THE ‘OBSERVER’ VS THE GOVERNOR

by ECB Wijeyesinghe

If dates have any meaning to people other than high class lawyers and low class Arabs who thrive on them, then it is well to remember February the Fourth.

Two good reasons for celebration are fairly well-known. It is Independence Day and also the day on which Mr.J.R.Jayewardene will ascend the gadi under the new Constitution which promises fair play to all citizens. Amid the tumult and the shouting that will accompany such joyful events it must not be forgotten that it is also the birthday of perhaps the oldest English Newspaper in the East, “The Ceylon Observer.”

By a happy coincidence the original motto of the paper, “Fiat justitia,” was also very similar to the appeal of our Prime Minister for what is known as a “dharmista” society. The only difference is that the P.M. went to the Pali language for the right word, while the “Observer” chose the Latin tag “Fiat justitia.” This of course, has no connection with “Upali Fiat,” which is a motor car, not a motto.

LUCKY DATE

That the Fourth of February is a lucky date can be gauged from the fact that on that day in 1834 was born the first free newspaper that has managed to survive the vicissitudes of 143 years and the , idiosyncrasies of nearly a score of editors, some of whom I have known fairly intimately.

Although the “Observer” was started by a group of rich merchants in Colombo, led by E.J. Darley, the name of whose firm is still a household word in business circles, the first editor was an English planter named Winter, one of the Winters whose experiments with sugar made Baddegama famous, but left a bad taste in the mouth of the Government.

At this point it may be useful to mention that in 1833, the British Government had just reluctantly established the Legislative Council. The same year the foundation of the Colombo breakwater had been laid, and the Supreme Court was reestablished with that distinguished jurist, Sir Charles Marshall, as Chief Justice.

MASTER’S VOICE

What the Government needed badly was an organ, not the musical or any other variety, but a voice which like that of the Biblical turtle, could be heard throughout the land. So it started a paper called “The Colombo Journal” manned entirely by bureaucrats. There was hardly any difference between the Government servant of 1832 and 1932 or, for that matter of 1977. They produced the world’s dullest newspaper, despite the fact that the editors, subeditors, feature writers and reporters were all learned men with high or low degrees acquired from different British universities.

Their job was to extol the bureaucracy at every turn. “D.E.M. O’Cracy” was still in the womb of time, and the shape of other things to come assuming ugly outlines. One thing must be said of the British merchants of the period. They felt that their tails were being twisted to the point of exasperation. All British lions are not like those you find in Trafalgar Square who take things lying down and do not care a two-penny damn for what happens in Piccadilly Circus.

The British merchants – E.J. Darley, G. Ackland and G. Boyd –were roused to action and started the Colombo “Observer” in opposition to the “Colombo Journal” of the Government. They chose Winter to express their indignation and to send it down the Governor’s throat with the help of a spoonful of sugar. So well did Winter do his job as editor that within a few months he was tried for criminal libel.

Winter was acquitted but he retired hurt from journalism after a very brief innings and went to Baddegama where he belonged, to spend the remainder of his life nursing a divine discontent. Winter was succeeded by Dr. Christopher Elliot, an Irishman better known to this generation as the grandfather of the eminent lawyer, C. Brooke Elliot, K.C.

On Tuesday, February 4, 1834, Dr. Elliot brought out the first copy of “The Observer and Commercial Advertiser” a title which has since been abbreviated to “The Ceylon Observer,” and continues to flourish as such to the present day.

To put it mildly, Dr. Elliot made things hot for the Government. So lively were his diatribes that as official temperatures rose, Dr. Elliot rapidly became the most popular champion of the underdogs who were then ironically enough the merchants and planters. He became a power in the Island. The Government did not consider it safe to try him before a Judge and Jury, because the juries could not be trusted to convict a hero. In those days District Courts were not authorized to try cases of criminal libel.

HORTON’S ORGAN

Meanwhile, to counter the “Observer’s” attacks, the Government of Sir Robert Wilmot Horton started another paper called the “Ceylon Chronicle.” To ginger up the journalistic comedy, George Lee, the amiable Post-Master General was appointed Editor, but Governor Horton himself, when he was not looking after his beautiful wife, lent a hand to the Editorial Department.

Horton and other high officials made interesting contributions, but the articles often missed the target in spite of the fact that they were all written by a special squad of snipers in Government Departments. One of the principal feature writers of the “Chronicle” was Auditor-General Marshall, whose nickname was “Iniquity Marshall.” For some obscure reason, his iniquities have never been disclosed.

Another pillar of the Government Press was the Auditor-General’s brother, Mr. Justice Marshall, who was popularly known as “Equity” Marshall, to prevent any confusion between himself and his brother. Hence with “Equity” on one side and “Iniquity” on the other and with a bundle of other bureaucratic antiquities to help Horton, the battle of wits ranged over a wide field. The “Chroniclers”, however, were no match for the “Observers” led by Dr. Elliot, a veritable journalistic Jeff Thomson whose fiery onslaughts uprooted the Government stumps times without number.

UNCHANGED

It is a curious thing that human nature has changed very little over the years, and the frothy effusions of highly-placed public servants even then did not carry much weight. The reading public developed an allergy towards them and the “Ceylon Chronicle” sank beneath a wave of popular derision.

But the Governor did one clever thing. He stifled Dr. Elliot who was by now getting fed up with printers’ ink, by offering him the top job in the new Medical Department. Dr. Elliot accepted. He became the first P.C.M.O (Principal Chief Medical Officer). and gave over the reins of the “Observer” to A.M. Ferguson who started a new and distinguished dynasty of newspapermen. The Fergusons dominated public opinion in Ceylon for well nigh 60 years.

WINNER

In 1923, D.R. Wijewardene bought the “Observer” from a European syndicate to whom the Fergusons had sold it. Some of us, at about this time, came in with the conqueror from Sedawatte to settle down more or less permanently on the banks of the Beira. Most people at that time thought it was going to be the end of the “Observer” and admirers of the paper murmured: “Sic transit gloria mundi.” But they reckoned without Wijewardene and his able aides-de-camp, Herbert Hulugalle and Hilaire Donald Jansz, who kept alive the torch handed over by the Fergusons.

Wijewardene gambled with the “Observer” — and won.

(From Men and Memories an anthology of articles by ECB Wijeyesinghe first published in 1977)