o assist him, framed after the model of that in
Batavia, only that the members are not quite such great men. Though
the governor of Ceylon be dependent upon the Council of the Indies at
Batavia, he is at liberty to write directly to the directors of
the Company in Holland, without asking permission from the
governor-general, or being obliged to give any account of his conduct
in so doing. This singular privilege has had bad effects, having even
tempted some governors of Ceylon to endeavour to withdraw themselves
from their obedience to the Company, in order to become absolute
sovereigns of the island. There have been many examples of this kind,
but it may be sufficient to mention the two last, owing to the
tyranny of two successive governors, Vuist and Versluys, which made a
considerable noise in Europe.

When Mr Rumpf left the government of Ceylon, his immediate successor,
Mr Vuist, began to act the tyrant towards all who were not so
fortunate as to be in his good graces, persecuting both Europeans and
natives. Having from the beginning formed the project of rendering
himself an independent sovereign, he pursued his plan steadily, by
such methods as seemed best calculated to insure success. He thought
it necessary in the first place to rid himself of the richest persons
in the island, and of all having the reputation of wisdom, experience,
and penetration. In order to save appearances, and to play the
villain with an air of justice, he thought it necessary to trump up a
pretended plot, and caused informations to be preferred against such
persons as he intended to ruin, charging them with having entered into
a conspiracy to betray the principal fortresses of the island into the
hands of some foreign power. This scheme secured him in two ways, as
it seemed to manifest his great zeal for the interest of the Company,
and enabled him to convict those he hated of high treason, and to
deprive them at once of life and fortune. To manage this the more
easily, he contrived to change the members of his council, into
which he brought creatures of his own, on whose acquiescence in his
iniquities he could depend upon. The confiscations of the estates and
effects of a number of innocent persons whom he had murdered by these
false judicial proceedings, gave him the means of obliging many, and
gained him numerous dependants.

Vuist was born in India of Dutch parents, and had a strong natural
capacity which had been improved by assidu