itttrr tu tht

THE MYSTERIES OF CEYLON UNRAVELLED.

London, February 1851. Sra--The well-earned reputation for impartiality which your journal en- joys induces use to hope that you will not refuse space for a few remarks upon an article which appeared in the last number of the Quarterly Review on the affairs of Ceylon, a digest of which article you placed before your readers in a recent issue.

I venture to do this simply from a desire to see the Ceylon question al- lowed to rest on fair grounds, and from no personal or party motive. That I ought to be a judge of much of what has recently been written and said relative to this matter, I think you will allow when I state that I have been a resident in Ceylon during thirteen years, and as a merchant and planter had no little stake in the colony.

In the little introductory in-formation which the writer of the Mysteries presents his readers with he is totally in error. He begins by stating that the Governor of Ceylon is assisted by a Council, composed of civil and mili- tary officials entirely subservient to his will. This curious blunder is backed by a reference to M'Culloch ; the object of it evidently being to intimate that the colonists had no voice in framing the ordinances which are so much cried down as the cause of the late rebellion. It so happens that when Mr. M'Culloch's work first appeared the above was really the case ; but for the last fifteen years there has been a second Council, composed of independent Native and European gentlemen blended with civil servants.

We are next informed, with marked emphasis, that Lord Torrington's predecessor, Sir Colin Campbell, was amongst the most energetic and suc- cessful Governors of Ceylon. Poor old Sir e.olin ! but let that pass ; he is dead.

The reviewer, after being informed of the arrival in Ceylon of Sir Emerson Termer:St and the circumstances connected with his report on the finances of the colony, details in his own peculiar style the advent of Lord Torrington as Governor of Ceylon. We are told that his Lordship, on his arrival in the island, found that the assumed treasury balance of 200,000/. "existed only in the imaginations of Mr. Hawes and Sir Emerson Tennent, who had cre- ated it by contriving in their respective reports to mistake liabilities for as- sets ; they had counted as cash in hand a large amount of unissued notes of the colonial treasury which had long lain waste paper in its coffers, and, worse still, a large number of the said notes actually in circulation and pay- able at sight." Now here we find Mr. Hawes and Sir Emerson 'foment deliberately charged with a wilful act of deception : it is said they cre- ated this imaginary balance. But what is the real fact ? If you or any of your readers will turn to the volume of " Papers on the Affairs of Ceylon, 1849," the second of those quoted by the able reviewer as his text, and if you will open it at the very first page, you will there find a despatch from Lord Torrington to Earl Grey, in which the Governor, when alluding to the fictitious mode of making up the treasury balances, says that the practice of counting in the Government notes had existed for some years past, and adds that it is but fair to Sir Emerson Tenuent to remind his Lordship that he (Sir E. Tennent) had called attention to the fallacy of this proceeding in a former despatch. Here, then, it may be seen that not only did Sir Emerson Tennent first point out the blunder instead of originating it, but that it had existed for some years past, 1. e. since the energetic and successful adminis- tration of the reviewer s pet Governor.

In dilating upon the favourable and prosperous condition of the Colonial Treasury as left Lord Torrington by his predecessor, Sir Colin,—which pros- perity, as I have just shown, was mainly owing to that of which Sir Emer- son was accused, counting liabilities for assets,—in calling attention to this vaunted prosperity, the reviewer sneers at Sir Emerson Tennent for terming the system of taxation, as then existing in Ceylon, a vicious one. Did it not occur to the writer of these "mysteries," that it is quite possible for a system of taxation, based on monopolies and excise restrictions, to place the treasury of a country in a most prosperous condition, and yet be essentially vicious in its effects on the industry of the people ? In support of the assumed superiority of the Campbell administration over that of the late Governor, the Reviewer puts forward the following state- ment.

Governors. C. 1845 Campbell 5,914 Surplus Revenue. Tennent 81,801 Deficient Revenue.

11884467

Torrington 78,368 Deficient Revenue. 1848 Torrington 16,560 Deficient Revenue.

According to the above artfully concocted table, the Tennent-Torrington ad- ministration was a signal failure. But allow me, Sir, to lay before you the truth. It is quite correct to say that the blue book for 1846 has the name of Sir Emerson Tennent attached to it ; for the very good reason that the returns for that year were not sent home until the middle of 1847, when he hap- pened to be acting Governor. But Sir Colin Campbell was Governor of Cey- lon until March 1847, when Sir Emerson acted until the arrival of Lord Torrington in June of that year, having ruled for the brief period of three months. The statement should therefore stand thus.

Governors. C.

1845 Campbell 5,914 Surplus. 1846 Campbell

81,801 Deficiency.

( Campbell 1847 Tennent 1 78,368 Deficiency. Torrington 1818 Torrington 16,560 Deficiency.

This alone turns the tables somewhat uron the Quarterly Review ; but if I add that the latter accounts had not the benefit of those liabilities mislikken for assets which had helped to swell up "for some years past" the balances- of the Campbell administration, and that in 1848 all export-duties save a portion of that on cinnamon had been abandoned ; that the sales of Govern- ment cinnamon had long ceased; and that the proceeds of the sale of Crown lands had fallen from about 35,000/. to 8,000/.,—if, I say, all these facts be considered, then, Sir, I think you will allow, that instead of censure, Lord Torrington and Sir Emerson Tennent deserve some degree of credit for re- ducing the Campbell deficit by 65,0001. With regard to the uew taxes, about which so much has been written, I am far from defending them all, especially in the mode in which some were levied ; still more did I regret, in common with my brother merchants, the sudden repeal of some of them. At the same time, I must in fairness add, that there were no objections raised either in or out of the Legislative Coun-

cil to any of these taxes, by any class of persons, during or before their

enactment. The reviewer, however, would fain have his readers believe otherwise ; and after alluding to a petition from some of my brother mer- chants, and in reality objects not so much to the taxes as to their ap- portionment and details,—after dwelling on this document, the writer says, "the results they (the petitioners) predicted almost instantly occurred : on the 6th July 1848, a large body of unarmed Cingalese collected in the town of Kandy," &e. You may well be excused some astonishment, Sir, when I tell you that the above-named petition, which is said to have predicted what occurred in July, bears the date of August 15th. One of these much-abused taxes, the Road-tax, never was objected to, save as to amount to be paid for substitutes. It is deservedly most popular, not only with planters, but amongst the Natives, who, BO far from objecting to six days' labour, have in many cases volunteered to work for twelve days. As regards the rebellion and martial law, I must confess myself unable to grapple with the many legal niceties attending these matters : at the same

time, I must state that in Ceylon there was but one general feeling of appro-

bation at the time of the whole proceedings of the Executive. The reviewer carefully avoids any allusion to the numerous meetings of Europeans and burghers on this subject, save one which he says was composed of officials. There were but two present at that meeting in any way connected with the Government ; one was a judge, the other a clergyman. I will only add the following extract as bearing out my statement- " We believe the opinion is universal that great credit is due to the head of the Go- vernment, and all concerned, for the energy of the measures adopted in putting down rebellion; and we, therefore, entirely concur in the deserved praise of his Excellency and Colonel Drought and the military generally. Sir Herbert has done all brandies of the public service justice; and we have no dispositicn to detract one iota from the compliments passed upon them." It must be borne in mind that this emphatic expression of approval is not the language of any partisan of the local Government : it is taken from the columns of the Colombo Observer, a print rendered notorious by its unceasing vituperation of Lord Torrington and Sir Emerson Tennent. No one will rejoice more than myself to see the whole of the evidence connected with our unfortunate colony placed before the public ; in fairness to all parties this should be done at once. I much fear that as regards real reform, we colonists are as near obtaining it as when the inquiry com- menced. And whom have we to thank for this? Those who have left the substance for the shadow. Those who have mistaken petty personalities for public spirit. The real public of Ceylon are sick of the very name of "the inquiry." Their grievances are not to be found in the rebellion, or the dog-tax ; neither are they mixed up with the dead rebels, either ppest or pretender. They lie far deeper than all this. Yet deep as they lie, and many though they be they may be all removed by two very simple words in reference to the Government of the colony. Those words, Sir, are Efficiency —Honesty.