Chap. IL] 



NEGLECT OF THE NATIVES. 



59 



gain, that in tAvo or three years they became rich ; a 

 circumstance observable also in tlie case of the com- 

 mandants of Jaffna and Galle, provided they maintained 

 a good private understanding with the governors of Co- 

 lombo, and knew how to take and give.^ 



In fact, from the commencement to the conclusion of 

 the Dutch dominion in Ceylon, theii' possession of the 

 island was a militaiy tenure, not a ciAdl colonisation in 

 the ordinary sense of the term. Strategetically its oc- 

 cupation was of infinite moment for the defence of their 

 factories on the continent of India ; and for the interests 

 of their commerce, its position (intermediate between 

 Java and Malabar) rendered it of value as an entrepot. 

 But all attempts to make it productive as a settlement 

 Avere neutrahsed by the cost of its defence and es- 

 tabhshments. For a series of years, previous to its final 

 abandonment, the excess of expenditure over income from 

 aU sources, involved an annual deficiency in the revenue ^ ; 

 and Baron Imhoff, in 1740, contrasting the renown of 

 the conquest, and the magnitude of the anticipations with 

 which it had been heralded, Avith the httleness of the 



A.D. 



1G64. 



' The passage in Yalentyn is so 

 curious that I give it in the original. 



"De oubekende en geheime voor- 

 (leelen zyn niet wel na te rekenen, 

 hoewel't zeker is, dat zy in twee of 

 drie jaaren schat-ryk zja, hoedanig 

 het mede (hoewel met eenig onder- 

 scheid, en na dat zy zich in de gimst 

 van den Landvoogd weten te hoiiden 

 en met een ryp oordeel to geven en 

 to nemen) met de Commandeurs van 

 Galle en Jalihapatam gelegen is." — 

 Oud en Kieuiv Oost-Indien, 4't., ch. 

 i. p. 2(5. 



^ An exposure of this result is 

 given in the official JRepoH of Van 

 Rheede, A.D. 1(507, which is printed 

 in extenso by Valentyn, Oud en 

 Nienw Oost-Indien, ch. xv. p. 247. 



Mr. Lee has appended to his 

 Translation of Ribeyro a Table pre- 

 pared from the records in the cham- 

 ber of Archives at Amsterdam which 

 shows that between the years 1739 

 and 1701 the annual deficit for the 



administi'ation, after deducting the 

 necessaiy expenses from the profits 

 of trade .and the income from taxes, 

 was 172,942 florins, equal to 14,410/. 

 sterling. (Appendix, p. 201.) See 

 also the Memoir of M. BrRNAND, 

 Asiat. Journ., vol. xi. p. 442. But it 

 must be borne in mind that the ciWl 

 servants of the Dutch had no interest 

 in the collection and disposal of the 

 revenues, and that their pecidation 

 and corniption were matters of noto- 

 riety. To such an excess was this 

 carried that it became necessary to 

 vitiate the public docmnents for the 

 concealment of frauds. Hence Lord 

 Yalentia, in accoimting for the 

 little value attaching to the Dutch 

 Records, says, "they cannot be relied 

 on ; they appear to have falsified all 

 the accounts of Cejion to deceive 

 their masters at home, a measure 

 necessaiy to cover their o^vn pecu- 

 lations." — Travels, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 

 310. 



