Art. IX. —On the Form of Government under the Native Sovereigns of Ceylon
There being unquestionable historical facts and monumental ruins to testify to a considerable amount of civilization amongst the Sinhalese at an early period of their history, it may not unreasonably be supposed that they had a code of written laws, and a regular Government with a suitable executive. This cannot well be doubted, since it appears that law itself formed, in ancient times, a subject of study in the island. No regular records of these things, however, have come down to us, owing, in all probability, to the wanton destruction of literary records and libraries during the several invasions from the continent of India. Sinhalese historians with one voice deplore the devastations committed by the Cholas about the commencement of the thirteenth century, when the island suffered irreparable losses, both in a literary and political point of view, from the Saracenic fury of the invaders.