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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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withdrawal from the Congress at a later date is made so much of in this document, were duly represented on that occasion, and fully concurred in the policy set forth in the resolutions at that session of the Congress. There is no truth in the allegation that some prominent members of the Congress made a threat to work actively in every district where the Singhalese formed the main population against any candidate who was not prepared to take the Congress pledge. Though such "threat" would have been quite proper and legitimate, it was not necessary and was never made, because the electorate was solidly behind the Congress, which merely formulated the popular demand. In fact, a proposal that the Congress should nominate candidates in the interests of reform was rejected at this same session of December, 1920. no instance was a distinction drawn by any member of the Congress between any constituencies in which the Singhalese formed the main population and other territorial constituencies. The Joint Memorandum naturally refrains from men- tioning another important fact, namely, that in the Northern Province, where the population is entirely Tamil, the electorate insisted upon the candidates taking the pledge formulated as stated above by the Congress. The authors of the Joint Memorandum lay emphasis on the fact that the candidates who presented themselves at the poll in the Singhalese districts were Singhalese, but they omit to say that the candidates who came forward in Tamil districta were Tamil. should have added that the men elected constituted a body which has won praise In fairness they from all, including His Excellency the Governor, for the way in which they have discharged their duties as Councillors. And in view of their pointed reference to the diversity created by religion they should have also added, if they were anxious to tell the whole truth, that the candidates who were elected by Buddhist con- stituencies, with the solitary exception of the member for the Uva Province, were Christiana and included a Christian minister of religion as well.

3. The authors of the Joint Memorandum give no reason for their dictum that communities differing from each other in race, religion and social structure cannot justly be "shoved " into a general electorate. This assertion is based on an assump- tion which is contrary to common experience. In Ceylon as well as in other lands people differing in religion, race and social status, have found it possible to combine and act unitedly in matters pertaining to the general welfare. This community of interest which binds all sections of the people of Ceylon, differing in race, religion, etc., has been remarkably demonstrated in the proceedings of the present Legislative Council, in which unofficial members belonging to different communities have often made common cause in matters of general interest, at times even in opposition to Government.

4. It is hardly necessary to prove the falsity of the statement that the Congress demand that the electorate should be territorial and that all the people should eventually be united in one general electorate, was due to a suggestion of Colonel Wedgwood, M.P. Long before Colonel Wedgwood manifested any interest in this Island and its people, the reform party had recognized the need for progress towards the realization of a common citizenship, and so far back as 1909 we find various Associations, such as the Ceylon National Association, Low Country Products Association, the Jaffna Association, and the Chilaw Association, making this demand in their memorials to the Secretary of State on the question of constitutional reform. (Vide Appendix F.*) It is interesting to note in this connexion that it was Sir P. Ramanathan who at the session of the Congress in December, 1919, moved the resolutions on this subject which merely reaffirmed the principles for which the reform party had always stood. (Vide Appendix G.)

5. The scheme of representation which the Joint Memorandum advocates is purely communal, although the Singhalese and Tamil members are labelled territorial and other communities are given a voice in their election. Apart from other con- siderations, it is respectfully submitted that the territorial representation granted to Ceylon cannot constitutionally be withdrawn or whittled away. Consequently the action of His Excellency the Governor in seeking to set aside the decision of the Secretary of State that our constitutional progress should be upon a basis-of terri- torial representation a decision which has been acted upon-has caused deep distrust and resentment. This distrust arose when His Excellency announced his intention of appointing one member of each community to act as the Committee of the Legislative Council to allocate and distribute territorial seats. It was greatly

*The extracts from the Memorials of the Ceylon National Association and the Jaffna Association are printed in Appendix A in No. 9.

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aggravated by the Joint Memorandum, which was incorporated by reference in that Committee's report being withheld when the report was tabled in the Legislative Council. This feeling of distrust was intensified by the subsequent refusal in discourteous terms of the request made by the member for the City of Colombo that that Memorandum be tabled. Deep resentment was added to distrust when through the enterprise of a newspaper-the Ceylon Daily News-this secret document was, as stated above, brought to the light of day and disclosed the fact that it had been prepared upon the advice of His Excellency the Governor. confirmed the popular suspicion that His Excellency's intention was not merely to This disclosure has thwart the aspirations of the large bulk of the people but to make His Majesty's Government go back upon the principle of representation which had been conceded, possibly against the Governor's wishes. the Joint Memorandum cannot be regarded otherwise than as a hint that by whatever His Excellency's advice to the authors of name the representation might be called it was to be in substance and effect coin- munal. In adopting this attitude the Governor seeks to arrest the growth of a sense of common citizenship and to give new life to the narrow communal spirit which was originated and fostered by the former system of racial representation in Council.

6. The representation which Ceylon now enjoys is territorial. according to British constitutional principles, entitled to deprive her of it.

No one is, majority of the people want its extension. The value and indispensable character A large of this form of representation as contrasted with racial or communal representation can be best expressed in the words of the distinguished authors of the Report on Indian Constitutional Reforms submitted to His Majesty's Government in 1918. They said:--

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Some persons hold that for a people, such as they deem those of India to be, so divided by race, religion and caste as to be unable to consider the interests of any but their own section, a system of communal and class representation is not merely inevitable but is actually best. They maintain that it evokes and applies the

principle of democracy over the widest range over which it is actually alive at all, by appealing to the instincts which are strongest; and that we must hope to develop the finer, which are also at present the weaker, instincts by using the forces that really count. According to this theory communal representation is an inevitable and even a healthy stage in the development of a non-political people. that those who take this view are prepared to apply their principles on a scale We find indeed previously unknown and to devise elaborate systems or religious electorates into which all possible interests will be deftly fitted. responsible government implies, and how it was developed in the world we cannot But when we consider what take this view. We find it in its earliest beginnings resting on an effective sense of the common interests, a bond compounded of community of race. language and religion. In the earlier form which it assumed in Europe it appeared only when the territorial principle had vanquished the tribal principle, and blood and religion had ceased to assert a rival claim with the State to a citizen's allegiance; and throughout its development in Western countries even in cases where special reasons to the contrary were present, it has rested consistently on the same root principle. solitary examples that we can discover of the opposing principle are those of Austria, The a few of the smaller German states, and Cyprus. It is hardly necessary to explain why we dismiss these as irrelevant or unconvincing. We conclude unhesitatingly

that the history of self-government among the nations who developed it, and spread it through the world is decisively against the admission by the State of any divided allegiance; against the State's arranging its members in any way which encourages them to think of any smaller unit than itself..

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by creeds and classes means the creation of political camps organized against each other, and teaches men to think as partisans and not as citizens."

In Ceylon the differences of race, caste and creed are but a shadow of what obtains in India. Yet the principle of territorial representation has been adopted in India. The rejection in Ceylon of the experience of the world and the adoption of a principle other than that followed in India and in many other parts of the British Empire which have made any political progress, can have no object but to retard the political advancement of the people of this country.

7. The authors of the Joint Memorandum have not contented themselves with stating what they consider adequate representation for the minority communities on whose behalf they claim to speak. They have gone much further and have even undertaken to prescribe the limit of representation that should be granted to the whole body of the Singhalese." This limit is fixed upon no recognized principle

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