CO882-(1-2) — Page 64

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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My object in alluding to these facts, is to point to the inference derivable from them, as to what must have been the habitual social condition of a whole nation, amongst whom a ruler could venture to practise such atrocities with any confidence of impunity, and amongst whom abasement was SO extreme, that they would tamely submit, and suffer to the very verge of physical endurance.

A people so prostrate cannot be expected within so short a space as thirty-five years, scarcely a single generation, to spring up from such a depth of barbarism into the sober enjoyment of rational liberty, and the advantageous exercise of free in- stitutions.

And yet within that short space of time, not- withstanding stipulations to the contrary in the Convention of 1815, we have superseded the Kan- dyan customs and leges loci, by the introduction of English courts of law, with English pleadings, and all the technicality of Westminster Hall. We have introduced trial by jury, a step on which the East India Company, even after three centuries' govern- We ment, have not yet ventured in Hindostan. have substituted affirmations in lieu of oaths, amongst a people with whom falsehood is confess- edly the rule, and truthfulness the exception. We have ignored all the social distinctions of easte, reduced the virtual ascendancy of the feudal chiefs, abolished slavery, liberated the inhabitants gene- rally from the obligations of compulsory labour, and suddenly changed the relation of the people to the Government, from that of serfs under a despotism, to an independence of thought and action, which embarrasses themselves, because un- prepared either by habit or education, to estimate er to exercise the one or the other advantageously. The experiment has in my mind been prema- <turely tried in the case of the Kandyans---and again and again the recurrence of these revolts and con- spiracies against us, has demonstrated that the Kandyans themselves, so far from appreciating, -resist the process we have been precipitately pur-

suing.

In every instance, the admitted motives and avowed objects of their insurrections have been one and the same; and the moans adopted for their attainment are so identical as to throw consider- able light on the inquiry the present Committee

Extract from Davy's Ceylon, p.

323.

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is pursuing into the recent rebellion in Ceylon, its origin, and the means "resorted to for its sup- pression.

Without the previous knowledge of this per- manent feeling of impatience of their new rulers,

and the national abhorrence of the British by the Kandyans, it would be difficult to account for the protracted and sanguinary rebellion to expel us, which burst forth in 1817, less than two years after we had, by their own invitation and entreaty, assumed their sovereignty, and delivered them from the fearful tyranny of their native sovereign,

It has never been attempted to be imputed to us, that in the interim between March, 1815, when we obtained the sovereignty of Kandy, and October, 1817, when the natives rose in rebellion to drive us out, we either violated one single stipu- lation, or neglected one obligation undertaken by the Convention of 1815; and yet the country rose in one simultaneous revolt to expel us.

Bir R. Brownrigg states this in the preamble to the Proclamation of 1818: and the fact is recorded by two unimpeachable witnesses, Davy and Mar. shall, both of whom were in Ceylon during that rebellion.

Davy, in detailing the circumstances which led to it, says:

"There was no sympathy between us and them; no attracting, but innumerable circumstances of a repulsive nature. The chiefs, though less controlled than under the king, and exercising more power in their districts than they ever before ventured to exert, were far from satisfied. Before, no one but the king was above them; now, they were inferior to every civilian in our service to every officer in our army. Though officially treated with respect, it was only officially; a common soldier passed a haughty Kandyan chief with as little attention as a menial of the lowest caste. Thus they considered themselves degraded, and shorn of their splendour. The people in general had similar feelings on this score; at least the Goswansé, or most influential part. Ignorant of their distinctions, high caste and low caste were treated alike by most English who came in contact with them; and undasignedly and unwittingly, we often offended and provoked them when we least intended it, and particularly in