'363 
- — lie rushed over to Baillie Street where 
friends were waiting to le<arn the result, and 
the first thing he got was a bucket of 
water in the backyard to diji his head 
and face in, to cool liis |)assion ! He then 
came in to his friends exelaiining : — " Were it not 
for iny religious principles I could have him" ! 
An illustration of his great influence over 
the natives occurred soon after, and sheM'ed how 
he stood in their opinion quite as high as the 
one-armed Rajah" (Mi'. Anstrnther), of whom 
it was said that had he been, in Kandy or Matale 
duiing the So-called Rebellion, he would only 
have had to ithout, " To your tents, oh! Israel" 
to get every Kandyan to go home at once. 
The news of a seiies of new taxes led to jiublic 
meetings of protest in Kandy on 8th July, 
1848, and the news of these taxes alarnung the 
natives of the Colombo, Hanwella and Panadure 
districts, they assembled in many thousands 
one day at Cotta to march into Colombo and 
lay their grievances before the supreme Raj, 
according to usual oriental practice. The 
■ Crovernmentgot intimation, and chose to regard 
tta& movement as a beginning of " Rebellion " 
in the lowcountry : the Fort guns were ordered to 
be loaded, double sentries posted at the gates, and 
the mass of natives were to be fired on if they 
dared to try and pass into the Fort ! Indeed 
the military were ordered to march towards 
'Borella, and they got as far as Slave Island, 
ready to stop the Natives' advance. (This was 
on 26th July 1848). Dr. Elliott got news of all this 
Only after the crowd of people had started from 
Cotta in the full belief that their great number 
would induce the Government to abolish the new 
taxes. He drove off to meet them — did so at the 
" INIango Tree," Darley Road, close to where the 
Baptist Church now stands. He called a halt, 
only just in time to prevent a collision, got a 
table from an adjacent liouse, mounted it and 
.addressed the people by interpretation, explaining 
to tiieni the risk they ran of giving offence and 
getting, into trouble, — he explained the English 
custom of " petitioning" against grievances, and 
having lu'oiight paper, pen and ink with him, 
he caused a short Petition to be drafted in 
Sinhalese on the spot, read it to the crowd, got 
lilicir ready approval, and then called for signatures, 
selecting three or four represeniatives to present 
fi. All tlii.s was done, and the people at the 
worthy doctor's request, at once returned home, 
quite satisfied. 
Had they gone by thousands to Slave Island 
and tried to force their way on, they would 
probably have been shot down ! 
Dr. Elliott was next actively engaged as an un- 
ofllcial representative for the Natives and Lnr- ; 
fliers in their grievances against the Torrington j 
Government. Heiau,(;oeedeljinngett;ing ar Parlia- 
mentary Inqfiiry .by eounnitree mlo Ceylon affairs, 
both Messrs. Gladstone! and Disratili votijig in 
the majority against Lord John' Russell's Govern- 
ment, and afterwards sitting togethei- on the 
Committee. A Commission ..f Anglo-Indian'-SfW- 
cers came to Ceylon and Dr. 'Elliott was' exandHed 
before it. The Inquii-X-Yg.iulf^ediii tlk'htikW r)f Lord 
Torrington andV8ir;gfne1'son^renfi^iit. "fSonie years 
afterwards;'-i)r:':(Elliott,' ahd' later 'on' Mr. A. 'M. 
Fergu.son, met both Lord Torrington and Sii 
Emerson Tennent on: frijendiy terms dn England.] 
Dr. Elliott and the 'Ofotve/' very cordially wel- 
comed Sir Heriry AV'ard ' to ' th(} Government of 
Ceylon, and inost " heai-tily siippbrted his pro- 
gressive administration; but; Wlien the great 
Governor in his ardent (lesiie 'to see a railwa>- 
made to Kandy in his day, entered into a 
rash, one-sided, and !is it turned out, most un- 
fortunate compact with a Railway Company, 
Dr. Elliott was one of the first to take alarm 
and to resist the Governor with .all his in- 
fluence and strength by pen and A-oice, although 
his doing so imperilled his being appointed Prin- 
cipal Civil Medical Officer by the Governor. His 
boldness and ready Wit appeared in a public 
meeting in Kandy Where admiration of the 
Governor personally, divided opinion with great 
distrust of the Railway conrpact. Mi. John 
Selby, who then edited the £'.w»(mer, was sent 
up to Kandy to support the Governor'.s policy 
and to otter certain concessions which much njodi- 
fied the objecti(.nable features -and it was then 
that with reference to Mr. Sel))y and those who 
.acted with him, that Dr. Elliott hit off the prevalent 
feeling exactly by an apt classical quotation;— 
"I'i'ineo Danaos et dona ferenetes "— " I fear the 
Gieeks even when bringing gifts." 
After the death of his wife,— on 7th March 
1855 (aged 48 years)— Dr. Elliott visited Eng- 
land in 1856, and while thoie he was consulted 
by the Secretary of State regarding the Railway, 
and abso about the arrangements for freeing the 
State of any connection with Buddhism. On 
the 24th March, 1857, Dr. Elliott was married a 
second tinie, to an Irish lady, Miss Bessie Scott, 
who still .survives him, living with some members 
of iier family in Texas. 
Our leviow now draws to a close : luit before 
winding up, we must refer to Dr. Elliott's 
connection with Pioneer Planting operations in 
different directions. He took a warm interest 
in the development of the great coflee planting 
enterprise, and at one date was a jiart proprietor 
of a coftec estate until the bad timei of 1,845 
arrived. Still earlier he was interested in ex- 
periraents in sugar cultivation: but liis* Jast 
love proved lii- Uc--t, naniely the rdiciinii |..ilni. 
a large plani.nic.n of which he loiimd with 
