illustrative of the calamitous results of even temporary power in the hands of weak or wicked men. It is but due to the British government to state, that the conduct of the acting governor was severely condemned.
Governor Farquhar returned to the Mauritius in July, 1820, and soon took measures to repair the great injury done to the public service by Governor Hall; but it required much labor and pains to again restore Radama to his former confidence. “I am not independent,” said he to Mr. Hastie. “The support of a King, is his subjects; and you have told me that unlimited power over them is not invested even in your civilized King, whose representative has occasioned me to risk my ascendency in Ankova. What am I to say to my subjects? They obtain everything they want by the sale of slaves; and how can I ask them to renew a treaty with a nation that has deceived them? They will naturally say, that I, individually, am to reap the benefit of it; and that stopping the trade will cause them, in a short time, to lose all the advantages they now derive from it.”
However, the treaty was at length publicly renewed, and its execution this time was pursued with vigor and earnestness by both parties. This event took place on the 11th of Oct., 1820, and in describing it Mr. Hastie says—“The moment arrived when the welfare of millions was to be decided: I agreed!—and I trust that Divine Power which guides all hearts, will induce the government to sanction the act. The Kabary (council) was convened, the proclamation published, and received with transports by thousands. The British flag was unfurled; and freedom,—freedom from the bloody stain of slave dealing—hailed as the gift of the British nation. I declare,” adds this generous-hearted man, “the first peal of Radama's cannon, announcing the amity sealed, rejoiced my heart more than the gift of thousands would have done.”
The King forwarded orders for the immediate return of all slaves sent down to the coast and not then sold. He published an edict, that if any of his subjects were indebted to the slave-traders, they must without delay pay them in money, as on no pretext whatever could a deviation from his orders for the entire suppression of the slave-traffic meet a milder punishment than death. He at the same time sent off orders to Mazanga on the western coast, forbiding both the Arabs and natives there from carrying on the trade, although that part of the island had not yet acknowledged his sovereignty.
In the meantime the missionaries and soldiers were actively
