The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-21 00:00:00

with respect to the evidence presented to us. Sir, I
cannot conceal the fact that the reading of these docu-
ments has left a very unsatisfactory impression on my
mind—( Hear, hear)—and that 1 regret the general tone
and spirit in which these dispatches are written.—(Hear,
hear.) No man of long experience in public life is more
inclined to make every allowance for the peculiar position
of a Governor called upon to administer an important
trust in times of great difficulty, or disposed to make
more increased allowances on account of the distance
of a colony, which prevents us from judging with
very great accuracy of the particular circumstances
that may have called for the vigorous exercise of the
powers entrusted to him.—(Hear.) I find there was a
rebellion, and I find that that rebellion was suppressed.
I bear in mind also, that if there had been inactivity, if
there had been delay, then we should have been dis-
posed to pass a harsh judgment, and to say that if at an
earlier period there had been an administration of
vigour, that rebellion would have been prevented.—
(Hear.) I make allowances, I repeat, for the position
of a governor in difficult times. Ido not quarrel with
Lord Torrington for having shown a determination, by
the early exercise of vigour and resolution, to prevent
rebellion or to suppress it afterwards; but still I think
that it would have been perfectly consistent with the
administration of the greatest vigour and resolution to
have spoken, in a different tone and temper with regard
to the executions which a great necessity imposed upon
him.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") I take the case as it has
been stated by the Hon. Gentleman the Under- Secre-
tary for the Colonies. I will admit, for the sake of
argument, that these taxing ordinances, of which we
have heard, had nothing to do with the rebellion. I will
admit that the causes of rebellion wore not casual and
occasional; but the more strongly I make that admission
the greater alarm do I feel with respect to the condition
of Ceylon, and the more do I deprecate the course which
has been followed.—(Hear, hear.) I will grant that it
was no casual outbreak, that it arose from no temporary
evanescent cause. I will take the case upon your own
showing, as given in the dispatches of Lord Torrington.
He says, "I repudiate all supposed connexion between
the taxation and the rebellion, in which opinion the ob-
servations of the Colonial Secretary, Sir E. Tennent,
while travelling through the country, further confirmed
me."--(Hear.) I give you the whole advantage of that
statement,,that the taxes had nothing to do with the rebel-
lion. The cause, then, was a much deeper seated, a more
important, and a more formidable one. The cause of the
rebellion, according to your own showing, was this, as I
find in one of the dispatches:—" The chiefs and priests,
always treacherous to the Government and hostile to
British rule—above all, indignant at the course pursued
towards them respecting their religion, have been look-
ing eagerly forward for some pretence to fly to arms, and
a plot of longer preparation, and of deeper or more de-
termined character, has seldom, if ever, burst forth."—
(Hear, hear.) Then, if so, the cause of the rebellion
inspires me with still greater apprehensions as to our fu-
ture tenure of power—l do not mean the absolute tenure
of power by military force, but that tenure of power
which is consistent with the satisfaction of the people—
(Hear, hear)—because we hare two great classes opposed
to us, as appears from this dispatch, independent of the
ignorant masses—that of the priests, and, next, the
chiefs of the people.—(Hoar, hear.) There are the
priests of a religion of which, in another dispatch, this
account is given—that it is an apathetic religion, not
seeking conversions, not wishing to interfere with
the religious feelings of others, contented with the
establishment of Christianity, but most strenuous in as-
serting its rights and guarding against violations of
its privileges.—(Hear, hear.) That is the religion of
which these are the priests; and Lord Torrington
says, I think with great force, " Above all, I cannot
forget the expression which was addressed to me by
one of the chiefs at a solemn conference at the Pavilion
at Kandy last year, to the effect, that if you neither
respect our religion nor have regard to our customs,
what is the benefit to us of the British Government?"—
(Hear, hear.) Such is the address of a chief to the
British Governor. He says nothing of commercial
advantages—nothing of particular privileges enjoyed in
consequence of submission to British rule; but two
things he pleads for, "our religion and our customs; if
you disregard the one and show no respect to the
other, what benefit have we from British rule?"
The Governor says, and wisely, "It made a deep im-
pression upon me." I only wish that impression had
been more lasting—(lcer, hear)—and that in the
heat and ferment of this rebellion the short emphatic
sentence of the chief had occurred to the mind of Lord
Torrington.—(Hear, hear.) How, when that rebellion
was suppressed were the priests and the princes dealt
with? Ido not complain of your extending to them the
same severity that you extended to others; but, remem-
bering you had a religion to deal with, recollecting that
you had an aristocracy to deal with jealous of ther per-
sons and privileges, I ask how do you reconcile it, not
with wisdom but with common sence, that you should
shoot a priest in his robes—(Hear, hear)—and that when
you inflict transportation upon a prince you think it
necessary to subject him to corporal punishment?—(Hear,
hear.) It is impossible I can discuss this question with-
out giving vent to feelings that these facts have left on
my mind. If the rebellion was flagrant, or if the neces-
sity for example was ;urgent, still I cannot understand
the necessity for visiting on a priest the extreme rigour
of the law; but in a country where the priesthood
was disaffected, and where, according to your own
showing, it:was a deep-rooted feeling, and not the result of
taxation, was it not the height of folly to insult the fol-
lowers of that religion by inflicting punishment on a
priest in his sacerdotal robes?—(Hear, hear.) If a priest
had been convicted for rebellion in Tipperary, and it had
becemb necessary to indict capital punishment on him,
if he was executed in any dress which he chose, or even
in the prison dress, there would have been general acqui-
escence in the justice of the sentence; but you would
insult the spiritual brotherhood, and you would cast a
slur on their order, if yon chose to insist, not only on
punishing the man, but stigmatizing and insulting the
profession to which he belonged, by making him be
hanged on a scaffold in his canonical dress, and their
feelings and indignation would be shared by millions
throughout every part of the country.—(Hear, hear.)
And this feeling of indignation will be the stronger the
more the religion is separated from the true spirit of
that common Christianity that influences all forms of
religion in this country. The religion of that people is
more likely to deeply resent an insult offered to their
rulers than we should find in this country.—(Hear.)
Then with respect to the Prince, the pretended King, as
he is called—and I care not whether he was so or not—
I find Lord Torrington says, " After carefully review-
ing the recommendation of the judge for mercy to the
pretended King, I have arrived at the conclusion that
under all the circumstances it would be expedient not to
carry the sentence of death into execution. The dread
of transportation among the natives is almost greater
than that of death." If so, then transport thorn. It
may be regarded as more severe than death, being a
separation for ever froth home and friends. It is so in
Ireland, where a sudden removal from friends is con-
sidered as severe a punishment as death. But then,
after the admission that transportation is as severe as
death in the estimation of an inflamed and excited public,
who could expect that it would be followed by a sen-
tence such as is here stated :—" It is my intention that
the sentence shall be commuted into transportation
for life, and, by way of making a more lasting im-
pression upon the minds of the Candians, I propose
that this pretended King shall receive a severe public
flogging at Candy preparatory to his transportation."--
(Hear, hear.) A priest was shot in his full canonicals;
and a king, preparatory to his transportation, is sub-
jected to a severe public flogging!—(Hear, hear.) Now,
making every allowance for the position of Lord Tor-
rington; thinking it highly probable that severe mea-
sures were necessary—that we are indebted to hint for
the manifestation of vigour and resolution he exhibited,
and that they may have prevented an outbreak that
would have been most formidable, still I think it might
have been possible for a man to exercise acts of vigour
and authority with abstinence from other acts not
merely calculated to deter by the example of punishment,
but tending to alienate from us the minds of a whole
population, brought up with prejudice, viewing our do-
minion with distaste and jealousy, and disposed to resent
an act which is not merely an exception, but visits the
whole population, by implicating them in the disgrace of
the punishment.—(llear, hear.) I could not but give
vent to my feelings on this subject, nor refrain from
expressing the pain I have received in perusing the dis-
patches of Lord Torrington to which I have just re-
ferred.—(Cheers.)
Mr. 1101iSMAN thought they owed a debt of grati-
tude to the Chief Justice of Ceylon for the humanity
with which he had interposed to prevent further execu-
tions in the island. As inquiry was about to take place,
he felt it unnecessary to enter upon the many questions
which our colonial policy embraced, and would only ex-
press the satisfaction he felt that a Committee was to be
appointed.
Lord J. RUSSELL—After the speech of my Hon.
Friend (Mr. Hawes) I do not feel that the conduct of
Earl Grey requires any further vindication; yet, agree
ing to the appointment of a Committee, I do think it
necessary not to pass wholly without notice some obser-
vations of the Hon. Gentleman who brought forward the
motion, and some remarks that have been made with
respect to the affairs of Ceylon in the course of the de-
bate. The Honourable Gentleman who brought forward
the motion indulged in an attack of such personal bit-
terness as I have seldom heard, and endeavoured to
suppress as completely as he could any facts favourable
to the administration of the Secretary of State for the
Colonies or the Governor of Ceylon. The Hon. Gentle-
man began his speech with stating that this was a case
is which Lord Torrington, finding when he arrived at
Ceylon that there was a deficiency of revenue to meet
the expenditure, thought proper immediately to impose
certain direct taxes. Now, the fact is, as the Hon. Gen-
tleman might have learned from the papers, and as my
Hon. Friend has shown, that there were certain export
and import duties in Ceylon, some of which had become
so unproductive that the revenue was unable to meet the
expenditure. There was more especially the export
duty on cinnamon and on coffee ; and when Lord Tor-
rington took the Governorship of Ceylon these duties
were found to have very greatly diminished. So far,
however, from Lord Torrington originating the proposal
of new taxes, the former secretary of the colony, Sir E.
Tennent, had made out a set of taxes for the island, and
Lord Torrington had only to consider how ho was to
carry the arrangement into effect,—(Hear, hear.) There
was one remarkable circumstance of which the Hone
Gentleman took no notice,—that the production of
coffee had increased to such an extent that for two)(a
s.
the greatest distress prevailed among the coffee p
From there being no export of coffee
11n 1823, it
830 it had
amounted in 1845 to 16,000,0001 K, and in
consumption
was not more than 37,000,0001 b.
increased to 30,000,0001 b., while thAenwd, ile
when
thetsln
_g
sent 30,000,0001 b. into the market, it had 'to compete
coffee growers,
with the West Indies and the foreign
in consequence of
which there was a great reduction of
prices, and much the planters. Was
it not wise then to relieve these planters as far as
possible from the burdens imposed upon them 2
(am, hear.) But the illouourable Gentleman, with