Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/377

Rh CEYLON 3G5 Dutch lost no opportunity of improving that portion of the country which owned their supremacy, and of opening a trade with the interior. More tolerant and less ambitious of military renown than the Portuguese, they so far succeeded in their object as to render their commerce between this island and Holland a source of great profit. Many new branches of industry were developed. Public works were undertaken on a large scale, and education, if not universally placed within the reach of the inhabitants of the maritime provinces, was at least well cared for on a broad plan of Government supervision. That which they had so much improved by policy they were, however, unable to defend by force when the British turned their arms against them. A century and a half had wrought great changes in the physical and mental status of the Dutch colonists. The territory which in 1658 they had slowly gained by undaunted and obstinate bravery, they as rapidly lost in 1796 by imbecility and cowardice. The first intercourse of the English with Ceylon took place as far back as 1763, when an embassy was despatched from Madras to the king of Kandy, without, however, leading to any result. On the rupture between Great Britain and Holland in 1795, a force was sent against the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, where the opposition offered was so slight that by the following year the whole of their forts were in the hands of the English com mander. At first the island was placed under the care of the East India Company, but in 1802 the whole seaboard of Ceylon became, by the treaty of Amiens, a possession of the British Crown. The central tract of hilly country, hedged in by impenetrable forests and precipitous moun tain ranges, remained in possession of Wikrama Sinha, the last of the Malabar dynasty of kings, who showed no signs of encouraging communication with his European neighbours. Minor differences led in 1803 to an invasion of the Kandyan territory ; but sickness, desertion, and fatigue proved more formidable adversaries to the British forces than the troops of the Sinhalese monarch, and peace was eventually concluded upon terms by no means favourable to the English. The cruelty and oppression of the king now became so intolerable to his subjects that disaffection spread rapidly amongst them. Executions of the most horrible kinds were perpetrated. The utmost stretch of despotism failed to repress the popular indignation ; and in 1815 the British, at the urgent request of many of the Adigars and other native chiefs, proceeded against the tyrant, who was captured near Kandy, and subsequently ended his days in exile. With him ended a long line of sovereigns, whose pedigree may be traced through upwards of two thousand years. By a convention entered into with the Kandyan chiefs on the 2d of March 1815, the entire sovereignty of the island passed into the hands of the British, who in return guaranteed to the inhabitants civil and religious liberty. The religion of Buddha was declared inviolable, and its rights, ministers, and places of worship were to be main tained and protected ; the laws of the country were to be preserved and administered according to established fonns ; and the royal dues and revenues were to be levied as before for the support of Government. With the exception of a serious outbreak in some parts of the interior in 1817, which lasted for upwards of a year, and of two minor attempts at rebellion easily put down, in 1843 and 1848, the political atmosphere of Ceylon has remained undisturbed since the deportation of the last king of Kandy. Population. The total population of Ceylon, as ascer tained by the census of March 1871, is given as 2,406,262. Its distribution according to Provinces is as follows : Province. Population. Area. Population to squai e mile. Western 775,285 3,345 232 North- Western Southern 269,084 399,755 2,383 1,937 113 206 Eastern 113,290 3,516 32 Northern 281,788 3,139 89 Central 495,340 5,770 85 North-Central 70,720 4,384 16

Total 2,406,262 24,474. 98 The principal towns with these populations are Colombo 95,843, Galle 47,059, and Jaffna 34,864. The distribution according to race is as follows : Sinhalese 1,670,207 Tamils 540,685 Arab descendants 163,516 Malays 7,952 Other Asiatics, Kafirs, &c 3,835 European descendants and half-castes. . . 1 4, 1 8.1 Europeans 5.8S6 Total 2,406,262 Government. Ceylon is a Crown colony, that is, a possession of the British Crown acquired by conquest 01 cession, the affairs of which are administered by a governor, who receives his appointment from the Crown, generally for a term of six years. He is assisted by an executive and a legislative council. The executive council acts as the cabinet of the governor, and consists of the Queen s advocate, the three principal officers of the colony (namely, the colonial secretary, the treasurer, and the auditor-general), and the general in command of the forces. The legislative council, in addition to the members of the executive, includes the two principal civil officers of the western and central provinces, the surveyor-general, the collector of customs, and six unofficial members nominated by the governor, who generally selects three to represent the planting and mercantile community, and three to represent the Sinhalese, Tamil, and Eurasian inhabitants ; the governor presides and has a casting vote, if the numbers are equal, in addition to his original vote. There are thus nine official members and six unofficial. The powers of the governor constitute a &quot;paternal despotism,&quot; controlled only by the distant authority of the Crown, as exercised through the secretary of state for the colonies. The functions of his councils are consultative ; the adop tion or rejection of their recommendations rests exclusively with himself. The executive council is the body by whose advice all Government measures are originally framed preparatory to their submission to the legislative council, by whom they are finally discussed with all the forms of parliamentary debate ; still the paramount authority of the governor can overrule their delibera tions, and their labours may be nullified by his withholding his assent, which is necessary to give an enactment the force of law pending its allowance or disallowance by the Crown. All legisla tive enactments must be published in the local gazette for three weeks before they can be finally adopted by the legislature. A certain portion of the colonial expenditure is covered by permanent ordinances, which provide for the fixed establishments of the colony, the contribution towards the military defence of the colony, and the payment of interest and sinking fund on account of loans. All other expenditure has to be covered by an annual vote of the legislative council. The administration is earned on by a civil service, organized on the model of the great institution by which our Indian empire has been formed. It is recruited by members selected by competition from a limited number of candidates nomi nated by the secretary of state and the governor of Ceylon. The selected candidates are carefully trained in the colonial office at Whitehall and in the public offices in Ceylon, and are also required to pass an examination in the native languages before being em ployed in any responsible office. For this highly-trained body the more important civil appointments in Ceylon, including many of the judicial appointments, are reserved. The old routine system of rising by seniority was abolished by the order of the earl of Derby in 1845, and merit instead of seniority is professedly now the basis of promotion. The island is divided into seven provinces, each having its chief and assistant agents, who carry on the affairs of the province under the direct authority of ths Government The agents of Government are the sole means of communication between the Government and the native inhabitants of the island ;