able man must see, is the natural consequence of enforced celibacy, and of violence done to nature; and those domestic scandals which, I fear, are not unfrequently concealed by darker and graver crimes,"
So we see that the tone of every member of the Council was the same. Practically with very little knowledge of the internal affairs of pure Hindu families, but affecting a great knowledge of them, these high officials of the British Government, who proclaimed neutrality in our religious matters and social customs, denounced in severe terms the customs of an ancient civilised nation, and abused them in filthy language.
Later on, Colvile remarked,—'The second section of the Bill removes the only plausible objection that could be made against the measure.'[1]
- ↑ The 2nd Section ran as follows:—"All rights and interests which any widow may have by Law in her deceased husband's estate, either by way of maintenance or by inheritance, shall, upon her second marriage, cease and determine, as if she had then died; and the next heirs of such deceased husband then leaving shall thereupon succeed to such estate.
"Provided that nothing in this section shall affect the fights of any widow in any estate or other property to which they may have succeeded otherwise than through her deceased husband or to which she may have become entitled under the will of her deceased husband; or in any estate or other property which she may possess as Stri-dhan, or which she may have herself acquired either during the lifetime of her deceased husband or after his death."
