23. The next measure of sufficient public im- Abolition portance to be mentioned here was the abolition of of Slavery in Ceylon. Slavery in Ceylon, which directly tended to the melioration of society, and prepared the Natives for the reception of the Gospel. For this boon they were indebted, under God, to the unwearied exertions of the Chief Justice, Sir Alexander Johnstone. He had endeavoured, for several years, to prevail upon the principal proprietors of slaves on the island to fix a day after which all children born of their slaves should be free. On the 10th of July 1816 he addressed a letter on the subject to a respectable portion of them, about one hundred and thirty in number, who were on the list of special jurymen of the province, and were therefore personally known to him. Sir Alexander's letter was accompanied by the Eighth and Ninth Reports of the African Institution, to the details of which, on the particular subject, he called the attention of the Dutch gentlemen. His proposal was well received; and a letter was addressed to him in reply, on the 14th of July, signed by seventy-three of the jurors.2 (2) An extract from this Letter will speak for itself— "We sincerely beg leave to assure your Lordship, that the proposal conveyed by your Lordship's letter is gratifying to our feelings; and it is our earnest desire, if possible, to disencumber ourselves of that unnatural character of being proprietors of human beings; but we feel regret in adding, that the circumstances of every individual of us do not allow a sudden and total abolition of Slavery, without subjecting both the proprietors and the slaves themselves to material and serious injuries. We take the liberty to add, that the slaves of the Dutch inha bitants are generally emancipated at their death; as will appear to your Lordship on reference to their wills deposited in the records of the Supreme Court; and we are confident that those who are still in a state of slavery have likewise the same chance of obtaining their freedom. "We have, therefore, in following the magnanimous example of those alluded to in the aforementioned Reports of the African Insti NN 2 CHAP. A meeting was held the next day for framing Resolutions for the more effectual accomplishment of the design; the principal object of which Resolutions was, to make provision that the children, born free after the 12th of August 1816 should be duly taken care of by the masters of their parents until the age of fourteen; it being supposed that, after that age, they would be able to provide for themselves. Besides the Dutch special jurymen, there were, in Columbo, jurymen of all the different castes among the Natives; such as Vellales, Fishermen, men of the Mahabadde or Cinnamon department, Chittees, and Mahomedans. The moment the jurymen of these castes heard of the Resolutions which had been come to by the Dutch special jurymen, they were so much struck with the example which they had set them, that they also immediately addressed the Chief Justice in the same manner as the Dutch had done, announcing their acquiescence in the measure which had been adopted by the Dutch, and their unanimous determination to consider as free all children that might be born of their slaves after the 12th of August. The example of the jurymen at Columbo would be followed, it was expected, by all the jurymen on the island. "The state of Domestic Slavery," Sir Alexander observed, "which has prevailed in Ceylon for three Institution, come to a Resolution, as our voluntary act, to declare, that all children who may be born slaves from and after the 12th of August 1816 inclusive, shall be considered free, and under such provisions and conditions as contained in a Resolution which we shall agree upon, and which we shall have the honour of submitting to your Lordship, for the extinction of a traffic avowedly repugnant to every moral and religious virtue." The 12th of August was fixed upon, in compliment to the birthday of the Prince Regent. centuries, may now be considered at an end." "This measure," he also remarked, "must produce a great and most favourable change in the moral habits and sentiments of many different classes of society in the island; and generations yet unborn will reflect with gratitude on the names of those persons to whose humanity they will owe the numerous blessings which attend a state of freedom."1 education 24. The preparation of the public mind for this Christian important event was mainly attributed to the esta- for the blishment of trial by jury; to the progress of edu- emancipated chilcation in the Government Schools; and to the exer- dren. tions of the several Missionary Societies, which, a short time before, commenced their work in the island. Sir Alexander Johnstone was very solicitous for the Christian education of these emancipated children, which he urged upon the consideration of the London Missionary Society in these appropriate terms:-"It becomes the duty of every one who may feel an interest in the cause to take care that the children who may be born free in consequence of this measure should be educated in such a manner as to be able to make a proper use of their freedom; and it is to your Society, as well as to other Missionary Societies, to which the Natives are already so much indebted, that I look with confidence for the education and religious instruction of all those children."2 Justice de Ceylon. 25. The Chief Justice had long taken a lively in- The Chief terest in the education of all classes of the inhabi- parts from tants; and in the history of the several Missionary Societies in Ceylon we shall have frequent occasion to mention the encouragement which he afforded them in their operations. Lady Johnstone also supported a Native School for girls near her residence () Missionary Register, 1817, pp. 126, 127. CHAP. IV. at Colpetty, to which, while able, she gave her personal superintendence. Her loss was therefore doubly felt, when, in consequence of her declining health, Sir Alexander, in the following year, returned with her to Europe. But they left a blessing behind. Sir Alexander expressed the most decided opinion, that if the Missionaries in the island met with the support which they deserved in England and Ceylon, they would realize, ere long, the hopes of those who were the most sanguine in their expectations of the ultimate success of the cause of Christianity in Asia.1 We now proceed to detail the exertions of the Missionaries to whom the Chief Justice here alludes. (') Harvard's Narrative, pp. 394–398. The following were Sir Alexander's observations : "A very long residence in this island, and a very attentive consideration of the different prejudices which prevail among the people, convinced me, many years ago, that the surest method which His Majesty's Government could adopt for improving the moral character of the inhabitants would be, to encourage a sufficient number of zealous Missionaries to establish themselves in different parts of the island, whose sole object it should be to instruct the Natives in the REAL principles of Christianity, and to superintend their religious conduct." CHAPTER V. LONDON MISSION IN CEYLON, 1804-1816. 1. In the year 1804 the London Missionary Society sent out three Missionaries2, the Rev. Messrs. Vos, Ehrhardt, and Palm, to establish a Mission in Ceylon. Vos and Ehrhardt sailed with Messrs. Ringeltaube, Des Granges, and Cran, for the Indian Continent. Mr. Vos had formerly ministered in the Dutch Church near the Cape of Good Hope: his experience, therefore, induced the Society to appoint him superintendent of the Mission. His two companions were natives of Germany, and educated at the Seminary at Berlin. Messrs. Vos and Ehrhardt arrived, with their brethren, at Tranquebar in December 1804, where Mrs. Vos died in the faith and hope of the Gospel. Mr. Vos had brought with him a young man, Mr. William Read, from the Cape of Good Hope, whom he now took to Ceylon, whither they proceeded, together with Mr. Ehrhardt, and anchored off Columbo on the 4th of February. They immediately went on shore, and waited upon the Chaplain, the Hon. and Rev. T. J. Twistleton, who gave them a kind reception, and introduced them to the Governor, the Hon. Frederick North. The (2) See the Society's Reports from the Tenth to the Twenty-third inclusive. Also, VIE de Michel-Chrétien Vos. Lettres 15, 16, 17. Three Misarrive. sionaries |
