A permanent civil service was established, federal in scope, all members of it being eligible to transfer or promotion from one State to another. All appointments were to be for merit only, after competitive examination; the appointments to be made by the residents, and, in the highest grades, with the approval of the resident-general; and removals to be for cause only, and none over the $300 salary grade to be removed without the assent of the resident-general, and none over the $600 grade without the assent of the high commissioner. Uniform courts of justice and code of procedure were established, with a federal judicial commissioner (British) to go on circuit to hear appeals and try capital cases, and a federal legal adviser (British) to draft laws for the State councils. In each State some British magistrates were appointed, but the native headmen were left in authority as petty justices. Each State had its own police force, but the system was uniform in all. The total force in the federation comprised only 29 Europeans, officers and inspectors; 518 Sikhs and Pathans, officers, noncommissioned, orderlies, and constables; and 1,430 Malays, noncommissioned, detectives, privates, charge takers, etc. The prison systems of all the States were made uniform. The police and prisons of each State were put under the direct and sole control of the resident, subject to instructions from the resident-general or high commissioner. A federal commissioner of lands and mines was appointed, who framed uniform codes of land tenure and mining regulations, which were adopted by all the States. A federal commissioner for Chinese affairs was charged with the supervision of that element of the population which formed a sort of “imperium in imperio.” The scheme also provided for a federal chief engineer of public works, chief railway engineer, chief surveyor, chief accountant, chief surgeon, inspector of schools, and inspector of ports and telegraphs. All these officers were, of course, to be Europeans, at least for the present. The cost of all this administration was to be divided among the States in proportion not to their population, but to their revenue. Thus the rich and prosperous States were made to help the poorer, and all were moved, through mutual beneficence and singleness of aim, toward higher prosperity. That system, adopted at the time of federation, is the one now in force in the federated Malay States. At the present time the total yearly revenue of all four States is about $8,500,000, and the expenditures about the same. Fifty per cent of the money is spent for roads, railroads, bridges, and other public works. The value of foreign trade in 1896 was above $28,400,000 exports and $21,000,000 imports, a total of about $50,000,000—a very good amount for a population of only about 500,000. PEACE, PROSPERITY, CIVILIZATION. Such is the story of British administration in the protected and federated States of the Malay Peninsula. The net result of it is peace, prosperity, and civilization. Broils on land and piracy on sea are now no more. Slavery is abolished. "Squeezing" is known no Taxes are lighter, yet the effective revenue is vastly increased, and public works of incalculable beneficence are being executed on a scale not dreamed of a generation ago. The country has been opened up to industry of all kinds. Justice has been made uniform and impartial, and all men equal before the law. more. And all this has been accomplished without a war, with scarcely any action by the Imperial Government, and chiefly through the agency of the natives themselves. The native chiefs have been made to feel that they are still chiefs, and the native people that they are still under native rule. Warring tribes have been developed and consolidated into a nation, and that nation has been put well on the high road to advanced civilization and a place in the community of enlightened States. There has been no fighting. No additional burden has been laid upon the "weary Titan." Not a shilling has been taken from the pocket of the British taxpayer. No self-seeking "chartered company" has been enriched at the expense of justice and liberty. No "tyranny over subject races" has been exercised. There has been nothing but firm, yet kind, leadership of a people not yet able to maintain their freedom without such tutelage. Indeed, we might not inappropriately apply to the Malay States the words of our own constitution, and say that through the protection and control and guidance of British administrators justice has been established, domestic tranquillity has been secured, the common defense has been provided for, the general welfare has been promoted, and the blessings of liberty have been secured to the people and to their posterity. A MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSTRUCTION. Such is the story of a quarter century, rounded and complete to-day, and bearing from the Far East its rich message of admonition and of encouragement, of instruction and of inspiration, to a nation kindred to that which wrote it, and which wrought the deeds it tells, now moving into that same Far East to deal with like problems among like peoples. It is a story of what men have done. There remains for this nation to prove the old saying true and to show that other men, of the same blood and race and speech and thought and aim, can do the same again. DESCRIPTION OF THE MALAY FEDERATION, BY SIR ANDREW CLARKE, UNDER WHOM THE FEDERATION WAS FORMED. The following account of the organization of the Malay federation is by Sir Andrew Clarke, by whom that organization was formed during his service as governor of the Straits Settlements. The statement was published in the British Empire Series in 1899: ? I welcome the opportunity which has been afforded to me of saying something upon the subject of the Malay States, not only because I believe that there are certain lessons of imperial importance to be learned from the brief page of history I am about to recount, but because I consider that these States offer an opening to commercial enterprise as yet insufficiently realized. I have thought a slight sketch of the manner in which these States were opened to British commerce might not be without interest and, perhaps, instruction. A glance at the map suffices to show the importance of the control of the eastern seaboard of the Malay Peninsula to the Empire. A rich and increasing stream of British trade skirts it for 350 miles. Singapore, thanks to the genius of Sir Stamford Raffles, first occupied in 1819, has become at once a great distributing center and the most important strategic position in the western seas. Earlier history knew little of Singapore, however, and Malacca was the commercial emporium in the sixteenth century, when conditions differed widely. Malacca was taken by the Portuguese in 1511 and held till 1641, when the Dutch stepped in, to be in turn dispossessed by England in 1795. Opinions as to the relative values of distant possessions were somewhat vague at this period, and Malacca was given back to Holland in 1818, to be resumed by treaty in 1824 in exchange for a port in Sumatra. The effect of this treaty was to render the Dutch supreme in Sumatra, and practically to transier to England all such rights as had previously been claimed by Holland in respect to the Malay Peninsula. As early as 1786 the East India Company obtained the cession of the island of Penang from the Rajah of Keday, and a strip of mainland-the province of Wellesley-was similarly acquired two years later. The four settlements-Singapore, Malacca, Penang, and the province of Wellesley-remained under the jurisdiction of the East India Company from 1827 to 1867, when they were constituted into a Crown Colony. The foothold thus established on the peninsula brought Great Britain into contact with native States in various stages of anarchy, whose perpetual quarrels became more and more intolerable. The internal troubles of the peninsula reached a crisis in 1872, when, in addition to the squabbles of the Malay chieftains, the Chinese miners in Larut divided themselves into two camps and carried on organized warfare, involving much bloodshed. The defeated party betook itself to piracy, and the coast was virtually in a state of blockade. This was the situation on my arrival at Singapore in November, 1873. The coasting trade was everywhere stopped, and even the fishermen were afraid to put to sea. The senior naval officer informed me that the vessels at his disposal were quite inadequate to deal effectively with the widespread piracy existing. As the chief justice of the Straits Settlements (Sir T. Sidgreaves) stated in the legislative council on September 13, 1874, "These outrages and piracies have been a scandal to the British name, happening, as they have, at so small a distance from our shores." My instructions were simple. The colonial office was thoroughly dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the peninsula. I was to make it the subject of careful inquiry and report my views as soon as possible. I fear that in some quarters there lurks a belief in the efficacy of reports to cure ills. I am not quite sure how many distinguished persons have been severally called upon to report-on Egypt, for example. My own experience of the uses of reports does not tend to a high appreciation of their practical value, and the war office is at this moment crammed with such documents, the majority of which have never been even studied, still less acted upon. Reporting alone scarcely seemed to meet the grave urgency of the situation. It was necessary to act in the first place, and to report afterwards. THE FIRST CONSULTATION WITH THE NATIVE CHIEFS. Arrangements were accordingly made for a meeting of the Perak chiefs, with a view to settle definitely the disputed succession to the Sultanate, and a series of articles were laid before them which, after full explanation, were unanimously accepted. These articles stipulated for the appointment of British residents at Perak and Larut, under whose advice the general administration and the collection of revenue was to be carried on. After some difficulty I succeeded in obtaining an interview with the Sultan of Salangore and concluding a similar arrangement with him, while a small naval force proceeded up the Lingie and destroyed without opposition some stockades, with the result that similar measures of pacification became practicable in Sungei Ujong. The principles on which I acted were very simple. Personal influence has always great effect upon natives of the type of the Perak chiefs, and this influence I endeavored to apply. Where it was possible I sought interviews with them and pointed out the effect of the evils from which the country was suffering. Their real interests were peace, trade, and the opening up of their country. In place of anarchy and irregular revenues I held out the prospects of peace and plenty. I found them in cotton; I told them that if they would trust me I would clothe them in silk. Their rule had resulted in failure; I offered them advisers who would restore order from chaos without curtailing their sovereignty. They were willing to listen to reason, as the vast majority of persons, whether wearing silk hats or turbans, usually are; and since I have often wondered how many of our useless, expensive, and demoralizing small wars might have been avoided by similar modes of procedure. The temptations to make war are far stronger than is generally known. A butcher's bill appeals to the dullest imagination and speedily brings down rewards and honors which the mere negotiator, however successful, can not hope to obtain. Perhaps some future analyst of causation will be able to tell us for how much slaughter and wasted treasure decorations are responsible. THE CHINESE. It was not with the Malay chieftains alone that I was called upon to deal. The troubles of the peninsula were largely due to the fighting proclivities of the Chinese, supported by secret societies, which were directed by influential Chinamen even in Singapore itself. The Chinese secret society is a bugbear to some minds, and I may be pardoned for a brief reference to it. Secret societies are the natural and inevitable outcome of an arbitrary and oppressive government, such as exists in China, and the Chinaman, having acquired the hereditary habit of creating such organizations, carries it with him to the country of his adoption. In China the secret society is doubtless almost entirely political, constituting a danger to the State. Transplanted to another country, it entails no necessary political dangers and becomes practically a species of guild for mutual protection of the nature of a benefit or burial club. Such combinations do, however, frequently lend themselves to lawlessness and crime, or even, as in Larut, to the civil war of rival factions. The main evil is the secrecy observed in the deliberations and proceedings of these societies. Try to suppress them altogether and you will drive them deeper below the surface and render them really dangerous. On the other hand, recognize them as long as they keep within the confines of law, insist as far as possible upon open meetings and publicity of accounts, and you will find them a powerful lever ready to your hand. You will be able to hold the leaders responsible for illegality; you may even manipulate the secret society to your own ends. This was the course pursued with success in the case of the Malay States, and I am indebted to the chiefs of the Chinese secret societies for support readily accorded as soon as they understood the principles upon which my action was based. Finally, I considered it was desirable to take the opportunity to settle some outstanding territorial questions. The farther boundary of the province of Wellesley had never been defined, and undefined boundaries are as fruitful a source of war as of civil litigation. The Sultan of Perak was willing to settle the question in a way which was completely satisfactory. At the same time our long-settled claims upon the Dindings were satisfactorily adjusted, and this position, important as controlling one of the great waterways of the peninsula, became an undisputed possession of Great Britain. In all these proceedings I received the warm support of the legislature of Singapore and the community at large, while to Lord Carnarvon and the permanent officials of the colonial office I owe a debt of gratitude for their encouragement and appreciation during a period of much anxiety. On the 18th of March, 1874, the chamber of commerce of the Straits Settlements adopted the following resolution: "The chamber of commerce, having taken into consideration the engagements lately entered into between the chiefs of Perak in the presence of his excellency the governor, desires respectfully to express its entire approval of the measures adopted to put a stop to the piracy and misrule which have so long prevailed in that province, and sincerely trusts that his excellency will continue to perform the just, firm, and conciliatory policy thus inaugurated until the whole of the so-called independent States shall be brought under similar control." On the 11th of March there appeared a letter in the Times which referred to the new steps, then just taken, and to myself, as follows: "If it should prove successful, as there is every reason to expect, he will be entitled to the merit of beginning the conversion of what has been since the memory of man a wilderness into a flourishing and wealthy territory." A FRENCH VIEW OF THE RESULT. This prophecy has received a remarkable fulfillment, and before setting forth some of the statistics, which prove a development of trade almost unprecedented under the circumstances, I should like to quote the words of a French witness, whose own writings sufficiently preclude any suspicion of partiality. * M. de la Croix, in a paper published under the authority of the Government of France on the political geography and the commercial situation of the Malay Peninsula, states: "The old state of things, exclusively feudal and tyrannical, has given place to a régime of justice and liberty, in conformity with our social ideas. Piracy has been suppressed; slavery has been abolished. * * Schools have been everywhere established, spreading instruction among the native classes. Several museums have been started, and science thus receives its due. We shall see that the civilized world has only to be proud of the initiative taken by England in the Malay Peninsula. She has opened new No. 4- -9 * * * and rich regions, established a solid government, which assures complete security, which gives the heartiest welcome to all well-meaning workers, whatever their nationality, and gives them the support and encouragement which one meets with in all English colonies." These words contain a remarkable tribute to the success which has attended British administration in the Malay Peninsula; and when it is remembered that the results pointed out by M. de la Croix-with the single exception of the little expedition of 1875-76have been won without the expenditure of blood or money, I think our achievements may be regarded with legitimate pride. The new departure was stigmatized at the time by its detractors as "a policy of adventure." History will perhaps record another verdict, and I imagine that the secret of imperial as of commercial success lies in knowing when to adventure. HOW PRODUCTION AND COMMERCE HAVE GROWN. Judged by any test whatever, the results of the British protectorate of the peninsula are remarkable. The following table, taken from the latest official report, shows the growth of trade in Perak: Nothing could more effectively prove the rapid and steady development of the producing power of this State. In the little State of Selangor, with an estimated area of only 3,000 square miles, which in 1873 had practically no trade at all, the growth in the last fourteen years has been even more striking, as shown below: The revenue also has literally advanced by "leaps and bounds," as the following statement proves: This plainly shows also how the resources of the Straits Settlements have expanded in sympathy with that of the satellite protected States. POPULATION HAS RAPIDLY INCREASED. Equally remarkable has been the effect of the protectorate in regard to the increase of population. Perak, with 25,000 souls in 1874, had 55,880 in 1879; in 1888, 194,801; in 1896, 280,093. Clearly British rule has attractions in this part of the world. Real crime in these lately wild and semibarbarous States is wonderfully small. "It is certainly remarkable," writes Mr. Swetten ham, "that with such a community, living under such conditions as those which obtain in Selangor, twelve months should elapse with the commission of one murder and one gang robbery, where four of the members were arrested and convicted, while part of the stolen property was recovered." RAILWAYS OPENED. The 20 miles of railway opened in 1887 in Selangor pay a dividend of 25 per cent, and the 8 miles completed in Perak in 1888 pay 8 per cent. I might indefinitely multiply figures to prove the extraordinary advance in material prosperity which has taken place in the Malay Peninsula, but the above are sufficiently significant for my purpose. There is probably no instance where native States have been handled with such success, and I ask the reader to mark the methods adopted. "It is very simple," says M. de St. Croix; "the majority of the old native sovereigns have not only been preserved, but have received higher titles and a more complete confirmation of their hereditary rights. By their side are placed residents, charged with advising them, to follow the official term, but who, in reality, administer the country." In a word, in our conserving old titles and old feudal institutions as far as possible, dealing gently with local prejudice and wielding powers through the medium of the native rulers, whom our residents advise. Had this "simple" method been tried in upper Burma, I venture to think that much trouble and loss of life might have been spared, and that our position there to-day would be far more satisfactory than it is. Possibly the explanation may be sought in the presence of Burma of a large military forcea condition almost invariably hostile to the peaceful settlement of uncivilized countries. The simple methods pursued in the Malay Peninsula would have sufficed ere this to reopen commerce with the eastern Soudan and throw Manchester goods into Suakim. The very opposite policy has been hitherto adopted, and I conceive that few people are satisfied with the result. THE LABOR QUESTION. The Malay States need population, the opening up of communications, and capital. Hitherto the labor market has been supplied almost solely by Chinese, and the experiment of colonization from India remains to be tried. There is no objection whatever to the experiment. Portions of India are becoming overpopulated by people who are ready and willing workers, such as the Malay States need for their full development. Under proper supervision, the excess labor of the one country could be made to supply the wants of the other. I confess, however, that I am not sanguine of seeing this system of natural compensation going on within the limits of the empire, and for many years, at least, it is from China that the States must obtain their labor. The result of our "policy of adventure" is one of which England may well be proud. A country of which, in 1873, there was no map whatever has been thrown open to the enterprise of the world. Ages of perpetual fighting and bloodshed has ended in complete tranquillity and contentment. Life is as safe as in many parts of Europe. All this has been accomplished almost without the application of force.. The contact between the civilization of the European races and effete semibarbarous States has occurred all over the world. Its immediate results have differed widely. Some races have succeeded; others have signally failed. This contact has, in some cases, been marked by mutual savagery, in others by mutual deterioration. I do pretend that in our dealings with the native States of the Malay Peninsula we have been actuated by a spirit of pure disinterestedness. I do not claim that our action will bear a close scrutiny, and that it has resulted in almost unmixed good to the States themselves, while a new and rich field has been opened out to the commerce of all nations. THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON AND THE SHARE OF EUROPEANS AND NATIVES, RESPECTIVELY, IN ITS ADMINISTRATION. The method by which over 3,000,000 people in Ceylon are governed and the island developed through the agency of a total English population of about 6,000 may be briefly outlined as follows: The government is administered by a governor-general, aided by an executive council, composed of the lieutenant-governor, colonial secretary, commander of the troops, attorney-general, auditor-general, and treasurer. For legislative purposes this executive council is enlarged by the addition of four other officeholders and eight nominated members. The island is divided into nine provinces, each of which is presided over by a Government agent, who, with his assistants, administers law through the native headmen and their subordinates in the native communities. The basis of the legal administration is the Roman-Dutch law, modified by certain features of the English law and colonial ordinances, together with a criminal law modeled upon the Indian penal code. There is a supreme court and superior courts, courts of request, and, below these, village councils organized with power to deal with petty offenses and trivial claims, and presided over by native officials. The production of tea since its successful introduction a few years ago has added greatly to the prosperity and commerce of the island, the exports having increased from 51,127,338 rupees in 1890 to 101,576,906 rupees in 1899; and the imports from 63,091,928 rupees in 1890 to 111,992,349 rupees in 1899. The following account of conditions in Ceylon is by L. B. Clarence, published in the British Empire Series, 1899: Ceylon is called England's principal Crown colony. It is not a "colony" in the strict sense of the word, for "colony" properly means a body of immigrants settled in a foreign country, and the English colonists are but a very small fraction of the inhabitants of Ceylon. The island is not a dependency of our country in which Englishmen can settle permanently, as in Australia, for instance, or Canada. The tropical climate forbids that. In Ceylon, as in India, the European immigrants must always be greatly outnumbered by the sons of the soil. The dependency is called a "colony," because it is governed through the colonial office, and a "Crown" colony, because it is administered directly under the Crown, and has no responsible representative government of its own. EUROPEAN POPULATION SMALL. * * * In Ceylon, as in India, the European inhabitants, by reason of the climate, can never be more than a drop in the bucket compared with the natives. The Europeans (not counting the military) number scarcely 6,000, as against something like 3,000,000 natives. And so we are responsible for the welfare of a large native population living under our rule, and entirely dependent on us for good government and administration. Ceylon is often coupled with India. A man returned from Ceylon to England is asked about his life "in India," as though Ceylon and India must be all the same. This is not unnatural. Ceylon has much in common, at any rate, with southern India. Its inhabitants are of Indian origin. Their ancestors came from India long ago. And yet, from one cause and another, the atmosphere of life and government and administration differs perceptibly in the two countries. * * * DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES. Almost from the very outset our Ceylon possessions were separated from the administration of India, and placed under the colonial department. The difference has been further accentuated during the last fifty years by the remarkable rise and development of a great European planting enterprise-first in coffee, and since in tea. This brought in its train an unofficial European element in the population, * very small in comparison with the native inhabitants, but relatively far larger and more influential than any unofficial European class in India. There are, indeed, in certain parts of India, European planters of indigo, coffee, tea; but the planting community scattered in a few districts has never influenced the administration or tinged the current of government as in Ceylon. * A great deal of the mountain country has been transformed into tea plantations, and the forest replaced by miles on miles of trim grown tea bushes, running in lines up and down the steep slopes, amid dashing torrents and huge blocks of rock tossed about in wild confusion. All waste land is prima facie the property of the Crown, and for many years the Government has discontinued selling land above 5,000 feet elevation. About five-sixths of the whole island is uncultivated, and much of this would naturally be heavy timber forest. But about sixteen years ago the Government resolved on having a thorough overhaul of the forests and the forest management in general. So they borrowed a very able forest officer from India, and he discovered that much of the valuable timber, and in fact a great deal of the forest itself, was no longer in existence. This was mainly owing to a native habit of what the Sinhalese call chena cultivation. A villager goes into the forest, chooses a block of land, and fells all but the largest trees. He lets the cut wood and branches dry for a month or so, and then sets fire to it as it lies. The result is a bare clearing, with here and there the blackened stumps of the larger trees. He gets one or two crops off the land, and then abandons it and chooses another plot. In this way vast tracts of forest have been destroyed, and in some places repeated operations of this kind have so exhausted the soil that only ferns will grow. A good deal of this mischief went on after the old native government had fallen to pieces, and more during the earlier years of our possession. After this unwelcome discovery the Ceylon government followed the example of the government of India and set up a regular forest department. * THE NATIVES. There are two native races, the Sinhalese and the Tamil. The Sinhalese number about two-thirds of the native population, and inhabit the southern and south-central parts. The Tamils dwell up in the north. These Ceylon Tamils must not be confused with the Tamil coolies employed on the tea estates, who hail from certain districts in the Madras presidency, and come and go between their homes in Ceylon. The national religion of the Sinhalese is Buddhism. The Tamils worship Hindu divinities after Hindu fashion. There are also spread throughout the island about 250,000 Mohammedans, a race of mixed Arab and Indian blood, whom we call "Moormen," because the Portuguese gave them that name. They are indefatigable traders-the Jews, one may say, of the island. The Moorman's shop is in every village, and in his smart jacket and high cap of gaudy colors marvelously adhering to his shaven skull, with his assortment of gems and curiosities, he is the first to greet the visitor on arrival. * * * EUROPEAN IMPORTS. Many European importations now reach the people which their forefathers never dreamt of. You find European crockery in the villages, and boxes of matches and many other imported things. In this way the people have come to possess various useful commodities; but even this has two sides, and unfortunately many of the ancient native arts and crafts seem doomed to die out. Time was when the blacksmith used to smelt his own iron, and very good iron it was; now he finds it easier to work up old scraps of English hoop iron, or the like. Once the people wore cotton cloths woven and dyed by the weaver caste, cloths which absolutely would not wear out; now the old native webs are being superseded by English fabrics which are not so serviceable. In spite of the usefulness of some of the importations, this decay of old native crafts is much to be regretted. And we may wonder how the people reconcile missionary teaching with some of the products which reach them from Christian England-knives made to sell, not to cut; bottles and ports that hold about half their apparent contents; and flimsy cotton fabrics disguised with artificial thickening. HOW COMMERCE WAS DEveloped. * * * It is probable that the development of commerce and of the great European planting enterprise has been more fostered and encouraged under the colonial office than they would have been under the Indian government. On the other hand, in matters of general administration and legislation and the framing of institutions for the country and its people, Ceylon might have fared better as part of our Indian Empire. There are few tasks more difficult than that of contriving all these matters for an Eastern population very unlike ourselves, strongly attached to their own traditions, and, withal, reserved, timid, and exclusive. In India the task was approached with all the skill and talents which can be commanded by a government on a great scale. In Ceylon it was otherwise. But what is more, in India the principal advisers of the government in these matters have been men armed with all the local knowledge and experience to be gained in working lives spent in the country and among the people. The government of India is not mixed up with that of other and dissimilar parts of the world. Ceylon has been less fortunate, through sharing the cares and traditions of the colonial office with a host of colonies, for the most part extremely unlike herself, in all quarters of the globe. Thus the legislation and administration generally were the less adjusted to the needs of the country. The government was less in touch with the people, and less informed of their peculiarities. It is significant that in Ceylon the native languages are far less used than in India for the transaction of public business, and in the law courts the proceedings are conducted in English. Thus the people are placed at the mercy of lawyers and other intermediaries, native or Eurasian, and the government knows too little about them. THE GOVERNMENT. Until 1833 the interior and the coast settlements were separately administered, but then the whole island was placed on one footing. The form of government is in theory much the same as that of the Indian presidencies. The legislature, which is subject to the veto of the Crown, consists of a number of official members and a smaller number of unofficials, supposed to represent the various classes of the community, not elected, but nominated by the governor. This is a suitable form of government. To introduce anything in the shape of responsible government is, for the present at any rate, out of the question, and would be disastrously opposed to the welfare of the native community. * * * DEVELOPMENT OF NEW INDUSTRIES. And now I must describe the great European planting enterprise which has developed under our rule, beginning with coffee and continued with tea. A little coffee was grown during the Dutch times, and then the trade was allowed to drop, because Java, another Dutch possession, produced as much as they cared to place on the European market. Some of the coffee cultivation lingered on to our times, and at last attracted the attention of Englishmen with capital to invest. In 1824 the first coffee estate under European management was opened. The enterprise advanced, and after 1840 went on with rapid strides. The government, as owners of the forests, sold large tracts to English planters, and the clearings climbed higher and higher up the hills. * * * About 1873 coffee planting reached its zenith. The yield was generous, and prices ruled high. Very large sums were bid for forest land, and in addition to the bona fide enterprise of hard-working planters a gambling, speculative disposition set in. Then disease attacked the bushes, and the artificial inflation rendered the downfall more headlong. The coffee was dying out, and planters and their creditors were at their wit's end. Estates were sold for a mere song. Mortgagees and owners alike lost their money, superintendents iost their pay, and even coolies lost long arrears of wages at eight pence or nine pence a day. Yet the mass of the planters never lost heart. Cinchona was tried, and at first prospered, saving many from sinking. Then that product was attacked simultaneously by a disease and a fall in the price of quinine. Even then the planters were not to be beat, and they turned their attention to tea. They had to cut out dead or dying coffee, plant the land anew, and wait for crop. They had to provide an entirely new description of expensive machinery, and they had to learn, and to teach their work people, an entirely new industry. All this was successfully accomplished, and now for many years the tea has been thriving and paying handsomely, not only in the old coffee districts, but in new ones, some of them down in the low country. (' (The Ceylon tea crop for 1898 has been estimated at 126,000,000 pounds.) * * * |