§ SIR ROBERT H. INGLISsaid, he would beg to ask the right hon. Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether the connexion between the Queen's Government in Ceylon, and the idolatry of any part of Her Majesty's subjects therein, be or be not severed; whether the custody of the 714 Buddhist relic be or be not transferred to those who regard it as sacred; whether any act of the Queen's Government be or be not required to entitle the priest of a Buddhist temple to exercise any function in respect to the property of such Buddhist temple; and, lastly, whether it be or be not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to transfer to the Buddhist priests all the concerns of their own religion in Ceylon?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, that, in order to answer the series of questions the hon. Baronet (the Member for the University of Oxford) had addressed to him, he must ask the indulgence of the House for a very few moments, although it was quite impossible in giving such an answer to enter then into all the complicated details with which the subject was necessarily surrounded. His hon. Friend was, of course, aware that the matter to which he bad referred, was one which bad occupied the attention of successive Administrations in this country, and excited very considerable difficulty and embarrassment in Ceylon. The Christian community of Ceylon, and also many parties in the country, had taken objection to anything like a connexion between the Government of Great Britain, or the Representative of the Queen's Government in the island of Ceylon, and the system of idolatry which existed there, and was known by the name of Buddhism. But it appeared to him that it was forgotten by those who had taken an interest in this matter, that there were certain treaty obligations in existence which could not be lost sight of. The House was no doubt aware that the territory of the ancient kings of Kandy was acquired by this country in the year 1815. At that time a Convention was entered into between the Representative of the Government of this country and the King of Kandy, and one of the articles of that Convention ran in these terms:—"That the religion of Buddha professed by the chiefs and inhabitants of this province is declared inviolable, and its rites, ministers, and places of worship are to be maintained and protected." Subsequently a Proclamation was issued by the British Representative in the island, and under that Proclamation he (Sir J. Pakington) was prepared to contend that the obligations which the Government of this country had entered into on the subject of maintaining the Buddhist religion were not in the least altered. True, there wore certain words to 715 some extent qualifying these obligations; but essentially the general obligation to maintain and protect the Buddhists in the exercise of their religion remained untouched. It had been contended, he believed by parties in Ceylon, and he had heard it contended elsewhere, that the Convention alluded to was made with infidels and idolaters, and that, therefore, it was not binding. But he begged to say for himself that he could be no party to any such principle as that. He thought that for this country to acquire territory under a fair treaty, which treaty involved certain obligations, and then to turn round and contend that these obligations were entered into with idolaters, and were, therefore, not binding upon us, would be alike unworthy of a Christian Government and a Christian people. He was happy to say, however, in answer to the first question of the hon. Baronet, namely, whether the connexion between the Queen's Government in Ceylon and the idolatry of any part of Her Majesty's subjects therein be or be not severed?—he believed he was justified in saying that all connexion really with the idolatry of the Buddhists had been long ago discontinued. As he had already observed, by the treaty entered into with the King of Kandy we had incurred certain obligations, and one of these obligations was, that we should take part in the Buddhist ceremonies, assist in the performance of their religious rites; and give them the offerings of the materials which were necessary for the performance of those rites. This practice had been long discontinued. It was finally put an end to, he believed, by Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, then Governor of Ceylon, in 1834. A sum of money—300l.—was agreed to be paid to the Buddhists in lieu of the contributions which had been formerly paid for the performance of the Buddhist rites; and from that period, he might say, our connexion with the idolatries practised in the island had ceased to exist. But there remained two other points in which we were connected with the Buddhists: one of these was the appointment of a portion of the priesthood; the other, the custody of the Buddhist relic, known by the name of "Buddha's tooth." He believed the attention of the noble Lord opposite (Lord John Russell) was directed to this part of the subject in 1840; and subsequently, when his noble Friend the Earl of Derby—then Lord Stanley—was at the Colonial Office, his attention was also called to the subject, and his 716 noble Friend sent out instructions to the Governor of Ceylon, that this portion of our connexion with the Buddhist religion should be likewise discontinued. The answer to these instructions was not received until Earl Grey came into office; but it appeared that that noble Earl sent out instructions to Lord Torrington that the British Government in Ceylon should have no more connexion with the religion of Buddha, and that the custody of the "tooth" should be made over to the Buddhists themselves. Soon after, however, the rebellion broke out in Ceylon, and in consequence of the pressure of that rebellion the custody of the relic was resumed by the British authorities. Lord Torrington was obliged to revoke the steps he had taken, and Earl Grey sanctioned the continuance of that state of things until some other arrangements should have been made. This excited very great dissatisfaction among the Christian community in the island; and when he (Sir J. Pakington) took office in the spring of the present year, he at once endeavoured to put an end to that state of things. He had now to state generally, in answer to the questions of his hon. Friend, that after gravely considering the matter, he had prepared a despatch, which he should send to Ceylon by the next mail, conveying instructions to the Governor of the determination of Her Majesty's Government upon the subject. He must say, however, that he was astonished to find that there did not exist in the Colonial Office such full information as to the facts of the case as he should have expected to find there, and without which it was exceedingly difficult to issue instructions upon a subject of so complicated a nature with the decision and clearness he should have desired. The instructions which the Government were prepared to send out were these: that with regard to the tooth, its possession was to be transferred at once, and entirely, to the Buddhists themselves, the Governor being instructed to provide a safe place for its custody. The 300l. a year, agreed to be paid by Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, in lieu of the other contributions which were previously made, having, in his (Sir J. Pakington's) opinion, been withdrawn with very great injustice to the parties, he proposed to issue instructions that, as a compensation for its loss, the Governor should give the Buddhists an extent of land equivalent in value to 300l. a year, so that they should not be worse off in that respect than they were before. With regard 717 to the third point, the instructions he proposed to send out were, that the Governor should request the Buddhists to provide for themselves the means of appointing the priests, who had hitherto been appointed by the Governor of Ceylon. At the present time they appointed a large portion of the priesthood, and he intended to call upon them to take measures for appointing the remainder as well. If difficulty were experienced on their part in so providing the means, he should then instruct the Governor to take into his own hands the provision of the means for making the appointments. Such was the course which the Government was anxious to take, in the hope of being able thereby, to put an end to all these difficulties and without any breach of faith; but seeing the number of difficulties by which the question was surrounded, he proposed to leave a considerable discretion in the hands of the Governor.
§ SIR ROBERT H. INGLISbegged to ask if the right hon. Gentleman was prepared to lay the despatch which embodied his views upon the table of the House?
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, he would have no objection to do so when the despatch was quite ready.