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who will carry him to a distant country , without his consent * A * Slave cannot nrarry without his Master ' s permission ; " but a husband and a wife , except in Canara , cannot be sold separately . < Children may be separated from their parents , and brothers * from sisters . These inhuman acts are
checked frfcm a fear lest the husband or parent should desert , as the trouble and expense attending their recovery would exceed their value . The Slave , on the other hand , is prevented from absconding by his strong attachment to his native soil . * In former times , a Master had the power of life and death over his Slave . The exercise of such
authority would not be allowed under the British Government ; for the person of a Sudra is as well protected by law as that of a Raja . This principle , derived from equal laws , has operated to prevent the merchandise of Slaves , and to render them less valuable . Some of the superior subdivisions of the Sudra tribe have in
modern times emancipated themselves ; but in general , Slaves never obtain their freedom except when their Masters are reduced to indigence or their families become extinct . With respect to the effects of Slain British Indiathey be
very , may justly estimated from what has been already stated . They have been described by that religious , humane , learned and impartial observer Doctor Francis Buchanan . This gentleman was employed by the Marquis of
Wellesley to inspect the state of our Indian Provinces . In his . book , dedicated to the East-India Company , he has given a statistical account of the Slaves in those parts which he had
visited . Speaking from ocular demonstration and after patient research , he says , " When the crop is not on the ground , the Slaves are kept with the labouring cattle , in a house built at some distance from the abode of free
men ; for these poor creatures tire considered as too impure to be permitted to approach the house of tWi * Lord . In fact , the Slaves are very severely treated ; and their diminutive stature and squalid appearance -shew evidently a want of adequate nourish- ^ ine * ht . There can be no comparison between their condition and that of { fee Slaves in the West-India Islands ,-except as regards tHe muttitge state : "
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These ¦ assertions of - Dr . Buchanan hate been partially contradicted in reports made by the Collectors ot Revenue who preside in the Slave districts—men of- worth and talent . Admitting most of the facts I have staled , they have maintained ^ generally that the * condition- of' Slaves differs little
ifom that of free labourers : Miserable then must be tHfi condition of other productive classes in our Eastern possessions . ..- .,. * .. ., . . - Having' alluded to the reports of certain Collectors on the subject of Slavery in British India , I am bound in justice to them and-to the local Government to disclose what
occasioned the inquiries from which those reports resulted . The third Judge 6 f Gircuit in Malabar reported in 1819 , through the Adawlut Court , the seizure of certain Slaves , being'British subjects , for the prayment of artedtrgr of revenue due from their Masters
to the Madras Government .- The Governor in Council , consisting of the Right Hon . Hugh Elliot , Mr . Pullarton , and Mr . Alexander ; with becoming feelkig and wisdom , now call upon the Board of Revenue to
state , " Whether the practice which actually prevails with respect to the sale of Slaves should be permitted ta continue as at present ,- or whether it ought to-be laid under such -restrictions as would render it less
objectionable , or to be altogether abolished , » as productive of evils for which no adequate remedy can * be devised . * ' ? The Board of Revenue , on the receipt \ of this order , direct the CoHfcfctors of Revenue to report fully on the state of Slavery in their respective districts . ' The Collector of Sdtith Areot observes , that "
Slavery m India is free from many objections that exist against West-India Slavery . The Slave is not sent to a foreign tend . J Nti ; but , like the WeSt-Indian Slaves , many of their ancestors > < &me frbm a foreign land . ** The convefctittn /* h £ continues , " is
mutual , artd' tbte Slave enjtfys Ms pur ^ chase-money / ' I shidi answer this assertion ^ in the words of the Collector of Gaiiara : ;•• T % e ptice / ' says he ; ' * of a ( i Stave is from twelve to twenty-six rupees ; of a child , -four ^ rupees . So thftt for four rupees t ] he posterity of a mgi may be efi ^ itefved from generation to ffeneratfenl' The Zilla ^ Court has
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92 Letter &f Cvl . Stanhnpifs to the JDuke of Gloucester
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1823, page 92, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1781/page/28/
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