PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PLEC.O. 882
لسل سائنس
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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rection equally formidable in its nature (in 1848) had such a event taken place.
were
In 1848 we had excellent carriage-roads from Colombo to all our principal stations in the inte- rior. The upper Kandyan country had, to a very considerable extent, been divested of its forests, and the caves and torrent beds, in which its inha- bitants had found or formed shelter for themselves and their property, and supplies during the rebel- lion of 1818 had been unmasked, and every village and stream laid down upon paper, so that they as well known to us as to themselves. But the province of Matelle has not yet bene- fitted to any material extent by the attention which has of late years been paid to the improvement of our communications generally, though from its great natural strength and inaccessibility, it has always been one of the chief haunts of the dimf- fected, who in consequence of our small force being sufficiently occupied in other quarters, were left in the undisturbed possession of it from the com. mencement of the insurrection in 1817 until the middle of September, 1818, when resistance had nearly ceased.
In the whole extent of that lofty segment of the Zone called "the Knuckles Range," which lies between the Ajate Pass in the old Trincoma- lee road, and the left bank of the Mahaville Ganga at Kenterma (a distance of nearly 80 miles), and forms the southern boundary of Ma- telle, there is but one footpath by which that for- midable chain of mountains can be passed, and even that rugged track crosses it within four or Ave miles of its eastern extremity. I may also observe that there is no line of country in the
whole interior (as I have often pointed out) where a good line of road is more required (and that not in a military point of view alone) than that which skirts the northern base of the Zone be- tween the Nalandi Road and the Mahavilla Ganga.
My opinion being required as to what might have been the result had the disturbanom of leat year not been promptly checked, I have now to state that had thom disturbances ended in a well- organized insurrection of the people of Matelle and the neighbouring district, the troops would,
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Supposed ignorance of Lord Tor- rington's advisers.
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in all probability, have been involved in a dis- heartening and trying service, in which, without assistance from India, it would have been vain to hope for success; and the Government would have had on its hands a troublesome and ex- pensive contest with its own subjects, to say nothing of the ruinous consequences of such a state
of things to the European proprietors of the nume- rous coffee plantations throughout the interior.
As connected with this question, I may further mention that the fire-arms taken from the Kandy- ans at the end of the rebellion of 1818, did not exceed 10,000 stands at the utmost, and at least two-thirds of these, including a large portion of old matchlocks, were in a most unserviceable state; whereas in 1848 they (the Kandyans) had probably not less than 60,000 stands in their possession, many of them good muskets or English fowling-pieces.
(Signed) J. FRASER,
Deputy Quarter-Master General.
Colombo, December 12, 1849.
that
I apprehend that so far as the opinion of one man may outweigh another, I may safely rely that the judgment of Colonel Frazer will go far to neutralize the statement of Mr. Anstruther, the rebellion of 1848 was "an exceedingly unimportant affair, and one that might have been put down without the least trouble."
And that the measures for its suppression thus suggested by this able and experienced officer was nothing more than "error committed in a panic engendered by ignorance.”
In taking measures for the suppression of this revolt discredit has been thrown on the policy of Lord Torrington, on the authority of Mr. An- stråther, because, as he says, “no person con nected with the Governor had the remotest idea of the customs of the natives, and all ware per- fholly ignorant of the people, sa ignorant as any gentleman in Londen could be.”
This atesossană în bardly hair.
Lord Touringħarf's Council conslated of five për- and the officer who acted as Clerk, Mr.
who was himself the Resident Civil Offer Kornagaße, and þad been some fifteen yesmḥ på Ionut in the colony.
Of these five, I must myself plead guilty to
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