GATHERING CLOUDS
‘The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’--HABAKKUK ii. 14.
An embassy was sent by the British government to Madagascar in the
summer of 1880. The late Admiral Gore-Jones and his staff went up to
the capital and spent some time there in interviewing the queen and
prime minister and in interchanging courtesies. Ostensibly his mission
was to remonstrate about the slave trade on the west coast, to offer
assistance in putting it down, even to the carrying of Hova troops to
be placed at stations along the coast. Some suspected at the time that
that was but a blind, and that the admiral had a secret mission; and it
has been asserted by those who profess to know that he was sent out to
feel the pulse of the Madagascar government, and find out not merely
whether any wish for a British protectorate existed, but to definitely
offer one if there were any likelihood of its being accepted.
There can be little doubt now that the interpreter was even then
a traitor in the pay of the enemy, and he interpreted nothing of
importance communicated to the prime minister. The Jesuits boasted
after the war that they won Madagascar for France, and, however
foolish in their own interests with the people such a statement made
publicly may be, it was generally believed that for once they had told
the truth. They had had a grant of 15,000 f. a year for many years
(previously, I believe, it was very much larger), which was greatly
increased after the war, and they earned their wages by their political
intriguing.
An agent and protégé of theirs had long been at work in the palace.
He received a handsome salary which he also had infamously earned;
for he succeeded in seducing some of the chief officials from their
allegiance, forming a party in the very cabinet itself, by whom the
country was sold, and the people who trusted them basely betrayed.
Hence the poor show the Malagasy made in fighting for their fatherland,
until they found that they had been betrayed, and then they rose in
rebellion against the French rule when it was too late. Madagascar and
its people were betrayed, sold, bought, and paid for, and then the
chief intriguer, who was also one of the arch-traitors, when he had
done his infamous work was flung aside, while it is said that the other
arch-traitor and some of his confederates had to pay large sums for
their worthless lives.
We returned to Madagascar in 1882, but not to our old station, which
had been filled up. There was, however, need for some one to take
charge of the city church of Ambàtonakànga and the large country
district during the furlough of its missionary, and after the way that
we had both suffered from fever in Vònizòngo the Directors thought
that it would be wiser for us to be in the capital for the first two
years to become reacclimatized. The missionary did not return after his
furlough, and we were accordingly appointed to take permanent charge
of the city church and country district of A-kànga[31], and remained
in charge of it for twenty years.
[Illustration: MEMORIAL CHURCH, AMBATONAKANGA.
INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH.]
The interest created in our work, deepened by the many services I had
conducted and by my pamphlet, took a very practical form; for the
ladies of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches in Aberdeen sent
us four boxes of remnants, patches, sewing-material, and some good
cast-off clothing, all of which were of the greatest service to us; for
by means of these my wife, assisted by six Malagasy sewing-mistresses,
held, for six years, sewing-classes in connexion with the city
Congregational school and the village schools for some 700 girls. By
that means an immense service was done to the girls in the village
schools, such as we could never have done for them had it not been for
the efforts of these good and warm-hearted friends. Even such a good
work had some drawbacks, however; for as it could not always be carried
on some felt aggrieved, and when my wife and daughter came out in 1894,
as that work could not be taken up to the same extent, many thought
that they were being defrauded of their rights.
It was by no wish of our own that we went to the capital; for we had
never taken to it, or to the spirit that then reigned in it and its
churches, and we wanted to return to our old station, where we had
spent so many useful years. We afterwards found, however, that God had
work for us to do at A-kànga and in the district, although certainly
not _all_ of it work which we would have taken up by choice, and
that the Directors had been wisely guided in placing us there. We
found the work at the capital somewhat different from Vònizòngo, and
the state of affairs at A-kànga very different from that of our old
station. Some of the mischief at A-kànga we found to be the outcome of
causes over most of which my predecessor had had little or no control,
as they had been at work years before he went there.
The church at A-kànga had been formed by a nucleus of good people,
some of whom had suffered for their faith during the ‘killing times,’
and the late Rev. William Ellis was the first to take charge of it.
A number of officers, judges, and palace officials afterwards joined
it, few of whom were ever any help or credit to it. When the palace
church was formed many of them left and joined it. By the time of our
settlement most of those who first formed the church had passed away,
and, although there was still a nucleus of good people, they were
greatly in the minority, while they occupied a lower social position
than the majority of the so-called members and adherents. Most of these
were very haughty, conceited, and self-righteous, and as destitute
of real religion as the stone pillars of the church wherein they
worshipped.
The senior pastor was in keeping with this part of his flock; he was
the judge already mentioned who stole the ox which our people at
Fìhàonana had provided for the queen’s messengers and the others who
came to the opening services of the church. He had entered into the
joint pastorate in the time of Mr. Ellis, whose successor had skilfully
shelved him; but he had joined it again during the time of my immediate
predecessor. There was much therefore that was most unsatisfactory in
the mother-church and the country district when we took charge in 1882.
Mr. Ellis, like other good men, often made the mistake of taking the
Malagasy for their own profession, and at their own valuation, with the
result that he was imposed upon and deceived, and by none more than by
the relations or professed relations of the martyrs, towards whom his
heart was very warm. It is better to be sometimes cheated than never to
trust, but if a man trusts every one he will be certain to trust mere
pretenders and in the end be deceived as Mr. Ellis was.
Appointed _locum tenens_ to the A-kànga church, I entered like a
stepfather into a spoiled and badly brought-up family. While merely
_locum tenens_ I could do but little to improve the state of
affairs, although we were able to do something.
The state in which we found the A-kànga mother-church arose perhaps
somewhat from the fact that there had been for some time a great deal
of friction between my predecessor and it, from a cause as creditable
to him as it was disgraceful to the church. One morning on his way
from his house to the city he came upon a poor slave woman in chains,
sitting crying by the roadside (a most unusual sight--I never saw such
a one), and as the chains had broken the skin of her neck and ankles
they were bleeding, and she was besmeared with blood. He was so touched
and exasperated by the sight that he returned home, and at once wrote
to the queen telling her of what he had seen. Her Majesty sent and had
the woman brought into her presence, and she was so touched, shocked,
and angered by the sight of the poor creature, besmeared with her own
blood, that she ordered the chains to be taken off at once and put upon
her owner!
A most drastic proclamation was drawn up there and then on the subject
of the treatment of slaves, and even printed at the government press;
but what its tenor was we never knew, as it was suppressed; for after
the queen had cooled down the prime minister and cabinet represented
to her that to put the woman’s master in chains, and to issue the
proclamation, would cause a revolution, and might cost her not only her
crown but her life, and theirs also, as the people were not ripe for
such drastic measures. On their knees they pleaded with her to revoke
the proclamation, which she wisely did.
There was great excitement over the affair, during which my predecessor
found out that the heartless owner of the slave was a member of the
A-kànga church. He at once brought the matter before a church meeting,
representing that a man who would treat any human being, especially
a woman, in that manner was unfit to be a member of the church. To
his astonishment and disgust the meeting sided with the slave owner
almost to a man (as of course all the other slave owners had made a
point of being present), and from that time my unfortunate predecessor
was opposed and thwarted by the semi-heathen portion on almost every
possible occasion.
The missionary then volunteered to take a journey along the east and
north-east coast, on behalf of the native missionary association
of the ‘Union,’ to visit their stations and five evangelists. This
journey, I believe, ultimately cost him his life; for he returned from
it so filled with malarial poison that he was very ill for months--in
fact, his life hung on a thread for weeks--and, although he recovered
then, he was never again the same man, and he died some six years
afterwards. His authority having been weakened by the opposition of
the slave owners and other worthless members of the church, his long
absence owing to his journey and subsequent illness, during which the
church had been left very much to itself (which no church could then be
without getting into an unsatisfactory state), were both causes of the
condition in which we found it. It did not reach a satisfactory state
until the old church was broken up and a new one formed.
Once, while on a visit to the capital from Vònizòngo, I had expressed
my astonishment that there were no Congregational Sabbath schools.
I was at once told that such an idea showed plainly that I was a
_country_ brother; for if I knew anything about work in the
capital, I should know that Sunday schools could not be held there.
I did not accept that statement as correct. A general Sabbath school
for the children of the capital had been opened in the Friends’ high
school-house about 1877, but what was _one_ in a city of 80,000
inhabitants?
We had reached Antanànarìvo on our return from our first furlough
in August, 1882, and on the first Sabbath of October I appealed to
the church to help me to begin and carry on a Congregational Sabbath
school, and asked for volunteer teachers from among the young men
and women. Thirty-six volunteered, some from very mixed motives and
mistaken ideas. For a year afterwards some of them asked me when I
intended paying them for their teaching. I replied that I would pay
them as soon as ever they were out of debt to the Almighty for food and
raiment, health, strength, Gospel privileges, redemption, and freedom
to worship Him. I heard no more about remuneration for Sabbath-school
teaching.
We gathered a Sabbath school of two hundred which, although the numbers
were allowed to fall while we were away on our second furlough in
1890–2, has kept up well ever since, and done much good work. The old
deacons, however, regarded it as a new-fangled idea of mine and of
the young folks, and would have nothing to do with it. They told me
that my predecessors had had no such notions, and asked why I could not
be content to follow in their footsteps. I pointed out that the time
might not have been ripe for Sabbath schools in their days, and asked
them what they would think of a mother who threw her children into the
street instead of nursing them. But it was of no use; they were so
firmly opposed to the introduction of Sabbath schools that they would
hear nothing in their favour.
A few weeks after we had begun one of the brethren, passing home from
church one Sabbath, saw our church-door open (after canonical hours),
and came in to see the cause. He found the Sabbath school at work, and
asked what was the meaning of the gathering of children. When I told
him he seemed a good deal astonished, and what he saw and heard led
him to bring the subject of a Congregational Sabbath school before
his mother-church, the result being that they too set one going. The
superintendent of the London Missionary Society press, who had charge
of an important suburban church, hearing of our venture at A-kànga,
began a Sabbath school next, and so one city church after another
followed our leading--although some were two years before they did
so--until all had Congregational Sabbath schools. The movement spread
into the country districts, and for many years now all the most
important districts have had Sabbath schools connected with their
village churches. Many of them are very weak, some of them not much
more than names; but still the movement has received a good start, is
recognized as the right thing for every church to have, and as a most
decided improvement on the past.
[Illustration: AMBATONAKANGA FROM FARAVOHITRA.
ANTANANARIVO ON A FÊTE DAY.]
While on furlough I first met with an agent, and then with the
secretary of the Children’s Scripture Union, and undertook to begin
a branch in Madagascar, and for many years we have had there 12,000
members.
I found the village schools in a poor condition; for my predecessor had
had very little private help for them, almost nothing except the grants
made by the Imèrina district committee for elementary education, and
so had to be content with a very inferior class of teachers, as the
parents could not be persuaded to pay for properly trained teachers.
After the first examination of the village schools when we took over
the district, the returns were so poor that I determined to make an
effort to get the parents to give more in order to secure trained
teachers. I knew I would have to catch them by guile, and be able to
show them in a striking and impressive way how they were defrauding
their children, in not doing their duty by providing properly trained
teachers for them.
With this end in view I gathered seventeen village schools at one
centre in the largest church in the district to give out the prizes.
On the prize-giving day I took three porters with six baskets of books
of various kinds with me for prizes, about the quantity I would have
required for the same number of schools in Vònizòngo. The church,
although an immense place, was crowded in every corner with scholars,
parents, teachers, pastors, and deacons, while dozens, not to say
hundreds, were at the doors and windows. When I had distributed the
prizes to all who had earned them, I found, as I expected I should,
that I had only disposed of the contents of two baskets, leaving four
untouched.
I called the attention of the parents and all present to this, and
told them that, considering the number of scholars present, if even
two-thirds of them had earned prizes, as they ought to have done, and
would have done in Vònizòngo, all the six baskets would have been
empty. I said nothing gave me greater pleasure than to gladden the
hearts of the scholars by giving them the prizes they had earned, and
that I would have been delighted to have given the contents of all the
six baskets to their children; but, as they had seen for themselves,
they had not earned them, and therefore had not received them. ‘But
why is this the case?’ I asked. ‘Because the children were stupid or
had no ability or keenness? By no means,’ I said; ‘but simply because
their heartless parents would not pay for proper teachers for them,
and so the poor children will have to go home from the prize-giving
weeping instead of rejoicing carrying their prizes with them. Look,’ I
said, ‘at your children; where would you find brighter-eyed, cleverer
children? If they had only had proper teachers they would all have
gained prizes.’
The parents went home, followed, as I expected, by their weeping
children. They immediately discharged the cheap incapable teachers,
applied to me for trained ones, and for the following eighteen years
I had no trouble in raising the people’s share of the salaries of
the trained teachers. The superiority of the schools of the A-kànga
district was noted by both deputations of the Paris Missionary Society.
They remarked in particular the ability shown by the children in Bible
knowledge. This was due to the number of trained teachers we had.
The late Professor Kruger, after being present at one of the poorest
examinations in Scripture they ever passed (as the schools had been
closed for three months that year on account of the war), said that he
could not get a Protestant school in all France which could approach
them in Bible knowledge.
We had many visits from our old friends from Vònizòngo, who were
looking forward to, and fondly anticipating the time of our return at
the end of the two years, when we all expected my predecessor in the
capital back from furlough. One after another came to see me, and to
tell me of the good they had received from my ministrations during our
nine years among them, and of the new life and hopes to which they had
been lifted by religion. If they had only come and told us a little,
before we left on furlough, how much they would have cheered us, and
how much it would have done for us! Still we were glad to hear what
they had to tell us even then. It proved that we had not been labouring
in vain.
What, however, has been said of the influence of teachers and preachers
at home may be affirmed with much greater force of workers in the
foreign mission fields, that they ‘are of all influences the most
intangible: their thoughts enter the intellectual life of men--such
as it is--and shape it, and the moral and religious life of men and
fertilize them, but it is as the rain fertilizes the soil, itself
disappearing in the process, leaving those benefited often utterly
unconscious of the blessings they received.’
After a time I was able to get village school-boards--such as we had in
Vònizòngo--established in the A-kànga district, and on the whole they
did very good service up to the time of the French invasion in 1895.
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.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF MADAGASCAR ON THE WAY TO THE LAST
REVIEW.
A GARDEN PARTY AT THE QUEEN’S GARDENS.]
During the war messengers came to the capital from the chiefs of the
various tribes to assure the queen of their allegiance to her, and
among others there came representatives of the great Sàkalàva tribe,
or series of tribes, who inhabit some 600 miles of the west side of
the island. These messengers were very much astonished at the state of
things they found in the capital. They found the Hovas living, not,
as they themselves did, in huts of mud and wattle or in miserable
apologies for huts, constructed of branches of trees roofed with leaves
or grass, but in beautiful brick houses which in their eyes were
furnished luxuriously. They found them too professedly sitting at the
feet of Jesus Christ, clothed and in their right mind, worshipping God
the Creator. They saw too that even the household slaves were better
fed and clothed, more intelligent, and living in more comfortable
houses than even some of their own great chiefs and petty kings. They
came to our churches, heard the preaching, saw the schools, and visited
the mission hospital. They were delighted also with the kind reception
and treatment which they received on all sides, from the queen and
prime minister downwards. Finally they asked: ‘What is the meaning
of all this change, and what has brought it all about; for this is
not as things were in the days of your forefathers or even as they
were a few years ago?’ They were told that _ny fìvavàhana_, ‘the
praying,’ had brought all the changes, and doubtless they returned home
to tell of all they had seen and heard, and how kindly they had been
treated. They would also report about the wonderful and wonder-making
‘new religion,’ which had wrought such changes on men and things. I
do not doubt that the outcome would have been an appeal from those
tribes for missionaries to teach and tell them about the wonder-making
_fìvavàhana_, praying or religion, but for the troubles that
arose, and ended as all now know.
As Tàmatàve was blockaded for nearly three years we received no mails
for the first six months after the war began, while flour, sugar, and
all imported provisions rose to famine prices. We sent letters to the
various ports, in the hope that they might be picked up by H.B.M. ship
‘Dryad’ or some passing vessel, and carried to a British port. To the
disgrace of some Mauritius merchants be it told--in all probability
French-Creoles--the captains of their vessels were forbidden to take
mails or passengers to and from Madagascar. One British captain--I wish
I could give his name--dared to disobey orders, and give a passage to
three stranded members of our mission to Mauritius on their way to
England, and was discharged by his owner for so doing on his arrival in
port.
Our letters lay at Tàmatàve for six months, until the British
government demanded that they should be given up. They were all opened,
our papers and magazines were burned, and the London Missionary Society
annual warrant of expenditure for the Imèrina district committee was
never forthcoming. Perhaps it was supposed by its non-arrival the
Methodist missionaries--who were believed to be inciting the Hovas to
resistance--would be starved out; but we simply borrowed the money
needed, and quietly went on with our work, which flourished and made
progress, notwithstanding all the troubles.
Meetings to pray for peace were established at centres, and it was
most pathetic to listen to the Malagasy pleading for their invaders,
that God would bring them to a right mind, and take them safely home
to their own land. The conduct of Captain Johnstone of H.B.M. ship
‘Dryad’ during that trying time was beyond all praise. He called at
the various ports for our mails, taking away any British subjects who
wished to leave the island, sent up letters and papers to us in the
interior, and protected and defended British subjects and interests in
a way and in a spirit for which he ought to have been made an admiral;
but instead of that--as we afterwards learned, to our sorrow--he was
censured.