LORD TORRINGTON'S GOVERNMENT IN CEYLON.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 549, 19 July 1851, Page 4

LORD TORRINGTON'S GOVERNMENT IN CEYLON.

From ,the " Morning Chronicle." We are indebted to a writer ia the current number of the Quarterly Review for a masterly expote of the facts brought before the Ceylon Committee in the Sessions of 1849 and the following year. Although the Government, at the close of last session, refused to permit the publication of the evidence, it is well known that, through the activity of Mr. Hawes, printed copies of it were largely circulated. In consequence of this unconstitutional proceeding, many of the most important points have gradually been made known. The materials thus furnished have enabled the reviewer to present a clear and compendious statement of the circumstances connected witn tbe rebellion in Ceylon, and with its suppression by Lord Torrington. When the fasts of the case have been distorted by misrepresents-

tions which seemed almost to possess an official character, and v\ hen au attempt has been made to ascribe to peisonnl malice all the charges brought agamnLoid Tonington, a simple analws of the documentary and other evidence laid before tho Committee foims a valuable contnbution to the political literature of the day. And as the attention of Parliament will undoubtedly be again called to the subject, it is scarcely necessary to apologise once more for alluding to this most humiliating page of the history of our colonial empire. Ceylon was among the tolomes which weie selected to witness the first experiments of Lord Giey. An elaborate report, composed by Sir Emerson Tennont, had made Downing Street familiar with the capabilities of the island, and with tho wants of its Cingalese population. The same authority prudently insisted upon the imperative necessity of observing the greatest circumspection in introducing changes contiaiy to tho habits and feelings of the native population. The Secretary for the Colonies was, it is believed, dulj impressed with the resources of Ceylon, and was anxious to devise measures for their development. Lord Torrington was appointed Governor, and departed to his province to become a benefactor to the inhabitants of Ceylon, and to enjoy the emoluments of a very lucrative post. But when he arrived at his destination, ho found his task by no mean 9 so easy as it had been represented in the flattering report of the unctuous Secretary of Ceylon. It appeared that the balance in hand, which wns to serve whilst the revenue was being re-adjusted, existed only in the erroneous calculations of Sir E. Tennent. Nevertheless, duties were immediately repealed or lowered, and the necessities of the Exchequer were provided for by the imposition of several new direct taxes. '• But nobody — (we quote the words of tho wiiter in the Review) — save Lord Torrington and the gentlemen who ' do for the colonies' in Downing Street, thought for a moment that the new taxes could bo collected ; and results speedily taught them the justice of Sir Emerson Tennent's remark, that • nothing could be more prejudicial to the rising prospeiity of Coylon than any rash or theoretical meddling, unguidpd by local experience and a thorough acquaintance with the habits of the people.'" To what extent the skilful and experienced Secretary attempted to dissuade his reckless principal ia not apparent j but there were unmi9takeable signs that the new imposts were extremely distasteful to the population. Petitions poured in from all parts against the ordinances of the Government. They were, of course, sent to England, "with the accompanying remark that they emanated either from deluded natives, or from disloyal and bankrupt Europeans soured at tho triumphant progress of Free-tiade, and that they were altogether unw orthy of attention." The crisis which ensued proved how greatly Lord Torrington had erred in his appreciation of the tax-loving temper of the Cingalese. On the 6th of July, 1848, the people flocked into the town of Kandy m considerable numbers ; and on the following day Sir Emerson Tennent received a deputation of them, and reported to the Governor that he had, by an address of considerable length, succeeded in conciliating the malcontents. These ''happiest results" were communicated to Earl Grey in a despatch of the 12th of July. The statements of Lord Torrington, and the speeches of Mr. Hawes, were all en coulenr de rose. But a few days later there arrived tidings of a different complexion. It was announced that Ceylon was in open rebellion, nnd that measures of extraordinary severity had been adopted. According to the despatches of Lord Torrington, a Pretender had raised his standard, and the most atrocious excesses had been committed. It appears, however, that, with the exception of a few buildings and plantations which were robbed after the owners had left them, tho only excesses committed were by the parties employed to suppress the insurrection. Engagements took place in, which all the loss was on tho side of the natives, a largo number of whom were killed and wounded. Nevertheless, martial law was proclaimed, and under that code, as administered by Colonel Drought and Captain 'Watson, prisoners were tried and executed without mercy. The ordinary official forms were neglected, for the communications between the military officers and the Government were carried on through Lord Torrmgton's Private Secretary, instead of being referred to the proper deportment. We need not recal the fate of the priest who was convicted and shot, nor the garage cruelty with which his Excellency treated all applications for mercy.' The " Pretender," indeed, escaped a capital sentence ; for, though his execution was twice notified to Earl Grey, on each occasion the Governor was subsequently compelled to admit that the wrong person had boon piinishod. The real "Pretender" was not apprehended for some time afterwards, when he was punished with flogging and transportation. But the civil courts were hardly less sanguinary than the military tribunals, for the members of the Council acquiescpd in the severity of the Governor, because, as the coui ts-mai tial had executed so many, the public might imagine that the sufferers had been mmdered if the civil court* did not also execute a few. Such is the outline of the occurrences in Ceylon during the government of Lord Tonington. The conduct of that nobleman uniformly met with the approbation of Eurl Grey ; but at last the decision of the Committee abruptly terminated hia official career. We shiill on another occasion, returning to the ''Mjsteries of Ceylon," examine the defence made by the Government, and we shall also endeavour to appreciate those remarkable services to the Colonial Office which have condemned Sir Emerson Tennent to a splendid exile as Governor of St. Helena.

The article, of which the above is an outline, contains some curious disclosures regarding the evidence taken before the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the affairs of Ceylon, and is said to be from the pen of Mr. John Wilson Croker. The writer has got hold of the evidence given before the above Committee, the suppression of which cost the Ministry such an effort last session, together with a good many more data of a secret nature which that mysterious testimony could not have supplied ; and from these materials has been concocted a " flashing article" of such pith and pungency, that it is quite grievous to think Sir E. Tennent was not on his way to St. Helena, to which he has been conveniently gazetted as Governor, before it made its appearance, for it is, if possible, more detrimental to him than to Lord Torrington. The article (says the Standard) "is an exposure of the conduct of Karl Grey and Lord Torrington, so eloquent and so well suppoited by proved facts as ought to exclude both for ever from any service under a free and Christian Government, if such exclusion should be the whole amount of their penalty. " The following is a specimen of Governmental "cooking of accounts," with a view to " make things pleasant," which certainly throws the doings of some of our exrailway monarchs into the shade : — " Whilst the Committee were awaiting the advent of the retarded witnesses from Ceylon, they found, as Mr. Under-Secretaiy Ilawes had promised, ample occupation in listening to Sir Emerson Tennent. His evidence bore upon every point, everything, and every person in any war connected with Ceylon, and was horribly prolix. The public were mercifully excluded from the Committeerrooin before it commenced. It was actually printed — some say in the Colonial-office — prior to its delivery viva voee t and was recited from a printed copy by the Colonial Secretary of Ceylon to the Under-Se-cretary for the Colonies, who held another printed copy of it in his hand — very much in the manner that two attorneys' clerks collate the copy and the original of a deed. It took up the history of Ceylon from its darkest ages, and deduced it step by step down to the recent ' salvation' of the colony by ' the good Lord Torrington, 1 whose justice and lenity it contrasted mo«t favourably with the cruelties and oppressions imputed by the early Buddhist chroniclers, to his Lordship's preadamite predecessors. The general feeling of the Committee was, that it proved and disproved too much. It not only contradicted in every particular every word of Sir Emerson Tennent's 'extraordinary able' report of 1846, but the printed evidence of one daj invariably fell to the ground, quashed by the extempore cross-examina-tion of the next." The following is a notice of the personages forming the '' Government" of the colony at the time of the outbreak. — "At the date of the first outbreak the Viscount had been in the colony fourteen months. General Smelt and Colonel Drought not so long ; Mr. Bernard, hia Private Secretary, had arrived with him ; and Mr. Tennent and Mr. Macarthy, the two members of his Council by whom he was most energetically supported, had first become acquainted with Ceylon in 184 C. The latter had recently been tutor in the family of the Earl of Fingal, where he appears to have distinguished himself so egregiously that he was shortly afterwards, on becoming the son-in-law of Mr. Under- Secretary Hawes, appointed to one of the most lucrative offices in Ceylon, the income being increased to make it worthier of his acceptance. On Lord Torrington's recent resignation he was for a short time acting Governor of the colony." The story of Lord Torrington's appointment to the Governorship of Ceylon, because of his relationship to certain members of the Cabinet, has often been told, but the writer in the Quai lerly dresses it up in the following attractive form :— *

" Earl Giey, somehow or other, aimed at t!ie unexpected nnd •■xtiaordinary conclusion, thai ' the voiy best man' whom ho could select foi tins difficult position was Viscount Tonmgton, a first cousin of the Pn>mier, who, having not much improved his originally small mean-5 by fancy farming and lailway speculation, was, in an evil hour, tempted, bj the high salary which was attached to the office, to undertake the responsibilities of Governor of Ceylon. Although nearly forty years of age, and possessod of an heieditaiy voice in the Legislatuie, he had, up to that time, evinced no disposition to take a part in the unpaid public business of the nation. Ilia youth had been spent in the 7th Fusileers as a subaltern, and his manhood m discha ging the onerous duties of a Lord of the Bedchamber. When the Whigs resumed oflice, in 1846, the Viscount's family claims to the emoluments of place do not appear to have been disputed by Lord John Russell ; hut unluckily Loid Foley (Captain of the corps oi Gentlemen-at-arms) had already secured the sinecure to which he was understood to aspire, nnd it fell to the lot of Eail Giey to condole him for his disappointment by despatching- him to the tropics, to try Ins 'prentice hand at governing a million and a half of Her Majesty's snbjects, and at disentangling the corrupt and complicated financial system of a colony of which he knew no more than lie did of the practice of obstetrical surgery." * * * "Mr. Uawes lepeated the approval *hich Earl Grej had already signified of all that Lord Torrington had done, and censured with almost unparliamentary invective, Messrs. Bailhe and Hume as vindictive, ignorant, and weak puppets in the hands of unprincipled and designing conspirators in Ceylon. He also attempted to justify the original appointment of that noble Governor, by narrating how he had built, some years before, on bis estate in Kent, a costly and luxurious cow-house, profusely adorned with the armorial bearings of the liyng family ; and bow be bad subsequently been rewarded with a large service of plate for having discharged, for a lew months, during the crisis of the railway mania, the anxious duties of Vice-chairman to one of the most severely criticised Companies in Great Britain.

■Selp Education. — Mr. W. Chambers of Edinburgh, gave the fol-lowing account of his early struggles : — " I stand before you a self-educated man. My education was that which is supplied at the hunible parish-schools of Scotland; and it was only when I went to Edinburgh, a poor boy, that I devoted my evenings, after the labours of the day, to the cultivation of that intellect which the Almighty has given me. From seven or eight in the morning, till nine or ten at night, was I at my business as a bookseller's apprentice ; and it was only during' hours after these, stolen from sleep, that I could devote myself to study. I assure you I did not read novels ; my attention was directed to physical science, and other usoful matters. During that period I taught myself French. • I look back to those times with great pleasure, and am almost sorry I have not to go through the same troubles agnin. I reaped more pleasure when I had not a sixpence in my pocket, studying in a garret in Edinburgh, than I now find when sitting amidst all the elegances and comforts of a parlour." Nnvr.n Give a Kick for a Hit. — I learned a good lesson when I was a little pirl, says a lady. Onefiosty morning I was looking out of the window into my father's barn-yard, where stood many cows, oxen, and horses, waiting to diink. It was a cold morning. The cattle all stood very Rtill and meek, till one of the cows attempted to turn round. In making the attempt, she happened to hit her next neighbour; whereupon the neighbour kicked and hit anoher. In five minutes the whole herd were kicking each other with fury. My mother laughed and said, '' See what comes of kicking when you are hit. Just so I have seen one cross word set a whole family by the, ears some frosty morning." Aftorwtrds, if my brothers or my self were a little irritable she would say, " Take care, my children. Remember how the flight in the barn-yard began. NeveT give back a kick for a hit, and you will yourself and others a great deal of trouble." St. Bartholomew Medal.— Mr. Peter Whelan lias just produced a handsome fac-simile (about the size of a half crown) of the mpdal, with the inscription of Shapes ]hi«onottorum, struck by order of Pope Gregory XII T, to commemorate the St. Bartholomew's E*e of 1572, when more than 3000 Protestants were massnored in Paris only, and many thousands more throughout France, by order of King Charles IX. The Roscommon Journal says that a Scotchman in a neighbouring town put a placard in his shop window, ptating that he " wanted a boy," and ihp next morning on opening his door was suiprised to find a basket lying outside, which, on opening, h« found to contain a male child, with a label attached, having on it " Here he is."