ClIAP. II.] 



DUTCH POLICY. 



67 



and rank.^ Tlie "Instructions" extant in 1661, cle- a.d. 

 fining the functions and the powers of the Dissave of 

 the western province, inchide every fiuiction of Go- 

 vernment, and show the absolute dependency of the 

 Dutch on the personal influence of these exalted chiefs. 

 To them was entrusted the charge of the thombo, or 

 registry of crown lands, their sale and management ; 

 the assessment and le\y of taxes ; the superintendence 

 of education ; the decision of civil cases, the arrest and 

 punishment of criminals ; and, in short, the detailed 

 executive of the Civil government in peace, and the 

 commissariat and clothing of the army in time of war.^ 



Throughout all the records wliich the Dutch have left 

 us of their policy in Ceylon, it is painfully observable 

 that no disinterested concern is manifested, and no 

 measures directed for the elevation and happiness of the 

 native population ^ ; and even where care is sho^vn to 

 have been bestowed upon the spread of education and 

 rehgion, motives are apparent, either latent or avowed, 

 which detract from the grace and generosity of the act. 

 Thus schools were freely estabhshed, but the avowed 

 object was to wean the young Singhalese from their 

 allegiance to the emperor, and the better to impress 

 them with the power and ascendency of Holland.^ 

 Churches were built because the extension of the Pro- 

 testant faith was likely to counteract the influence of 

 the Portuguese Eoman CathoHcs ^ and the spread of 



' Vaientyn, ch. XV. p. 151. 



^ See the Code of Instructions for 

 the Dissaves, a.d. 1661. Valentyn, 

 ch. xi. p. 151. A succinct accoimt 

 of the native headmen and their 

 functions, civil and military, will be 

 foimd in Cordinek's Ceylon, ch. i. 

 p. 18. 



* Aji able memoir, on the policy 

 of the Dutch in Ceylon, will be 

 found in the Asiatic Journal iov 1821, 

 p. 444, written by M. BiiRNAJfD, a 

 Swiss who had been member of the 

 last Land-raad or Provincial Coun- 

 cil, and who remained in the island 



after the Dutch had been expelled 

 by the English. The gTeat featiu-e 

 of their rule, he says, was the " utter 

 neglect of the country and its inter- 

 ests, owing to the selfishness, ego- 

 tism, folly, and want of energy, of 

 the general government." — Vol. xi. 

 p. 442. 



* Valentyn, ch. xii. p. 130. 

 Dutch soldiers Avere allowed to 

 many Singhalese women, but only 

 on the condition of their wives be- 

 coming Christians. — Ibid., ch. xiv. 

 p. 195. 



^ Ilid, p. 175. 



