National Republican., 1883-07-17
IN MADAGASCAR.
Serious Obstacles to Material Progress and
Prosperity
Slaves and sIavory-How Foreign InfR'
annes axe Jcalously Thwarted.

Tho London Standard has the following from
its special correspondent at Antananarivo, the
capital of Madagascar:
There are three great obstacles to the ma
terial progress Of Madagascar, which are as
strong and as potent for evil now as they
were in the days when there were no schools
and no Christianity in the island The first
is the system of forced government service,
known as fanompoana, under which. from the
highest down TO the lowest grades, govern
ment officials subsist by squeezing" those
underneath them. There are no paid offices.
All state work and state payments are effected
by fanompoana.
The second is slavery, which is rampant
everywhere in Madagascar and the third is
the extreme jealousy of foreigners and the
suspicion with which their efforts at opening
up the country are viewed. The government
is All absolute monarchy. The queens word
is law everywhere, and the people are loyal
and obedient to the queens authority. But
all real power has for several years been
secured in the family of the prime minister,
who, of course, acts in the name of the SOW
ereign, to whom he is married. This family
is becoming to the rulers of Madagascar what
the Peishwahs were to the descendants of
Sivaee in the great Mahratta confederation.
The last prime minister was the brother OF
the present man; and their father held the
reins of authority before them.
The queen is, in fact, puppet Should she
die at the present junCture-and she has been
aiing for some time past-there might be
confusion in Antananarivo, and possibly
bloodshed, for there are numerous claimants
to the throne. But it is generally supposed
that the prime minister is we'll prepared for
that event; that he has a successor ready at
hand in the shape of young princess of the
royal family that he will proclaim her
queen, marry her and continue to be the de
facto ruler of the country The prime minis
ter has reputation for great ability, and
.here is no doubt he is an astute native states
man. But, with the exception of his adop-
ton of Christianity and the freeing of i'm
ported slaves-measures which were more or
less forced upon him-he has done little for
the material progress of Madagascar
Forced labor, corruption in the public
services, the banishment of political oppo-
nents and an utter want of energy or attempt
at improvement beyond the occasional issue
of abortive DEGREES still characterize the gov
ernment system. For instance, at the coast
ports the customs duties are collected in kind
OF every ten bales of cotton imported one is
handed over to the government and it is the
same with exports. OF course under such a
system corruption is the general rule, and it
is impossible that commerce can flourish
Yet the prime minister seems helpless to effect
a reform Thon all those trained to trades by
the agents of the London Missionary society
are promptly impressed into the government
service, so that there is no incentive to indi-
viduals to acquire useful accomplishments
Every one is liable to be called upon to give
his services to those above him without re,
muneration. In short, the government is
about as bad as it can be. 1t retards instead
of assisting the progress of the country and
must reform ere the Hovas can advance much
further in civilization.
While the missionaries are free to preach
and to teach, there is one subject which they
all know must be excluded from their ser
mons. They must not allude to the system
4 of slavery which prevails throughout NADIA
gascar. Should any missionary lift up hi
voice against that institution is well aware
hat in a short time his church would b,
eserted. The secret influence of government
guild be brought to bear, and he woult
,ctically find himself boycotted. Until re
ihtly Madagascar was the chief market 10
yves on the east coast of Africa. Although
le importation by sea was against the law
|I,t that law was continually evaded, until a
.st the government urged and even threat
ned by England, determined to order th
oeration of all slaves not born in the island
This measure was carried into effect in 1877
md since then the foreign traffic at least ha
ceased. But every Hova continues to holt
slaves, many of them in large numbers, anc
as n consequence no Hova will do any labor
thinking work to be beneath him. 1t i
true that the slavery is of a somewhat milC
description.
Ill treatment is rare, and often the slave
are allowed to do pretty much as they like
so long as they report themselves occasionall,
and pay to their masters share of their earn
ings. Still every Friday in the Hova capi
tai when the great market of the week j
held, there is stand tor slaves, and yester
day saw there over $50 individuals expose,
E.. Il. u. L
and it was pitiable to watch the expression O
hopeless misery on their young faces as tn
intending purchasers felt them over, examine,
their teeth, or made them walk or run.
saw many painful scenes-mothers weeping
at being parted from their children, and chill
dren crying bitterly at being separated iron
the companions of their youth. AS q mis-
sionary review recently published here says
"A Malagassy who does not own slave /
very badly of and suffers extreme inconveni
ence. In all the churches and congregation
there are slaves, and some of them are com
posed chiefly of slaves. Nearly all the pas
tors, deacons, and preachers, as well as mem
bers of the churches, are slaveowners"
Wealth in Madagascar is represented b.
slaves, and to interfere with system S
closely interviewer with the domestic life O
the population would be dangerous task.
Is one with which neither government no
missionaries have as yet attempted to grapplt
40 liberate the slaves at a single stroke woul
be unwise, if not impossible but there is n
good reason why children born of slave
should not be proclaimed free. This is un
doubtedy the first step TO take, and there al
grounds for believing that diplomatic advic
judiciousy rendered by the English govern
ment in that direction might have effect.
=, has occurred to me that the introduction
Iie sngar industry on the coast might ais
help toward removing from Madagascar tn
curse of slavery.
sugar planter in Mauritas pays for tn
importation of an Indian laborer as prelimi
nary outlay, larger sum than would sufc
to purchase Aialagassy slave 1t might thu
be easily arranged that slaves here, by en-
gaging to serve for time like the India
laborer would obtain the money wherewit
to purchase their freedom. As a matter G
fact, numbers of slaves are thus set free b
Englishmen, who, requiring servants, arranq
for their Liberation in the manner described
and the exis ting plantations are worked in
great measure by slaves, who doubtless wi
with their earnings eventually purchase thei
liberty.
There can, however, be no extension of til
sugar planting or any other industry in Mad
agascar until the third obstacle TO materii
progress, to which | have referred, is removed
In the jealousy of foreigners which prevail
among the Hovas, more, perhaps, than anon
any of the other tribes, the government itse
takes the lead. The efforts of British an
French subjects to open up trade are thwarte
in underhand fashion by the local powers tina
be- The expectation Of many articles, sue
aG finhar nd mi innrols. ig forbid1an nd