ABSTRACT
T HE arrival of the Honourable Frederick North as Gover-nor in 1798 marked the beginning of a new experimentin the history of Ceylon. The Madras regime was abolished, and from 1798 to January I, 1802, the control of the Government was divided between the Crown and the East India Company. The reason for the change is somewhat obscure, but it was not as Tennent believed due to the rebellion against Andrews's administration. I The Cabinet decided to place Ceylon under the Crown in November 1797, before the news of the revolt could have reached England. It seems more probable that the alteration was the result of the failure of the peace negotiations at Lille, and the consequent decision at least to postpone the return of Ceylon to Holland. 2 The Cabinet at first intended that Ceylon should be a Crown Colony entirely independent of the East India Company; but the Directors protested, urging 'the necessity of preserving an united authority in India'. The final decision appears to have been left to Dundas, who decided upon a compromise. The Governor and the members of the Civil Service were to be appointed by the Crown; but subject to the ultimate authority of the President of the Board of Control they were to be under the control of the Governor-General of India and the Directors 'in the same manner as the Governments of Fort St. George and Bombay'. The revenues of Ceylon, and especially the cinnamon monopoly, were to be under the Company's control; and if the island were eventually ceded to Great Britain Dundas informed the Directors that he knew no reason why it should not be placed under their rule, 'upon the footing of their other possessions'. Although a few posts were to be filled by officials appointed by Dundas it was not the intention of the Cabinet to create a separate Ceylon Civil Service: 'for the collection of the revenues and other purposes of government, the Company's Madras or Bombay Servants would be employed', and would be 'entirely subject' to the Governor's orders. The form of the administra-
I Tennent, Ceylon, ii. 73-4. 2 Turner, C.A. and L.R. IV. iii. 123.
tion in Ceylon was to be similar to that of the Madras or Bombay Presidencies, with the exception that there was to be no Council, all legislative and executive. power being vested in the Governor. I The principal changes made in 1798 were the abolition of the control of Madras over Ceylon, and the appointment of a civil in place of the military Governor who from 1795 to 1798 had held the supreme authority in the island. Henceforth the powers of the general commanding the garrison were confined to military affairs, and even in these he was under the control of the Governor in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief. This established in Ceylon a basic principle of British colonial administration that C all the powers of Government ... as well Civil as Military, shall be vested solely in' the Governor. 2
