CHAPTER IV.
 

LEGISLATIVE  AND GENERAL  IMPROVEMENTS UNDER THE RULE

     OF SUCCESSIVE BRITISH GOVERNORS—THE NEED OF PRO¬

     MOTING  CO-OPERATION AND  GOOD  FEELING  BETWEEN

     DIVERSE CLASSES AND RACES.



    AMONG the political and social reforms introduced  into

      Ceylon by the  British  during the jjresent century

may be mentioned the. abolition by the first Governor, the

Hon. F. North, of torture and other barbarous punishments

abhorrent to English  feeling, and  the relaxation during

the  time  of his  successor  of the  severe laws  against

Romanists;  this was  twenty years before Catholic Eman¬

cipation was granted in England.  Trial by jury was  first

introduced by a new charter of justice in 1811; but it was

not  till 1844 that all caste and clan distinctions  in the.

jury-box and all slavery were  finally abolished.

   A  new and  much improved  charter  of  justice, the

establishment of a Legislative Council with ten official to

six unofficial members,*  an  order in Council abolishing

compulsory  labour, the establishment of a free pi-ess, the

   * Sir^Arthur Gordon in  1889 got the number of unofficials increased

to eight, their  term of office not to last beyond Ave years, so as to

extend the  educating process of assisting in legislation  among  the

Ceylonese; the members are nominated by the Governor with the  aid

of various public bodies and opinions, through the press, to represent (1)

the Low-country Sinhalese, (2) the Kandyan Sinhalese, (3) the Tamils, (£,)

the "Moormen" (Arab descendants,  etc.), (5) the Eurasians (Burghers),

 (6) the Planters, (7)  the  Merchants, and (8) the  General  European

 community.

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