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under certain circumstances, of putting them to torture and death.* It will be seen
* It may not be altogether impertinent to mention a conversation recently held at Hongkong, as an illustration of the different ways in which the principle of the patria potestas of the old Roman law, which principle (as Sir Henry Maine and other high authorities have shown), is common to all primitive nations, is carried out in action by different communities. A clergyman here was a missionary relating with horror that a Chinese gentleman at Hong Kong, having reason to be dissatisfied with his wife took her on a trip to Canton, and there sold her as a slave, and purchased another wife from her parents with the proceeds of the sale. Fully sympathising with the indignation expressed at this abuse of the patria potestas, I observed that I had been recently Governor of a Colony in which the patria potestas of husbands was exercised in a still more extreme manner than in China. The missionary seen that my reply on this delicate subject was conveyed in the following terms.
A Missionary in New-Zealand once related to me the following anecdote of a great Maori chief, a firm supporter of mine, a loyal subject of the Queen, and a gallant ally of the English throughout the Native Wars. In the early days of the Colony, this chief came to the Missionary, said that he wished to become a Christian, and asked to be baptised. The Missionary, knowing that the new convert had two wives, observed that Christianity forbade polygamy and that one of the wives must be put away before baptism. The chief retired in deep thought, but, after the lapse of a month, returned with a cheerful face, saying, "Now, Missionary, you may baptise me, for I have only one wife." "The missionary, (supposing that one of the wives had gone back to her family), asked: "What have you done with your dear sister, my friend?" "The Chief, smacking his lips with great gusto, replied: "I have eaten her."