It was rendered evident by the conduct of his subjects, that the alledged cruelties of the King of Kandy were not mere rumours; but were too strongly founded on fact. Almost every chief, and many of the inferior classes, had suffered in person, or family, or liberty, or property, and they held out their arms in earnest entreaty for relief, to the only power competent to afford it-the British Government. IT is perfectly well known, that the causes alledged by the British Government for displacing the late King of Kandy, were, the cruelties committed by his express direction and personal inter- It was granted; and it was granted ference, on all classes of his subjects; just in time to save a number of valuwith the general dissatisfaction resulting able lives. Some had been cruelly exfrom a course of crimes so enormous.ecuted, and their disfigured remains It is every way possible that arbitrary power, exercised by a monarch, may be deceived into an opinion that it is doing nothing but justice in a certain instance, which to all others appears atrocious cruelty; but a series of such instances a course of such cruelties, can hardly be pursued without bringing the mind to a stand, at some point, and harrowing up the memory and conscience, with a conviction of guilt, and the severest pungencies of remorse. True it is, that habit hardens the mind; that the eye VOL. V. No. 28. Lit. Pan. N. S. Jan. 1. were found exposed on the roads, as the invaders proceeded towards the capital. That neither his officers nor his troops, his chiefs nor his immediate attendants, risqued their persons in the King's behalf, is proof sufficient of their want of respect and confidence in his character. In short, he violated the established laws and usages of his kingdom. It was not for want of rules, that he made his will a law; but contrary to those rules which he must have known, and té which he ought to have conformed. the King's days, it could not have been so limited, on the most favourable supposition. If then, the chiefs, under the new Government, have conducted themselves by known laws, and have respected the welfare of those under their charge, it speaks strongly on their behalf, as men of honour, as trust-worthy men, who did not complain without a cause, nor till patience was completely exhausted-or call in the assistance of strangers, till despair had surrounded them at home. There are certain principles and feelings common throughout human nature. However, the system of laws may differ By the perpetual violation of the established laws and rules of administrative justice his character was changed from what it ought to have been, that of a King, and became that of a tyrant, a character as different as darkness from light, as Hell from Heaven. It was not the advantage of his subjects, he studied, but how to wreak his vengeance for offences against his person and governinent, sometimes only alledged on the slightest evidence, or no evidence at all; and sometimes on mere suspicion, or the breath of slauder and ill will. His will was law; and this, when too late, he bitterly regretted. "Your Governor," said he to the British officers, un-in different places, the injuries and disder whose guard he was placed," your Governor has a council; and does nothing without consulting them; how much more did I need a council, but not one of my chiefs stepped forward to give me advice!" It is probable, that such a step would have been the last a subject so faithful had taken in this world-the presumption would have been punished with loss of limb, or life. The expulsion of a public Officer, of a rank so high as that of Supreme head of the State, is always an extremely hazardous and precarious operation. It is usually followed by evils so numerous, and difficulties so great, that those who have advised and promoted it, have generally felt the force of the homely but expressive proverb "out of the frying pan into the fire." In proportion to the sorrow we should have felt, if such had been the course of events among the Kandians, is the satisfaction we think it our duty to express in the Statement describing the subsequent condition of the people, as officially delivered by his Excellency the British Governor. Not seldom is the consequence of one tyranny removed, seen in the establishment of fifty others. The chiefs become Savage Masters to those below them, as they had been trembling Slaves crouching before one stationed above them. No such thing appears in the Document here given: consequently, the people have lost nothing by change of masters. They have, most probably, gained inexpressibly for the number of prisoners appears to be so small, that, in graces done to natural principles, are felt almost every where, equally the same: and they are felt too with a keenness not always expressible. There are many things dearer to a man of honour than his property; though that he can ill bear to be deprived of at the capricious commands of an unworthy and criminal tyrant, There are relations in life whose sufferings are more severely felt than those inflicted on a man's own person: whenever tyranny ventures to insult and violate these, human nature shudders; and the sufferer meditates vengeance; despair succeeds to loyalty; and the most faithful of servants becomes the most ferocious of adversaries. Whoever knows any thing of the British Government, knows, that this enquiry once instituted, this examination by the Governor in person, formed into a custom, will be continued and prosecuted with spirit and vigour. The course of justice, it may be hoped, will be pursued; regularity and order will be introduced; and the established regulations will be obeyed with due deference, not in some places, to the exclusion of others, but generally, throughout the island, and from a sentiment felt equally by chiefs and people. If History had preserved for our use, the addresses of conquerors of provinces, and Governors of distant colonies of ancient times, it could not but be instructive to compare them with those of our British Governors. We strongly suspect, that individual gratification would be found to predominate over the public.welfare; and that modern days might glory in a more active Beneficence, than anciently was customary among those to whom authority was committed. The Governor contemplates the advantages of commercial intercourse: he removes those impediments which formerly forbade the exchange of commodities, which interdicted the trader from the sea-coast to visit the interior of the island, and cooped-up the native of the interior in his fortresses, rocks and mountains. Province was separated from province; now the whole is one island. The custom duties on passing from province to province are annulled; and each is placed in a situation to make the most of the bounties of nature, and its own industry in bringing them to perfection, in point of quality, or in raising a supply for exportation, in point of quantity. There is something truly grand, truly glorious, in making use of victory and conquest to promote the welfare of the Subject; and without laying too much stress on the acquisition of these provinces by military power-for certainly the people assisted their deliverers,-yet it may well be said, the British Arms have led the way to blessings, and prosperity. A noble study in a delegated Supremacy! ciliate the affections of their people, the judicious measures they direct, to remove former impediments to the public welfare, and to promote the prosperity of times present and future-should be known, should be understood, and acknowledged among us. Though the approbation of the Sovereign must ever be dear to a British Officer, yet that suffers no diminution by the applause of the Public. When the Public voice ratifies the rewards conferred by the Prince, the honour is perfect; and the Public ought to recollect the sanction, once given, from generation to generation. There is a topic which the Governor has not thought proper to introduce, that of the gradual progress of Christianity in Ceylon. It was not, indeed," his province to mention the subject; but, we may be allowed to contemplate that as the bond which shall hereafter connect and compact the whole; which shall do more than the free interchange of commodities to form the island into one province, and its population into one family. The Governor hints at principles prevalent among the Cingagalese which met his entire approbation; together with a ready acquiescence by the chiefs with propositions which he thought it his duty to make as so `many improvements. As he does not The Governor concludes with announc- explain the nature of these Cingalese ing an Institution for teaching the Eng- principles, we cannot submit them to lish Language. It is a wise step; and opinion. But, if a fair and impartial in proportion as the two languages be- examination, if a clear and comprehencome common will be the mutual confi-sive view of a subject, be-as it should dence, harmony, and good will between seem to be from this Address, a part the Cingalese and the British, and the of the Cingalese character, we may hope British and Cingalese. for the spread of the most beneficent of all Religions, and the termination of that idolatry under which unhappy Ceylon has long groaned. It is fit that such documents should be presented to the British Public. Time has been when every man who returned from India was suspected of having On the whole, the Reader who will trafficked in the blood of the natives; of take the trouble to compare the former having obtained a fortune by means the state of this island, with that which acvery reverse of honest and honourable. tually has taken place; and especially There are yet names not wholly cleared with that which is expectant from the from this stigma, and subsequent afflic-steps taken to produce it, will not fail tions, in which they have been involved, bave been contemplated in the sense of punishment, though in reality, perfectly independent of such transactions. It is fit, therefore, that the labours of our Governors for the advantage of their Provinces, the pains they take to con to receive abundant gratification. True glory consists not in the shout of victory, or the applause of the multitude after a long and bloody conflict-but in the bappy art of doing good, in the distinguished honour of bestowing benefits on U 2 commendation. A general call for all Civil and Criminal Prisoners to be brought before me was the sure dictated not less by duty, than by feeling, and one which, as it was wholly an expected, was a fair test of the exercise of coercive authority in all Departments entrusted with it-The whole number of Prisoners was six, of whom one was released after a long enquiry into the merits of an intricate transaction. One case was accommodated, and four Prisoners were committed. It would be quite superfluous to add any comment to this simple state mankind, and laying generations under that I have found much which deserves my obligation, who perhaps scarcely can, without difficulty, pronounce the name of their benefactor. In another part of the present num-first step of my proceedings here, a meaber may be seen, the progress of the Governor of Ceylon to Kandy, the late residence of the King, and so far, the anetropolis of the island. In that town the Governor staid thirty-three days, chiefly occupied in public sittings; in obtaining a correct view of the state of the newly submitted provinces; in free audience to whoever chose to address him, and in open exercise of that authority of superintendance which is the unquestionable prerogative of a Public Officer bearing credentials from his Bri-was found, partly from the casual manner tannic Majesty, and representing his Sovereign, under such delegated power. In these audiences his Excellency was attended by the British Resident, by the British Secretary for the Kandyan Provinces, and by the native Chiefs of every rank; the Adikars-Dissavesand principal Lekams of the country. At the close of the business of the ment. In the further progress of the business it partly owing to the different branches of in which applicatious came forward, and Judicature not being digested into sepa rate departments, or regulated by settled forms of proceeding, that it would not be possible without much delay to adapt the sittings to any rule of classification, and the causes were in consequence entered upon as they arose. Amongst them there were many of conday, on Monday. May 20, his Excel-sides the value of large estates, involved siderable importance, and some which be lency addressed the Chiefs, in a speech feelings and interests of the greatest delito the following effect : - On the following morning at a very early hour he left Kandy with his suite, highly pleased, as appears, with the state of things; and anticipating still greater advantages to a people newly placed under his care, and lately added to the British Empire. cacy. It may not be improper to recapitulate a few of the principal. 1st. The estate of a deceased Chief Rattwatte, Dessave of Dewimedde, who was executed by the deposed King on suspicion of Treason-This property was claimed by Rattwatte, the male heir of the Family and now Dessave of Metelle-by Keppittipola, Dessave of Ouwa, the cousin of the deceased by the mother's side-and by Mollegodde, Dessave of the three Corles, under a testamentary disposition in favour of the deceased's widow, whom he has since married. 2dly. The lands of Matamagoda, enjoyed under a King's Graut by Matamagoda, late Dessave, for 25 years antecedent to the recent troubles, but who was dispossessed by Kantotte Mobottale during the march of the troops. 3dly. Certain confiscated lands granted to the Temple of Nato Dewalle, in compensation of others overflowed with water in the formation of the great tank of Kandy, but in part recovered by the construction of a new dam. 4thly. A portion of the lands of Askiri Wiharé, supposed to have been originally private property, and erroneously included in a Grant to the temple by the King, en |