The evening times., 1895-10-12

socially as u woman here who eats with
her knife.
The Queen is called Ranavaiona III.
Her features cannot be called delicate,
and in complexion she is pretty dark,
much darker than most of her subjects.
Her figure is above medium height. She
dresses in European garments, and upon
state occasions wears robe of red vel
vet and a crown of gold. Her usual resi-
dence is not the enormous three-story
palace Moia Kamiadana, built for Rama
valOna l by a French architect, but a
stone mansion hard by called the Palace Of
Masandro, arranged in good taste and with
proper regard to comfort.
Her husband is something of n Napoleon.
He is small and lean and rich. His wavy
hair bespcaks his humble origin. Under
an air of good fellowship. he conceals ex-
treme energy, an iron will and much keen
ness of intellect. Withal. he is an able
politician. He lives in the Palace of Zano-
vola, called the Silver House. because when
il was built for Prince Rakota. son of n
former Queen, the Prince caused it to be
with silver locks.
The Premier King dresses plainly, save
on great occasions, when he wears dol
man of white satin, embroidered with gold
short trousers, ending in white stockings,
with ribbon garters. great buskins, with
very high heels, and suspended from his
shoulder a cross belt, heavy with gold,
which supports sabre, whose scabbard of
black leather is incrusted with gold.
The cause of the war which France is
now waging against MAZDA Gascar is easily
explained. The French are seeking to es-
tablish an actual protectorate over the
whole island, with the ultimate design,
undoubtedly, of aDneXing it outright. The
Hovas deny that in the treaty OF peace they
signed with France in 1855, or in any
other document, they ever gave France
the right to assume protectorate over
the island. The overtures for peace in
1885 again and again broke down because
the Hovas would not have the obno xious
word in the treaty, or anything that could
be twisted to mean the surrender of the
sovereign rights of the Queen.
This treaty was accepted by the Mala.
Gasy only when the French government,
eager TO end the war in which the French
men had peSished like sheep in the deadly
climate of the coast without gaining a
single advantage for their country. au-
thorized the French pienipotentiary to
dispense with the word ''protectorate."
France was to represent Madagascar
In her foreign relations and the Queen
was to govern the whole island except
few small districts on the coast and the
near by islands which France had acquired
from 1921 to 1885.
But France has chosen to treat her
agreement with Madagascar as the thin
edge of the wedge leading to a protec-
tOrate. Her resident at the capital has
been accused of meddling with the Queens
land concessions and with consular juris-
diction. The Hovas say he has put his
finger into all sorts of domestic affairs,
and he brought many French soldiers to
the capital, though by the treaty he had
a right to bring fifty soldiers and no more
to guard the resldency.
Matters went from bad to worse, and
finally, near the close OF last year, the
resident demanded on behalf of France
that the Hovas should recognize the PRO
tectorate," that the French should have
the right to plant garrisons where they
wished TO do SO, and that no concessions
should be valid unless approved by the
resident. The Hovas refused to yield to
these demands, the resident withdrew in
high dudgeon to the coast, and the French
began preparations for the war.
The natives have the most absolute and
abiding faith in their Queen. The crafty
prime minister nourishes and encourages
this belief, and to an outsider the power
of the Queen seems unlimited. But she
is only the moutbpiece of her husband, and
she carries out his ideas with an energy
and dramatic power which evoke rare en-
thusiasm. She was crowned on her twenty
second birthday, in November Of 1888,
and is not quite thirty-five years old.
When the French made their first often
sive moves the national assembly of the
country was then in progress, and the
Queen, under the direction of her husband,
seized the opportunity tn stir up patriot
ism among her subjects
on this occasion she stood up in the
center of 30 900 of her subjects. and wav
ing n sword above her head declared that
she would lead her soldiers to war against
the French. Continuing she said: 1--WE
want peace with all the world. We love
peace and hate war, but we will fight
until we die to keep the land God gave us
and our fathers preserved. The French are
landing on our coast TO efface our flag, to
destroy our government and to make
us merely part of themselves. Oh, the
shame of it! We have sought no war with
France, but we will fight till every home
is burned and every man has perished be-
fore we will submit to such a disgrace.
What Hoya is there who cares to survive
his country
On November II begins the new year
in tile Malagasy- calendar, and the tenth |
day of the new year is always celebrated
in extraordinary fashion. Business is |
and the sovereign commands |
that enemies become friends for at least |
that day. So literally is the command |
Dbeyed that wives return to their d. |