The New Orleans crescent., 1869-02-10
Coronation ortAs Queen of Madagascar.

The following extract from letter written By
the Rev. W. E. Cousins. and published In the Eng.
lish Independent, win be read with interest:
On Thursday, September 8, we found Andohsro
crowded, with the exception Of the roads pre-
served for the queen and her attendants. Every
piece Of ground or the rising ground surrounding
1t was hlled with spectators. Soon after nine
guns announced that she had left the palace, and
soon parts OF the procession began to arrive. All
the female members Of the near branches Of the
royal family were clothed ia scarlet from head to
foot. The wives Of the officers, etc.. (some 100 or
1907 were dressed In European clothing, some of
them looking very NICE and others, as You NAV
well imagine, perfectly bdeous. Then came two
brass cannon-then soldiers In their different uni-
forms. Great advance has been made Ia the
dresses of the soldiers since We have beer here,
and they really looked very well. Then came the
officers OF higher rank, IN most expensive dresses,
velvet OF all hues, and gold lace In profusion.
Then came the queen. In a handsome gilded palan-
quin, with the scarlet umbrella and her usual At
tendants. When she reached stone upon which
for generations II has been customary for new
sovereigns to stand, she alighted, and walking
over the stone, &C accompanied BY the prime minis
ter and other high officers, she went TO the throne
prepared for her. The canopy under which she
sat was In excellent taste. The pillars were of
green with gold moulding. and the hsngings Of
Of scarlet velvet prettiy ornamented with silver
spear heads crossed at the corners. Beneath the
dome were inscribed on the four different sides the
following words: "Glory to God-Peaoe on
earih-Good will 70 meu--Msy God be with us.n
At the side OF the queens seat was small gilded
table. upon which was placed very handsomely
bound Malagasy Bible, and copy Of the laws OF
Madagascar. As soon as the queen had taken her
place, the scarlst-cloth ladies above mentioned
were taken to sests TO the south Of the queen. ON
the platform, and the French and ourselves were
placed on the north side Of the same. We thus
had q very honorable position, and one from
which we could sse the whole proceedings. The
prime minister, as first subject. took his place
white velvet suit trimmed with gold with blue
leather boots. A little boy about twelve or four
teen years Of age acted as his shield bearer. Be-
hind him stood some two hundred officers, dressed
chiefly IN velvet: AZ soon as the firing Of cannon
had subsided, the queen stood up aud delivered
speech. The sentence in which shs alluded to
Christianity was a. follows: e
And ss TO the praying, II IA not compulsory
nor Is there any hindrspce, for God made you.r
The queen was very collected. and spoke dis
tnctly, but Of course she could not be heard BY
to know the speech is 20 be printed, and circu.
lated freely. After the queens speech, the laws
were proclaimed, upward Of eighty In all, and
these too are TO be printed. After this the pre-
sentation Of I" bstina" commenced. The heads Of
the different tribes came forward In parties. and
made their short congratllatory addresses one By
one, and presented their dollars. The dresses OF
some Of these chiefs wets most rich and yet gro.
tesque. the colors Of some Of their lanbas
were magnificent, and many wore colored silk
turbsns. N f .fa -l.- =.
After some few had presented their bssins, first
the French and then We did the same. Speeches
and assurances Of loyalty continued till nearly
three, and were closed with Q most energetic and
well received speech from the prime minister, and
then the proceedings terminated, having lasted
about I've hours. The mass Of people was q
splendid sight as we looked down upon Il. II was
variously thought tc comprise from 800 900 to
500 900. On the day following the coronation the
queen went down 70 Imahsmasins, which Wa
filed with people gathered together 70 hold what
d called Iauonsns. kind Of festival or time Of
general rejoicing. As soon - the queen had taken
her place, general dancing commenced, or what
s called dancing. Hats and hands were waived,
and every ones body was In motion, the queen
standing up, and answering the people BY con-
linual motion Of her hands. This was kept up
'or about i've minutes, and then I'll was still
again. The effect Of this dancing was very
strange. There was not the energy and enthusi-
Ism Of English cheers, bat 1t was rather exciting.
,evertheless.
For about three hours different parties came
md danced before the queen. and then the assem-
Wy broke up.