Thirty years in Madagascar

by Thomas T. Matthews

The Malagasy government sent an embassy to France in 1882, to see if the difficulties between the two governments could not be amicably arranged. The embassy afterwards visited England and America, but without being able to attain their end. In 1883, because the Malagasy government would not yield to certain demands made by the French, war broke out. Without any warning the ports on the north-west coast were bombarded, and the town of Mojangà was occupied. Soon after Tàmatàve, the port of Madagascar on the north-east coast, was taken, or rather was abandoned by the Hovas, and thereafter occupied by the French. A fortified camp at Fàrafàtana, a few miles to the west of Tàmatàve, was formed by the Hova troops, and although Tàmatàve was held by the French for nearly three years—mainly by means of their warships—and the camp at Fàrafàtana was within reach of their guns, and was constantly shelled by them, and several attempts were made to carry it, yet the Hovas held it to the end of the war. This was almost entirely through the ability, energy, and determination of the late Governor of Tàmatàve, who was shot for his pains in 1896.

When the French sent up their ultimatum to the Malagasy government all French subjects, of course, received notice that they must leave the island. The Jesuits, Sisters, and French and French-Creole traders had a fortnight given them in which to prepare to leave for the coast. The British subjects in Antanànarìvo formed themselves into a committee of public safety; not that we were in any real danger, but rather that we might act in unison. The prime minister sent for us, and advised us not to go far into the country, as the people were very much exasperated by the action of the French, and the vast majority of those in the country districts were ignorant of the distinctions between French and British. We were all white men to them: mistakes might be made. As a matter of fact some were made, and others only just prevented. Some members of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Mission were mistaken for Jesuits, and were consequently hustled about before the mob could be made to understand that they were British and not French priests.

On the day on which the Jesuits and Sisters had to leave the capital they started to walk to Tàmatàve, carrying their things in small bundles; but since to attempt to walk would have been perfectly suicidal, we doubted if they ever meant to do it; we fancied it was only a sensational display on their part. We were holding a meeting of the committee of public safety when the news was brought to us that they were starting, and we immediately sent our officials to see them, and discover if they had the means to pay for porters or if it was that they could not hire them. If they had the means, but could not get the men, our officials were commissioned to procure them, and if they had not the means, and could not hope to have, when they reached the coast, they were to find porters for them, and we would be responsible for their wages, as we could not allow European ladies to virtually commit suicide by walking to the coast, simply because they had not money to pay for palanquin-bearers.

When our representatives reached them they found that the queen and prime minister had heard how they intended to go, and had sent them palanquins and bearers from the palace, together with a captain and 150 soldiers, who were instructed to protect them, and obtain suitable food and shelter for them on their journey. They would all have received short shrift at the hands of some of the old heathen Hova officers if they could have had their will. The old heathen party were vexed at the kindness of the queen and prime minister towards the French subjects, especially towards the Jesuits. If they had had their way, as happily they had not, there would have been no exodus of French subjects.

Knowing what we do now, from the public boast of the Jesuits themselves, that ‘they gained Madagascar for France, and for this ought to have a free hand’; remembering also that these officers were heathens at heart, and that they had only too good reasons for suspecting the Jesuits of playing false, it is not to be wondered at if they wished to follow the old heathen method of dealing with such deceivers; but the queen and the prime minister were wisely advised to act as they did. The policy which the heathen officers wished to follow would have belied the Christian profession of the queen and government, and played into the hands of their enemies, who wished to provoke them to acts which would prove them the barbarians they maintained they were. As the lives of Europeans were respected and their treatment was in every way worthy of a civilized and Christian government the conduct of the Malagasy officials contrasted favourably with that of their antagonists. The French government of that day may have been very much deceived—indeed I am sure they were, and had their hand forced—in many ways; but some thought they were not over anxious to know the truth. The Jesuits and Sisters were ultimately sent to the nearest French colony, Réunion, in a man-of-war, and had to remain there to the end of the war.

To add to the embarrassment of the situation the queen, Rànavàlona II, the first Christian Queen of Madagascar, after an illness of some months’ duration, died on the morning of Friday, July 13, 1883. This event, so shortly after the commencement of the war, seemed as if it might prove another blow to the progress of Christianity; but it did not. We had heard that Her Majesty was ill, but were startled that Friday forenoon by the firing of the guns in and around the palace yard; and by seeing the people rushing from the weekly market, the women taking down their hair as they ran—the Malagasy sign of mourning on the part of the women. All were rushing home to hide or to protect their property, as they feared there might be a ‘rising’; but the new queen was immediately proclaimed, and all passed off quietly. Rànavàlona II was born in the year 1829, and ascended the throne on April 2, 1868.

The new queen was proclaimed on the forenoon of the day on which her aunt died. She had been known as Razàfindràhèty, but assumed the name of Rànavàlona III. She was born on November 22, 1861, and was baptized at Ambòhimànga on April 5, 1874. She received the elements of her education in a village school in a country district from one of the London Missionary Society teachers. She afterwards became a scholar in the Congregational school of Ambàtonakànga, the city church of which her father and mother became members. She was for some time in the Friends’ High School for Girls, taught by Miss Helen Gilpin, and afterwards for some years was a scholar in the London Missionary Society Girls’ Central School, taught by Miss M. T. Bliss. She was a member of the palace church. She had been married for some time to a relative of the queen, called Ratrìmoàrivòny, who died in the early part of May, 1883. Her accession gave great joy to the Christian portion of the community.

At her coronation on November 22, on the great plain of Imàhamàsina—the Champ-de-Mars of Antanànarìvo, where in former times proclamations against Christianity had often been made—her throne was set up. It was covered by the memorable canopy under which her aunt had been crowned in 1868, with the words: ‘God with us,’ ‘Glory to God,’ ‘Peace on earth,’ ‘Good will to men,’ round the cornice. On her right was a small table on which lay a large Bible. In the first paragraph of her speech she acknowledged that God had given her the kingdom. In the second she said that she hoped the blessing of God might rest upon her people. In the fourth she said: ‘My desire from God is to benefit you ... and govern you in righteousness.’ Again she explicitly declared that she placed her kingdom under the protection of God: ‘For I know,’ she said, ‘that the kingdom which is governed in dependence upon God is strong and progressive.’ ... ‘Remember,’ she added, ‘that it is righteousness alone that exalteth a nation.’ ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ She concluded by saying: ‘Whoever forsakes the path of righteousness walks in darkness[32].’

In 1883 I thoroughly revised my translation of the shorter Catechism with proofs, and reissued it at a penny per copy. Some 16,000 copies have been sold. It was taught in the London Missionary Society normal and high schools in the capital, while latterly in the French normal and high schools, and in the local preachers’ and teachers’ classes of the Bètsilèo Mission it has also been taught.