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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hancok" data-source="post: 25863438" data-attributes="member: 119642">[ATTACH=full]102122[/ATTACH]CASTE AND CLASS.C O N T E N T S .1. THE PEERAGE OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.2. THE ARISTOCRACY, OF THE KINGDOM OP KANDY.THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES.4, THE BURGHERS.5. APPOINTMENT OF MUDALYABS, ETC.Printed at the "Industrial Press,"BYA. H. ADAMS, PRINTER,y«. $6, FOURTH CROSS STREET, RETT AH.1 8 8 7 .PRICE ONE RUPEECASTE AND CLASS.OF C E Y L O N.FIAT JUSTITIA RUAT CJELUM.& 6asa» &w w vWe shall now consider whether there is or there is not a Singhalesearistocracy in Ceylon. Our contention is that there had been an aristocracyin the Kandyan Kingdom, but since the cession of that Kingdom to theEnglish, that aristocracy has lost its wealth-and its pTestigej and has degeneratedinto the condition in which we heboid it now. Its degeneration, is notto be attributed, as some might,suppose, to itself, but to the predominance ofan enlightened Government-which, until recently, has not practically recognizedthe existence of any aristocracy. Its degeneration may also ~be ascribedto its isolation from the chief Seat of the Government. We shall offer nafurther- observations on the Kandyan aristocracy. We mnst now invite theattention ^ o f our readers to, the pretended aristocracy of the MaritimeProvinces,4We are inclined to believe that a Native aristocracy in the MaritimeProvinces never existed. It must be conceded that it is always difficult,and often impossible, to prove a negative, to prove that a certain thing didnot exist or did not occur. If such an aristocracy ever existed, history ortradition should establish the fact» We defy proof of the past existenceof an aristocracy in the Maritime Provinces. It is to be regrettedthat most of those who pretend to belong to the aristocracy have scarcelyany idea of what could be the signification of the word. Perhaps, theysuppose that a Mudalyar whose great-grand-father had been a Mudalyar isan aristocrat; or, perhaps, they suppose that aristocracy iB a word whichadmits of considerable latitude of signification t The pretensions of thisself-constituted aristocracy are rather startling and greatly amusing. Itpretends to have occupied for several centuries the highest position in theIsland, its'Buler alone excepted. We are not aware that any reliable proofexists, or can be adduced, to establish itB pretensions. . We do not hesitateto declare openly that the ancientness or antiquity of the aristocracy ( ? )of the Maritime Provinces is problematical, if not utterly mythical. Ourown conception of an aristocracy is far different from that ludicrous interpretationput upon the word by most of the " first class gentleman " of theday. To enable our readers to form a just estimate of the aristocracy ofthe Maritime Provinces, we may as well say that our own idea of it is this,—that this aristocracy IB composed of the descendants of the servants of thelate Dutch Government and servants of the Dutch—some of Tamil extraction,some of Singhalese extraction, some possibly of both Singhalese and Tamilparents—whose position under the Dutch Government was analogous to thatof a Court Interpreter or a Mudalyar of a Corle or Mohandiram, or Arachyof the present day. How the descendants of the Natives who had only abouta century ago served the Dutch Government as Mudalyars, Mohandirams andArachies, can claim to form an aristocracy in the present age, we cannotconceive. But Sir Arthur Gordon, if we may Judge from the phenomenaof recent years, verily believes in the existence of an Aristocracy in the MaritimeProvinces and its antiquity. We are afraid that Sir Arthur's prejudicesare now too strong and too deeply rooted to admit of the possibility of ourdisabusing his mind o f such a hallucination. We should not be surprised atthe partiality of Sir Arthur to a native aristocracy, i f a native aristocracyreally existed. Nor, indeed, would we complain of such partiality so long aswe are aware that Sir Arthur himself belongs to the aristocracy of GreatBritain. But our contention ie that no native aristocracy had ever existed,or can exist, in the Maritime Provinces. That institution which pretends tobe aristocratical is an excrescence of modern date ; nay, coeval only with{Sb administration of Sir Arthur Gordon. We confidently challenge th»</blockquote>

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