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TIIE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
CHAPTER XII. 
The Civil and Military Establishments of the kingdom of Candy. 
1 HE Government of Candy is an absolute despotism, and 
any resistance to the will of the king without power to 
maintain it, is sure to be attended with immediate destruc- 
tion. In spite of these circumstances, however, the natives 
look upon certain fundamental laws and regulations, existing 
among them from time immemorial, as the real depositaries 
of supreme power ; and they maintain that if the king ven- 
tures to encroach upon these, he is amenable to the justice 
of his country as well as the meanest subject. Some instances 
of kings who have been deposed and put to death, are cited 
in support of this idea ; although it is evident that as long 
as the whole force of the state is vested in the king, and as 
long as there is no counterbalancing power opposed to him, 
it is a successful rebellion alone that can bring him to justice. 
The whole doctrine, in fact, serves only to give a handle to 
any minister or officer, who finds himself sufficiently powerful 
and ambitious to depose his master. An instance of this 
kind occurred in the fate of the late king of Candy. His 
Adigar, or prime minister, having formed a large party, and 
conceiving that lie could govern more absolutely a creature 
of his own making, than the monarch who had exalted 
