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lence. On his return he found his venerable parent in this agonizing 

 and shocking state! She again entreated he would finish the sacrifice, 

 and release her from misery: he then stabbed her to the heart. 

 By the English laws he was secured as a murderer, sent to Bombay 

 for trial, and confined in the common prison unlil the ensuing ses- 

 sions. The grand-jury found a bill for murder; the petty jury, com- 

 posed half of Europeans and half of natives, found him guilty; 

 and the judges condemned him to death. The Rajhpools in gene- 

 ral have a noble mien and dignified character; their high caste 

 is stamped in their countenance: this young man possessed them 

 all. I saw him receive his sentence, not only with composure, 

 but with a mingled look of disdain and delight not easy to de- 

 scribe. Unconscious of the crime laid to his charge, he said he 

 had nothing to accuse himself of, but disobedience to his parenl, 

 by permitting humanity and filial affection to supersede his duty, 

 and the honour of his caste: that life was no longer desirable; nor, 

 if acquitted by the English laws, would he survive the ignominy 

 of having been confined with European culprits, and criminals of 

 the lowest castes, with whom he had been compelled Lo eat, and 

 associate in a common prison; acts so contrary to every thing 

 which he esteemed right and honourable, that the sooner he was 

 transferred to another state of existence, the beller. However in- 

 clined the government might be to clemency, it would evidently 

 have been fruitless ; the noble Rajhpoot would not survive the 

 disgrace, and the sentence of the law was executed, in the hope 

 it might prevent others from following his example. 



The same motive operated in another instance which hap- 

 pened at Bombay about ten years before; and this, as well as the 

 preceding trial of the Rajhpoot, is entered in the proceedings of 



