Thirty years in Madagascar

by Thomas T. Matthews

The awful news reached the capital on the Tuesday afternoon. It was the evening of the Fàndròana, the annual festival of the Bath; but it was the saddest annual festival that had ever been held. General Duchesne and his staff were present, but it was more like a funeral feast than a festival. French troops were sent out west the following morning, and so the plot to massacre was frustrated.

Several members of the London Missionary Society mission had also very narrow escapes, myself, I believe, among the number. In the case of two members whose murder had been planned escape was due in one case to the absence of the proposed victim, through his being called to the capital; and in the case of the other, no one was courageous or cruel enough to make the attack. We did not know of all this until afterwards, and it was well we did not.

WILLIAM AND LUCY JOHNSON.

General Duchesne, having accomplished his mission in the island, in the performance of which he had gained a name among the natives, as well as the Europeans, for justice and humanity, returned to France. On January 17, 1896, M. Laroche arrived in Antanànarìvo as the first governor-general of the island. He remained in office only until September of the same year. He was a man of high principle, with a love of fairness and justice, not only to Europeans, but also to the natives, which amounted to a passion. He was full of generous impulses, devoid of all ostentation, and very courteous and gracious to Queen Rànavàlona.

The Malagasy remember M. Laroche with feelings of kindliness to the present day, and his name will ever be associated with the emancipation of the slaves, which he accomplished by a single coup d’état.

One of the most notable days in the history of Madagascar was Sunday, September 27, 1896, for on that day there appeared in the Journal Officiel the sudden and, by the natives, altogether unexpected announcement that tous les habitants de Madagascar sont personnes libres. Thus by a single stroke of the pen, as it were, the time-honoured but execrable institution of slavery, which had its roots so deeply implanted in the fabric of Malagasy social life, was razed to the ground. It was M. Laroche, who was then on the point of handing the reins of government to his successor, General Gallieni, who thus struck off the fetters from ten thousand slaves. It had of course been known to all the Europeans that, from the time the island became a French colony, slavery was doomed, as being altogether incompatible with the principles of a people whose national motto is Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

The news of the emancipation spread like wild-fire, and had the decree been published in less distracting times—before the people had been crushed and cowed—the excitement caused by it would probably have given rise to serious disturbances, possibly to bloodshed. As it was, it was received with sullen calm by the slave-owners, and with great rejoicing by the slaves. Some of the latter, it is said, claimed their freedom before their masters even knew of the proclamation of the edict of emancipation.

There was an attempt made to revoke the edict of emancipation of the slaves, but, as the highest judicial authority in the island stated that that could be done only by an act of the French Chambers, nothing came of the attempt. M. Laroche was a noble-minded Christian gentleman, and had he been left long enough there, and his instructions carried out, he probably would have been able to reconcile the Malagasy to the French rule and régime, and thus 10,000 lives sacrificed during the rising would have been saved. For he soon gained the confidence of all, from the queen to the slave, and materially raised the opinion of French officials among all and sundry.

M. Laroche laboured under the disadvantage in the eyes of his countrymen of being a Protestant, and a convert from Roman Catholicism. Even before he left Paris his enemies were at work for his ruin. The army was then under the influence of the Jesuits, a section of the Paris press took the same side, the French-Creole colonists also took up an attitude of hostility towards him. His downfall was thus only a matter of time. To add to his other offences he was accused of being ‘in the pay of Lord Salisbury’! This was regarded as sufficiently proved by some, by his friendly attitude towards the British, and especially British missionaries. It was noted that he did not lift his hat every time he passed the tricolour, and that he attended the French Protestant service, held in a schoolroom lent by the British. He was known to be making efforts to learn the language of the niggers. The fact was he could not trust the so-called interpreters.