A general plan for laying out towns and townships, on the new-acquired lands in the East Indies, America, or elsewhere; in order to promote cultivation,

Table of contents

- [plan]

- A GENERAL PLAN FOR LAYING OUT TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS, ON THE NEW-ACQUIRED LANDS IN THE EAST INDIES, AMERICA, OR ELSEWHERE;

- EXPLANATION OF THE ANNEXED PLAN.

- A DESCRIPTION OF FRANKPLEDGE.

- EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR, TO A GENTLEMAN IN THE EAST INDIES.

Containing 40 Town Lots, for Planters or Farmers, having large Out Lots beyond the Township• also Town Lots for 4 Public Officers, and for 132 Troulesmen, Clerks, Artificers, Fishermen, Seamen or Labourers, in all 176 Town Lots, with small Outlots, of a Quarter of a Square Furlong, or 2 ½ Acres each, for the said▪ Officers, Labourers & within 1/4 of a Mile from each side of the Town.
A PLAN for a TOWN and TOWNSHIP, to be laid out within the Compass of ONE SQUARE MILE, or 640 Acres.

A GENERAL PLAN FOR LAYING OUT TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS, ON THE NEW-ACQUIRED LANDS IN THE EAST INDIES, AMERICA, OR ELSEWHERE;

In order to promote Cultivation, and raise the Value of all the adjoining Land, at the Price of giving gratis the Town-Lots, and, in some Cases (as in new Colonies), also the small Out-Lots, to the first Settlers and their Heirs, so long as they possess no other Land; and on other equitable Conditions.

1794.

EXPLANATION OF THE ANNEXED PLAN.

THE town (distinguished by being coloured red) is contained in a square, each side of which is 4 furlongs, or half a mile; having a square furlong, or 10 acres, in the centre, appropriated to public offices (viz. a church, town-hall, guard-house, separate penitentiary lots (or prisons) for males and females; also schools for each sex, and a public caravansera for strangers and travellers, under the control of the constable on guard by rotation). The Breadth of the streets and highways is proposed to be the 8th part of a furlong, or 82 feet 6 inches; which will allow room for aquaducts wherever streams of water can be introduced from superior levels, and also room for planting ranges of spreading trees to shelter the footpaths. And as the bounds of each square furlong meet in the centre of the streets, measured from the 4 external edges or sides of the town (coloured red), which are distant, each from its opposite side, 4 complete furlongs, or half a mile (4 inches by the scale), these external edges or lines of the town and the streets must be first laid out, that the remaining space, in each square furlong of the town, may be divided into town-lots in equal proportions, viz. 2 opposite sides of the town are appropriated to large town-lots of nearly one acre each for PLANTERS or FARMERS; and as these large town-lots commence from the external edge of the town (and not from the centre of the streets, like the small town-lots), their length will be a complete half furlong, or 330 feet: In their breadth there will be some variation: The uppermost and undermost divisions of square furlongs, being measured from the external edges, or red lines, at the top and bottom of the town (as represented in this Plan), have a deduction of 41 feet 3 inches for half the width of the street on one side only; which, subtracted from 660 feet, the breadth of the furlong, leaves a space of 618 feet 9 inches for the breadth of 5 lots: Which space divided by 5 allows the breadth of each PLANTER'S TOWN-LOT, in the uppermost and lowermost divisions to be 123 feet 9 inches including the fences; and the PLANTERS town-lots, in the 4 central divisions (as the central divisions have a street on 2 sides), must lose 82 feet 6 inches from the width of each furlong, which being first deducted from the 660 feet leave a breadth of only 577 feet 6 inches to be divided into 5 equal parts, whereby the width of the PLANTERS lots in the 4 central divisions, is reduced to 115 feet 6 inches each, including the fences.

The size of the small town-lots will also unavoidably vary, and be of two different dimensions as to their breadth, though all are of equal length: For as they are measured from the centre of each square furlong to the centre of the streets, a deduction of 41 feet 3 inches (half the width of the streets) must be made from the length of half a furlong, or 330 feet, which reduces the length of each lot to 288 feet 9 inches. And 41 feet 3 inches being also deducted from the breadth of the uppermost and lowest ranges of square furlongs, for half the width of the street, on one side of each furlong, the space for the width of 6 lots is thereby reduced to 618 feet 9 inches, which divided by 6 gives 103 feet 1 inch and half, for the width of each lot, including the fences: And 82 feet 6 inches being deducted from the central divisions, for half the width of the streets on 2 sides of each division, or square furlong, reduce the space for 6 lots to 577 feet 6 inches, which divided by 6 gives only 96 feet 3 inches for the width of the small townlots in the central divisions, including their respective fences.

N. B. In old settled countries, where land is already of considerable value, it is not to be supposed that the proprietors of land can be induced to give gratis more than the small town-lots of half an acre and a few poles each, which with the roads and streets will amount to about 120 acres to be given gratis out of 2560 acres, or less than 4 ¾ per cent.; and the improved value of the remaining estate, most certainly, will amply repay the donation; as the value of land is generally doubled by the proximity of a town.

And as even this last proposed donation of 120 acres will be much too large a venture for landholders in general to risque in such an experiment; it is necessary to remark, that they may proceed on the half of this plan, quite as effectually, by dividing the town and township in the centre, whereby the land to be given gratis, or granted in freehold to the settlers, will not exceed 60 acres: And even with this large reduction of the plan, space will be reserved for the families of 20 farmers or planters and of 68 artificers or labourers; and as the line of division in this latter mode will pass through the centre square of the present plan, 6 additional small town-lots may be formed in the space of half the square, and half of the public lots around it, which will enable the town, upon the whole, to contain 94 households. And if 6 cottages for labourers be added at the outer gates or avenues of the estate, the community will form a complete hundred of householders, which is a very respectable body of people for maintaining peace and good order according to the common law of England.

Whenever only one half of the plan is adopted, the side where the central line of division is made must be placed next to the water (whether the sea or river, creek or canal), and care must be taken that a sufficient strand, or space of common land, be reserved between the town and the water, that all the inhabitants may have equal access to the water-side.

PROOF OF THE MEASUREMENTS.

- In one Quarter of the Town.

- 5 Large town-lots (marked A. B. C. D. and E.) of 330 Feet - Inches by 115 Feet 6 Inches or = 0 Acs. 3 Rds. 20 Pis. each = Amounting together to 4 Acres 1 Roods 20 Poles

- 5 Do. do. (marked F. G. H. I. and K.) of 330 Feet - Inches by 123 Feet 9 Inches or = 0 Acs. 3 Rds. 30 Pis. each = Amounting together to 4 Acres 1 Roods 30 Poles

- 15 Small town-lots (numbered 1 to 3 of 288 Feet 9 Inches by 96 Feet 3 Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 22 Pis. 907/10890 1-half = Amounting together to 9 Acres 2 Roods 11 Poles 2722/10890 1-half

- 15 Small town-lots (numbered 10 to 15 and of 288 Feet 9 Inches by 96 Feet 3 Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 22 Pis. 907/10890 1-half = Amounting together to 9 Acres 2 Roods 11 Poles 2722/10890 1-half

- 15 Small town-lots (numbered 22 to 27 of 288 Feet 9 Inches by 96 Feet 3 Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 22 Pis. 907/10890 1-half = Amounting together to 9 Acres 2 Roods 11 Poles 2722/10890 1-half

- 18 Do. do. (numbered 4 to 9 of 288 Feet 9 Inches by 103 Feet 1½ Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 29 Pis. 4083/10890 3-4ths. = Amounting together to 12 Acres 1 Roods 8 Poles 8167/10890 1-half

- 18 Do. do. (numbered 16 to 21 and of 288 Feet 9 Inches by 103 Feet 1½ Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 29 Pis. 4083/10890 3-4ths. = Amounting together to 12 Acres 1 Roods 8 Poles 8167/10890 1-half

- 18 Do. do. (numbered 28 to 33 of 288 feet 9 Inches by 103 Feet 1½ Inches or = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 29 Pis. 4083/10890 3-4ths. = Amounting together to 12 Acres 1 Roods 8 Poles 8167/10890 1-half

- 1 Public lot in one quarter of the central square is 3 Acres 2 Roods 0 Poles

- 44 Town lots in one quarter of the town 33 Acres 1 Rood 30 Poles

Measurement of the Streets in one Quarter of the Town.

- Half the width of the centre street (horizontal on the Plan) from the middle gate (on the East, or right hand) to the public ground in the central furlong 990 Feet 0 Inches by 41 Feet 3 Inches = 0 Acs. 3 Rds. 30 Pis.

- The whole of the next parallel street below, from the side of the town to the centre of the middle cross-street 1320 Feet 0 Inches by 82 Feet 6 Inches = 2 Acs. 2 Rds. 0 Pis.

- The upper part of the crossing-street in the centre of the quarter, measured from the corners of the lots at each end 577 Feet 6 Inches by 82 Feet 6 Inches = 1 Acs. 0 Rds. 15 Pis.

- The lower part of do. do. do. 618 Feet 9 Inches by 82 Feet 6 Inches = 1 Acs. 0 Rds. 27 Pis. 5445/10890 or ½

- Half the width of the upper part of the cross-street in the centre of the town, measured from the corners of the lots 288 Feet 9 Inches by 41 Feet 3 Inches = 0 Acs. 1 Rds. 3 Pis. 8167/10890 1-hf. or ¾

- Half the width of the lower part of do. do. 618 Feet 9 Inches by 41 Feet 3 Inches = 0 Acs. 2 Rds. 13 Pis. 8167/10890 or ¾

- 6 Acres 2 Rood 10 Poles

- In 4 quarters of the same, as above, containing 176 lots, viz. for

- 4 public officers

- 40 planters or farmers

- 132 labourers, tradesmen, &c.

multiply by 4

- 176

- Total of acres in the whole town of half a mile square 160 Acres 0 Rood 0 Poles

- Number of acres in the whole town (coloured red) being half a mile square 160 Acres

- The lesser TOWNSHIP of small Out-Lots, extending 2 Furlongs from each Side of the Town. In one Quarter of the lesser Township.

- 34 Out-lots of 2 ½ acres each, measured to the centre of the adjoining roads 85 Acres

- 1 Square furlong of common land intersected by the diagonal road 10 Acres

- 1 Quarter of a square furlong of do. do. do. 2 ½ Acres

- 1 Quarter of the common land adjoining the sides of the town 22 ½ Acres

- Total of the common land in one quarter 35 Acres

- Total of all the land in one quarter of the lesser township 120 Acres

- multiply by 4

- In four such quarters of the lesser township, extending two furlongs from the sides of the town 480 Acres

- The whole town and lesser township in one square mile contain acres 640 Acres

- A farther extension from the lesser township of ½ a mile, for 10 large out-lots of 40 acres each, to be added on the outside of one quarter, with 70 acres of reserved land and a common of 10 acres 480 acres.

- multiply by 4

- And if a like extension be made on the outside of all the 4 quarters of the township, it will include 192 square furlongs of 10 acres each, which will allow room for 40 farms of 40 acres each, with a proportionable quantity of common and reserved lands, that may be afterwards wanted for other purposes 1920 acres.

- Add the contents of the central town, and its lesser township of small out-lots in one square mile 640

- Total: In a square district of 2 miles, containing

- town

- township

- farms

2560 acres.

Conditions on which the Grants of Land should be made, for the peaceable Regulation of the several Towns or Communities.

THE Proprietors of the land should give, gratis, to each male settler, of good moral character, and of ability to labour, one small town-lot; and, in new settlements where few labourers can be procured, also one of the small out-lots of 2½ acres, gratis, so long as they possess no other land, but no longer; for strict provision should be made in the grants, that no man shall hold 2 lots in the same town, even if an additional lot should fall to him by inheritance, or be acquired in any other way (for that would destroy the safety of the town, by decreasing the number of inhabitants); and that no lot which had once been given gratis should, ever afterwards, be either sold, or let at rent, to any under-tenant, or be added to any other lot, on the penalty of forfeiture to the first granter or granters, or to their heirs or successors, to be by them once more bestowed for the same benevolent purpose, on some other industrious tradesman, or labourer, who has no other land already in possession, that the number and strength of the little community may be maintained: And if the first granter, &c. should neglect such disposal of any forfeited or vacant lot, more than 12 months, the right of disposal, as above, should lapse, and be vested in the householders of the town where the forfeiture is incurred, according to the election of the majority of them in common council assembled.

But though the settlers may not sell, let, or enlarge their lots, when they acquire other lands either by inheritance or otherwise, yet they may, nevertheless, be allowed to present in free gift, the possession of their lots (when so vacated by additional landed property elsewhere), on the same limited terms, to any person whom they shall think proper to elect, provided such person hath not already any other land in possession.

But with respect to the larger town-lots for planters or farmers, marked A, B, C, D, &c. they may be as appendages, or homesteds, to the farms, or large out-lots, extending beyond the lesser township, and of course they may be let, or sold, with those farms, as the proprietors or granters of the land may think best for their own advantage. And so likewise with respect to the small out-lots in the lesser township, whenever the proprietors of the land shall have reserved to themselves that power in their original grants.

And for the safety and happiness of each community, the land should be granted on the farther especial condition, that the settlers shall promise to keep watch and ward by rotation of militia service, under their own elected chiefs, that they may duly maintain PEACE, JUSTICE, and COMMON RIGHT, in their respective communities and folkmotes, according to the common law of England in FRANKPLEDGE, which is the only effectual mode of obtaining law, peace, and good government, without expence.

A DESCRIPTION OF FRANKPLEDGE.

FRANKPLEDGE is an ancient patriarchal mode of arranging the families, or rather households, of a nation, in numerical divisions of TENS (or tythings), FIFTIES, HUNDREDS (or wappentacs), and THOUSANDS [*] of householders, or masters of families, including all that either rent a house by the year (on which the right of burgage tenure in England is founded), or live in their own houses, and pay their due proportion of public expences.

All such, by this most ancient and salutary system, were required to pledge each other; and to pledge, (or be responsible) for every other individual, living under their respective roofs; whereby all persons were rendered most completely, and readily, amenable to JUST LAWS (an indispensable condition of LIBERTY; because, neither LIBERTY, nor JUSTICE, can walk upright and secure, unless they go hand in hand) for every breach of the public peace, or for any breach even of common morality, or decency, that could be deemed hurtful or inconvenient to others in the judgment of an impartial jury of neighbours, subject to the previous challenge of the persons accused (or indited), in so full and effectual a manner, as to exclude all suspicion of partiality; and this under MAGISTRATES and PUBLIC OFFICERS freely elected by the HOUSEHOLDERS of every district, for short probationary terms of power, never exceeding 12 months, without re-election by a majority of the HOUSEHOLDERS over whom, respectively, their delegated power extended.

It was a just and wise principle of the ancient constitution of England, to vest ALL ELECTION-RIGHTS in the HOUSEHOLDERS, paying scot and lot (or the ordinary public rates); but a farther extension of the franchise to every individual of the community (which some well-meaning friends to reformation have proposed) would be a vain innovation, that might perhaps prove as dangerous as it is, certainly, inexpedient and needless; because the ancient constitution of FRANKPLEDGE (which vested the right of election in the householders alone) is distinguished in the law-books [*] •y the peculiar style of SUMMA ET MAXIMA SECU •ITAS (the chief and greatest security), a title justly ••unded on the practical experience of ages. And ••erefore, though the first plants to be cultivated in 〈◊〉 colonies and communities are, most certainly, the sacred plants of RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, and LIBERTY, yet even these indispensable plants cannot so effectually take root and flourish, as when the happy soil of their cultivation is previously fenced by the establishment of FRANKPLEDGE with a due practical knowledge of NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION (the two first foundations of English law), contrary to which no custom, maxim, or even statute can be legal, according to the common law of England; which is only common sense, improved by the written revelation of GOD'S LAWS in the Holy Scriptures.

So indispensable to the constitution of England was FRANKPLEDGE deemed by our ancestors, that they justly required "THE VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE," by an express article of their great charter (chap. 35.) ‘to be at the feast of St. Michael without occasion,’ i. e. without waiting for any other circumstance to authorise the view, than the mere annual return of Michaelmas, the usual season of holding it: And "THE TRYTHING" (by the same high authority) is required to "be wholly kept" (or ‘maintained entire) as it used to be’ (‘trithing a teneatur• integra sicut esse consuevit’); because the efficacy of FRANKPLEDGE, in the ready administration o• justice without expence, depends chiefly on holding "THE TRYTHING," which is the monthly COUR• LEET of "three or more hundreds" joined together or, more generally, THE COURT LEET of a third pa•• of a shire, or RIDING; derived from TRYTHING [*] and as both FRANKPLEDGE and the TRYTHING are thus, expresly, required by MAGNA CHARTA, they may lawfully be established wherever a legal English government is maintained; without any farther authority than the vote or agreement of a majority of the householders in each district.

GRANVILLE SHARP.

Notes

*

See Deut. i. 13-15. "Take ye" (or rather, according to the Hebrew, "CHUSE YE to YOURSELVES") ‘wise men and understanding, and known among your tribes’ (which necessarily implies that the tribes were to nominate), "and I" (said Moses) "will make them rulers over you" (i. e. the returns of the elections were to be made to Moses, and he was to invest the elected with public authority); "and ye" (said Moses) ‘answered me and said, The thing which thou hast spoken (is) good (for us) to do. ’ (Thus Moses, like a good politician, and faithful public minister under God, declared the free assent of the people, whereby the important measure he himself had proposed of establishing Frankpledge by the advice of Jethro, was enacted, and became a public law, or statute, of that nation (Israel), as much as it has been enacted to Englishmen by MAGNA CHARTA). "So I took" (said Moses) "the chief of your tribes, wise men and known" (that is, "known among the tribes," as expressed in the 13th verse) which necessary qualification could not fairly be ascertained, unless the known men were really returned, or named, to Moses, as such, by the tribes themselves), "and made them heads over you, captains" (or heads) "over THOUSANDS, and captains over HUNDREDS" (what we call hundreders, or high constables), ‘and captains over FIFTIES, and captains over TENS’ (or tythingmen), ‘and officers among your tribes.’

Thus it appears that the officers in general, from the colonel or captain of a thousand (whether of individuals or families), down to the serjeant, constable, or tythingman, were recommended, or rather nominated by the people, before they were invested with authority by Moses.

"And I (said Moses) charged your JUDGES at that time" (whereby it must of course be understood that the JUDGES also had been previously nominated by the people, as ‘wise men and understanding, and known among the tribes,’ agreeable to the preceding enacted proposal); ‘saying, hear (the causes) between your brethren, and judge righteously between (every) man and his brother, and the stranger (that is) with him. YE SHALL NOT RESPECT PERSONS IN JUDGMENT.’ (Deut. i. 9—17.) Compare this with Deut. xvi. 18. ‘Judges and officers shalt thou GIVE TO THYSELF in all thy gates throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with JUST JUDGMENT, &c. and the rule for JUST JUDGMENT is NOT TO RESPECT PERSONS IN JUDGMENT.’ But the colonial legislators, in all the European settlements of America and the West Indies, in order to favour and tolerate slavery, have suppressed this indispensable rule for "JUST JUDGMENT," for otherwise that abominable pagan oppression, slavery (which had been gradually abolished through the happy influence of Christianity), could not have been renewed under governments which still call themselves christian! But this hateful mark of reprobacy and delinquency of the nations, or rather "of the fulness of the Gentiles," I mean the baneful renewal of pagan slavery, will surely draw down upon the guilty nations a severe retribution from that Supreme Judge, who ‘I• NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS IN JUDGMENT,’ if they cannot find leisure from their bloody wars and destructive oppressions, for repentance! For the Divine retribution is clearly revealed in the Scriptures, that it will be "measure for measure;" that ‘〈◊〉 that leadeth into captivity shall be led into captivity: He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword:’ For the ALMIGHTY has promised to "DESTROY them who DESTHOY the "earth!"

↵

*
See Lambard's Archionomia, inter Leges Edwardi Regis,
•
.20. de

••

ibergis, where FRANKPLEDGE is more particularly ex
••••
ed.
↵

*
See Camden's Britannia, Bishop Gibson's edition, p. 8
•
As the word riding is allowed to be derived from trything, i

•

very probable that ruding has also the same etymology. See also "Leges Edwardi Regis," cap. 34. de TRITHINGIS & LEDIS.
↵

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR, TO A GENTLEMAN IN THE EAST INDIES.

FROM some late determinations in the courts of Bengal against Slave Dealers, and oppressors of the poor labouring natives (accounts of which have been published in our English newspapers), the Public here, in general, are well satisfied that the poor natives in India are free, and receive wages for their labour: And, consequently, all the most steady friends to the measure of abolishing the Slave Trade are solicitous to promote the use and sale of East India Sugar, in preference to that which is cultivated by Slaves elsewhere: So that you may be assured that the Sugar Trade from India may be immensely increased, and the value of the new-acquired lands in India may be amply advanced for the benefit of the Hon. East India Company (or of the proprietors of East Indian lands in general), if due care be taken by the Company's agents and servants to satisfy Europeans that the East India Sugar continues to be really the produce of free labour: And care must also be taken to prevent West Indian adventurers, or others, from forming plantations in any of the new-acquired Indian lands (now become British territory) on any other plan, than that of free labour; that the baneful and iniquitous practice of ‘exacting labour without wages’ may be effectually prevented, and be duly deemed as detestable among men, as it is, certainly, abominable in the sight of God! All imposing contracts for labour should also be vigilantly guarded against by the administrators of government in the several Indian departments; for, next after the abolition of the Slave Trade and Slavery, the most important consideration certainly is, how to place the poor labouring natives of India in such a happy state of permanent establishment, as may insure to them a general subsistence independent of the caprice and injustice of monopolizers, and the grasping speculations of mercenary adventures; and yet, with such moderation in this little elevation of their condition, that they may still feel sufficient inducement to prompt their industry for the public good. To this point I have lately turned my thoughts, and have reason to think, that it may easily be effected, not only to the advantage and security of the industrious poor, and to the general promotion of trade in the numerous articles which the labourers, by 〈◊〉 little elevation of their condition, will be enabled to purchase; but also, at the same time, to th• very great advantage and profit of the rich. I mean those that have much landed property, and have thereby the power of carrying such a plan into execution. For by granting a very small proportion of their lands to industrious labourers, upon the conditions I have proposed in the inclosed paper, they will be enabled to raise the value of all the rest of their lands: For by this means they will never be at a loss, either for free labourers to cultivate whatever parts of their estates they shall chuse to continue in their own hands, or for a sufficient number of well-known people among them, of approved industry, that may be trusted to contract, as renters, for the cultivation of the remainder of their estates in small portions, or farms, suited to their respective abilities, and at their own risque. And, by the same means (I am persuaded), the value of the new-acquired lands in India may be exceedingly enhanced, as well for the advantage of the natives as for the Hon. East India Company, and of all their agents and servants, in case the latter should be permitted to realize their fortunes (acquired in India) by investments of landed property, purchased either of the Company, or of the native proprietors; especially as the increasing demand for East Indian Sugar affords great encouragement for cultivating lands in India; and there are many other branches of husbandry, hitherto neglected in India, as the planting of sago trees, and a variety of other valuable productive vegetables, which would enrich the occupiers of land; and amply assord a due compence to the industrious labourers.

I am aware, however, that my proposal, in the •nclosed paper, of establishing Frankpledge among the Indian nations, will be charged with objections too commonly deemed insuperable by Europeans that have dwelt among them, and who, therefore, ought to be best acquainted with their dispositions. The inveterate prejudices of the Gentoos, concerning the (imaginary) inscrutable antiquity of the Braminical traditions, and their (supposed) unalienable attachment to their religion, will be alleged. But how shall we venture to rely on the experience and consequent opinions of most of the Europeans that have lived among them, in a point, which they are so far from having attempted to investigate with candour, that many of them, through a lamentable neglect or ignorance of christianity and ancient history, have rather been inclined blindly to adopt, than to confute, the absurdities of Gentooism?

One English gentleman, though he is neither deficient in understanding nor in experience and knowledge of the manners and dispositions of the Gentoos, has very gravely informed us of a great similarity between the Mosaical Laws and those of the Gentoos. But this gentleman (whose be¦nevolent intentions I do not at all question, or even suspect) has not been sufficiently aware o• "the mystery of iniquity, and the working of Satan," the great "deceiver of the nations!" For all tru• religion is uniform in righteousness and in justice▪ Whereas the code of laws, which he has commend¦ed, abounds with injustice, falsehood, and cruel oppr•ssion of the poor, though some faint traces of justice an• morality may seem to be dispersed among these laws for the more easy seduction of indiscriminate people, as ‘Satan will always endeavour to appear as an Angel of Light,’ and all his votaries wear a mask of very opposite features from those that are hid by it! But some even of the very laws which are included in this gentleman's publication, and which are, thereby, exposed to the light of truth and common sense, afford ample confutation of his own remark; for by these it appears, that the Gentoo laws proceed by a seven-fold proportion of IN-EQUITY (i. e. a numerical perfection of IN-IQUITY), extorting from the poor Sooders fines of seven times the value that are required of the Bramins for the very same offences; though the Laws of God, declared by Moses (to which they have been very injudiciously compared), absolutely prohibit any respect of persons in judgment. And notwithstanding the pretended mildness of these laws, yet the cloven foot is apparent; for the Sooder is doomed to be burned alive for fornication with a Bramin woman, even though she should have been proved the first seducer; whereas the Bramin, for the abominable and irreparable injury to a female Sooder, even of a violent rape, is let off for a small fine! And this detestable and enormous iniquity is even established by an acknowledged law! Nay there is an express law to insure to the Bramins the gross privilege (which they claim for the indulgence of their lust) that ‘it is lawful for a Bramin to tell a lie to deceive a woman.’ And yet with all these abominable privileges, bad as they are, their iniquity is still aggravated by the blasphemous falsehood, that their deceitful cast ‘proceeded from the mouth of the Creator, other casts from inferior parts of his body, and the Sooders from the soles of his fect.’ Satan could not suggest a more malicious calumny against, the divine justice! It is so evident a token of "the mystery of iniquity and "working of Satan," that we need not search farther in the Gentoo Laws for the declared "Doctrines of Demons," the two revealed marks of "the mystery of iniquity" by which Christians are warned to know "the man of sin," or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the lawless one, that was to prevail in the Roman Empire in the latter times, viz. "forbidding to marry," and ‘commanding to abstain from meats, &c.’—though the poor Gentoos are also grievously injured and deluded by the last of these marks. For as the interposition of "deluding spirits" is manifested, in the apostate church of the Roman Empire, by the open assumption of a pagan title of priesthood, PONTIFEX, and, still more especially, by that most presumptuous title of pretended infallibility, and universal dominion, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, through which this dangerous usurper of unlimited power (under the masque of religion) became the true "image of the beast," the former IMPERIAL PONTIFICES, or Heathen Emperors, who did not more haughtily suppress the natural rights of mankind than did their successors the PAPAL PONTIFICES, in proclaiming Crusades, and in exciting lawless Princes to wage bloody and destructive wars against all persons that opposed their image worship, and other antichristian corruptions; and in establishing bloody inquisitions to maintain this horrible tyranny! So the same unnatural interposition may as evidently be traced to its spiritual source by the baneful fruits and bloody track of inquisitorial cruelty and tyranny manifested in the Laws of the Bramins lately published; as the cutting off the ‘buttock of a Sooder, for sitting on the carpet of a Bramin! the cramming a red-hot iron into their mouths for repeating any words of the Beads or Shaster!’ and the pouring hot wax into their ears for sitting to hear them read! If the Beads contained any good, it would be consummate Popery, thus to prohibit the communication of what is good from the vulgar, like the universal prohibition of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongues wherever the beast prevails! But there can be no doubt, if the Sooders were duly protected by government from the fear of such frightful penalties, that they would not be backward to acknowledge their just and equal claims to all the rights of mankind. And I need only mention these severe laws as ample and sufficient proofs to confute the prejudices of gentlemen infallibly experienced (as they suppose) by their residence in India, respecting the imaginary unalienable attachment of the Hindoos to their false religion; for unless the Bramins themselves had known that the other Hindoos were much inclined to think themselves equally men with the Bramins, and to be, thereby, entitled to all equal rights and natural justice, they would not have disgraced their code of laws with such enormities! Frankpledge is the only safe mode of restoring these poor people to their just rights, and it was necessary for me, thus far, to guard against the obvious objections that would be made by many gentlemen who presume much on their own experimental knowledge of the Gentoos.

I remain, with sincere esteem, DEAR SIR, Your affectionate friend, And obliged humble servant, G. S.

Information about this book

Title statement

A general plan for laying out towns and townships, on the new-acquired lands in the East Indies, America, or elsewhere; in order to promote cultivation,

Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813.

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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/3901

ID [isbn10]

1106009002

ID [isbn13]

9781106009005

ID [TCP]

K034904.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3302892000

ID [ECHG]

0806200600

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Distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Source

— A general plan for laying out towns and townships, on the new-acquired lands in the East Indies, America, or elsewhere; in order to promote cultivation,, Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813.. 24p.,plate ; 8⁰. [London],. 1794.. [Title in the form of a half-title.] [Signed at the end of the article on p.15: Granville Sharp.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [Sabin, 79821] [Goldsmiths', 16046] [Sabin, 26898] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT31454.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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