M. Lambert having made the necessary arrangements in Paris, and being favoured with two audiences by the Emperor of the French, proceeded to Madagascar, and, having called at the Cape of Good Hope en route, he there met with Madame Ida Pfeiffer. The Frenchman, charmed with the enterprise of this aged lady, offered his services as knight-errant on the occasion; and Madame, nothing loth, accepted his offers to escort her to Antananarivo. Arrived at Mauritius, where they had to await the return of the healthy season, the knight-errant recollected that he was charged, among numerous other things, with a pianoforte for the Queen of Madagascar; and not being a musician, he bethought him to make Madame Pfeiffer useful; and accordingly suggested to her the necessity of her learning the pianoforte, in order to play it before the Queen of Madagascar. The aged Ida acquiesced immediately, and made herself mistress of the instrument before she left Mauritius.
At Mozambique I learned of this intended expedition of M. Lambert, and the large amount of presents which he was taking up with him. On inquiry I found that Minon, Lambert, & Co., were a very young firm at Mauritius—the former gentleman having been a clerk in a bank at Paris, and the latter a civil engineer there, a short time before they made their appearance at Mauritius. The amount of the presents was stated to be 2,000l.; and as I knew that this was a sum which a young firm could not well afford to give away, I might very fairly surmise that the funds came from Paris; while the munificence of the gifts gave them an imperial aspect.
At the same time that M. Lambert was to arrive at Antananarivo, Père Jean, Préfet Apostolique of Madagascar, and the head of the Jesuit Mission in that island and its neighbourhood, would visit that capital, disguised as a trader.
In Dalrymple Bay M. Lambert had a vessel anchored, by which the Hova chiefs, whose aid he expected, might escape to the neighbouring island of Mohilla, in the event of failure; and, in fact, every precaution was taken to secure success in the contemplated expedition which was to give Madagascar to France at last.
Being apprized of the whole of the above circumstances, I sent several letters from Mozambique to Madame Ida Pfeiffer, in the hope that she would be warned in time, and not take part in such an enterprise, as it was well known in Madagascar that this travelling lady was going to visit the island from England.
In the healthy season of 1857, M. Lambert, accompanied by Madame Ida Pfeiffer, arrived at Antananarivo, where he was met by Père Jean, who was disguised as a trader: “the end justifies the means.”
M. Lambert was welcomed by his countryman, M. Laborde, master of the ceremonies at Antananarivo, late slave-dealer, and, by repute, if possible something worse.
M. Lambert took up a great number of presents, consisting of horses, camels, musical instruments, &c. He was treated with great hospitality and attention by all parties. Meanwhile the priest, the slave-dealer, and the ambassador (?) worked hard in their projected scheme; and, in the course of a fortnight or so, these three worthies had proposed to a number of the chief people “to put the Queen Ranavola aside, and place another ruler on the throne, allowing the Queen a pension—to form a treaty of alliance between the French and the Prince whom they should put on the throne—to establish the Roman Catholic religion as the only religion to be allowed in Madagascar—and to abolish domestic slavery, &c.”
The conspirators rejoiced, for the time of putting the plot into execution arrived.