CO885(1-2) — Page 173

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O.

885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

6

Of

1818.

September 22,

but lest this scheme should fail he at the same same time offered to the Agent of Government in the Seven Korles to surrender his prisoners on condition of his being restored to favour, to- gether with his relative Eyheylepola.

Matale was course this offer was not accepted. again entered bp the troops from different quar- ters, and a hot pursuit was maintained after the rebel chiefs; many were taken, and the guards, ammunition, uncle and son of Madugalic, were successively captured. More troops at this time arrived from India, and on the 27th October Sir R. Brownrigg wrote that the only hindrance to his declaring the Rebellion at an end was the fact that the three principal leaders were still at large.

Keppitipola, however, who had been released by Madugalle in his distress, and Pelima Talawe, owing to the indefatigable exertions of a detach- ment under Captain Fraser, were seized on the 28th October. Madugalle made his escape at that time, but he also was taken on the 2nd of November in Matale; and on the evening of the same day the Dalada, or holy tooth of Buddha, was also captured, a most important event, owing to the superstition concerning it before related.

The principal movers and leaders in the insur- rection were tried by court-martial; forty-seven were sentenced to death, of whom twenty-eight, including Madugulle and Keppitipola were exe- cuted; ten had their sentence commuted to banishment for life, eight were pardoned and one died in prison. Other punishments of dif- ferent degrees of intensity were inflicted upon others. There is a return of the courts-martial which states the full particulars of each case.

314. Oct. 7.

October 27,

315. Oct. 31.

1819.

317. Jan. 8.

325. Feb. 8.

(See No. 325, February 8, Vol. i., 1819.) Twenty- $28. March 1.

five prisoners, of whom eighteen were banished

for life, sailed on the 22nd February for Mauritius, where they were indulged with as much comfort as was consistent with their safe custody.

With the exception of a few who died there they were all, including Pelima Talawe, allowed ultimately to return to Ceylon.

On October 2, 1819, all the provinces were released from martial law with the exception of Ouvah, Wellassee, and Bintenne.

373. Nov. 1.

October 2,

1820.

Jan. 22.

5. Feb. 25.

20. July 21.

1821.

57. Jan. 3.

1830.

49. Nov. 20,

1832.

19. March 6. 60. Sept. 22.

1818.

278. April 12.

7

On the 6th of January a person of the name of Coomarasamy set himself up among the Vedahs in Bintenne as King, but was seized by the He was Dessave of that district on the 12th.

sentenced to death by a court-martial, but the Governor, Sir E. Barnes, declared the proceed- ings of the court null on account of some irre- gularity, and banished him to Mauritius.

Another feeble attempt at insurrection was made in the May of this year by a leader named Kobbekudewe, who had successfully eluded the search after him in 1818 and the early part of 1819. He was taken prisoner by the country people of Matale, found guilty by court-martial, and hanged with an adherent on the 29th October 1820; the sentence, however, was carried into effect somewhat more precipitately than was intended by Sir E. Barnes.

On January 3, 1821, the whole of the Kandian provinces were declared freed from martial law, and the Rebellion of 1817 may therefore be said to have terminated on that day.

The Pretender, who was originally set up in Welassee by Keppitipola, was not taken till the year 1830, when he was at last seized and tried at Kandy in the July of the same year. The court recommended that he should be impri- soned for life, but in 1832 he was released upon condition of his remaining at Colombo, and soon afterwards received a full pardon. He continued however to reside at Colombo, as also did Pelima Talawe, who was permitted in that year to return from Mauritius.

The fate of Eyheylepola seems at first sight deserving of compassion. This Chief had been of great service to us in the contest of 1815, which ended in the dethronement of the King of Kandy: he afterwards refused to take office, desiring, as he said, to be considered "the Friend of the British people;" and but a few days after the order for his arrest had been issued, the Governor received a medal which had been designed expressly for him (Eyheylepola) by the Prince Regent, as a mark of his gratitude for these services.

When suspected of being implicated in the rising of 1817 (of the justice of which suspicions,