{"id":112080,"date":"2021-02-26T00:35:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112080"},"modified":"2021-02-25T17:28:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T00:28:57","slug":"an-american-journal-1851-highlights-massacres-of-the-sinhalese-and-horrors-perpetrated-in-1848-under-the-administration-of-lord-torrington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/26\/an-american-journal-1851-highlights-massacres-of-the-sinhalese-and-horrors-perpetrated-in-1848-under-the-administration-of-lord-torrington\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Journal (1851) highlights massacres of the Sinhalese and horrors perpetrated in 1848 under the administration of Lord Torrington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The United States Magazine and Democratic Review (May 1851)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In 1851, An American\nJournal  (The United States Magazine and Democratic Review), at a time\n(1851) when they I.e. USA, did not have imperial ambitions that dovetailed with\nthat of British imperialism, highlighted and exposed the genocidal crimes\ncommitted on the Sinhalese people in British occupied Ceylon, under the\nadministration of the then Governor Lord Torrington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the concluding phase\nof the Journal article having the caption ‘ The English in Ceylon” (\nMay 1851<\/strong>) , the author of the article says as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” The history of Lord Torringtons administration in Ceylon\naffords an epitome of English rule, wherever throughout the world, by force, or\nfraud, or violence, she has succeeded in planting her guilty flag. The horrors\nperpetrated during 1848 in the island-gem of the East, are the counterpart of\nthose of which, from time to time, during a period of seven centuries, the\ngreen isle of the West has been the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have reproduced this Ceylon tragedy, because it contains a\nmoral upon which it behooves the Democracy of America, at the present moment,\nseriously to reflect. The flag which sanctioned the massacres of the Cingalese,\nand has witnessed the devastation of Celtic Ireland; the flag which, usurping\nevery advantageous commercial and political position throughout the globe, has\nbeen the harbinger everywhere of desolation and death this flag, which in two\nwars, our fathers levelled in the dust, now flaunts us in the face on the\nsouthern portion of this our continent ; out-spreads its crimson folds over republican\nsoil, insulting our manhood, blighting our commercial prospects, and dimming\nthe lustre of the stars and stripes. Shall Central America share the fate of\nCeylon ? Shall our sister Republics on this continent, whose independence, hy\nevery principle of honor, of interest, and of duty, we are bound to protect, be\nconsigned to the tender mercies of a Torrington ? Shall the island of Ruatan\nbecome the Ceylon of the Western Hemisphere, and the Isthmus of Central America\nbe made, on a smaller scale, a second Hindostan ? We submit these questions, in\nall earnestness, to the consideration of the Democracy of America, confident\nthat they will be answered in a manner worthy of those, whose pride it is, that\nthey inherit the principles of a Jefferson, a Madison, a Monroe, a Jackson and\na Polk”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The United States\nMagazine and Democratic Review (May 1851)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Article below<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The English in Ceylon.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

May 1851.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/books.lakdiva.org\/moa\/cornell\/1851_english_in_ceylon.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRITISH policy, or that system which the British Government has\nfor ages systematically pursued, and by which it has acquired its vast colonial\nempire, is hut very imperfectly understood by the mass of the American people.\nDeriving our knowledge of English affairs, for the most part, from English\nsources, we are too apt to he dazzled by the contemplation of an empire upon\nwhich the sun never sets, and to ascribe to Divine destiny, that which, in\nreality, is the result of a system<\/em>, more fiendish, and more\ndetestable, because more extending and more extended in its operation, than\nthat of Machiavelli. The conquests of old Rome were attended, at least, with\nglory; and, in modern times, those of our own country were laden with fruits,\nnot alone of glory and renown to the conquerors, but better far, of freedom, of\nhappiness, and of civilization to the conquered. England alone, of all the\nnations, ancient or modern, is the only one whose sword, while entwined with\nwreaths of cypress for the vanquished, has failed to reap one pure laurel to\ndeck the victor’s brow. Survey her colonial empire ; glance your eye athwart\nthose boundless plains made fruitful by the young embraces of the god of day\nand point, if you can, to one rood of territory, whose acquisition was not\nconceived in selfishness and iniquity, and consummated in treachery, in perfidy\nand fraud. As the subject, however, of England’s colonial empire is one which\ncould not properly be treated within the limits of a review article, we shall\nconfine ourselves, for the present, to a condensed expose<\/em> of\ncertain occurrences of which the island of Ceylon has recently been the theatre\nand which have startled the propriety even of that most fastidious assembly,\nthe British House of Commons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Placed at the western entrance of the Bay of Bengal, Ceylon is\nseparated by a narrow strait from the mainland of Hindostan. In size, it is\nnearly as large as Ireland; and it possesses a population of about a million\nand a half of souls, made up of various tribes of native Cingalese, Malabars,\nMahometans, Coolies, Dutch and English, and their mongrel descendants. Once the\nabode of civilization, as is evidenced by the ruins of ancient cities, canals,\nbridges, aqueducts, &c., in which the interior of the island abounds, its\ngeographical position, and natural advantages of soil and climate, should make\nof Ceylon, in our day, the chief mart of Eastern commerce. That it does not\noccupy this position, can only be attributed to that system, as short-sighted\nas vicious, by which the island has, for half a century, been governed, for the\nimmediate profit of the mother country. In 1796, Ceylon was taken possession of\nby the English, and the Dutch expelled from its shores. From that period, down\nto so late as 1819, the native chiefs boldly resisted the usurped authority of\nthe invaders, and were finally reduced to subjection only after a desperate\nstruggle, and by such agencies as England alone is skilled to employ for the\naccomplishment of her darling objects. Since 1819, the government of the colony\nhas been administered by a Governor, appointed by the Colonial Secretary, for\nthe time being, at home, assisted by a council composed entirely of European\ncivil and military servants, who are described by MeCulloch as being, from\ntheir tenure of office, totally subservient to the will of the Governor. The\nreligion of the island is that of Buddha, as established by the following\nclause of the treaty of the 2nd of March, 1815, between the British government\nand the native chiefs The religion of Buddha, professed by the chiefs and\ninhabitants of these provinces, is declared inviolable; and its rites,\nministers and places of worship, are to be maintained and protected. The period\nembraced between the years 1819 and 1846, was not remarkable for any\nextraordinary occurrences in Ceylon; suffice it to say, that the history of the\nisland during this interval, is made up of patient suffering and distress on\nthe part of the natives, and of heartless tyranny and exaction on the part of\ntheir foreign rulers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1846. Lord Torrington was appointed by Earl Grey, Whig Colonial\nSecretary,to the lucrative office of Governor of Ceylon. Arrived at the seat of\ngovernment, his lordship is surprised to find the financial affairs of the\ncolony in an embarrassed condition; and, accordingly, in virtue of the wide\ndiscretionary powers vested in him, proceeds to meet the difficulty off-hand by\nthe imposition of severe new taxes of his own invention. These taxes, though\ndecidedly original<\/em> in their way, were yet of that character,\nthat any one at all acquainted with the colony might have foreseen that they\ncould never by any possibility be collected. The most obnoxious of them were, a\nroad-tax, a shop-tax, a gun-tax, and a dog-tax. The first ordained, that every\nmale resident in the island, between the ages of fifteen and fifty-five, should\neither labor for six days in each year on the public roads, or pay three\nshillings sterling, in lieu of such personal service. The second enacted, that\nevery occupant of a shop, the rental of which amounted to \u00a3 5, should take out\na yearly license on a \u00a3 1 stamp. The third directed, that on a certain day in\neach year, the Cingalese should repair to the chief towns, armed, and apply for\nlicenses for their fire-arms, at a cost of 2s. 6d. for each gun. The fourth,\nimposed a tax of ir. on every dog kept in the island, and sentenced to death\nall puppies above three months old whose proprietors could not produce the\nprotecting shilling. Now, it is necessary to understand that in Ceylon, as in\nall countries subject to the British flag, the bulk of the population are\nextremely poor; hence, the payment of these taxes was to them an impossibility.\nThose, moreover, upon dogs and guns, were imposed upon what were to them\nabsolute necessaries of life. Besides, the road-tax was a direct outrage upon\nthat religion which, as we have shown above, the English had bound themselves\nby treaty to protect<\/em>, since the native priests are restricted by\nit, both from labor and from touching money. The promulgation of the decree\nannouncing these new taxes naturally created great excitement throughout the\nisland. Petitions, memorials, remonstrances, from all classes of the\ninhabitants, were laid before the Governor. They were disregarded. By any<\/em> means,\nLord Torrington was resolved to carry out his object. The assembling of the\npeople in large masses was encouraged by the government agents, in the hopes\nthat a collision between them and the British troops would occur. It did occur.\nA British soldier is slightly wounded, whether by any of the native inhabitants\nor not, does not appear from the evidence taken before the Parliamentary\nCommittee, which is the only authority which we shall quote. But the collision,\nso anxiously sought for by Lord Torrington, had taken place; and martial law is\nat once proclaimed. Proclamations are issued, confiscating the lands and\nproperties of all those who, terrified at the atrocities they had before seen\ncommitted under martial law, had fled into the jungles. Courts martial,\ncomposed of subaltern officers, ignorant of the language of the country, tried,\nconvicted, sentenced, and put to instant death, hundreds of the innocent\ninhabitants; and this, not only in violation of all law, human and divine, but\nin utter contempt of the 7th article of the treaty, to which we have already\nreferred, which stipulates that No sentence of death can be carried into\nexecution against any inhabitant, except by the written warrant of the British\nGovernor or Lieutenant Governor for the time being. But what cares Lord\nTorrington for treaties, or for the laws of humanity ? Must he not govern<\/em> ?\nAnd what means government in the vocabulary of a British aristocrat, but\nconfiscation and murder ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much has been said of the magnanimity of the British soldier. Let\nthe following letters, addressed by the commandant of Kandy, to the presiding\nofficer of one of the courts martial, hounding him on in his bloody career,\nserve as a specimen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n My dear Watson:\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n You are getting on\n swimmingly. Impress on the court that there is no necessity for taking down\n the evidence in detail; so they are satisfied with the guilt or innocence of\n the individual, that is sufficient for them to find and sentence. This\n is the law and the mode.<\/em>\n <\/td><\/tr>
Yours, T. A. DROUGHT, Col. Commanding. <\/td><\/td><\/tr>
\n August 16, 1848.\n <\/td> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Well were these magnanimous instructions obeyed. For a period of\nnigh three months, confiscations, burnings, massacres, were the order of the\nday in Ceylon: and this, be it remembered, notwithstanding that subsequent to\nthe imposition of martial law, not a single offense was pretended ever to have\nbeen committed by the inhabitants. Amongst those who suffered during this\nperiod, was one whose execution is thus mentioned by Lord Torrington in a\ndispatch to Earl Gray___” An influential priest who was convicted\nof administering treasonable oaths, was shot at Kandy in full robes<\/em>. This\npriests trial took place at Kandy, and he was arraigned–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First<\/em>, For having directly or indirectly held correspondence with\nrebels, and Cur not giving all the information in his power which might lead to\nthe apprehension of a proclaimed rebel, Kaddapolla Unanse, professing to know\nhis place of concealment on or about 17th August, 1848. Second<\/em>, For\nadministering, or conniving at the administration<\/em> (!) of a\ntreasonable oath to one Kerr Bande, on or about the 17th August, 1848.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On these absurd and unintelligible charges the poor Buddhist\npriest was dragged before a military tribunal; tried by military judges, not one\nof whom understood the language in which the evidence against him was given;\nconvicted and shot! Several attorneys who were present at the trial; and\nwho did<\/em> understand the language, felt satisfied that the\nwitnesses for the prosecution had perjured themselves for the purpose of\ncurrying favor with the Governor, and that the priest was innocent. Under this\nimpression they besought the Governor to postpone the execution. In vain Lord\nTorringtons answer was By G, sir, if all the lawyers in Ceylon said that the\npriest was innocent, he should be shot tomorrow morning. And shot he was. More,\nEarl Grey, in answer to Lord Torringtons dispatch announcing the execution,\npronounced the death of the Buddhist priest to be highly satisfactory!<\/em> Again,\nin a subsequent dispatch, Earl Grey, in the name of the Queen, complimented\nLord Torrington, and declared his complete approval of his decision,\npromptitude, and judgment. Thus sustained by the Home Government, and\nhaving triumphed<\/em> over the refractory<\/em> inhabitants\nof Ceylon, surely Lord Torrington must feel proud and happy! But no: after all\nthe massacres, pillages, burnings and confiscations after he had made a desert,\nand called it peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Torrington discovered that his severe taxes were inapplicable\nto the island, and could not be collected. They were accordingly every one\nrepealed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These proceedings had now begun to attract popular attention in\nEngland, and in the session of 1849, a parliamentary committee was appointed to\ninvestigate then-i. Upon the evidence taken before that committee, we have\nbased our statements. Their authenticity, therefore, cannot be impeached. And\nthis is England. England of the World’s Fair, and the Peace Congress ; England\nof George Thompson, and the Abolition Societies! What matters it, that a few\nmen, Cobden and Bright, and their associates, should denounce these atrocities,\nand that the London Quarterly Review should stigmatise them as a disgrace to\nthe English name they have been sanctioned by the British government, and are\nthe consequences of the policy by which, in its foreign and colonial relations,\nthat government has invariably been directed. The history of Lord Torringtons\nadministration in Ceylon affords an epitome of English rule, wherever\nthroughout the world, by force, or fraud, or violence, she has succeeded in\nplanting her guilty flag. The horrors perpetrated during 1848 in the island-gem\nof the East, are the counterpart of those of which, from time to time, during a\nperiod of seven centuries, the green isle of the West has been the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have reproduced this Ceylon tragedy, because it contains a\nmoral upon which it behooves the Democracy of America, at the present moment,\nseriously to reflect. The flag which sanctioned the massacres of the Cingalese,\nand has witnessed the devastation of Celtic Ireland; the flag which, usurping\nevery advantageous commercial and political position throughout the globe, has\nbeen the harbinger everywhere of desolation and death this flag, which in two\nwars, our fathers levelled in the dust, now flaunts us in the face on the\nsouthern portion of this our continent ; out-spreads its crimson folds over\nrepublican soil, insulting our manhood, blighting our commercial prospects, and\ndimming the lustre of the stars and stripes. Shall Central America share the\nfate of Ceylon ? Shall our sister Republics on this continent, whose\nindependence, hy every principle of honor, of interest, and of duty, we are\nbound to protect, be consigned to the tender mercies of a Torrington ? Shall\nthe island of Ruatan become the Ceylon of the Western Hemisphere, and the\nIsthmus of Central America be made, on a smaller scale, a second Hindostan ? We\nsubmit these questions, in all earnestness, to the consideration of the\nDemocracy of America, confident that they will be answered in a manner worthy\nof those, xv hose pride it is, that they inherit the principles of a Jefferson,\na Madison, a Monroe, a Jackson and a Polk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Courtesy: The United States Magazine and Democratic Review\n(1851)  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Original text courtesy of the
\nCornell University proto-type Digital\nLibrary Collections<\/a> – Making of America<\/a>
\nFormatted Text in HTML put Online at Lakdiva.net with their Permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n Title:<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n The\n English in Ceylon<\/a>\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Author:<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/td><\/tr>
\n Journal:<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n The United States Magazine\n and Democratic Review.\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Print:<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n Vol. XXVIII, No. CLV, –\n 1851 May, p.\n 409<\/a> p.\n 410<\/a> p.\n 411<\/a> p.\n 412<\/a>\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Publisher:<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n J.& H.G. Langley, New\n York.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s Note: Text Proof read by Kavan Ratnatunga but many OCR\nand formatting errors, probably still remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please also see notes on other interesting articles like this that\nhave been put online in the Digital Library Collections of MoA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The United States Magazine and Democratic Review (May 1851)\u00a0\u00a0 In 1851, An American Journal  (The United States Magazine and Democratic Review), at a time (1851) when they I.e. USA, did not have imperial ambitions that dovetailed with that of British imperialism, highlighted and exposed the genocidal crimes committed on the Sinhalese people in British occupied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}