dwellings.  Such compliances with Paganism, make Pagans of ourselves.  Nor, again, ought the professed worship of devils to be tolerated, more than the Fetish worship, or the African witchcraft, was tolerated in the West Indies.  Having, at last, obtained secure possession of the entire island, with no reversionary fear over our heads, (as, up to Waterloo, we always had,) that possibly at a general peace we might find it diplomatically prudent to let it return under Dutch possession, we have no excuse for any longer neglecting the jewel in our power.  We gave up to Holland, through unwise generosity, already one splendid island, viz.  Java.  Let one such folly suffice for one century.

For the same reason—­namely, the absolute and undivided possession which we now hold of the island—­it is at length time that our home government should more distinctly invite colonists, and make known the unrivaled capabilities of this region.  So vast are our colonial territories, that for every class in our huge framework of society we have separate and characteristic attractions.  In some it is chiefly labour that is wanted, capital being in excess.  In others these proportions are reversed.  In some it is great capitalists that are wanted for the present; in others almost exclusively small ones.  Now, in Ceylon, either class will be welcome.  It ought also to be published every where, that immediately after the conquest of Kandy, the government entered upon the Roman career of civilization, and upon that also which may be considered peculiarly British.  Military roads were so carried as to pierce and traverse all the guilty fastnesses of disease, and of rebellion by means of disease.  Bridges, firmly built of satin-wood, were planted over every important stream.  The Kirime canal was completed in the most eligible situation.  The English institution of mail-coaches was perfected in all parts of the island.  At this moment there are three separate modes of itinerating through the island—­viz., by mail-coach, by buggy, or by palanquin; to say nothing of the opportunities offered at intervals, along the maritime provinces, for coasting by ships or boats.  To the botanist, the mineralogist, the naturalist, the sportsman, Ceylon offers almost a virgin Eldorado.  To a man wishing to combine the lucrative pursuits of the colonist with the elegances of life, and with the comforts of compatriot society, not (as in Australia, or in American back settlements) to weather the hardships of Robinson Crusoe, the invitations from the infinite resources of Ceylon are past all count or estimate.  “For my own part,” says Mr Bennett, who is now a party absolutely disinterested, “having visited all but the northern regions of the globe, I have seen nothing to equal this incomparable country.”  Here a man may purchase land, with secure title, and of a good tenure, at five shillings the acre; this, at least, is the upset price, though in some privileged situations it is known to have reached seventeen shillings.