98
A Chapter From The Dutch Lusiad.
A Review
[Translated from De Nederlandsche Spectator,
by Dr. L. A. Prins.]
THERE appeared recently from the pen of Mr. R. G.
Of all the settlements of the East
India Company
Ceylon has been, if not the earliest, at least one of the
most interesting. Interesting, because the Company settled
here, not exclusively as merchants, as in most other places,
but constituted herself the civil authority as well. It is true
this authority did not extend far from the coast-the interior
of the Island, the territory of the Kandyan King, was some-
what of a terra incognita to our forefathers-but it was never-
theless of an organized and durable character. Mr.Anthonisz's
report, the character of the records described by him, and
especially the extracts he gives, enable us to glance back into
a past, a far distant past, but-and this may be said with calm
conviction-a past full of glory. The 150 years or so during
which our tricolour waved from the castle heights of Colombo
are not free from dark episodes; but speaking generally, we
have no need to be ashamed of the administration of our fore-
fathers during that time, as is mirrored in the many thousand
files of memoirs, diaries, and other interesting records.
These convey to us the idea of a social organization founded
upon and moulded after a thorough old Dutch ideal of the
period-a social organization, which, in accordance with the
liberal principles we Hollanders in our intercourse with
Eastern nations have always honoured,did not shut out the
native and mixed elements.
As regards the administration, it
was bound to be charac-
terized by its origin. They wore merchants who drove out
