CEYLON. 
2,95 
make it a pretext for entirely abandoning the King, and effecting 
his dethronement. To these base and crooked pohtics the conduct 
of Mr. North forms a contrast highly honourable to the national 
character. Firm in his resolution of protecting the person, and pre- 
serving the dignity of the Candian King, he made those conditions 
fundamental in every negotiation with the Adigaar, and was not to 
be diverted from them by his arts or offers. He made known to 
that minister, that he, and not the King, should be held responsible 
for any aggression committed for the purpose of bringing on a war. 
This responsibility, indeed, was a necessary consequence of that 
supreme authority which the Adigaar possessed, and in which the 
Governor did not object to maintain him ; since it w^as evident 
that the phantom of royalty whom he had placed on the throne, 
was incapable of exercising independent sovereignty, and the Adi- 
gaar was the most powerful man of his nation. That the Governor 
should wish, by adopting the interests of the prime minister 
against those of his competitors for power, to secure his friendship 
to the British nation, was a very allowable measure of policy, and 
indeed the most obvious method of keeping the whole island in 
peace. 
The proposed embassy of Major-General Macdowal set out from 
Columbo in March 1800. The Adigaar met it in state; but, from 
the force he had assembled to watch its motions, it appeared that 
he regarded the British troops with an eye of suspicion. The 
greater part of them were not allowed to proceed to the capital, 
which the Embassador entered with only a guard of sepoys and 
Malays. The Adigaar kept his promise in presenting him to the 
King; but when the articles of the treaty came to be discussed, 
