DETACHMENT IN AN EXPEDITION TO CANDY, IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON, IN THE YEAR
1804***


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NARRATIVE OF THE OPERATIONS OF A DETACHMENT IN AN EXPEDITION
TO CANDY, IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON, IN THE YEAR 1804.

With Some Observations on the Previous Campaign, and
on the Nature of Candian Warfare, etc., etc., etc.

by

MAJOR JOHNSTON.

Of the Third Ceylon Regiment, then Captain Commandant of the Detachment.

A New Edition.







Dublin
James McGlashan, 50 Upper Sackville-Street.
Wm. S. Orr and Co., Paternoster-Row, London.

MDCCCLIV.

Dublin: Printed by George Drought, 6, Bachelor's-walk.




    TO

    HIS EXCELLENCY

    SIR DAVID DUNDAS, K.B.,

    General and Commander-in-Chief, &c.


    SIR,

    The operations of any part of the British troops, and the means by
    which they may be rendered more effectual, cannot be a matter of
    indifference to the Commander-in-Chief. Whatever contributes to the
    improvement of military knowledge will, I am persuaded, be
    favourably received by your Excellency, to whom the service is
    already so much indebted for its present proficiency in military
    tactics. It is the object of this narrative to relate and explain a
    species of warfare in which the British troops have been little
    engaged, and are, consequently, less experienced than in European
    tactics. If I succeed in benefiting the public service, by showing
    in what manner the difficulties which pressed so severely on the
    detachment I had the honour to command may, in any future
    operations, be either removed or lessened, I shall feel myself
    amply repaid for the trouble I have taken; and shall, I trust,
    stand exculpated from the apparent presumption of having obtruded
    myself on your Excellency's attention.

    I have the honour to be,

    Sir,

    Your most obedient humble servant,

    A. JOHNSTON,
    _Major, Third Ceylon Regiment_.




PREFACE.


As it appears generally incumbent on those who offer information to the
public, to explain the sources from whence they have derived their
knowledge, it may not be improper to state the circumstances under
which my experience on Ceylon was acquired.

In 1800 I commanded a corps of pioneers, which opened a road for
General Macdowal's embassy to Candy. After that period, till the
commencement of the Candian war, I was chiefly entrusted with the
command of remote districts, uniting in my own person the civil and
military authorities. On the breaking out of that war, in 1803, I was
appointed to command a _free corps_, composed principally of Malays,
and was generally employed in escorting supplies to and from the
different depots; a service which led to frequent skirmishes with the
enemy.

When the army returned to Columbo and Trincomale, after having seated
Boodoo Sawmy (the prince whose cause the English espoused) on the
throne of Candy, I was appointed first commissioner for regulating the
affairs of the provinces ceded by that prince to the British
Government. Illness, however, obliging me to repair to the sea-coast
for the benefit of a change of air, I thus fortunately escaped the
massacre which shortly after took place in the capital.

On the re-establishment of my health, I was appointed to command the
district of Batticolo, which, in common with most of our other
provinces, was invaded by the enemy, who was not driven out till after
repeated skirmishes.

I continued at Batticolo till September 1804, when I received the
instructions, in my conception of which originated the expedition to
Candy, and which General Wemyss has obligingly permitted me to publish.

On my return to Columbo, I was nominated to the command of Hambingtotte,
into which the enemy had penetrated, under the Desave[1] of Ouva, and
from whence I was so fortunate as to expel them, with little loss on
our side.

          [1] Chief.

Thus, during a residence of nearly twelve years in Ceylon, the greater
part of that time employed either in active military scenes, or in the
discharge of civil duties, I had frequent opportunities of observing
the nature of the country, and making myself acquainted with the
character and customs of its inhabitants, and their mode of warfare.

Having been led, since my return to Europe, to consider the importance
of the Island of Ceylon as a colony, which, I trust, will never again
revert to the enemies of Britain, I have been induced to commit to the
press what occurred to my observation during my continuance there, in
the hope of promoting the benefit of His Majesty's service; by giving
to officers, who may hereafter be employed in the interior of the
island, that information which they may not have had the means of
obtaining, in regard to a species of warfare peculiar to it, and which
has not, to my knowledge, been noticed in any former work.

In publishing this Narrative I aspire to no literary fame, having
joined the army at the age of fifteen--too young to have made any
considerable proficiency in letters--and at an age when men are even
apt to lose what they may have already acquired.

I trust these circumstances will bespeak the indulgence of the candid
reader, for occasional inaccuracies of style and manner, from which I
cannot presume to suppose this little work exempt.




MEMOIR.


Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Johnston was the eldest son of the late John
Johnston, of Clare, in the County of Tyrone, Esq., whose ancestor (of
the ancient house of Loverpay, a branch of the Annandale family) left
Dumfriesshire in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
purchased considerable estates in the Counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh.

Colonel Johnston, the subject of this Narrative, was born in 1778, and
when very young received his Ensign's and Lieutenant's commissions in
the 19th Regiment, and accompanied that corps to Ceylon, where he early
attracted the attention of the Governor of the Island, and was placed
on his Staff.

His command of a detachment of his regiment to Kandy in 1804 is still
spoken of in Ceylon with admiration. Major Forbes, in his work on
Ceylon, recently published, makes frequent mention of it, and
says--"That the gallantry of Captain Johnston and his party taught the
Kandians a respect for British troops which they had not felt before,
and afterwards reluctantly admitted; and that one of the chiefs, who
harassed Captain Johnston's retreat, assured _him_ that the commander
of that party must have been in alliance with supernatural powers. His
personal escape while passing through such a continual ambush, and his
superior judgment and energy, were unaccountable, unless this
explanation were admitted."

His naturally fine constitution, however, never recovered the effects
of that severe and trying expedition, and he was shortly obliged to
return to Europe; soon after which, he joined the senior department of
the Royal Military College at Wickham as student, and was selected by
the Commandant to act for him during his absence in Spain. On the
return of Sir Howard Douglass, he was made Assistant-Commandant--a
situation which he held till the conclusion of the war; and when
inquiries were started as to what retrenchment could be made in that
department, he suggested that his appointment could better be dispensed
with than many others.

He married Martha, eldest daughter of Thomas Smith, of Shalden, in
Hampshire, Esq. He died and was buried at Shalden, in June, 1824.




NARRATIVE

OF AN

Expedition to Candy.


Before I enter on the detail of the operations of the detachment, which
I had the honour to command on the expedition of 1804 against Candy, it
may be proper to explain the peculiar nature of Candian warfare, and to
describe the country and the character of the inhabitants, considered
with relation to military affairs; since to these circumstances may be
attributed, in a great measure, the want of success which in the
interior of Ceylon has too frequently attended the operations of the
regular troops of Europe against the undisciplined rabble by whom they
have been opposed.

Ceylon, situated at the entrance of the Bay of Bengal, is reckoned
about the size of Ireland. It consists of two great divisions; the one
possessed by Europeans, the other exclusively occupied by the natives,
and governed by the King of Candy. The part actually in possession of
the English encircles, like a belt, the territories subject to the
King of Candy, comprehending the whole coast of the island, in a
circumference which varies from ten to twenty and thirty miles in
breadth, its extent inland being regulated by the terms of various
treaties concluded between the King of Candy and the successive
European invaders of his territory, at the termination of their
different wars. The residence of the English is confined to the
principal settlements on the coast; the rest of their territory is
inhabited and cultivated partly by Cingalese, and partly by Malabars;
the former occupying the southern parts, and the latter the northern
coast, adjacent to the continent of India, from whence they gradually
migrated.

Our knowledge of the interior of Ceylon is still extremely imperfect.
The ruggedness of the country, and the insalubrity of the climate at
any distance from the coast, have hitherto prevented our obtaining an
accurate survey even of those parts in the interior under our own
immediate control. Of those in possession of the Candians, consisting
principally of steep and lofty mountains, in many places covered with
impenetrable forests, still less is known. Well aware that our
ignorance of their passes and defiles forms one of the best safeguards
of their independence, the rulers of the Candian nation take all
possible care to prevent our acquiring information on this subject.
They watch the ingress and egress of their territory with unremitting
vigilance. This is the less difficult, as the access is by paths along
which two men can seldom go abreast. In these paths gates are fixed,
and guards stationed, to prevent the entrance of strangers, and to
examine all passengers. Few Europeans, even in time of peace, venture
to approach these barriers; and the continued detention of Major Davie,
since the unfortunate fate of his detachment, notwithstanding the
unwearied exertions of Governor North and General Maitland to effect
his liberation, is an example of the extreme difficulty of escape.

It does not appear that the Portuguese and Dutch armies, which at
different times penetrated the interior, were accompanied by men of
science capable of taking topographical surveys of the country. Indeed,
the officers who commanded those armies do not seem to have attached so
much importance to this species of military knowledge as we now find it
to deserve. They have not left us any general description of the
country, nor even of those parts which were the scenes of their own
operations. The accounts which remain of their campaigns abound,
indeed, in details of battles and marches, describing the sufferings
and privations of their troops, but convey no topographical
information.

The government of Candy, like most Eastern governments, is purely
despotic. The standing army consists of a few hundred men, chiefly
mercenaries, who are generally stationed about the king's person. They
are armed with muskets, taken at different times, or purchased from
their European invaders. Although they possess little, if any, of what
is considered discipline in Europe, yet the Candians have acquired, in
their frequent conflicts with the Portuguese and Dutch, a considerable
knowledge and dexterity in that species of warfare which is best suited
to the nature of the country and the disposition of the inhabitants.
Conscious of their inability to resist the regular attack of European
troops, and aware of the advantages they possess in being familiar
with the country and inured to the climate, they avoid close combat,
preferring an irregular and desultory warfare. They harass the enemy
in his march, hanging on his flanks, cutting off his supplies,
interrupting the communication between his divisions, and occupying
the heights which command the passes, from whence they fire in perfect
security from behind rocks or trees. They aim principally at the
Coolies, who carry the ammunition and provisions, well knowing that,
without these, a regular force can make but little progress.

To dislodge them from these heights is a task of extreme difficulty, as
the paths leading to them are mostly on the opposite sides of the
mountains, and only known to the inhabitants.

They are accustomed to impede the march of hostile troops by felling,
and placing as abattis, large trees across the defiles. In narrow
passes, where they cannot be avoided, this contrivance presents a most
serious obstacle to the march of troops; for cutting up and removing a
large tree is not the business of a moment.

One of their maxims is, seldom to press closely an enemy marching into
their country; being certain that the diseases incident to Europeans in
that climate, and the want of provisions, will soon oblige him to fall
back; the farther he advances, the better he promotes their scheme of
defence, as they can thus throw more numerous impediments in the way of
his return. In the meantime, they are busily employed in blocking up
the roads through which they think it most probable that he will
attempt to retreat; when encumbered by a long train of sick and
wounded, exhausted by fatigue and want of provisions, and probably
destitute of ammunition (which frequently happens from desertion of the
Coolies), then it is, and then only, that they attack him, exerting all
their energies and skill to harass and cut off his retreat.

What makes the situation of the troops, under those circumstances,
still more distressing is, that every man who falls into the hands of
the enemy is certain of immediate death. Nor does this inhuman practice
arise from thirst of blood, or the gratification of revenge; it is a
consequence of the reward offered by the King of Candy for the heads of
his enemies, and of the desire of affording proofs of personal courage.

The Candians will even decapitate their own countrymen when killed in
action, and carry the heads to their chiefs, as belonging to the enemy,
in order to obtain this reward and distinction. I had frequent
opportunities of ascertaining this fact. On surprising their posts at
night, which we often effected without the loss of a man, and
afterwards passing over the ground, we invariably found their slain
without heads.

The nobles hold their lands by tenure of service, and are obliged, when
called upon, to join the king at the head of a third of their vassals,
should that number be required. This enables the king to dispense with
a large regular force, which would be burthensome to his finances, and
to bring into the field, on any emergency, a considerable portion of
the male population of his kingdom.

Each village has its chief, with several inferior officers, in
proportion to its size. The chief, on receiving an order from his
dessa, or lord, summons every third, fourth, or fifth man, according to
the nature of his instructions, and proceeds with his feudatory levies
to the place of rendez-vous. Each soldier is provided with a musket,
and carries with him fifteen days' provisions, and a small cooking
vessel. A few are armed with bows and arrows. A leaf of the talipot
tree, an extensive umbrella, serves to protect him from the heat of the
sun during the day, and two men, by placing the broad end of their
leaves together, may form a tent that will completely defend them
against the rains or dews, by night.

The provisions of the Candian are equally portable with his tent.
Although, in most parts of the continent of India, rice forms the
principal article of food amongst all ranks of natives, in Ceylon, and
particularly in the interior of the island, it is reserved for the
higher classes, and is a luxury of which the lowest order of the people
seldom partake. The chief food of the poorer sort is a grain that grows
on the hills, with little cultivation, and without watering. This,
together with a root dug from the bottom of the tanks, and a decoction
of the bark of a tree found in abundance in the forests, constitute
their principal means of support. Men accustomed to such diet cannot be
supposed to require many luxuries in the field. Two or three cocoa
nuts, a few cakes made of the grain I have just described, and a small
quantity of rice, compose the whole of the soldier's stock for the
campaign. His other wants he is certain of being always able to supply.

Thus equipped, the Candian soldier follows his chief, to whom he is
accustomed to pay the most implicit obedience. He crawls through the
paths in the woods, for the purpose of commanding the roads through
which the hostile troops must pass, or climbs the mountains, and places
himself behind a rock, or a tree, patiently to await the enemy's
approach. At the end of fifteen days he is relieved by a fresh
requisition from the village; and thus the army is constantly supplied
with fresh troops, totally unencumbered, the party relieved always
carrying home their sick and wounded companions. Another great
advantage attending this system of warfare is, that the soldier will
more cheerfully encounter fatigues and privations, which he knows are
to be of short continuance, and must terminate at a certain fixed
period. He is also supported by the hope of shortly returning to his
village, and recounting his exploits.

Such a system could only answer in a country like that which I have
been describing, where the theatre of war is almost always within
certain limits, so that whatever be the fortune of