The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—We are now in a position to understand
some of the causes, if not to estimate all the conse-

quences, of the strange revolut.io❑ in Madagascar.
Two independent but perfectly consistent accounts,
the one from an eminent English missionary, the
other from the French Consul at Tananarivo, the
so-called capital of the island, leave no doubt of the
fatal errors which cost King Radama 11. his throne
and his life. The glimpse which we thus obtain into
Madagascar politics is most curious, and opens to
us many of the contrasts as well as of the analogies
between civilised and semi-barbarous States. The
late King, though not a professed Christian, had
protected and countenanced the Christians during
the persecuting reign of his mother, and his acces-
sion was hailed as the triumph of toleration and
liberal policy. The former was, in fact, pro-
claimed, and the golden era of the first Radama
seemed to the missionaries to have come round
again. If they had misgivings, they did not
make them known, and few people had the least
idea that the regime of this enlightened Prince was,
in fact, an anarchy. Owing to the unhealthiness of
the sea coast in spring, no intelligence has reached
us from Madagascar for the last five months. We
are now told that from the first " his views of the
duties of a ruler were exceedingly defective ;" thet,
like Rehoboam, he banished from his councils the
old Hovah chiefs, whose memories probably ex-
tended back to the glorious reign of his father, and
surrounded himself with hot-headed and profligate
young men ; that he neglected all measures for
the suppression or punishment of crime, and fre-
quently gave himself up to intoxication and
debauchery. This degeneracy gradually sapped
his popularity, and led to a reaction, headed
not by suoh persons as generally compose the
revolutionary faction, but by veteran officers, among
whom were the Prime Minister and Commander-in-
Chief. Personal jealousy, antipathy of race, and
sentiments of patriotism were the motives which
combined to animate the leaders of this opposition,
and the measure upon which they finally took issue
with the King was so monstrous and indefensible
that it gives some colour to the statement that he
had lost his reason. Private war, and duelling on a
scale that closely resembled private war, had been
the curse of Madagascar, as it was once the curse
of Europe, and is now the curse of Japan. Instead
of putting these lawless practices down with a
strong hand King Radama actually issued, or pro-
posed to issue a decree which legalised them,
and promised impunity to the perpetrators. All
his old councillors besought him in vain to with-
draw or cancel it. He positively refused, and, sup-
ported by the great majority of his " Mena maso"
(confidential advisers of the dominant party), re-

jected the petition presented by a powerful depute,
tion of the discontented nobles. This act sealed his
fate. The petitioners assembled at the house of the
Prime Minister, and resolved to dislodge their rivals
by force. During the night of the Bth of May they
drew up, like civilised conspirators, a proscription
list, containing 33 names. Next morning they re-
newed their previous demands, in the form of an
ultimatum, and, receiving the same answer, de-
nounced the proscribed favourites to the people,
and ordered those of them who could be found to
be put to death. Meanwhile they again pressed the
ultimatum on the King, adding to it the condition
that the rest of the proscribed persons should be
given up. It is probable that Radama would now
have given way on the that point, but he had too
much generosity to concede the second. Again
and again he insisted on stipulating that, if they
were sarrounded, their lives at least should be spared.
At last it was arranged, through the intervention of
the Queen, that they should be confined for life in
irons. Still the palace was surrounded by troops,
and the populace, which had been clamorous for the
blood of the prisoners, was not yet satisfied. At 10
o'clock on the morning on the 12th " it was rumoured
that the King was no more." Soon after midday a
salute of 21 guns was fired in honour of the new
Sovereign, the widowed Queen Rabodo, whose ac
cession was duly notified to the foreign Consuls. The
time, mode, and immediate cause of the King's death
are still a mystery. A short proclamation was issued :
—" The King, inconsolable for the loss of his friends,
has perished by his own hands;" but Mr. Ellis,
the missionary, agrees with the French Consul in
stating that he was strangled by the Minister
and his accomplices. The most remarkable part of
the story remains to be told. Before the Crown was
offered to the Queen, who, to do her justice, is said
to have done all in her power to save her husband's
life, she was required to sign a paper of conditions,
amounting, as Mr. Ellis truly says, to the germ of
constitutional Government. She pledged herself not
to drink intoxicating liquors, to the use of which the
nobles attributed much of Radama's weakness and
vice, to legislate and govern in concert with the
nobles and heads of the people, to levy duties for
revenue purposes, but to encourage commerce, and to
grant liberty and protection to foreigners. The
punishment of death is to be restored, no doubt in
order to check those outrages which the late Kiev,
declined to sappress, bat no one is to be put to death
on the order of the Sovereign alone. If Mr.
Ellis's extracts from this singular document may
he trusted, something very like trial by jury is to be
adopted in Madagascar, for no person 18 to be sen-
tenced till he has been found guilty by "twelve
men." Absolute toleration, and toll liberty of wor-
ship and teaching for native Christians, complete
a programme which would not disgrace a limited
despotism in more favoured parts of the world.
We must hope for the beat, but we must not forget
that neither in the personal character of half-
civilised Monarchs, nor in the traditions or habits
of half-civilised races, have we any guarantee for
the steady maintenance of a principle, however
beneficial to themselves. At the same time, it is
impossible to deny teat this coup d'etat has been
e ffeeted with a certain moderatioe and regard
for the stability of the Government, if net
for the lives and rights of individuals, which is
creditable to its authors. It is something that it
was not the result of mere passien or intrigue of the
worst kind, but of a settled conviction that the
cause of order was suffering in the hands of the
King. The conduct of it was more than a fantastic
burlesque of European emeutes, and the prudence
shown by the Minister in sending prompt orders for
the protection of foreigners to the Governors of the
coast is a proof that we have not to deal with reek-
less barbarians. By this time we may hope that
our neighbours have given up their whimsical no-
tion that "English influence" paved the way for the
murder of Radama. The report of the French
consul contains no trace of such an impression, and
though Mr. Ellis makes a somewhat severe allusion
to M. Lambert, the Marquis de Boissy and his
friends may rest assured that no coalition has yet
been formed between Lords Palmerston and Russell
with the triumphant Hovah faction through the
medium of the Protestant missionaries
HERALD.—If Parliament once assents to the prin-
ciple of a measure it practically hands over to the

Executive the power of carrying out that principle
in any manner and to any extent it pleases. As
soon as a sum of money is expended for any parti-
cular work it is perfectly vai❑ to attempt to step it.
You may show, most convincingly, that every far-
thing spent will be thoroughly wasted, nay, that it
will contribute to injure the very purpose which the
House of Commons had in view in voting the ex-
penditure. It doss not matter; the great majority
of the house, and the great majority of the public,
too, shudder at the thought of admitting that an
expenditure has been useless, and of, as they con-
hider, making it so. They will throw good money
after bad ; they will not acknowledge a mistake, and
put an end at occe to a bad speculation ; they insist
on making something of it, and are satisfied, in the
tong run, to have a work worth, say, a thousand
pounds, it a hundred thousand are expended every
year to keep it up, to show for a million they have
expended. So the Fortifications Bill was reai
second time last night by an overwhelming majority.
Sir Frederic Smith gave very good reasons not only
for his amendment, but against all the works for
which money is asked, but the reasons were urged in
vain. "'We have bought the land," said the (.3r6vern-
ment, " we have built the foundations. The country
viil be saddled wish a debt to no purpose if you do
not allow us to complete them." The argument was
irresistib:e. Sir Frederic Smith showed that half

he money which will he needed to complete the
fortifications would, if expended upon the navy,
make the country invulnerable ; he showed that the

forts when built would cost an enormous sum to
keep them up, and when kept up at this sacrifico
would do more harm than good. The house was as
usual penny wise and pound foolish ; it could not
sacrifice the money paid for the foundation and the
prmniums paid for the land, and went boldly on for
an expenditure of several mi►lions which not a soul
believes necessary, and nine out of ten are con-
vinced is mischievous. Another reason for the over•

whelming majority which this project of the Go-
vernment obtained is in some respects honourable to
the House of Commons. The vast majority are
anxious to see the country insured against attack;
they are prepared in the name of their constituents,
whom they fairly represent in this matter, to incur
any expense necessary for effecting this object.
But they distrust their own judgment ; they are
uttwillieg either to take the trouble or incur the
responsibility of examiuing the scheme of the
Government, and of rejecting it. The Govern-
ment, they say, is responsible. If we give what it
setts, we escape all reproach and we save ourselves
all bother. Lord Palmerston says the forts are ne-
cessary. He is at the head of the Government and
ought to know. Let us vote this money for the forts,
and if they do not answer the purpose tee fault will
be his, not ours. That particular kind of reasoning
did not find expression in the debate, but it had a
very powerful influence as well upon those who voted
as on those who stayed away. A phrase invented by
Lord Pal meraton always does very effective duty
whenever the question of fortifications is rr ised.
Nearly twen'y years ago the noble lord, with more
levity than truth, declared that steam hadbridged the
Channel, and any time within the last five years this
" steam bridge" has formed the burden of the song
of the advocates of fortification. The public has
forgotten the reply which, as Mr, Cobden reminded
the house last night, Sir R. Peel made to this smart
saying—" There are two parties who can play at
making these steam bridges." Steam has certainly
done nothing for France which it has not done for
England in far greater degree. If it has given her
the means of moving a large force quickly to a de-
termined point, it has given us the means of making
a smaller force do duty over a much larger area. If
the French, encamped at Boulogne with the design
of invading England, could, thanks to steam, cross
quickly, and in the teeth of unfavourable winds,
our English Channel fleet could move with equal
speed towards the point of coast threatened, and
reinforcements from all our dockyans could gather
there. The experience of the Crimea has shown, as
Sir F. Smith observed, that it is a most difficult
thing to land a large body of men even with favour-
able weather. With that advantage it took the.
allies five days to land a force upon the coast of the
Crimea, which would only land upon the English
coast, assuming the landing were unopposed, to
meet certain and immediate defamation. So long as,
the navy is maintained in a proper condition any
invasion of our shores is impossible. The forts are
needless to prevent invasion if a strong navy is
maintained; they are not needed if we have such a
navy to defend the dockyards, and it is very doubt-
ful whether if the defence of the dockyards is left
to them they can ensure it. It is all very well to
talk of American experiences and to quote Charles-
ton in favour of Spithead, but these is not the
slightest similarity between the two cases. The
entrance at Charleston harbour was blocked up by
obstructions of all kinds, which left the attacking
vessels marks for the guns of the forts. We, as Sir
F. Smith said, have a navy of our own, and cannot
afford to lay down torpedoes which would prevent
it from using our harbours, And not only will these
forts be useless, they will be serious encumbrances.
They will require so large a force to garrison them
that our army available to meet the invading force
will be reduced to a few regiments. We shall be so
occupied with the defence of Portsmouth and Ply-
mouth, and half a dozen other places, which the
enemy would never dream of attacking, that we
shall leave him the road to London quite free.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

4.1

MANCHESTER-JULY 9.

At our market this morning there was a tolerable at-
tendance. Of English wheat there was a limited supply,
and can scarcely be quoted cheaper, while American met a
slow sale, at a reduction f 2d to 3d per 1001 b. Flour in
limited request, at 6d per sack and barrel under the rates of
last week. Oats and oatmeal, with only a moderate busi-
ness, were the turn in favour of buyers. Beana and In-
dian corn in limited requeat at late values.

BIRMINGHAM-JULY 9.

English wheat was sold at 48s to 66s for white, and 40s
to Ms per 36 stone for red, Barley, new malting, 32s to
42s per qr ; grinding, 24s to 28s Oats, old, 24s to 30s
per 30 stone; Irish, 22s to 255. Beans, 38s to 44s per qr.
Peas, 36s to 44s per 36 stone.