842, visiting them once, sometimes twice a year, at the commencement of the cold season, the time when the sacrifice had usually been performed. . During these visits I settled boundary disputes, disputes about fields, &c. and numberless quarrels, where the fair sex, who appeared more than ordinarily troublesome among the Khonds, bore a very prominent part. The boundary disputes were not easily arranged, but the others, the par- ticulars af which were generally well known, were settled by a Punchayut of Chiefs and the award given on the spot. Many followed me during the hot season and rains to Nowgaum and Gopaulpoor requesting that Sam Bissye might be ordered to enquire into and settle their disputes with each other, and I never once had an appeal or heard a word against his decisions, or had a complaint against him of any kind whatever. 16. I represented in my letters with all the force I could use the ne- cessity of extending operations for the suppression of the Meriah into Boad and Chinna Kimedy but without success. I pointed out the great first step towards the civilization of the Khonds by the construction of a good road from A ska through Russellcondah and Coorminghia to Sohunpoor on the Mahanuddy, by which Troops might pass to and from the coast to Nagpoor, and by which thousands of Brinjarry bullocks would bring the produce of the interior to the coast, and return laden with the Company's Salt, more than 40,000 rupees worth of which is sold at the GanjamSalt places annually to the Brinjarries, for conveyance to Nagpoor and other places in that direction. I ofi'ered to superintend the construction of this road myself, on which I hoped by various means to induce Khonds to labor ; no notice whatever was taken of this recommendation. 17. I entreated that Government would place at my disposal two Elephants which I offered to feed at my own expense, for my health had suffered much from exposure from want of efiicient carriage (the bullocks of the country being quite unfit for service in the Hills), and moreover that the more distant and difficult of access the Khond Mutahs were, the more necessary it was that they should be visited — even this humble request was unnoticed, 18. I successfully encouraged the Khonds by every means in my power to frequent the markets in the plains, they were protected from the slightest molestation and soon became expert bargainers. 19. I instituted a strict search after the professed Meriah Kidnappers, and apprehended three of the most notorious who were handed over for trial to the Agent. 20. Below the Ghauts I had Revenue and Judicial charge of Goom- soor and Soorada, and Magisterial and Judicial charge of the Zeminda- ries of Corada, Bodaghur, Darncote, Chinna Kimedy, Moherry, the es- tates of Aska, Coomari and Coorla, and the town of Berhampoor, and consequently the time at my disposal for visiting the Khonds in their own country, was limited. 21. The flourishing state of the Revenue of Goomsoor and Soorada, the safety of property and the small amount of crime within the range of my charge, speaks for itself, and elicited the unqualified approbation of my immediate superior Mr. Bannerman, under whose able instructions I acted for more than four years. 22. About twenty supposed Meriahs were recovered in the course of the four succeeding years from December 1 837 to the end of December 1841. These were discovered and sent down spontaneously by Sam Bis- sye and others interested in their release. 23. I here assert, that aided by the intrepid old Chief Sam Bissye Bahadur Bukshi, I put an end to the public performance of the Meriah sacrifice among the Khonds of Goomsoor, and that up to the end of 1841 when I last visited them, the cruel rite had not been publicly performed. I do not pretend to have worked a miracle or to have eradicated from the minds of these wild people all inclination for the rite ; on the contra- ry, I feel assured that if the Khonds of Goomsoor were even now left to themselves, the public performance of the rite would soon be renewed, and a close watch must be kept over them till the present generation has passed away, and civilization has made some progress, ere they can safely be left to themselves ; the first great step to which is the opening of a road through the most fertile and most thickly inhabited part of Khon- distan (which is also the most direct line) to Sohunpore on the Maha- nuddy as recommended by me nine years ago. 24. I have no wish to enter into a controversy with so voluminous a writer as Captain MacPherson who boasts of having gained and seen into the minds of the Khonds in a manner quite unknown to ordinary mortals. If he had so completely " gained their minds" as to have era- dicated all inclination for their cherished rite, how does it happen that he asserts that the Meriah sacrifice had recently been renewed in places where it had for years been abolished ? This sudden eradication from the minds of men (if it can be believed) of a dearly cherished religious heriditary superstition, is passing marvellous. 25. All that can be said of Captain MacPherson's much vaunted and self-lauded success is this, that with most ample and liberal means, time, money, establishment, and Elephant carriage, he built upon the broad and solid foundation I had laid in December 1837, and continued the work (to this day incomplete) so successfully begun and carried on by me to January 1842 (when I left the district to accompany my Regiment to China) under the cold auspices of a Government which disregarded sug- gestions admitted to be most advantageous to the deeply interesting cause on which I had spontaneously entered ; a Government that denied me even the humble aid of two of their Elephants, which I had solicited — paying for the same, to enable me to perform a duty of the first impor- tance to the Meriah cause, and to protect the health of my followers and ray own which had suffered much from severe and anxious labor and personal exposure in these unhealthy regions. My carpet throughout the day, and my bed at night being frequently under the shelter of a tree, or a straw heap — nothing to be complained of on service in the field— but far from agreeable in the ordinary routine of peaceful duty. 26. Mr. Cadenhead's services in watching over the Khonds of Goom- soor should not be lost sight of, they are detailed in his several Reports while acting for Captain MacPherson during part of 1844 and 45 I be- lieve. 27. A few words on Captain MacPherson's first appearance in the Meriah cause will not be out of place. He arrived at Berhampore about October 1841 as Assistant Agent in succession to Captain Hall, 49th Re- giment. He was instructed to survey a route direct from Aska to Nag- poor which the authorities in Ganjara pronounced impracticable and use- less. He had five or more Government Elephants at his disposal, Rupees 500 per mensem for such establishment as he chose, a Company of Sepoys, and a skilful Medical officer of his own selection to attend him. He was absent from Soorada about 27 days in December 1841, a portion of which only he passed above the Ghauts (Captain MacPherson says 27 days) failed in the objects of his excursion, and returned, and published a volume on the history of the Khonds, social, religious, &c. &c. and on female infan- ticide. 28. With the Boad Maliahs I had no concern, I only visited them twice as far as Borogotza and Bulsacoopa, and will allow the truly lamen- table occurrences there and in Hodzoghoro and Chokapaud, &c. &c. under the Agent for the Suppression of the Meriah sacrifice to speak for them- selves. 29. Much has been written in Reviews, Newspapers, Pamphlets, and Reports about the Meriah sacrifice and the Khonds. The Pagan mytho- logy has been ransacked to give a system of gods and goddesses to these wild mountaineers. The Histories of Greece and Rome have been searched to find something analogous to the abominable Meriah — some of these productions read well enough at Clubs, Libraries, &c. &c. and make up capital articles for the Calcutta Review, but in truth they consti- tute the "romance" not the reality of life in Khondistan. 30. I have felt it due to my own character, which no consideration can allow me to compromise, to place this statement before you. If Cap- tain MacPherson had refrained from attempting to exalt his own reputa- tion at the expense of mine, and if he had confined himself to the vindi- cation of his own policy without nullifying my past and present nieasui'es, I would have remained silent, and in silence suffered the obloquy that has for years been cast upon my honest endeavours to pave the way for the ultimate extinction of a revolting rite. But Captain MacPherson has thought good, officially, to announce to you my entire " failure" in the Meriah cause. In public Journals I have often read similar statements but I have passed them by unnoticed ; the intimation publicly communi- cated to you cannot be treated in like manner, and I will hope that in this recorded intimation of my " failure and his success," submitted to you by Captain MacPherson, you will discern both tlie cause and the apology for whatever of egotism may belong to this paper. 31. One word in conclusion and I have done ; the method of pro- cedure which I originally adopted will yet be found, I feel an assured confidence, not only the most practicable, but the surest and most peaceful plan for effecting the abolition of this inhuman pi'actice ; to strike a single blow in my efforts to suppress the Meriah sacrifice would be to me a sad and painful duty, but I finnly believe that the outward manifes- tation of the power to strike that blow, would be the surest and most effectual means of averting its necessity, while it proved the inflexible de- termination of Government to put an end to the sanguinary custom. I would leave no effort untried to enlighten the Khonds and to elevate them in the social and moral scale. To this end the construction of roads, and the erection of bungalows at suitable localities, would materially con- tribute. I advocate most warmly the peaceful system, but it must be based upon a safe and sound foundation, else instead of diffusing a pure and salutary light the country will be drenched with blood. The utmost amount of persuasion and conciliation Is not inconsistent with firmness and resolution. B. Memorandum of Stations visited hij Captain MACPHERSON in the Sooradah and Goomsoor 3Iah'ahs, when Assistant and Principal Assistant Agent in Ganjam in the Years 1841-42-43 and 1844. Years. Particulars of Days and Stations. In Sooradah Maliali. 1841 December 15th At Duntilinghy . . From „ 16th to 19th. .At Addoogoody... „ 20th to 23rd,.At Addipongah , . „ 24th to 26th. .At Sumoolepadah „ 27th..At Mangoody. . .. „ 28th to 31st.. At Guddapore. . . . 1842 January 1st ..At Mangoody — From „ 2d to 4th..At Sonnapore „ 5th..At Sadekeyah. ... „ 6th.. At Addipongah. . „ 7th. .At Addoogoody. . „ 8th.. At Duntilinghy . . Total days. In Goomsoor Maliah. 1843 January from 9th to 23d . . At Coorminghiah 15 „ „ 24th to 25th..At Jummungiah.. .. 2 „ „ 26th to 31st...At Pedesekiah 6 February „ 1st to 3d . . ..At llodungiah 3 „ „ 4th to 5th . .At Coormingiah 2 „ „ 6th . . At Mojagadah If 1844 January from 7th to 19th. .At Coormingiah 13 „ „ 20th to 27th.. At Hojagada 8 „ 28th to 30th. .At Coorminariah 3 25 29 24 78 * It was during these 35 days that the wonderful results of " a residence of but 80 days in the Hills" were attained. t Below the Ghaut, 10 miles from Russelk-ondah. C- List of Posts in the Goomsoor and Boad Maliahs occupied by Troops of the Line, in March 1847. Detachment of what Posts. By whom Commanded. Regiment. Gullery Lieutenant Colonel Green. . . 50th Regiment N. I. Bodinghy Major Dickson „ do. Naregotsa Ensign Hilliai'd „ do. Collada Havildar 18th do. Burada Subadai Major Shekh Ebrara 22d do. Gurada Subadar Vydelingum „ do. Balashye Jemadar Swamy „ do. Serasoomooloo... Jemadar „ do. Belgoonta Havildar Kumal Mahomed . . „ do. Codunda Havildar Syed Jaffer „ do. Moozaguddo. .. Do. Cundulrayadoo , do. Doderalunda. .. Do ,, do. Toomooroo,. .. Do. ,, do. Coorminghee. . .Captain Moore „ do. Tentilghur A Native Officer Linepurra Borogotza Ensign King 50th do. Ruxiraendi. . . .Captain Robertson 22d do. Sungremendi . . Chalee Captain Rose 50th Regt. and 26th Rifles (26th Regt. N. L) Pusserah Captain Wilton 36th Rifles (36th Regt.N.I.) Chokapaud. . . .Lieutenant Grant 50th Regt. N. I. Burmool Do. Nightingale 18th do. Coossunghur. . . Do. Taylor ,, do. Harbungiah .... Capt. and Bt. Maj. Russell . . „ do. -t. S > 1>J^ b->' VO 4^^ "^Xil] '^.i/O UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on tlie last date stamped below. ^OFCALIF0% ^OF-CALIFO/?^ 4? >- i\v^ ^^ ^WEUNlVERi-Z/i i'-TJO ^ -^ ^7l 58 01029 3008 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 124 847 3 fj-iu IFOfiU;, pi fln.iW' yn\ ^1 I g s 7/91 Hwuon.iNJtv //fin » Hill 11 v\ IFOi?/ y/0 I iit-/finn -\\ iHl