instinct which it seems almost
impossible to eradicate. A few native Singhalese have availed
themselves of the opportunities freely extended to them, and have
risen to position and influence both with their own race and the
European population. There are also descendants of English fathers and
native mothers, who, after enjoying special advantages, have developed
into intelligent manhood, and who form a recognized element of the
community. A native Singhalese is, or was very lately, judge of the
supreme court of Ceylon, while the offices of attorney-general and
government solicitor were, and we believe still are, filled by
natives. Others of the same race are respected as county judges,
magistrates, and leading barristers.

So far as current history can be relied upon, we find that Ceylon was,
from five hundred years and more before the Christian era up to the
time of its annexation to Great Britain, the almost constant victim of
foreign and civil wars. Indeed, this seems to have been the chronic
condition of the world at that period. The Portuguese first and the
Dutch afterward took possession of the island, the latter being
finally expelled by the English, who promptly fortified and have held
it ever since.

The rapacity, bigotry, and cruelty which characterized the rule of the
Portuguese in Ceylon forms one of the darkest pages in the history of
European colonization. An eminent writer upon the period says very
tersely and truly that these people first appeared in the Indian Ocean
in the threefold character of merchants, missionaries, and pirates,
more fully illustrating the last named than the other two occupations.
No other nation save Spain has written its autobiography in such
glaring letters of blood.

When Ceylon was first acquired by the English, it was placed in the
hands of the East India Company, being so intimately connected with
India proper, of which that organization held control. In 1798,
however, it became a possession of the English crown, and was
confirmed to Great Britain by the Treaty of Amiens. The dominion of
the Portuguese and the Dutch lasted for nearly the same length of
time, each holding the island for about one hundred and forty years,
both periods being characterized by innumerable conflicts with the
natives and with foreign invaders. The Portuguese, and especially the
Dutch, left lasting memorials of their occupancy in the form of
fortifications, churches, stone dwellings, and the li