THE CONQUEST OF MADAGASCAR
‘The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations
of violence.’--PSALM lxxiv. 20.
The following extracts from the _Ten Years’ Review_ of the
Madagascar Mission, 1891–1900, published by the London Missionary
Society, will show the steps which led up to the conquest of the island
by France.
‘A treaty concluded at Tàmatàve, on December 17, 1885, after the
desultory Franco-Malagasy hostilities, which had continued at intervals
for three years and a half, conceded certain rights and privileges to
the government of the French Republic which no other foreign power
enjoyed. Difficulties and disputes arose from time to time, however,
on various points directly bearing on the treaty, and notably on the
two following: the validity of the appendix which was added to the
agreement, and the rights of the native government to issue exequaturs
to the foreign consuls. As time wore on the tension between the two
parties became more and more strained, until at last the French
government, feeling the situation to be intolerable, determined to
make one final and serious effort to bring the Malagasy government to
submission by peaceful means, and, with this end in view, sent out in
October, 1894, a plenipotentiary in the person of M. Le Myre de Vilers,
who, a short time previously, had been resident-general of the island.
But, as the queen and prime minister were unwilling to yield to his
demands, his mission proved abortive, and he returned to France. The
French government decided, therefore, to settle the matter once for all
by force of arms.
‘An expeditionary force, under the command of General Duchesne,
with General de Torcy as chief of the staff, and consisting of 658
officers and 14,773 men, with about 6,000 auxiliary conductors and
baggage-bearers, 641 horses, 6,630 mules, 5,040 Lefebvre carts, and
46 pieces of artillery, was dispatched in the early part of 1895 to
compel submission to the French demands. Besides this military force,
a naval division of nine or ten vessels operated on the coast, and
kept the inhabitants in continual alarm by the occasional firing of
shells. A considerable proportion of the troops consisted of Algerians,
Dahomeyans, and Senegalese.
‘The first detachment of soldiers, under General Metzinger, was landed
at Mojangà, the chief port on the north-west coast, which was to form
the base of operations. General Duchesne arrived there on May 6,
and by the 18th, preliminary skirmishes having already taken place
in the neighbourhood, everything was in readiness for an advance.
The difficulties to be encountered proved greater than had been
anticipated. Arrangements had been made for transporting the forces
from Mojangà to Mèvatanàna (about two-fifths of the distance to the
capital) by way of the river Bètsibòka. But this was found, for one
reason or another, to be, to a large extent, impracticable. Attention
was turned, therefore, to the task of widening the native path running
alongside the river, so as to allow the transport of the baggage and
ammunition by means of Lefebvre wagons. It was chiefly during these
operations, carried on in a hot and fever-stricken territory, that the
French lost so many lives from disease.
‘Having established himself firmly at Màngasoàvina, General Duchesne,
knowing that the rainy season was approaching, determined to desist
from the attempt to continue the new road, the construction of which
had occupied so much time, and had cost so much labour and sacrifice
of life, and decided to take forward a flying column to seize
Antanànarìvo. He had learned from experience that, in spite of the
vastly superior numbers of the Malagasy soldiers, little was to be
feared from any opposition on their part--retreat from one position
to another, after firing a few random shots, being mostly the order
of the day. We might say much on the disorganized condition of the
native army, the feeble resistance offered by it, and the general
corruption prevailing at head quarters at the time. Certain it is
that the Malagasy had but little idea of the military strength and
skill of their opponents. The flying column consisted of 237 officers,
4,013 men, 1,515 conductors, with nearly 3,000 mules. The commissariat
was provided with rations for twenty-two days. The Hovas were driven
from point to point, and, after a forced march of sixteen days, the
French troops found themselves encamped a little to the east of
Antanànarìvo. Only those who were here at the time can adequately
imagine the excitement of the people, which had been growing day by
day, as it became increasingly evident that the French troops were
not to be resisted in their onward progress; and now that they were
at their very doors, their excitement was at blood-heat. The capital
was crowded with soldiers, who were stationed in various parts of the
town; but it was evident from their condition that little could be
expected from them. We feared, and we had feared all along, that the
government might lose its control of the people, and that the country
might become a prey to riotous and murderous mobs; and it says a great
deal for the authorities that they were able to keep well in hand the
reins of power during the whole time when feeling ran so high. Even
when the French were close at hand, and when the town was filled with
thousands of people armed with guns, spears, swords, large knives, or
cudgels, perfect order was preserved, and, so far as we remember, not
the slightest sign was manifested, outwardly at least, of any hostile
feeling towards the foreigners who had chosen to remain.
‘The night before the town was taken was as peaceful as usual. The
thought of the coming noise of battle and the threatening horrors of
the morrow doubtless increased the sense of calm that prevailed. By
six o’clock in the morning of September 30 all was astir in the French
camp, and the Hova soldiers were ranging themselves for defence on
the various small hills about half a mile east of the capital, which
run north and south parallel to the ridge on which the city is built.
About eight or nine o’clock the French troops were seen descending the
hills three or four miles to the east into the valley which separated
them from the bulk of the Hova forces, where they could no longer
be seen from the capital. Fighting had by this time commenced in
earnest. Repeated volleys, directed against the Hovas on the hills,
were heard from the valley below, and many stray bullets fell into the
town. Although the Hova soldiers did, to some extent, redeem their
character in this their final struggle, and though their artillery more
especially was served at one or two points with considerable skill and
bravery, still it was evident that the forces were neither properly led
nor efficiently organized.
A little after eleven o’clock the French, having shelled the positions
occupied by the Hova artillery and silenced their guns, began to
appear here and there on the range of hills occupied by the Hovas, who
very soon, therefore, retreated from their positions. Near the Roman
Catholic Observatory, situated on one of the hills, several houses were
in flames, whilst a Hova battery, placed near the palace, opened fire
on the French who had gained the summit. The fighting now had almost
ceased, and there was a period of quiet. In the meantime, however,
the French were bringing their field-pieces into position. Soon the
bombardment of the town commenced, but it was evident that the French
were anxious to avoid committing any unnecessary damage. Their fire was
only kept up at intervals, and was concentrated on the Hova batteries
and the palace. One of the melinite shells, falling in the palace-yard,
where many thousands of people, chiefly soldiers, were assembled,
destroyed many lives. This brought matters to a crisis. At about three
o’clock the Malagasy flag was hauled down from the top of the palace,
after which not another shot was fired. Half an hour afterwards some
native officers were seen carrying out a white flag to the French
lines, submission was rendered, and the war was at an end.
‘The expedition, which had been conducted throughout by General
Duchesne in the most humane and merciful manner, had cost the French
nation £2,600,000, and, what was more, the lives, almost entirely from
disease, of 5,756 officers and men.
‘Within an hour after the submission, many of the French troops, weary
and footsore, entered Antanànarìvo, glad doubtless to get to the
end of their long and exhausting march. At the gate of the hospital
immediately to the east of the town a sad spectacle was witnessed--
a long line of mules bringing in the sick and wounded, some of whom
were moaning in agony from the pain of their diseases or their wounds.
Next morning at eight o’clock General Duchesne and his staff, with the
remainder of the troops, entered the town. A treaty of peace, in which
Madagascar was distinctly and definitely placed under the protection of
France, was signed at three o’clock in the afternoon, and on the same
day was ratified by the queen. After this ratification, the general
told the queen that she might again raise the Malagasy flag above the
royal palace. Six days after the signing of the treaty General Duchesne
received a copy of another agreement from his government of a still
more rigorous character, the presentation for signature of which,
however, he left to his successor, M. Laroche.’
I had to go to the coast in 1894 to meet my wife and daughter, who
joined me that year. A short time after their arrival, M. Le Myre de
Vilers brought the French ultimatum, which it was impossible for the
Malagasy to accept. This was just what was wanted by some, and the
French flag was hauled down and friendly relations broken off.
Most of the European ladies left the island, and I took my wife and
daughter to the east coast for fourteen weeks, during the march of the
expedition on the capital. The queen had been shamefully deceived, the
people betrayed, and the fatherland sold by a party of traitors in the
palace, who had been seduced from their allegiance by a _protégé_
of the Jesuits, who had been in the pay of the French for years. The
traitors posed as ultra-patriots, and thus thoroughly deceived the
queen. They persuaded her to discharge all the European officers in
the service of the government, while the services of others, who were
willing to help the Malagasy to defend their fatherland were declined.
She acted like a mad woman--refusing to follow the advice of the prime
minister, and following the advice of these traitors, as also that of
her incapable relatives, and her nurse! The traitors told her they were
not to depend on foreigners for the defence of their fatherland. They
were quite able to drive the French back to the sea. The queen did not
get her eyes opened, nor find out how grossly she had been deceived,
until the French army marched over the hills on Antanànarìvo--and then
it was too late.
It was thought in England, and elsewhere, that the Malagasy made a
most disgraceful appearance in the defence of their fatherland; but it
was not known that the right sort of people were kept from rising to
defend their country by these traitors. Nor was it known that neither
officers nor soldiers of the native army received any pay, and the
officers lived by blackmailing their men. Of 20,000 sent out to meet
the French, some 14,000 bought themselves off or deserted. The chief
traitor had control of the _Madagascar Times_, in which the French
were vilified, and represented every week as defeated and all but
annihilated.
All this was a blind. This patriot volunteered at the last to lead
6,000 men to meet the French; but took the precaution of going along
a route by which he knew they would not come. If the French officers
had had their way, these traitors as a body, and the chief one in
particular, would have had short shrift; and if they had been so dealt
with, the lives of many honest and innocent men would have been saved,
and many mistakes avoided. It was reported that copies of the prime
minister’s dispatches--as commander-in-chief of the Malagasy army--were
sent to the French general, and thus he knew every move that was to be
taken, and was prepared for it.
After the French reached the capital, and the people saw how basely
they had been betrayed, they rose 100,000 strong, and if they had had
arms and ammunition, or could have obtained them, the French would have
been defeated before reinforcements could have arrived. This rising
may have been sheer madness on the part of the natives, after things
had gone so far; but they did not know this, and they were greatly
exasperated over their betrayal. As the old heathen and semi-heathen
element greatly preponderated in the rising, and all who would not join
it were shot or had their throats cut, thousands who saw the madness
of the rising were compelled to join it, or at least to pretend to
join. They suffered severely for their unhappy effort to redeem the
situation, as also did their relatives--many being shot as suspects.
The French expedition landed at Mojangà, on the north-west coast, in
April; but it was October 1 before it entered the capital. It had been
detained--so a French officer afterwards informed me--for six weeks
near Mèvatanàna by a cablegram from Paris, instructing the General
that he was not to enter Antanànarìvo before October 1, in order that
the news of its fall might reach Paris by October 10, and so cause
a sensation at the opening of the Chambers. The detention of the
expedition among the swamps and fever fens of that part of the island
cost the lives of hundreds of the poor French soldiers; but, as the
above-mentioned French officer said, what did Paris politicians care
for the lives of the poor French soldiers! The poor fellows had been
set to the mad task of making a road from Mojangà to Antanànarìvo--some
400 miles--for the famous, or infamous, Lefebvre carts. To set these
young fellows, fresh from the fair fields of France, to make a road
through such a malarial country as North-West Madagascar, under a
tropical sun, was nothing short of murder. The General had to attempt
to carry out his instructions, and bravely tried to do so, until
it proved impossible. The lives of some 6,000 French soldiers were
sacrificed to the mad attempt, after which, of course, the brave
General who had done his best had the blame thrown on him for their
murder instead of on the man who had issued the order for the making of
the road.
A rush was made on Antanànarìvo with a flying column, and the capital
was captured on the afternoon of September 30. This event caused great
excitement in France--the people went into ecstasies over it. In
reality nothing could have been easier. The General knew there would be
no serious opposition; the traitors had arranged matters beforehand.
The Malagasy troops, who ought to have been there to defend the
capital, had been carefully removed, and taken away to meet the French
along a route by which it was well known they would not come. There was
slight skirmishing all day, but no serious fighting, and by two o’clock
the French were in possession of the heights round Antanànarìvo, and
the city was at the mercy of their guns. It had been decided, it
seems, that if the Malagasy flag on the great palace was not lowered
by half-past three fire was to be opened on it, with melinite shells.
This would have laid the capital and neighbourhood in ruins, and might
have sacrificed thousands of lives, as there were 10,000 barrels of
gunpowder stored in the great palace!
About three o’clock of the day on which Antanànarìvo fell, a shell was
thrown into the palace-yard, which was then packed with people, who had
taken refuge there. By this shell some sixty were torn to pieces under
the eyes of the queen, who with the prime minister was on the verandah
of the great palace. Her Majesty all but fainted at the sight, and at
once gave orders for the flag on the palace to be lowered. Her eyes had
been opened by that time, and she saw how basely she had been betrayed
by those whom she had trusted. No one would obey her and lower the flag
until, at last, one of the menials of the court climbed up, and cut the
rope. An officer--the _protégé_ of the Jesuits and seducer of the
other traitors from their allegiance, and their coach in the part they
were to play--and one of the queen’s private secretaries were sent out
with the white flag of surrender. They were only just in time, as it
was 3.20 when the flag was seen, and the bugles sounded cease firing.
Another ten minutes, and the bombardment with melinite shells would
have commenced. The guns were loaded with them, the officers standing
by, watch in hand; but in the providence of God the appearance of the
white flag averted the catastrophe.
[Illustration: RAINILAIÀRIVÒNY, THE LAST PRIME MINISTER OF
MADAGASCAR.]
After the French had established themselves in the capital,
Rainilaiàrivòny, the late prime minister, and husband of the queen, was
deposed. He was then a man of nearly seventy years of age, and for many
years had been the one prominent figure in the island. His character
was a strange mixture, and, living as he did through the period of
transition from heathenism to Christianity, he seemed more or less to
partake of both elements, the latter, however, predominating. For,
whatever may have been his faults, he was, not only in natural ability,
but in general uprightness, head and shoulders above most of those
by whom he was surrounded. He was the genius of the Hova people--one
of the ablest men I ever met. He lived a thoroughly respectable,
upright life; introduced, especially in earlier years, numerous
beneficial reforms; was in entire sympathy with all educational and
religious work; and had ruled the island for thirty years as it never
had been ruled before. He was then nearing his dotage, and the French
removed him. He was taken to one of his country seats a few miles to
the north of the capital, where, after suffering imprisonment for some
months, he was, soon after the rising began, banished to Algeria, and
died there about five or six months after. His corpse was taken back to
Antanànarìvo some five years after, and buried in the family tomb.
General Duchesne, who was a chivalrous French gentleman of the old
school, treated the queen with the utmost courtesy and kindness, and
did all in his power to soften her fall. Very different indeed was
his treatment of her from that which she afterwards received. For his
chivalry he was attacked and abused by a section of the French press.
The queen had been betrayed (a word which Frenchmen are themselves
prone enough to use with less justification) rather than conquered.
All this was forgotten by those who profited by her fall. Sympathy was
denied her because she was only a _nigger_! The General, however,
stuck to his guns, declined to do anything dishonourable or degrading,
and behaved all through in a way that earned for him the respect of all
those--natives and foreigners--whose respect was worth having. It was
due to him, who had throughout shown himself to be not only a kindly
disposed and merciful man, but also a rigid military disciplinarian,
that there was no looting, no drunkenness, no disturbance of any kind,
and that all provisions were bought--in the capital at least--with
honest cash.
On the march of the expedition through our old district of Vònizòngo,
some of the French black troops took Rainihàrisòa, a Malagasy medical
practitioner--an old pupil of mine--prisoner, and robbed him of his
watch. He was brought before General Duchesne, who asked how he had
been treated, and if he had been robbed of anything. He told him
of his being robbed of his watch. The General asked the value of
it; was told £3. He immediately handed that sum to Rainihàrisòa.
He then summoned the captain of the black troops who had committed
the robbery before him, and in the sternest terms informed him what
would be the consequences if such conduct was allowed to be repeated.
Notwithstanding all that, the wire-pullers managed to have him
nominally honoured, but practically disgraced and shelved. The blame
of all the blundering and sacrificing of soldiers’ lives during the
campaign was laid upon him, and not on the real culprit at the War
Office.
Immediately after the arrival of the French at the capital William
and Lucy Johnson of the Friends’ Mission, with their little daughter
‘Blossom,’ were murdered at Arìvonimàmo, in the west, by a semi-heathen
mob. The Johnsons ought to have been in the capital; but sense of duty
kept them at their station, although no work could be done there at
the time. They trusted the people, and would not believe that they
could harm those who, like themselves, had never done them anything
but good. That feeling of trust kept them from taking advantage of the
opportunity to escape, when they might have done so, even when they
were urged to flee. They paid dearly for their error of judgement. The
temper of a mob, but especially of a semi-heathen mob, is always an
unknown quantity.
The martyrdom of the Johnsons, as it afterwards appeared, saved the
lives of the queen, the French General and staff, the chief Malagasy
officials, the traitors, and the European community at Fàravòhitra
in the capital. For one of the tribes--the Zànakàntitra--in the
neighbourhood of the capital, having branches in other parts of the
central province, had formed a conspiracy to murder the traitors for
betraying them and selling their fatherland; the queen and chief
Malagasy officials for yielding to the French; the French General and
his staff; and the European community for being on friendly terms
with the French, and therefore in their minds, of course, in league
with them against the Malagasy. The whole tribe was to assemble from
the various villages by different routes at the weekly market at the
capital, on a certain Friday, armed with knives and small meat-axes,
which could easily be carried hidden under their cotton plaids. At a
pre-arranged signal one party was to rush the French residency, another
the palace, and a third Fàravòhitra, where the European community
mostly resided, and all were to be massacred. As nothing of this kind
was suspected by any one the plot might very easily have succeeded.
On the Monday, however, before the Friday fixed upon, two Malagasy
officers--one of whom I knew well--and nine soldiers were sent out
west to one of the villages of the Zànakàntitra tribe to arrest a bad
character who was _wanted_; but who was being harboured by the
chief of that village. On their arrival at the village they demanded in
the queen’s name that the man should be given up; but the chief refused
to hand him over to them. Thereupon the Hova officers in an arrogant
tone--Hova officers were nothing if not arrogant--declared that if he
was not given up at once he would be taken by force together with the
chief, and that both would be carried off as prisoners to the capital.
The chief dared them to do so. Whereupon the officers and men drew
their batons--they had no other arms--and entered the village; but as
they were completely at the mercy of the villagers, who were armed and
ready to receive them, they were at once speared or cut down. Thus the
eleven were literally cut to pieces!
Having committed so great a crime as the murder of the queen’s officers
and men they knew the consequences, and having once tasted blood
determined not to wait till Friday; but rose at once, and sent off
messengers to call out the other branches of the tribe. As they were
not prepared to rise at a moment’s notice, and many were from home,
they were joined only by a few from their immediate neighbourhood.
They marched next morning on Arìvonimàmo, to seek, it was said, for
an evangelist against whom they had a grudge, and who, it had been
reported, was under shelter in Mr. Johnson’s house. When they found
that he had escaped they attacked the Johnsons and murdered them all.
They looted their property and burned down their dwelling.
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.
[Illustration: 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.
These were some of the enormities brought against M. Laroche, and so he
was ultimately recalled. He had set his heart on freeing the slaves.
He was allowed to emancipate them, and did so on the last day of his
governor-generalship.
When the Malagasy found that they had been betrayed they were greatly
enraged, and said: ‘Well, the French may rule in Antanànarìvo, but they
shall not rule here,’ and thousands rose against the new _régime_.
This was a grave mistake, after things had gone so far; for what could
they do with their spears, knives, and old flint-locks against French
guns and rifles? If they had possessed arms, ammunition, and leaders,
or any means of getting them, they might easily have wiped out the
few French who were then in the island. Though it will scarcely be
believed, yet there were some French credulous enough to think and say
that the London Missionary Society supplied the natives with arms!
When the rising took place the French had not troops enough to cope
with the situation, and reinforcements had to be sent for from Europe.
In a very short time most parts of the central provinces were in a
state of open rebellion, the backbone of the rising being the old
heathen party, and the more disorderly masses of the population. For a
time they were spoken of as _fàhavàlo_ (enemies), but afterwards
they were called _mènalàmba_ (red plaids), because they coloured
their cotton plaids with the red soil of the country, in order that
they might not easily be recognized at a distance.
The rising really began within a few weeks after the French occupation
of the capital, and had its origin in the rising of the Zànakàntitra
tribe at Àmboànana in West Imèrina, after the murder of the Hova
soldiers and officers, and the massacre of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and
child. The authorities had due warning of what was brewing, and if
prompt measures had been taken, as they ought to have been, in the
interests of all parties, the rising might have been put down very
easily at the cost of a few lives; and thousands of lives--French and
Malagasy--would thus have been saved. As the warnings came from the
then hated British missionaries, who better knew the people and their
feelings, they were only sneered at, and no attention paid to them. The
French also had warning of the state of things in the south of Imèrina,
but nothing was done, with the result that three French gentlemen,
who went south then, were murdered on the road. They had slept at the
London Missionary Society’s mission house at Tsìafàhy the previous
night, had been warned of their danger, and of the great risk they were
running, but they only laughed. Next day they were murdered.
Those who rose were led by fanatical sorcerers and such like, and
their object was to drive, not only the French, but all white men
of whatsoever nationality out of the country, and restore the old
political and religious _régime_. Their numbers swelled rapidly,
especially as they forced into their service all the able-bodied
men they came across. Growing in audacity as they grew in numbers,
they committed depredations and atrocities of all kinds, destroying
all the churches and chapels they came across, burning the houses,
threatening, and even taking the lives of some of those connected with
the missionaries, while the rest were carried off into captivity.
Soldiers were sent out to disperse them, and large numbers of Malagasy
were killed as they rushed up boldly, time after time, to within a few
yards of the French guns, trusting in the gun-charms, which they wore
in profusion, and in the power of a certain idol named Ravòlòlona.
This undisciplined rabble soon learned that they were no match for the
troops sent out against them, and in a comparatively short time they
tendered their submission. But soon after the insurrection was quelled
in the west it broke out in other places. On some parts of the east
coast the people rose, apparently not so much against the Europeans as
against the Hovas, many of whom had for so long misruled and oppressed
them.
‘In the eastern part of Imèrina, and even beyond its outskirts,
rebellion was also rife, and numerous bands of insurgents prowled about
the country committing various acts of brigandage and violence. They
were concentrated chiefly on the road leading from Tàmatàve to the
capital. Many of the convoys of men carrying goods from the coast were
waylaid and dispossessed of their loads, the bearers being shot or
speared if they offered any resistance.
‘Though the first insurgents in the west had given in their submission,
others arose to take their place, and among various acts of violence
committed by these desperate men must be reckoned, as the saddest of
all, the assassination of our friends Messrs. Escande and Minault,
Protestant missionaries of the Paris Missionary Society, who happened
to be travelling through that part of the country at the time. In
many distant places, too, anarchy reigned supreme, and for months the
peaceable members of the community were at the mercy of prowling bands
of lawless men, who, in the attempt to gain their ends, scrupled at
no deed of violence. It became impossible for Europeans, and even for
natives, to travel anywhere in the island without danger, a state of
things the very reverse of that which had existed for so many years;
for, except in certain remote places, the last thought that entered the
mind of the traveller was that of danger. As, for a time, the French
and native troops were insufficient to quell the revolt, the excited
mobs drew nearer and nearer the capital, and for some weeks large
conflagrations--schools, churches, or even whole villages set on fire
by the rebels--were to be seen from the capital almost nightly. In one
instance, a village was burnt within a mile of the capital, and no one
would have been surprised if, at any time, an attempt had been made to
fire the capital itself.
‘By this time many parts of the country, and more especially Imèrina,
were in a state of seething anarchy, such as had never before been
witnessed in the island, and vigorous and severe measures were
necessary to repress it. To the work of pacification General Gallieni
set himself. The greater part of the country was placed under martial
law and divided up into military districts, outposts of soldiers
were stationed in the more disaffected territories, many of the
native government officials, who were supposed to be implicated, were
banished or shot, and the rebels were attacked at numerous points, the
undisciplined natives being worsted at every encounter, large numbers
of them perishing. Accusations were also rife, and, as is always
the case at such times, many innocent persons along with the guilty
doubtless suffered death. But this energetic action soon began to
tell; the insurgents were gradually dispersed, or from stress of other
circumstances returned to their homes, and the leaders of the movement
gave in their submission one after another, until finally (towards the
close of 1897) the whole country, except the remote west and south, had
once again settled down into peace.
‘The rebellion had brought nothing but disaster to all parties, and
more especially to the natives. Their rice-fields had been neglected,
and famine not only stared them in the face, but also, to some extent,
overtook them. Their cattle had been raided, their rice-stores rifled,
their houses looted, many of their villages burnt down, large tracts
of territory practically devastated, and, most serious of all, great
numbers of the people had suffered death, either at the hands of the
rebels, from destitution, or from other causes. The rebellion had
doubtless also something to do with the conversion of the island from
a protectorate into an actual colony. The French too had suffered,
for to them the repression of the insurrection meant the loss of life
and treasure. The merchants, moreover, were losers, for during a
considerable period trade was practically at a standstill. The various
missions were also subjected to considerable losses. A large amount
of property, including missionary residences, a sanatorium, a leper
establishment, &c., were destroyed. Of the churches which, however,
belonged to the natives associated with the various missions, including
the Roman Catholic, the Anglican, the Friends’, the Lutheran, and our
own, some 750 in number were burnt down or otherwise destroyed, about
500 of which were under the care of the London Missionary Society. Many
of the pastors, preachers, evangelists, teachers, and prominent leaders
in religious work, being connected more or less with foreigners, were
made the chief objects of persecution by the rebels, and large numbers
of them had to resort to flight in order to save their lives, leaving
their property behind to be looted. Some of those that were caught,
bravely refusing to forswear Christ and join in the revolt, were
cruelly murdered.
‘The authority of the Hova sovereigns, though far-reaching, had never
been more than nominal over certain parts of the island, and in
some was even completely _nil_. In the highland regions of the
interior, and all along the eastern slopes of the island, with the sole
exception of a few districts inhabited by small tribes of Tanàla in the
neighbourhood of Ikòngo, who were semi-independent, the authority of
the queen was supreme. In the west, however, certain tribes, chiefly
of the Sàkalàva, had maintained an independence more or less complete.
Ruled over by innumerable kings and chiefs, they lived in a state of
chronic rivalry and petty internecine warfare. Constant cattle-lifting
and slave-raiding amongst the various tribes, which brought untold
misery upon the inhabitants, had become an established curse, and
travelling in the country was in general attended with considerable
danger. A Hova military station existed here and there, but, for the
most part, exerted little influence or authority over the surrounding
people.
‘Since the French have established themselves in the island, however,
these turbulent tribes of the west have been almost entirely
subjugated. Numerous small military expeditions, sufficiently
large, however, to overcome the resistance of the incoherent
tribes of Sàkalàva, have been sent on by the French in all
directions--north-west, west, south-west--to occupy the country. These
have had many encounters with belligerent bands of insurgents and
bushrangers, who, though sometimes vastly greater in numbers, have,
in nearly all cases, been obliged to yield to the superior powers of
the disciplined troops, and ultimately, if not immediately, to give
in their submission. Military posts have been established in a large
number of important centres, and, except in a few of the more remote
districts, peace and security now reigns.’[33]