Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:22:49.842Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Post Riots Campaign for Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

P. T. M. Fernando
Get access

Abstract

Following the 1915 riots in Ceylon, a campaign for redress of grievances resulting from the colonial government's actions in suppressing the riots brought to prominence a new group of Western-educated, middleclass Ceylonese political leaders and led to the growth of the Ceylonese independence movement. The principal demand of the campaign, carried on in Ceylon and Britain, was for an inquiry by a Royal Commission into the government's handling of the riots. The agitation took the form of memorials, deputations, and lobbying intended to bring pressure on the Colonial Office to sanction an investigation. The campaign secured the support of many individuals and organizations in Britain and obtained the release of prisoners held for riot offenses and the exoneration of some prominent Ceylonese. However, the Colonial Office resisted the demand for an inquiry, which was strongly opposed by the colonial administration in Ceylon. Although unsuccessful in their immediate purpose, the Ceylonese spokesmen in the campaign gained experience in agitation and leadership and a zeal for political action. The nationalist movement of Ceylon, which had been dilettante, became focused and purposeful.

Type
The 1915 Riots in Ceylon: A Symposium
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , February 1970 , pp. 255 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1970

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ramanathan, P., Riots and Martial Law in Ceylon 1915 (London: St. Martin's Press, 1916), p. 67.Google Scholar

2 C.O. 54/785, Chalmers, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 10 14, 1915.Google Scholar

3 CO. 54/782, Chalmers, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 07 8, 1915.Google Scholar

4 Ramanathan, P., op. cit., p. 68.Google Scholar

5 Ordinance No. 23 of 1915. See Sessional Paper X (1916), Riot Compensation.

6 House of Commons Debates (hereafter cited as H. C. Deb.), 5th series, vol. XCII, reply of W. H. Long to question by MacCallum Scott, Apr. 2, 1917.

7 See Fernando, P. T. M., “The Development of a new elite in Ceylon with special reference to educational and occupational background, 1910–1931,” Oxford D. Phil. Thesis, 1968, Ch. IV.Google Scholar

8 CO. 54/805, Anderson, to Long, , Confidential, 08 2, 1917.Google Scholar

9 See Ramanathan, P., op. cit., pp. 261–64.Google Scholar

10 Ceylon Morning Leader, 06 19, 1915.Google Scholar

11 Ceylon Hansard, 1913–1916Google Scholar: Aug. 11, 1915; Oct. 14, 1915; Nov. 18, 1915.

12 Ceylon Hansard, 1913–1916Google Scholar; Oct. 14, 1915.

13 Ibid.

14 Ceylon Morning Leader, 09 27, 1915Google Scholar. It was a gathering of Sinhalese because the Sinhalese alone were considered the guilty community. The meeting, however, was attended by many Tamils who supported the Sinhalese in their demands.

15 CO. 54/786, Stubbs, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 12 22, 1915Google Scholar, memorial enclosed. The memorial, inter alia, made certain specific allegations of illegal executions and called for a Royal Commission of inquiry.

16 Ceylon Morning Leader, 09 21, 1915.Google Scholar

17 Ceylon Hansard, 1917, 10 24, 1917.Google Scholar

18 Ceylon Morning Leader, 03 21, 1917.Google Scholar

19 H. C. Deb., 5th series, vol. XCVII, 08 16, 1917.Google Scholar

20 C.O. 54/786, Law, Bonar to Stubbs, , 01 26, 1915.Google Scholar

21 Ramanathan, , op. cit., p. 115Google Scholar. Under Ordinance No. 35 of 1908, sec. 5, the governor had power, during public emergencies, to order a telegraphic message to be intercepted, detained, or not be transmitted.

22 See, for example, E. W. Perera Papers (University of Ceylon Library): Perera to Undersecretary, Nov. 2, 1915; Read, H. J. to Perera, , 09 18, 1915Google Scholar, Mar. 27, 1917, Oct. 8, 1917; Grindle, G. to Perera, , 06 23, 1917.Google Scholar

23 Ibid., Perera, to Dornhorst, , 10 2, 1915.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., Jayatilaka, to Perera, , 12 2, 1916.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., Pereira, to Perera, , 05 9, 1916.Google Scholar

26 The original draft of this appeal was entitled “Colonial Office Vote.” The change in the title indicates that the Ceylonese delegates wished to be unobtrusive in influencing M.P.s. See A.P.S. Papers, Ceylon Riots File No. 1.

27 C.O. 54/805, de Souza, Armand to Anderson, , 07 12, 1917Google Scholar, enclosure in Anderson, to Long, , Confidential, 08 2, 1917.Google Scholar

28 C.O. 54/791, Tucker, Booth to Grey, Earl, 08 6, 1915Google Scholar, enclosure in Grey, to Law, Bonar, 09 3, 1915.Google Scholar

29 C.O. 54/791, Grey, to Law, Bonar, 09 3, 1915.Google Scholar

30 C.O. 54/785, Cox, Harold to Law, Bonar, 11 13, 1915.Google Scholar

31 C.O. 54/809, Blake to the Secretary of State, Nov. 12, 1917. E. W. Perera Papers, Blake, Jan. 25, 1916 and Aug. 3 and 31, 1917; Blake, to Perera, , 10 2, 1915.Google Scholar

32 See E. W. Perera Papers: Woolf, to Perera, , 09 30, and 10 15, 1915Google Scholar; Jan. 22, 1916; Dec. 16, 1917; Jan. 9 and 30, Feb. 16, Mar. 15, and Nov. 24, 1918.

Woolf also supported the political aspirations of the Ceylonese and wrote a favourable memorandum on this for the Labour Party Advisory Committee. Ibid., Woolf, to Jayatilaka, , 11 24, 1918Google Scholar; Jayatilaka, to Woolf, , 11 27, 1918Google Scholar. Also see Woolf, Leonard, Downhill all the Way: An Autobiography of the years 1919–1939 (London, 1968), p. 38.Google Scholar

33 Manchester Guardian, 02 11, 1916.Google Scholar

34 CO. 54/801, Long, Harry to Chalmers, , 03 18, 1916.Google Scholar

35 Long, Harry, ‘Religious and Racial Conflict in Ceylon,’ London Quarterly Review, 07 1916Google Scholar. Long also attempted to influence the Anti Slavery Society against supporting the Ceylonese elite. See A.P.S. Papers Ceylon Riots File No. 1, Long, to Harris, , 02 23, and 03 8, 1916.Google Scholar

36 Perera, E. W., Constitutional Reform in Ceylon, a Public Address (Colombo, 1919), p. 17.Google Scholar

37 The Ceylon Daily News of 11 1, 1919Google Scholar contains a special supplement on the riots which includes extracts from British press reports.

38 Perera, E. W., op. cit., p. 18.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., p. 14.

40 A.P.S. Papers, Ceylon Riots File No. 1, Byles, W. P. to Buxton, T., 02 16, 1916.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., letter from the Society to Prof. Davies, Rhys, 03 30, 1916.Google Scholar

42 C.O. 54/799, Secretary, A.P.S. to Undersecretary of State, Mar. 31, 1916.

43 G. Grindle to the Secretary, A.P.S., Apr. 29, 1916, in Riots and Disturbances in Ceylon: an appeal to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, (A.P.S. Papers).

44 C.O. 54/801, Secretary, A.P.S. to Undersecretary of State, May 5, 1916.

45 C.O. 54/795, Anderson, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 06 27, 1916.Google Scholar

46 Ibid., Anderson, to Fiddes, , 06 27, 1916Google Scholar, private letter.

47 C.O. 54/800, Secretary, A.P.S. to Undersecretary of State, July 13, 1916.

48 Report of a Commission appointed by His Excellency the Governor to inquire into and report upon the circumstances connected with the shooting of L. Romanis Perera and nine others.

49 Perera, E. W., Constitutional Reform in Ceylon, p. 13.Google Scholar

50 C.O. 54/794, Stubbs, to Law, Bonar, No. 207, 04 11, 1916.Google Scholar

51 C.O. 54/799, Newton, John to Law, Bonar, 03 18, 1916.Google Scholar

52 C.O. 54/799, Guy Hayler, Secretary, National Temperance Federation to Bonar Law, Feb. 23, 1916.

53 C.O. 54/800, Hayler, to Law, Bonar, 04 4, 1916Google Scholar. Ibid., Hayler to Undersecretary of State, May 4, 1916.

54 C.O. 54/799, Edward Oliver, Secretary, International Order of Good Templars, to Law, Bonar, 03 27, 1916Google Scholar; CO. 54/800, Oliver, to Law, Bonar, 04 10, 1916 and 04 22, 1916.Google Scholar

55 Ibid., Hartley, Marshall to Maitland, Steel, 04 23, 1916.Google Scholar

56 H. C. Deb., 5th series, vol. LXXXV, 08 3, 1916.Google Scholar

57 C.O. 54/809, W. H. Long's minute, July 13, 1917.

58 C.O. 54/805, de Souza, Armand to Anderson, , 07 12, 1917Google Scholar, enclosure in Anderson, to Long, , 08 2, 1917Google Scholar. De Souza was the editor of the Ceylon Morning Leader.

59 Perera, E. W., Constitutional Reform in Ceylon, p. 23.Google Scholar

60 Ibid.

61 C.O. 54/802, Healy, to Law, Bonar, 02 3, 1916.Google Scholar

62 C.O. 54/784, Chalmers, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 09 30, 1916.Google Scholar

63 C.O. 54/783, Report of the Inspector General of Police, enclosure no. 1 in Chalmers, to Law, Bonar, Confidential, 07 22, 1915.Google Scholar

64 C.O. 54/785, Chalmers, to Law, Bonar, 11 4, 1915.Google Scholar

65 Ibid., Collins' minute, Nov. 24, 1915.

66 C.O. 54/800, Cowell's minute, June 27, 1916.

67 C.O. 54/785, Cowell's minute, Nov. 30, 1915.

68 C.O. 54/804, Anderson, to Long, , 05 16, 1917Google Scholar, enclosure; C.O. 54/810, Anderson, to Long, , 01 8, 1918.Google Scholar

69 C.O. 54/813, Manning, to Long, , Confidential, 11 11, 1918.Google Scholar

70 For examples, W. A. de Silva and D. B. Jayatilaka obtained statements from the governor exonerating them from the allegation of sedition. Morning Leader, 09 14, 1915 and 01 26, 1917Google Scholar. Also, A.P.S. Papers, Ceylon Riots File No. 1, Stevenson, to Jayatilaka, , 10 25, 1916.Google Scholar

71 C.O. 54/804, Anderson to Secretary of State, telegram of Apr. 9, 1917.

72 C.O. 54/809, enclosure, C. A. Hewavitarana to Secretary of State, July 30, 1917.