Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/484

474 This iniquity was openly and fearlessly practiced in India up to the time when the Marquis Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington, was appointed Governor-General, and India's daughters will yet learn to revere and love the memory of that humane and intrepid man, who, in the face of the obstacles that arose around him on every side, when he attempted to deal with this “custom,” never faltered till he had put the protection of Christian law over the life of every child in India. His Excellency honestly The Marquis Wellesley. and bravely placed in the hands of the magistracy of India “A Regulation for Preventing the Sacrifice of Children at Saugor and other places, passed by the Governor-General in Council, on the 20th of August, 1802,” “declaring the practice to be murder, punishable by death.” In British India, so far as law could reach the case, he made infanticide to be regarded and punished as in England.

We present here an outline of the countenance of this true friend of woman, as that of one whose deeds of mercy will be held in everlasting remembrance.

It is no doubt true that children have been secretly offered to