THE ISLAND OF CEYLON, 
257 
anxious attention which the king must bestow in keeping up 
a balance between them, form part of the miseries entailed 
on a despotic monarchy, which cannot subsist without em- 
ploying such instruments as may every moment be converted 
to its own destruction. 
The Adigars are the supreme judges of the realm ; all 
causes may be brought before them, and it is they who 
give final judgment. An appeal indeed lies from their 
sentence to the king himself; but as they alone possess the 
royal ear, it is both difficult and dangerous to assert this 
privilege, and every one is more willing to acquiesce in their 
decision, than to hazard an appeal which is likely to be 
attended with worse consequences than the grievance he com- 
plains of. 
The Adigars are possessed of all those privileges and im- 
munities which may be supposed to accompany their unlimited 
power; and in order to approach as nearly to royalty as 
possible, they have also their particular badge which is 
allowed to no other person. Their peculiar distinction con- 
sists in a certain number of officers attached to their train, 
who carry a sort of staves of a particular shape, and a seal 
of hard clay, which are considered as tokens of the Adigar’s 
commission, and when presented along with any mandate 
never fail to procure immediate obedience. 
The embassies to the European government at Col umbo 
are entrusted to these Prime Ministers ; and they are also 
charged with the reception of our ambassadors. I have had 
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