I totally agree with him that ‘If ever there was a reference to the peoples inhabiting this island so inaccurate in facts, so false in substance, so damaging in its consequences and so completely misleading it was the reference made by Cleghorn in his report to the Colonial Office in London in 1799’. One is beholden to the writer for his emphatic statement.
This refers to Thamil claims to ‘Traditional homelands’ and the Cleghorn Minutes by Henry P. Abeysekare which appeared in ‘The Island’ on 18th-2-1995.
I totally agree with him that "If ever there was a reference to the peoples inhabiting this island so inaccurate in facts, so false, in substance, so damaging in its consequences and so completely misleading it was the reference made by Cleghorn in his report to the Colonial Office in London in 1799". One is beholden to the writer for his emphatic statement.
Inaccuracies
I shall only emphasize on the main inaccuracies to show how ignorant Cleghorn was in stating that the Sinhala derived their origin from Siam.
We are all aware that the Siamese are of Mongolian origin with their well known characteristic features that are no common to the Sinhalese who are of Aryan stock. That this Professor failed to recognize this very significant difference is cause for regret and is also a factor which speaks of his utter ignorance of the ethnicity of the Sinhala people.
Cleghorn’s reference to Jaffna is very interesting:- "The inhabitants of Jaffna consist of a collection of various races. The greatest number are of Moorish extraction and are divided into several tribes known by the names of Lubbhas, Mopleys, Chittys and Choliars. They are distinguished by wearing little round caps on their close shaven heads. There are also a race of Malabars found here somewhat different from those of the continent."
Now if we peruse this reference that ‘there are also a race of Malabars found here’ it is clear as crystal that there were a few Tamils in 1799 in Jaffna known as the Malabars as all the Tamils have been referred as Malabars at that time and earlier in all official documents of the Dutch and the early British period.
Claim
Therefore if Cleghorn’s statement is to be accepted as he had a personal knowledge of the peninsula, it was the Muslims that were in majority in Jaffna during the period of his presence here -- nearly two hundred years ago. As such, can the Tamils who were earlier known as Malabars (because the majority of them originated in the coast of Malabar in South India) claim even Jaffna as their ‘traditional homelands’.
Flourishing
Have most of these Muslims been assimilated with the Malabar community or a similar fate happened to them as recently or did hordes of Malabars coming in search of rich pasture, specially the tobacco industry that was flourishing from the days of the Dutch in Sri Lanka mainly in the Jaffna peninsula swell their numbers at an unprecedented rate?
Entrepreneurs
It is on record that the Vellalas came as entrepreneurs with the growth of this industry and bought extensive areas of land in the peninsula from the Dutch and from the British after the Waste Land Ordinance came into operation. Later on during the 19th century the latter were in search of local earnings to maintain their army etc. without depending on the imperial treasury at home.
Extensive acres
In 1878 the Survey General stated that in the Eastern Province 5153 acres were surveyed and marked off under Kantalai tank for the Jaffna and Batticaloa Agricultural Company Ltd. From then onwards, the new rich Malabar Vellalas, now known as the rich Tamils bought extensive acres of crown land that were follow after the decay of the Polonnaruwa period.
Deprived
Thus the Colonial administrators deprived the Sinhalese of the traditional homeland which was systematically alienated to the Malabar immigrants from South India when both Sri Lanka and India were part of their empire. This process went on unabated. In 1894, 3673 acres and in 1903, 5350 acres under the so-called Punani and Unnichchi tanks were given to them. Thus the official records maintained by the Colonial government clearly establish that a system of Malabar colonization was carried on uninterrupted in the eastern Ruhuna and Pacina Kandara Raji in the eastern Rajarata -- now a part of the present Eastern Province.
R. A. G. Feasting C.C.S. Govt. Agent. Eastern Province in his ‘Forward’ (dated Christmas 1918 to the ‘Monograph of the Batticaloa District’ by S. O. Canagaratnam (1921) makes this lament.
Evidence
"One of the saddest features in the history of the district is the decay of the Sinhalese population in the west and south. At one time there were flourishing and populous Sinhalese villagers here as is evidenced by the ruins and Sinhalese remains dotted about in this part of the country - Now (in 1918 most of the villages that are left are little better than names - the people led a nomadic life, wandering from chena to chena and having generally no permanent houses and apparently in many cases having quite lost the art of paddy cultivation. Two experimental colonization schemes are being tried at Lahugala and Tempitiya but it is too early yet to say what success they will have in regenerating the Sinhalese here."
Unfounded
The allegation of the Tamil racists that the Sinhala government started colonization schemes for the Sinhala villages in the Eastern Province is thus unfounded.
Such schemes were inaugurated by the British Colonial Government as stated above when they found that it was essential for the upliftment of the rural masses who were eking out an existence by clearing the jungle for chena cultivation which did not hold any promise for the future.
Power
After the Donoughmore Constitution came into force in 1931, the Ceylonese gained more power in their own internal affairs and in particular after Ceylon gained independence in 1948 these colonization schemes were expanded with more of participation of people of all communities resulting in the restoration of ancient tanks and irrigation schemes. Thus we find even a Malay colony in Bolana on the Walawe left bank scheme -- the land granted to the descendants of giant Nila of the Gajaba episodes. Thus we see that Sinhala, Tamils, Muslims and Malays have been benefited by state sponsored colonies.
Tactics
Now it may be of interest to delve into some relevant credential of Hugh Cleghorn for his cunning tactics.
In the churohyar at Dunirio there is a tombstone with the following inscription.
"In memory of Hugh Cleghorn LLD of Stravithie, Professor of Civil & Natural History in the University of St. Andrews who died in February 1836 and is buried here.
He was the Agent by whose instrumentality the Island of Ceylon was annexed to the British Empire."
Cleghorn was born in 1751 and began to dabble in affairs of State quite early in life, and became a Professor while young from 1772-1793 at the above mentioned University. He spent most of the time on the continent during and after the French Revolution. He was asked to resign for vacating the post.
In 1794 the French invaded Holland and the Valuable Dutch possessions in the East including Ceylon were in danger of falling into their hands.
Pitt, the younger was Prime Minister of England and Henry Dundas was one of the Secretaries of State.
During his visits to the Continent Cleghorn had met a certain Count who was the proprietor and Colonel of a Swiss regiment of infantry in the pay of the Dutch East India Company, which formed the main part of the Dutch garrison in the chief fort of Colombo in Ceylon.
It occurred to Cleghorn that if he could secure the transfer of this regiment from the Dutch to the English service, the conquest of Ceylon would be a cheap and easy matter. He immediately communicated his project to the British Government, got the greenlight and he was commissioned to see the matter through.
The English took the precautionary measures not to allow the French Navy taking possession of the strategic harbors and positions that were under the Dutch, as the French had overrun Holland.
As a result the English invaded Ceylon on August 1st 1795 and after stubborn resistance Trincomalee surrendered on the 27th august, 1795. Batticaloa, Jaffnapatan and Mannar followed in quick succession, while Colombo alone continued to hold out more stubbornly due entirely to the enterprising energy of the Regiment of de Meuron.
Cleghorn lost no time in reaching Switzerland where Count de Meuron lived and in making a deal with him. The agreement then signed providing for the transfer of the Swiss Regiment for a sum of 6,000 and a promise was obtained from Major Agnew, the British Envoy that the regiment would not be called upon to serve against the Dutch.
Cleghorn left Switzerland after making the necessary grounds for the transfer of the regiment and arrived in Madras and wrote to the Rt. Hon. Henry Dandas on Nov. 26th 1795 of his manoeuver of the secret transfer of the Swiss regiment under the pay of the Dutch to the British government and got the green light. He came to Colombo in a small Danish ship loaded with linen, cheese etc., for the army. He next persuaded the owner of the ship to give him a Dutch cheese into which he inserted a letter informing Colonel de Meuron of the arrival of his brother -- the owner of the regiment Count de Meuron in Madras, and about the secret negotiation on the general articles of the capitulation. The transfer of the regiment could now be instantly demanded by the brother -- the owner -- of the regiment: He got this Edam Dutch cheese delivered to Colonel de Meuron as a present from Holland.
Thus Cleghorn succeeded in his plan and the garrison in Colombo surrendered to the British forces on Feb. 16th - 1796 without a drop of blood being shed.
Cleghorn sailed back to England with the good news and received 5,000/- for his pains and the office of Colonial Secretary of Ceylon on a salary of 3,000/- a year. He was associated with the first Governor Frederick North becoming his trusted adviser but later fell out and was recalled.
Thus we see him as a master of state craft -- Divide and Rule policy adopted by the foreigners and his report -- Cleghorn minutes to the Colonial Office in London 1799 as to mislead the home government and to be more closer than to the Governor North with whom he fell out.
Beyond doubt
It may be pointed out further that Joville produced a map of Ceylon in 1800, four years after the annexation of the coastal belt after extensive tour in the Maritime Provinces.
According to it the Magam Pattuva extended from the Valave Ganga to a point north of Kumana and more important it also indicates Kandyan Tamilgram in the hinterland of Trincomalee. This proves beyond any doubt that there existed a settlement of Tamil people over this region which was positively a part of the Kingdom of Kandy and not in anyway connected to Jaffna during the contemporary times.
Myth
So the myth of a ‘Tamil Homeland’ lies revealed originated with the communal Tamil politicians.
Tamil politicians of the decades that have just passed by and in no way form a sufficiently valid basis for the demand of a separate state of homeland for the Tamil people when more than half of them live peacefully with the Sinhalese in the south.
Welcome
They are welcome to live in a united Sri Lanka which belongs to all citizens of all ethnic groups; and any Sri Lankan should be able to live in any part of the island keeping to his particular customs and manners and upholding the rights of citizenship in common. May all Sri Lankans live in peace and harmony in United Lanka.