We Europeans, shut up in our house, saw very little of these scenes, with the exception of Mr. Laborde, who, thanks to his great popularity, could still venture abroad to pursue his usual avocations. Full of anxious expectation, we awaited his return; he came home pale and excited, and told us that the present kabar was the most cruel and disastrous that had been held since his arrival at Tananariva. The majority of the inhabitants—men, women, and children—had been assembled in the great square, and there waited in trembling fear to hear the royal will, which one of the officials announced in a loud voice.
The kabar was as follows: The queen had long suspected that there were many Christians among her people. Within the last few days she had become certain of the fact, and had heard with horror that several thousands of this sect dwelt in and around Tananariva. Every one knew how much she hated and detested this sect, and how strictly she had forbidden the practice of their religion. As her commands were so little regarded, she should use every effort to discover the guilty, and should punish them with the greatest severity. The duration of the kabar was fixed for fifteen days, and it was announced to the people, in conclusion, that those who gave themselves up during that period should have their lives spared, but that all who were denounced by others might be prepared to die a terrible death.
I can hardly believe that, after the experience the people had had this very year, any of them will voluntarily surrender. My readers will recollect a similar case I mentioned among the cruelties of the queen, in which the unhappy culprits who confessed their crime had their lives spared, according to the letter of the promise, but were fettered heavily and perished miserably; and then the accusation was only one of sorcery, theft, violation of graves, and other crimes, which are in the queen’s eyes of far less consequence than that of conversion to the Christian faith. The followers of the Christian religion might expect to have far worse tortures practiced on them.
Who would believe that the traitor, the denouncer of the Christians, was a Christian himself, and half a priest into the bargain, whom the English missionaries had honored with the title “Reverendissimus!” The name of this miserable creature is Ratsimandisa. He belongs to the race of the Hovas, and is a native of Tananariva, and has had a semi-European education, which unfortunately had no effect in ennobling his mind or his heart. In order to win the favor of the queen, and hoping to obtain a great reward, he declared that he only pretended to adopt the Christian religion with the view of getting a knowledge of all the Christians, and thus giving the queen an opportunity of annihilating them at one blow. He had really made out a complete register of the names of Christians residing in Tananariva. Fortunately, it did not occur to him to request an audience of the queen, and to give this register into her own hands. He gave it to one of the ministers who belonged to Prince Rakoto’s party, and was one of the prince’s most faithful followers. This man would not deliver a document of such importance to the queen without first telling the prince of the circumstance. No sooner had the latter read the document than he tore it in pieces, and announced that any one who dared to make out a second list, or even to accept one with the intention of laying it before the government, should be immediately put to death. This action certainly saved the lives of some thousands of Christians; they gained time, and had an opportunity of escaping, of which the majority have availed themselves. But in the wild, inhospitable forests, where alone they can hide themselves, without a roof to shelter them, without food to eat, how many of these poor people must fall victims to hunger and misery!
To increase their misfortune, an English missionary, Mr. Lebrun, had come from the Mauritius to Tamatavé for a few days, shortly before Ratsimandisa’s treason, and had written letters from Tamatavé to several Christians in Tananariva, exhorting them to be firm in their faith, and seeking to strengthen their courage with the assurance that the day of persecution would not last much longer, and that better times would soon come for them. The poorer among them also received promises of aid, and some money was, it is said, distributed among them. Unhappily, a few of these letters fell into the hands of the government, and others were found during the search instituted in the houses of those suspected of Christianity; and as the names of several Christians were mentioned in these letters, to whom the missionary sent messages or greeting through the recipients, these at least could be seized. The unhappy people were tortured in all kinds of ways, like the Protestants of Spain in the days of the Inquisition, to induce them to give up the names of the Christians they knew, and the government succeeded in capturing a tolerable number in the first few days.
July 4. Mr. Lambert had a relapse of the fever, and, indeed, such a severe one that we are very anxious about his life. My health, too, is not satisfactory. I have not such violent attacks of the fever as those from which Mr. Lambert suffers, but I can not get rid of the disease, and my strength becomes less from day to day.
July 6. More than two hundred Christians are said to have been either denounced or discovered in the few days that have elapsed since the kabar was announced. They are being sought for every where. Every house is entered—every one suspected of Christianity, be it man, woman, or child, is seized by the soldiers, and dragged to one of the prisons.
Unless the fall of the government be speedily brought about, and this Megæra deprived of her power before the expiration of the fifteen days fixed as the duration of the kabar, there will be horrible deeds and executions here. In spite of all the untoward events that have happened, Messrs. Lambert and Laborde do not appear to have given up all hope, and consider the contemplated coup d’état as still practicable. I hope with all my heart it may be so—less, I can solemnly assert, because my own life is involved in the question, than for the sake of my numerous brethren in the faith, and for the whole people, who would awake to a new life under the mild rule of Prince Rakoto. But, alas! I can not participate in the hopes of my companions. As things now stand, I can not see the slightest prospect of success. The commander-in-chief of the army is not to be induced to act; and it is probable that he never intended to fulfill his promise of opening the gates of the palace to the conspirators. The party against Prince Rakoto gains strength every day, and there is not the slightest chance of a popular revolution. The poor natives of Madagascar have been too much oppressed, and are too submissive for that. They have such a wholesome terror of the power of the queen, and the influence of the nobles and the military, that it would be useless to try to persuade them to undertake any thing against the existing powers.
July 7. The queen has been told that Mr. Lambert has had a dangerous relapse of the fever, and she sends confidential officers five or six times in the day—different envoys each time—to ask after his health. The officers always ask to be taken into his room, and to see him; probably they have been commissioned to find out if his illness is real or simulated. How the queen would rejoice at Mr. Lambert’s death!
For the last three days Prince Rakoto has not been to see us; for his mother, the queen, treats him almost as a prisoner. She will not let him quit her side, alleging that she is in great danger and needs his protection. Through this really politic course of action she gains the twofold object of making her son appear, on the one hand, as a non-participator in the conspiracy, and of taking from him, on the other, all opportunity of entering into communication with his confederates, who might, perhaps, induce him to strike a decisive blow. She has taken farther precautions. The palace has been surrounded with treble the usual number of guards. No one is allowed to pass near it, and only those are admitted into the interior of whose fidelity and loyalty the queen feels quite assured.