The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON,

(Front the Examiner )

There are mire ways than one of doing injusuice
to a Government ; its faults may be exaggerated ;
its merits may be underrated ; errors may be im-
puted to it of which bus not been guilty; the good
that it has accomplished may be ascribed to other
causes, or it may be denied, or the critic may
choose to shut his eyes to it altogether.
But air these ways of wronging a Government
are hackneyed. It was left for Sir H. G. Ward,
the present Governor of peylon, to hit upon an ori-
ginal one, of which he has given the public a speci-
men in his mode of treatng the administration of
Lord Torrington. The method of Sir H. G. Ward
consists, not in ignoring fair results, but in ignor-
ing their obvious causes. No man . sees the excel-
lent effects of a predecessor's policy with a clearer
vision ; ho not only sees, but beholds them with
admiration • ho not only admires, but admires en-
thusiastically ; he finds the colony on his arrival in
the enjoyment of " a prosperity unexampled in its
previous history ;" and he writes despatches home
expressing in rapturous terms his satisfaction at
finding himself in the midst of if.
But it is the result only that he sees with the
optics of an eagle ; Sir Henry is as blind as a bat to
the sources of the prosperity that amazes him ; he
professes himself "unable to account for it ," the
simplest and most natural explanation never once
occurs to him ; he never dreams of attributing to
Lord Torrington the state of things that Lord Tor-
rington left behind him, and, instead of congratu-
lating him on his fortune and success, observes that
"it was his fate to enter on the government at a
time when progress was impossible and improve-
ment out of the question."
Lord Torrington was well justified in 'expecting
from Sir H. Ward a very different notice of an ad-
ministration which had borne the heat of the day
and brunt_ of the battle, and made the path of go-
vernment smooth and easy for his successors. His
lordship observes, in his temperate anctdignified
letter to Mr. Labouchere, lately printed in a Par-
liamentary paper :
" Harassed as I have been for so many years by reflec-
tions cast on my public and legislative acts during the time
that I administered the government of Ceylon, reflections
which I was utterly unable to turn aside till their injus-
tice could be demonstrated by results which had still to be
waited for ; I entertained a natural c‘mfidence that the
present Gisvernor, with opportunities of personal observa-
tion and experience, would have been enabled to trace my
policy in its effects, and to render, by his testimony to its
soundness and success, that tardy justice which has so long
been withheld from me, and, allow me to add, from Earl
Grey, under whose ample and able instructions I entered
upon my government, and was guided in my policy.
, My disappointment, therefore, is keen on discovering
that, although Sir H. G. Ward has the satisfaction to find
himself in the midst of a prosperity almost unexampled in
the previous history of Ceylon, the extent of his acknow-
ledgments is a confession of his inability to account for it
—an avowal which he accompanies by ignoring those acts
of my government to which it is mainly referable, and
condoning my assumed shortcomings by ascribing to me
utter helplessness ; that it was my fate, as he says, to
enter on the government at a time when progress was im-
possible,' and improvement out of the question.' "
Lord Torrington further remarks
"It doesseem to me strange when Sir H. G. Ward was
made so well acquainted with the critical condition of
Ceylon before my arrival, and is so familiar with its state
after my departure, that the measures which I originated
at the time for the relief of the colony, and which have
proved so successful since, wore not brought under his
notice. Ido not coincide in his view that a time of great
difficulty must necessarily be a period of inaction. On the
contrary, stimulated by the crisis in which I found the
colony involver', I addressed myself to the taskof its extri-
cation and its future security against similar embarrass-
ments, by a series of precautions and reforms which,
had they been brought under his notice, would
have satisfied Sir H. G. Ward that to their opera-
tion the island is mainly indebted for that easy con-
dition of its finances which so materially facilitates his
own course of action at the present day."
Sir H. G. Ward pronounces impossible what bad
actually come to pass, and declares an improvement
out of the question which was staring him bodily
in the face. The trees were so numerous and so
flourishing thatthey concealed the grove completely
from the spectator's view.
When Lord Carlisle went over as Lord Lieutenant
to Ireland he found that country, as Sir H. Ward
found Ceylon, "in a state of unexampled prospe-
rity." Now, imagine his lordship writing to the
Home-office expatiating on the tranquil and flou-
rishing condition of the country, and at the same
time observing of the previous administrations for
the last 20 years that they " entered on the govern-
ment in times when progress was impossible, and im-
provement out of the question." But this would not
have matched the absurdity of Sir H. Ward, forthe
influence of wise government was far more strongly
marked in the case of Ceylon than Ireland, where so
much more was due to the course of events over
which the laws and Government had but little con-
trol,

Lord, Torrington's administration, in fact, did
nothing for Ceylon, with the trivial exception of
leaving au island which he found in the greatest
confdsion in a state of admirable order, and a co-
lony which he found on the verge of bankruptcy
blessed with a full and a flowing exchequer. Cey-
lon is at this moment one of the most flyurishiug
settlements in the vast circle of our colonial e tnp ire.
But S r E. Wart seems to have thought that
even the praise cf having done nothing was too
much to 'allow the Torrington Government, for,
though ho admits it was done " with firmness," he
is careful to add that his lordship was " most ably
aided and seconded by Mr. M'Carthy."
"It is necessary," continues • the letter to Mr.
Labouchere,
," To remind you, Sir, of the state in which I found Cey-
lon on my assumption of thegovernmen tin 1847 ; its trEamry
nearlyempty, its current expenditure largely in excess of its
annual income, its commerce declining, the cultivation of
its staple products, coffee and cinnamon, suddenly arrested
and discouraged, and its general condition leading rapidly
to bankruptcy. It was under these disheartening circum-
stances that; according to.the present dispatch, I practi-
cally did nothing, but did it with firmness,' and was
most ably aided and seconded by Mr. M'Carthy.'"

The slightest and most superficial inquiry would
have saved Sir H. Ward from committing himself
to such a tissue of absurdity, contradiction, and in-
j us ' ice.
From this able Mr. M'Carthy, had be been called
upon for the details of the assistance he rendered
his chief, Sir H. Ward wouldprobably have learned
the truth' which it appears he had not the sagacity
to read in the phenomena of order and prosperity
surrounding him. Tne most cursory analysis of the
nothing clone by Lord Torrington would have dis-
closed the important series of somethingswhich his
lordship has htd no alternative but to record for
himself—a duty which he discharges with equal
clearness and modesty in the paper before us.
But Mr. M'Carthy, Lord Torrington's imme-
diate successor, was not silent on the subject.
From his opening address to the Legislative Coun-
cil his lordship quotes the following passage, which
it is strange that Sir H. G. Ward should never
have-reid, and stranger still, if he did read it, that
he should have remained insensible to Lord Tor-
rington's indefatigable and efficient exertions :

' " I cannot conclude the observations which I have
) thought it incumbent on me to make without con,,ratula-
L ting you, gentlemen, on the remarkable and, of lato years,
quite unprecedented state of financial prosperity and pro-
miie of which the papers that I now lay on the table afford
such satisfactory proof. Tae comparative state of the re-
venue and expenditurofor the half of the present year shows
a surplus revenue of 10,6631. 18s. 33d. ; and, to judge
from the large sums received into the Treasury since
that date, accompanied by the unceasing care which
has been taken to dimish the expenditure whenever an
opportunity has been offered by the fusion into one of
different departments of the public service, and a rigid
control over the outlay of the public money, it may, I
thinks he justly and reasonably anticipated that the sur-
plus will be increased by the end of the "financial year.
Yoa will also perceive, from the papers now laid on your
table, that this surplus is no forced or fictitious one pro-
duced by the postponement of charges which would sooner
or later have to be paid. I have to point out to you the
pleasing fact that within the last few months the whole of
the outstanding debts to the presidencies and agents in
.India have been paid off by the Government. The debt
of 50,0001. to the Oriental Bank, contacted in the em-
barrassment of 1818, has been paid of, prinoipal and in-
terest,
with the exception of about 11,0',0(,, a sum of
10,0301. having been paid within the last few days. Large
remittances have been made to the Agent..generat in
London, who, contrary to the precedent of late years,
in which 'he has frequently been in advance for
payments .on account of the Ceylon Government,
will have a considerable balance in band on the Ist of
January next • and with all these payments and this
almost total extinction of the debts due by this Govern-
ment the accounts of assets and liabilities which I have
made up to the Ist of Oct. last show a balance in favour of
the colony at the latter date of no less than 62,5891. ss.
3id. as compared with a balance of 36,5321.135. 7d. on the
Ist of Jan. last, being an increase of 26,0)61. lie. 8,1 d."
For other details of Lord Torringtou's measures
we-must refer our readers to the letter itse'f ; he
did exactly what the most judicious Government at
home would have done, in the same circumstances,
and for which he Well deserved the encomiums of
Earl Grey, introducing the strictest economy into
the public expenditure, while at the eagle time he
improved the reVenud and developed the public
resources, by abolishing export duties, with the
exeeptiOn Of a single drticlej revising the tariff, and
amending the Customs law—in .a word, by a prudent
application of the principles of free trade to the e.;.,m-
-merce of the island: The results are visible in the sta-
tistical returns. The value ofooffee exported rose from
328,791/. in 1846 to 534,4541. in 1349. The value of
cinnamon from 40,1651, in 1848 to 73,386/. in
1849, The value of imports; exclusive of specie,
was 998,8491, in 1846, when it was in a rapid de-
cline. In 1849 it began to look tip ; in 1850 it rose
and iu 1855 was very little less -
ehave,tat h
I,va-0,296/. ; in 1854 it reached netahtly 11%255000,0,00000/z
Sir H. G. Ward might well call this an unexana_
ingairy ;
,would ilaVO abated his unpbilosophical
pled prosperity," but it is
even as a matter ofpuriost Yf
most
shouldt astonishing
n
ver
investigated whence this prosperiitys. arose.stead oine c e Th
wuncier , and imparted- to l'un in t