Fragile Identities: The Colonial Consequences of CJR Le Mesurier in Ceylon

In the colonial narrative there are conforming types that constantly recur to the point of parody. In the colonial narrative there are conforming types that constantly recur to the point of parody. As places of periphery, colonies attracted the existentially displaced and those attempting to remake themselves, what Talleyrand called "restless men who need projects and unfortunate men who need hope".²

Most fought encroachment by the Other. Some embraced it with enthusiasm or bent to the opportunities afforded, inviting retributive reaction from the prevailing imperial norm. This shifting sense of self, of fragile identity, often provided tableaux more revealing than ever intended, disclosing dramas of hyperbole and grandiosity as inflated as the colonial impulse itself.

Whatever the personal performance, though, enactment was choreographed within imperial parameters of ideology and policy, some explicit, most implicit and unvoiced. Assumptions of race and religion, and marriage and morality are recurring colonial emphases as are the significant ideological and legal justifications of land policy at the heart of colonial acquisition.

The multilayered life of Cecil Le Mesurier touches on a startling array of these colonial themes, none more significant than in the area of land policy and the ideological and legal justifications that sustained its pursuit, assumptions derived from the North American experience and elaborated elsewhere, not only in Ceylon but particularly in Australia. His land dealings and subsequent litigious machinations eloquently encapsulated the evolving assumptions of this core colonial preoccupation. Le Mesurier's exaggerated effrontery was handled starkly by the authorities.

Dismissal

In January 1896 the Acting Governor of Ceylon Sir Edward Noel Walker wrote to the Assistant Government Agent and District Judge at Matara on Ceylon's south coast, Cecil Le Mesurier, ordering his dismissal. His offence was apparently simple - Mr Le Mesurier had converted to the Mohammedan faith and married.

At first sight it would appear all the late nineteenth century articles of racist and religious intolerance had been brought to bear, the transgression of boundaries that would form the basis of a 'scandal' meriting dismissal. Deciphering such a narrative is often made clearer if the thoughts concealed in secret dossiers are revealed to the present, for few files lie within the embargo of "Secret and Confidential" unless considered extremely sensitive or likely to embarrass.

Le Mesurier entered the cloisters of secrecy when he wrote to the Secretary of State for Colonies protesting his dismissal, backed up by the dreaded 'questions in the House'. He obviously had friends and some influence. He had also written to his "Dear Brother", the Mohammedan member of the Legislative Council, Abdul Rahiman,³ an early Ceylonese nationalist, seeking his support and calling his dismissal "an attempt by Christians to dishonour the faith of Islam".⁴ He signed with his new name Abdul Hamil.

Though he had offered initial support, as the controversy erupted Abdul Rahiman wilted and turned his correspondence over to the Governor. He now wanted it known that Le Mesurier was dismissed "not for changing faith but of his own misconduct". He hoped the Governor would "give an elaborate reply" in the Legislative Council, because the "bulk" of the island's Muslims are "unpolished and fond of talking idle talk".⁵

Rahiman's obsequious attempt to ingratiate himself⁶ - on one occasion he asks the Governor "to pardon one for disturbing your valuable time in such a worthless gnat"⁷ (sic) - shows all too often the underside of colonial relations despite public adherence to 'nationalist' ideals. He was, after all, an appointed, not an elected member of the Legislative Council and thus reliant on the continuing good favour of the Governor, and the Governor was happy to protect his informant by classifying his disclosures as 'secret'.

The sequence of events leading up to Le Mesurier's dismissal lie in his conduct as a public servant where he had become a thorn in the side of government in a manner that was to leave some peculiar and lasting impressions on law and governance in Ceylon.

Cecil John Reginald Le Mesurier was conceived in exaggeration and delivered into the world at Cephalonia in the Ionian Islands in 1855 to the "Greek...