;i 



318 BRITISH SOCIAL SYSTEM. 



in voluminous writings, all believed to be of Divine origin, 

 renders it almost impossible to make any impression. How- 

 ever unable they may be to defend any of their dogmas, the 

 simple remark at the close of the conference, that It is in 

 the Shastras, or the Vedas," banishes every impression of 

 doubt. These facts continue to inspire the Hindoos with 

 a great confidence on the subject of conversion. They 

 imagine that they can with perfect safety amuse themselves 

 with disputation; and send their children to the schools with 

 a view to their improvement or worldly advantage. IN or 

 do they scruple to appear in the character of what is called 

 inquirers, and amuse their instructers with deceptive hopes 

 ofTheir embracing Christianity. We incline, however, to 

 think with Mr. Deerr, that this confidence may be in a great 

 measure unfounded. Moral revolutions among every peo- 

 ple, even after long and apparently ineffectual exertions to 

 produce it, in general break forth suddenly at ast. The 

 Crusades, the Reformation, the French Revolution, the 

 greatest charges of modern times, are all illustrations of 

 This remark. That there is such a silent preparation in the 

 Indian mind appears evident from the prevalence, among a 

 numerous and influential class, of English habits and ideas, 

 and the growing disposition to form themselves upon a Lu- 



r0P \lthouah e the British government wisely and rigidly ab- 

 stain from all interference with the religious tenets or ob- 

 servances of their Indian subjects, a different course has 

 been pursued wherever these involve a violation of the first 

 principles of moral obligation. Such, in many instances 

 is the case with the dark code of superstition which holds 

 sway among them ; its unhappy votaries being taught, that 

 to destroy their own life, or the life of those dearest to them, is 

 the path to Divine favour and immortal felicity. Nearly thirty 

 Tears a<ro, the Marquis Wellesley issued an ordinance pro- 

 hibiting 5 the sacrifice by parents of their infant, offspring to 

 the Ganges ; and, contrary to what was by many expected 

 and predicted, this step was not only acquiesced in, but 

 warn Iv applauded by a number of the natives. The suttee, 

 or the bufningof widows on the funeral-pile of their hus- 

 bands, was a practice held so sacred, and so deeply rooted 

 in all the feelings of the Hindoos, that it was long con- 

 sidered hazardous to touch it. Yet the company, in com 



