Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/610

 CEYLON

548

CEYLON

puted sway in Ceylon, for from the third century B. c. Ta-mil princes from Southern India made incur- sions into Ceylon, while at times the tide of invasion was rolled back into India by the much-harassed Sinhalese. The Sinhalese kings most famous for success in their conflict with the Tamils, as well as for the internal development of the country during their reigns, were Dutugemunu (200 b. c), Gajabahu (100 B. a), and Prakramabahu (a. d. 11.50). The an- cient capital of the Sinhalese kings was Anuradha- pura, whose splendour is even now attested by its vast ruins. In the eighth century it was transferred to Polonnaruwa, which was soon abandoned to the con- quering Tamils. The seat of government was thence shifted to various places, until in the fifteenth century it was finally fixed at Kandy, now the second city of the island and famous for the Buddhist temple known as the "Dalada Maligawa", the repository of the tooth-relic of Buddha. During this period of trouble the trade of the country fell principally into the hands of the Arabs. Many of these formidable warriors settled in the maritime parts of the island; their trading instincts are inherited by their de- scendants, generally known as "Moors"; with accre- tions from their co-religionists of the neighbouring continent they form the Mohammedan community of Ceylon.

It was in the beginning of the sixteenth century that modern Europe first came in contact with Ceylon. In 1505 a Portuguese fleet, while operating in the Indian seas against Arab traders, touched accidentally at < ialle on the southern coast; in 1517 the Portu- guese re-appeared and with the consent of the Sin- halese king established a factory at Colombo. The Portuguese having begun as traders soon made them- selves political masters of the entire sea-board, forts were established, and European civilization was in- troduced. In 1658 the Portuguese were driven out by their rivals the Dutch, who then added Ceylon to their East Indian possessions. The descendants of the Dutch, being the product of intermarriage with the Portuguese and the natives, constitute the "Burgher" community of Ceylon. The English first cast their eyes upon Ceylon in 17S2 during the war with Holland, when a British force reduced and took possession of Trincomalee, which was, however, soon retaken by the French and restored to the Dutch. But in 1795 an appeal came to the British from the Sinhalese king who was then maintaining an unequal contest against Dutch aggression, and in 1796 the Dutch were overcome by the British forces and yielded Ceylon to England; the cession was formally confirmed by the Treaty of Amiens in 1S02. The English thus succeeded the Portuguese and the Dutch in the possession of the maritime districts -of the island, but the central provinces were still under the feeble rule of the Sinhalese king who reigned at Kandy. The king was out of favour with his subjects on account of his cruelty and misgovernment, and at the request of the disaffected chiefs a British force was dispatched to Kandy in 1815. King Sri Wick- rama Raja Sinha was taken prisoner and the Kand- yan provinces were added to the British Crown which has since held the sovereignty of t he whole of Cey- lon. What may be called the indigenous population of Ceylon comprises various races; to which must be added the European residents cither in the employ of the Government or engaged in commerce or industries, and the Indian immigrants, some of whom carry (in a petty trade, but who in their larger number constitute the labour-supply of the island. The chief native races arc: (l i the Sinhalese, consist- ing of the low-country Sinhalese and the up-country or Kandyan Sinhalese; (2) the Tamils, inhabiting chiefly the Northern ana Eastern Provinces; f.'i' the Moors; (4) the Burghers. According to the de- cennial census of 1901 the total population of

Ceylon was 3,565,954 distributed according to nation- ality as follows: Sinhalese, 2,330,807; Tamils, 951- 740; Moors, 228,034; Burghers, 23,482; Europeans, 6,300 ; others, 25,591. The last includes the Veddaa of Ceylon (3971) who are gradually disappearing.

Civil Government. — Ceylon has the distinction of being the premier Crown Colony of England. It is accordingly under the direct control of the Secretary of State for the Colonies whose authority, subject to the will of the sovereign and the Imperial Parliament, is supreme. The local administration is vested in a governor assisted by an executive council and a legis- lative council. The executive council is an advisory board and consists of the colonial secretary, the officer commanding the military forces, the attorney-general, the auditor-general, and the treasurer. The legisla- tive council whose president is the governor com- prises the members of the executive council and twelve other members, of whom four are official and eight unofficial. The unofficial members who are nominated by the governor, subject to the approval of the secretary of state, represent (1) the low-country Sinhalese; (2) the Kandyan Sinhalese; (3) the Tamils; (4) the Moors; (5) the Burghers; (6) the European merchants; (7) the European planters, and (8) the gen- eral European community. The unofficial members are supposed to be selected in accordance with the wishes of the respective communities, though this is not often the case, except in regard to the mercantile and planter members whose selection is practically left to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Ceylon Plant- ers' Association respectively. The members of the legislative council may speak and vote on all ques- tions brought forward; still not only are the official members in the majority but they are bound to vote for the Government in matters of policy, whatever their private opinions may be. For administrative purposes Ceylon is divided into provinces, of which there are now nine, viz. : the Western, Central, North- ern, Southern, Eastern, North-Western, North Cen- tral, Uva, and Sabaragamuwa, each of which is pre- sided over by a superior officer called the Govern- ment agent. Other important departments are those of the director of public works, the surveyor- general, the principal collector of customs, the registrar-general of lands, the principal civil medi- cal officer, and the director of public instruction. The civil service is recruited in England by means of a competitive examination which is open to all British subjects including Ceylonese ; a limited number of locally-born persons appointed by the governor form a subordinate service, while the minor officers in the clerical service are partly selected by competi- tive examination and partly nominated without ex- amination. Colombo, Kandy, and Galle have munic- ipal councils the members of which are partly elected by the rate-payers and partly nominated by the gov- ernor, and local boards are established in many smaller towns. An important part of the machinery of government in the country districts is the system of native headmen of various grades, who perform both revenue and police duties under the direction of the Government agents or their assistants.

Law and Judicial Administration. — The Dutch, during the existence of their rule, had applied to Cey- lon their admirable system of laws known as the Roman-Dutch Law, and after the annexation of the country by England it was declared by proclamation, dated 23 September. L799, that the administration

should thenceforth be exercised according to the

laws and institutions that had subsisted under the

ancient government of the United Provinces" of Hol- land, subject to such deviations and alterations as might thereafter be enacted. Accordingly t lie Konian- Dutch haw became and has continued to be what may

be called the common law of Ceylon, but by various subsequent ordinances and other legislative enact-