leading personage is represented as gifted with qualifications almost superhuman; strength, beauty, activity, and a perfect acquaintance with all the arts of self-defence; courage and sagacity, resolution and endurance, together with the command of an inexhaustible purse, making up the wondrous composition. It does not escape the observation of one so richly endowed that poetical justice is not always meted out in this world, but that the ungodly not unfrequently flourish like a green bay tree, while the virtuous are obliged to put up with poverty and contempt; and, being of a hot and impatient temperament, the hero cannot wait for the final distribution of rewards and punishments, but, taking on himself the duties he deems Providence to have neglected, sets forth as a selfconstituted avenger and benefactor, and endeavours, not unsuccessfully, to remove the inequalities, or as he terms it the injustice, of the divine dispensa tions. In the novel of Mathilde we find a hero of this kind-here, however, only in the bud; but in the Mystères de Paris he once more makes his appearance and this time full-blown as Rodolph Prince of Gerolstein. In the Comte de Monte Christo again we have a remarkably fine specimen of the same genus, and the character is apparently so much a favourite with both the writers we have named, that we doubt not those better acquainted with their works than ourselves, will call to mind more than one other instance. We submit, however, that the idea is anything but new, and that the sire and prototype of these numerous worthies may be found in our old friend the Karl von Moor of Schiller. We will cite one passage out of many which exhibits the lofty views and aspirations of that interesting enthusiast. He is addressing the band of robbers of which he is the captain. Das hat euch wol niemals getraumt, das ihr der Arm hoherer Majestäten seyd! der verworrene Kneul unsers Schicksal ist aufgelöst. Heute, heute hat eine unsichtbare Macht unser Handwerk geadelt! Betet an vor dem, der euch dies erhabenen Loos gesprochen, der euch hieher geführt, der euch gewürdiget hat, die Schröckliche Engel seines finstern Gerichtes zu seyn ! Entblöset eure Haupter! Kniet in der Staub und stehet geheiliget auf! [sie knien]. Die Raüber, act iv. scene v. Before, however, Schiller dismisses his hero from the stage, he takes care to represent him as abjuring his crazy aspirations and bewailing his empty self-conceit. In the last scene he resigns the captaincy of the band, and this dialogue then ensues : Raüber.-Ha muthloser! Wo sind deine hoch fliegende Plane! Sind Saifenblasen gewesen, die beim Rauch eines Weibes zerplazen? R. Moor.-O über mich Narren, der ich wähnete die Welt durch Greuel zu verschönern, und die Gesetze durch Gesetzlosigkeit aufrecht zu halten. Ich nannte es Rache und Recht. Ich masste mich an, O Vorsicht, die Scharten deines Schwerds auszuwetzen, und deine Partielichkeiten gutzumachen-aber-O eitle Kinderey— da steh ich am Rand eines entsetzlichen Lebens und erfahre mit Zahnklappern und Heulen das zwei Menschen wie ich den ganzen Bau der sittlichen Welt zu Grund richten würden. Gnade, Gnade dem Knaben, der Dir vorgreifen wollte ! Dein eigen allein ist die Rache. [Die Rauber, act v. scene ii.] It is much to be wished that M.M. Sue and Dumas, having copied so much from the German dramatist, had also followed him in this particular; but we are sorry to say that their heroes leave the field with flying colours, and the impression left on the reader's mind is that a person playing a rôle of this kind is not merely useful but almost necessary in the drama of life. It may, however, be said that this conception was not new even in the hands of Schiller, but that he took the idea from the knights errant of the middle ages; and in his preface indeed he terms his hero der seltsame Don Quixote. He has, however, so much developed and embellished the original design that it may be looked on as almost a new creation of his hands-a praise to which his French successors are certainly not entitled. F. V. SUPPRESSION OF FEMALE INFANTICIDE IN INDIA. IT is a favourite remark among the half-educated natives of Bengal, that if the British empire in the East were suddenly brought to a close, the only memorial of its former existence would be found in some thousands of empty bottles encumbering certain low shops in the bazaar. Until very recently this bitter taunt was not altogether devoid of truth; but now we can proudly point to monuments more enduring and more useful than those of marble or bronze. Not only can we boast of our roads, canals, colleges, and other material improvements, but we may also take credit to ourselves for the suppression of Thuggee, the abolition of the barbarous rite of Suttee, and the marked diminution of the crime of Female Infanticide. On the last named subject a few observations may not be unacceptable to the general reader, although the topic is no longer possessed of the recommendation of novelty. Of all the indigenous peoples of Hindoostan, the Rajpoots are pre-eminent for martial prowess, lofty pride, chivalrous bearing, and a certain degree of barbarous refinement. Their early achievements have been so eloquently chronicled, their manners and customs so amply illustrated by Colonel Tod, that it would be a work of supereroga tion to do more than refer to the Annals of Rajasthan compiled by that distinguished officer. The besetting sin of the Rajpoot is a morbid and selfish vanity, that goes far to neutralise his many noble qualities. For the sake of popular applause, of being greeted with the acclamations of a mob of minstrels, jugglers, and vagabonds, of being celebrated in the monotonous and interminable chants of the bards, he will bestow an enormous sum of money on his daughter as her marriage dower, and squander the remainder of his wealth among the motley crew assembled at the solemnity. In ancient times the Rajpootnce damsel selected her lover from the many suitors for her hand who came together for that purpose on some appointed day. But on a certain occasion a feud arose, and a fierce civil strife cost the tribe so much of its noblest blood, that A the ceremony of the mala was discontinued by common consent. A revolution in manners ensued fatal to the independence of the gentler sex. warrior disdained to owe his wife to aught but his own strong arm and trusty steel. He won, but he wooed not. By force, or by wile, he carried off the maiden he had learned to desire, and his captive became at once his spouse and his slave. In all parts of India a false delicacy has rendered the position of father-inlaw, or of brother-in-law, one of reproach; but among the Rajpoots such was especially the case, because the daughter, or the sister, was little better than the domestic drudge of her conqueror. It may be easily imagined that a proud and sensitive race would chafe under such a terrible stigma, and would seek to avoid the disgrace. Nor should we be surprised if the unhumanized barbarian scrupled at no means, however atrocious, to free himself from the chance of such a calamity. The most obvious and the most effectual way of escape was by destroying the innocent cause of his anxiety at her very birth. And thus female infanticide became a practice, an ordinary and recognised mode of removing an anticipated evil. In justice, however, to our common nature, it must be stated that it was not without a struggle that the Rajpoots submitted to what they deemed a necessary evil. We learn from their historian that they were often heard to exclaim, "Accursed be the day wherein a woman child was born to me!" and a more modern writer tells us that the late Rajah of Mynpoorie was always moody and restless when the crime was to be committed in his fort, and that he would strive to hush the still small voice within him, by bestowing presents upon the Brahmans,-money, a horse, or an elephant. It is true that the sword, the shield, and the spear are no longer the arbiters of wedlock, and that the Rajpoots have ceased to use violence as a preliminary to matrimony. But the false position of the woman, and the inferior social position of the father-in-law, remain unchanged to the present day. The latter is in every thing subservient to his son-in-law, can refuse him nothing, and may claim from him no service in return. Until within the last few years his daughter's betrothal was the forerunner of his own ruin and degradation. He was impoverished by her dower, and insulted by her husband. It needed, therefore, no ordinary tenderness of feeling, no common degree of moral courage, to nourish and bring up the puling babe that was to cause so much vexation and sorrow; and in India marriage is a necessity. The unmarried woman is almost an outcast from society. It is an opprobrium to herself and her family if she be not betrothed at the age of puberty, which, in that climate, is usually attained between the years of nine and twelve. Female infanticide has consequently continued to prevail down to our own times. According to Colonel Tod, there are thirty-six royal races, chatees raj-cúla, each of which is subdivided into numerous branches, sacha, and these again into unnumbered clans, or gotra. Every Rajpoot is supposed to be conversant with his own pedigree, and to be able to repeat his gotra acharya, or genealogical tree. Of course very few are gifted with this talent, and a bard or professed genealogist has become a constituent member of a wealthy household. To show the necessity of such an appointment, it will suffice to observe, that families of the same tribe cannot intermarry, though centuries may have elapsed since their divergence from the parent stock. For instance, the Seesodia and Aharya, the two grand subdivisions of the Gehloses, became separated upwards of eight hundred years ago, and yet at this moment an intermarriage would be pronounced incestuous. It once happened that a prince of Boondi married a lady of another family, but, a bard reciting the gotra acharya, it appeared that the bride belonged to a sacha, or ramification, of the Chohan tribe, of which the Boondi family was also a branch. A divorce was declared with many expiatory rites, and both parties were overwhelmed with shame and affliction. It was naturally among the highest Rajpoot tribes that the humiliation arising from a daughter was most keenly felt, and among them has likewise been the greatest destruction of female children. In many clans not a single instance has been known for centuries of a female infant being allowed to survive. Hundreds of years have passed away since the gloomy walls of the native fort at Mynpoory have been gladdened by the bright smile of the babe, or have re-echoed the ringing laugh of the merry girl as she toyed with her mother, her little brother, or her nurse. And this is no solitary instance. Death was the rule life the rare exception. Unable to find wives from classes of equal rank and purity, the nobler Rajpoots have been compelled to marry the daughters of humbler tribes, compensating the inferiority of birth by the magnitude of the dower. And thus the most lowly tribes of all could nowhere obtain a mate of Rajpoot blood. Nor was it merely the amount of dower to be paid with a daughter that caused a Rajpoot father so many anxious moments: he was equally obliged to squander an enormous sum of money amongst the bards, mendicants, and Brahmans, who attended as unbidden and most unwelcome guests. In former times fabulous wealth was thus squandered in order to secure the mercenary eulogies of these dispensers of fame. Colonel Tod quotes from a native bard the following significant verse: "The Dahirna emptied his coffers on the marriage of his daughter with Pirthíraj, but he filled them with the praises of mankind." Even during the present century the Rana of Oodipore expended nearly 10,000%. in presents bestowed upon the chief bard; and still more recently the bride's father was actually murdered because he refused the attendant miscreants the amount they demanded. These idle vagabonds would come a distance of twenty to thirty miles, and place themselves at a convenient spot by which the procession must pass from the house of the bride's father. The claim they made was one rupee-an English florin-for every one of themselves, for each of their followers, and for every horse, foal, and dog in their company; and on the occasion abovementioned the unfortunate parent having declined to give more than four pice (three halfpence) a head, he was put to death with much ignominy and violence. An untravelled Englishman, or indeed any one accustomed only to the usages of Europe, may possibly assert that nothing is more easy than to introduce a penal statute, prohibiting infanticide, and rendering unlawful these tumultuous assemblages at marriage festivals. No doubt these gatherings might be prevented, and a recent enactment has actually been directed against them. But it would be really impracticable to put an end to the murder of female children by any legal decree. The Rajpoot chieftain dwells in a sort of fortified inclosure surrounded by lofty mud walls. His followers reside with him; they practice the same customs, and are entirely devoted to him. They regard the destruction of the female infant as rather a meritorious, or at least as a necessary act, and no prospect of emolument would induce them to betray their chief. Besides, it would be a difficult task to bring home the charge of murder. The babe when born is immersed in a bowl of milk, and its struggles cease almost before it has breathed the breath of life. Or a small piece of opium is fixed to the roof of its mouth, until it gradually melts, and is absorbed into the system. Or, yet more horrible, the mother is compelled to rub the nipples of her breast with the fatal drug, and thus suckle her child to death. 46 But, although prohibitory edicts would prove ineffectual, the same objection would not apply to a sumptuary law to regulate the amount of dower, if the same could be rendered palatable to the most influential members of the Rajpoot tribes. The experiment was worth a trial, and it was recommended by the fact that, in former times, the chieftain of Jyepore had endeavoured to regulate the dower and other marriage expenditure with reference to the property of the vassal, limiting it to one year's income of the estate." It is true that this wise and beneficent plan was foiled by the vanity of a Rajpoot noble; but, nevertheless, it held out the best hope of success of any that could be suggested. It had been tried on a small scale in Mairwara, and had succeeded beyond Colonel Dixon's most sanguine expectations, and there seemed no reason why it should not be equally effectual with the Rajpoots. It should be premised that the first public officer who brought the question of female infanticide prominently before the Government was Mr. Jonathan Duncan; but the court of directors very wisely rejected his proposition of taking into their own hands the duty of endowing the Rajpoot maidens. At a later period Mr. R. Montgomery exerted himself to the utmost to check this unnatural crime; but the system he introduced was found to be of too inquisitorial a nature, and calculated to give high umbrage to men of a peculiarly susceptible temperament. However, in 1842, Mr. Unwin having ascertained, while encamped in the Chohan district, that there was not a single female child in existence amongst them, immediately adopted a practical and judicious mode of inspection. He ordered the native watchmen in each village to give notice, at the police station, of the birth of every female child. An officer was instantly despatched to the house to view the infant, and the superintendent informed the magistrate. An official report as to its health was made at the expiration of the first month, and in the case of illness a trustworthy person was sent to ascertain the exact nature of the disease. These measures so far succeeded, that a female child was saved alive in that very fort of which we have already spoken as so long fatal to the sex. Mr. Thomason, the late lamented Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces,-than whom no man was ever better acquainted with the native character-instantly sent to the Rajah a letter of congratulation and a dress of honour. The good policy of this proceeding was manifested the very next year, when the number of female infants preserved increased from 57 to 180. In 1843 not one female Chohan was to be found in the district, while in August 1851 there were no fewer than 1263 alive, from the age of six years and under. But even then it was evident that foul play had been at work, for the corresponding number of males was 2161. Much had no doubt been done, but it was reserved for that zealous magistrate Mr. C. Raikes to give the decisive 16 Secret Instructions in the Autograph of Frederick the Great. [July, and finishing stroke to the labours of his predecessors. On the 12th November, 1851, Mr. Raikes invited the Rajah of Mynpoorie and the chief Chohan thakoors of the district to meet him at his camp at Sumaon, and there induced them to sign the following resolutions :Resolutions of Chohan Thakoors concerning Marriage Expenses. Since in our tribe, owing to the expenses incurred in marriages, many evils have grown up, we, the undersigned, enter into the following engagements, and attest the same before the magistrate of our district, so that we may act thereupon, and to the best of our power induce all of our tribe to do so likewise : Resolution I.-We will in future regulate our marriage expenses by the four following grades 1st Grade. For rajahs or thalookdars the dower to be demanded on behalf of a son from the parents or guardians of a marriageable daughter shall not exceed rs. 500 (507.), one-third of this sum to be paid at the period of betrothal, one-third at the door of the girl's father when the marriage procession arrives, and the remainder in the shape of pin money. 2nd Grade. For zemindars, rs. 250, one-third, &c. as above. 3rd Grade. For others in easy circumstances, rs. 100, one-third, &c. I. well and good; but if the father of any youth demands more than has been specified in Res. I., we will remonstrate with him. If he persist, we will put him out of our brotherhood, because he has from his own avarice brought dishonour to the father of the damsel. Resolution III.-Since the insolence of Brahmans and bhâts, and barbers and others, who abuse decent people for not spending large sums at marriage ceremonies, is a cause of needless profusion, we resolve and promise, when such abuse is offered to us or our neighbours, to complain at once to the magistrate for redress. Resolution IV. To prevent needless expenditure in crowded processions, we undertake to invite to our family weddings a moderate number of persons only, according to the grade we belong to. solemnly ratified on the 9th December These very sensible Resolutions were following by 360 chiefs and leading men of the Chohans, and up to the present time their conduct has proved their sincerity. Very recently this monstrous crime has been detected in the Punjaub, but prompt measures were at once adopted for its punishment and suppression. The abolition of female infanticide is at least one honourable monument of British humanity and perseverance, and genera 4th Grade.—For all other decent people, tions yet unborn will thank the be one rupee. Resolution II.-If the father of any marriageable damsel chooses of his own will to give more than is specified in Res. neficent conquerors who used their power to ameliorate the condition of the people their prowess had subdued. J. H. SECRET INSTRUCTIONS IN THE AUTOGRAPH OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, WRITTEN ON THE 10 JANUARY, 1757-8. AT the close of 1757 the affairs of Frederick the Great were in a most critical posture. On the 18th June in that year he had been defeated by the Imperial forces at Kollin on the Elbe, and there lost 12,000 men. On the 6th Dec. we find Voltaire writing of him to D'Alembert: "He will lose his own dominions, together with the countries he has conquered:" and again to D'Argental: "He is beaten, and will be ruined, without a new miracle." Some of Frederick's own letters and those of his sister the Mar gravine of Bayreuth, which have heretofore been published,* are equally desponding but a most remarkable evidence of the state of the great Conqueror's apprehensions at this crisis is exhibited in the following document, which was recently communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. It was written at the time of his greatest peril, when threatened on the one hand with invasion by a French army, and on the other by the Russians; and * See The Court and Times of Frederick the Great, edited by Thomas Campbell. 1843, |