116 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



system then existing was followed. The fees at many of the i^laces where our consular agents 

 were accredited, it was notorious would scarce suffice to clothe them, and, accordingly, to eke out 

 a scanty living, they were often ohliged to resort to some sort of business, often not of the most 

 dignified character. Of course, there were always honorable exceptions to this unfavorable state 

 of things. Many of our consuls have been and are men of high position, who have not failed 

 to exercise a strong influence upon the local governments within which they may have resided. 

 But for this they have been less indebted to the consular office than to their deservedly high 

 commercial standing; at the same time it may be true, that possessing such high personal 

 characters as they do, in their cases, the consular office, worthily bestowed, may add somewhat 

 to their influence. The recent action of Congress has shown the sense entertained by that body 

 of the correctness of these views and of the need of reform ; and it is hoped the measures 

 adopted will guarantee for the future a dignified representative of our commercial interests 

 wherever we have a consul. 



Ceylon has been long known to Europe. The first accounts were received from two of the 

 commanders of the fleet dispatched by Alexander the Great from the Indus to the Persian 

 Gulf. A description of the island may be found recorded by ancient authors ; both Pliny and 

 Ptolomeus have left accounts of its character and condition. It is supposed that the Persians 

 had formed a Christian establishment on the coast before the sixth century ; and in the 

 thirteenth the celebrated traveller, Marco Polo, visited Ceylon, of which he has left a glowing 

 description, having been so much struck with its beauty and richness that in his enthusiasm 

 he has termed it the finest island in the world. Sir John Mandeville, the English traveller, 

 also visited it some fifty years later. 



The Portuguese, however, were the first among the Europeans to establish intimate relations 

 with Ceylon. When they found their way to India, by the Cape of Good Hope, they were 

 welcomed by the king, whose dominions at the time were a prey to intestine war. The 

 Europeans taking advantage of the civil dissensions which prevailed, and offering themselves 

 as mediators, succeeded in establishing a foothold in the country, which they took care to 

 maintain. In 1520, the Portuguese strongly fortified themselves at Colombo, and held a 

 controlling influence over the natives, until they were dispersed by the latter, aided by the 

 Dutch, who, in their turn, changed tlieir relation of friends to that of masters of the people. 

 The war with the Portuguese lasted more than twenty years, and they were not finally 

 expelled the island until 1656. The various fortified positions at Batticolo, Point de Galle, 

 Negombo, and Colombo fell into the hands of the Dutch, who thus controlled the maritime 

 provinces. 



During the European wars at the end of the eighteenth century, the French got possession 

 of Trincomalee, but they were ejected by the British, who in their turn were forced to yield 

 it up to the former possessors, and it finally was restored to the Dutch, who continued to hold 

 it, together with the sea coast, until they were wrested from them, in 1796, by the British, 

 who were formally acknowledged as the possessors by the treaty of Amiens. English history 

 records that the whole island, by the invitation of the natives, was taken possession of, in 

 1815, by the British crown, under the sovereignty of which Ceylon still remains. It is 

 difficult to say who, of the successive masters of the poor Cingalese, have been the most cruel 

 and oppressive, and, in fact, it is feared that but little can be said in palliation of the fraud 

 and perfidy of either of them. 



