IN F- 



l|i6utd be the executioners of their own offspring, nay, their 

 habitiul and fyllemntic executioners, is futh an agonizing 

 ^cntenipliition, fiich an outrage on humanity, as evej-y ami- 

 aMe Li-ling of our nature fickcns and revolts at. But that 

 tlljs lamentable cuttom is, notuithllandihg, extenfivcly pre- 

 yalenv, h;is la'e'.y been devc-loped fo dcmonftratively, that, 

 ho'.vever comfortable it may be to our wounded fcniibility 

 to iiululije thehope of error, it is, v.nliappily, the wanton- 

 aeh of Icepticifm to doubt. To try, however, as it would 

 feem, the flietth of our credulity, we are imperatively 

 tailed upon to believe this unparal'elod enormity of a race, 

 heretofore fuppofed to be the mod humane in exigence ; 

 viz. of the Hindoos : but of that race, which is anio^ig ihe 

 moll t^iu'.er in other refpetl?, we arc coultrained to believe that 

 by them this fad deed has been fyllematically and univerfally 

 perpetrated ! 



A few years ago it was difcovercd by Mr. Duncan, then 

 refident at Benares, that a fc6l of Hindoos in that neigh- 

 bourhood, called Raj-kiimar, was in the habit of deftroying 

 all thi'ir female infants. A notice of this extraordinary faft 

 was foon after publiflied in the fourth volume of the Afiatic 

 Refearches, by fir John Shore (no-A- lard Teignmouth), then 

 governor-ireueral of India. Mr. Duncan fueceeded in per- 

 fuading this deluded tribe to rt'linquilh their barbarous habit ; 

 and fo effeftu;illy, that no inrtance has fince been difcovered 

 of an infiiiigem.ent of the written penal obligation that the 

 chiefs and other individuals of that tribe then voluntarily 

 entered into. As well as the Raj-kumars, other fefts of 

 Hindoos, in the vicinity of Benares, « ere found to have 

 been in limilar habits, though to a lefs extent, and they 

 executed a fimilar deed of renunciation. 



The fame gentleman, the Hon. Mr. Duncan,now governor 

 of Bombay, in the year 1800, being at Sural, heard inciden- 

 tally that on the weftern fide of India alfo, and efpecially in 

 the contiguous countries of Guzerat, Kutch, and Sind, in- 

 fant'cide was extenfively praftifrid ; due enquiry amply con- 

 firmed the faft. Availincr hunfelf of the recently improved 

 connection between ihe Britifh government and that of the 

 Gaikawar, or fovereign of Guzerat, Mr. Duncan, through 

 the able and ze;Jou3 co-operation and agency of colonel 

 Walker of the Bombay elUbliihment, our political refident 

 and military commander in Guzerat, again fueceeded in the 

 entire and eiTeftual abolition of the cuftom ; all the chiefs 

 of the tribes in which it had obtained binding tliemfe'vrs 

 and their families, and adherents, to a perm:i:'.ent renunciation 

 and difcontinuanceof it ; rendering themfelves, in default of a 

 due obfervance of the agreement, obnoxious to penal in- 

 fliftions'onthepartofthe Britifh and Gaikawar governments. 



Among the military tribe of Jarejah, infanticide was 

 found moll common ; fo common, indeed, th^t a Jarejah fe- 

 male was very rarely feen or heard of. The men of this tribe 

 procured wives from others who reared their daugh- 

 ters. The number of infants, tlius facriiiced, amounted, 

 by one computation, to 30,000 annually, in the peniufula 

 of Guzerat alone: but this colonel Walker deemed an ex- 

 aggeration. Anotiier eftimate, erring probably on the other 

 hand, reckoned 2000 as nearer the annual amount. It ap- 

 peared to be the univerfal praclice to dedroy the infant 

 immediately on its birth : this was done generally bj the 

 midwife, or fome female attendant ; fometimes, however, 

 by the mother ! The father never interfered, and the name 

 or fiibjeft of a daughter wns never mentioned in his pre- 

 fence. Sometimes the infants were fmothered in various 

 Ways, or fulTered to expire from want of nurture : different 

 metiiods of deltruftion are related, and it feems to have 

 been a matter of indifference how, provided the inhuman deed 

 were done. 



I N F 



In the tontiguous countries of Ku^ch arid "Sind, infanti-' 

 cide alfo prevails: but it has not been afcertained to what 

 extent. It is recogni^^d arid avowid bvthe perfons pol'-; 

 fefiing the powers of government, wlio afl'ert the antiquity. of 

 the ufage, and forbid any interference on our part with a view 

 to its abolition : our endeavours to eifecl that falutary end 

 have in thofe quarters entirely fjiled. 



It is, however, a confoling fad to rcfleft on, that folely 

 through Britiflr interpofition this cullom has been put an 

 entire ftcp to througiiout the vaft extent of our iniiueuce 

 in India. None of the former governments, whether Hin- 

 doo or Mahometan, of the countries comprehended within 

 that term, appear ever to have made any effort toward work- 

 ing fo defirable a reform, although the religious tenets of 

 both pointedly prohibit the practice. 



Thefe particulars we have gathered from a recent publi- 

 cation by major Moor, on " Hindoo Infanticide ;'' wherein 

 he has given at length all the correfpondence and negociation* 

 that led to its difcovery and funpreilion in India; with no- 

 tices of a fimilar cullom, which, and the expofure of chiU 

 dren, he proves to have prevailed both in ancient and modern 

 times among many nations in almoft: every part of the world. 

 He adduces many fpeculations on its exillence, origin, and 

 effects ; extending, indeed, to a lengthened difcuflion on a^ 

 fubjedl that, as much as any on record, evinces the ahr.oft 

 incredible inconfiftency and weaknefs, and wickednefs of 

 man. See Ixfastkida. 



INFANTOS, in Geography, a town of Spain, in New 

 Callile ; 20 miles W. of Alcaraz. 



INFANTRY, the body of foot foldiers, in an army, or 

 other corps. See Foot. 



I'he infantry iland contradiffinguiihed from ihecaz'uf/y or 

 horfc, which fee. 



E.iropc is unqueftionably indebted to the Swifs for a to- 

 tal change in the military fyllem, particularly fo with regard, 

 to foot foldiers. 



Dr. Robertfon, in the firft vo'ume of his hiftory of 

 Charles V. p. 105, obferves, that the fydem of employing 

 the Swifs in the Italian wars, was the occafion of introducing- 

 a total innovation in the military cuftom. The arms and 

 difcipline of the Swifs were different from thofe of other 

 European nations. During their long and violent ftruggles 

 in defence of tiieir liberties againft the houfe of Aullria» 

 whofe armies, like thofe of other confidcrable princes, con- 

 fifted chiefly of heavy-armed cavalry, the Swifs found that 

 their poverty, and the fmaU number of gentlemen reliding 

 in their country, at that time barren and ill cultivated, put 

 it out of their power to bring into the field any body of 

 horfe capable of facing the enemy. Neccflity compelled 

 them to plsce aU their confidence in infantry ; and in ordcf 

 to render it capable of withftanding the (hock of cavalry, 

 they gave the foldiers breall-platcs and helmets, as defenfive 

 armour, together with long fpears, halbcrts, and heavy 

 fwords, as weapons of offence. I'hey formed thctn into 

 large battalions, ranged in deep and clofe array, fo that 

 they could prefent on every fide a formidable front to tlie 

 enemy. (See Machiavel's Art of War, b. ii. chap. ii. 

 p. 45'i.) The men at arms could make no impreflion on 

 the folid ftr.-ngth of fuch a body. It repulfed the Auftrians 

 in all their attempts to conquer Swifferland. It broke the 

 Burgundian Gendarmerie, which was fcarcely inferior to 

 that of Fr.ince, either in number or reputation ; and when 

 firSl c-!Ijd to a£l in Italy, it bore down, by its ineliliibl? 

 force, every enemy that attempted to oppofe it. TKefe 

 repeated prod's of the decifive effefls of infantry, exhibited 

 on fuch confpicuous occafions, reflored that fervice to re- 

 putation, and gradually re.-cftabUihed the oginion wliith had 



been 



