Hova Rule.—The political history of Madagascar as a whole may be said to date from the reign of Radama I. (1810-1828). He was a man much in advance of his age—shrewd, enterprising and undeterred by difficulty—a kind of Peter the Great of his time. He saw that it was necessary for his people to be educated and civilized if the country was to progress; and making a treaty with the governor of Mauritius to abolish the export of slaves, he received every year in compensation a subsidy of arms, ammu nition and uniforms, as well as English training for his troops. He was thus enabled to establish his authority over a large por tion of the island. For some years a British agent, Hastie, resided at Radama's court, and exercised a powerful influence over the king, doing much for the material advance of the country. At the same period (182o) Christian teaching was begun in the capital by the London Missionary Society, and by its missionaries, the language was reduced to a systematic written form, and the art of printing introduced; books were prepared, the Scriptures were translated, numerous schools were formed, and several Chris tian congregations were gathered together. Useful arts were im ported, valuable products were discovered and superstitions were broken.
The bright prospects thus opening up were clouded by the death of Radama at the age of 36 and the seizure of the royal authority by one of his wives, the princess Ranavalona. She looked with much suspicion upon the ideas then gaining power among many of her people, and determined to strike a decisive blow at the new teaching. In 1835 the profession of the Christian religion was declared illegal ; all worship was to cease, and all religious books were ordered to be given up. By the middle of 1836 all the English missionaries were obliged to leave the island, and for 25 years the most strenuous efforts were made by the queen and her Government to suppress opposition. Of the Christian Malagasy, about 200 suffered death, while many hundreds were punished by fine, degradation, imprisonment and slavery. During the queen's rule there were frequent rebellions, distant provinces were desolated by barbarous wars ; for some years all Europeans were excluded, and foreign commerce almost ceased. This last circum stance was partly owing to an ill-managed attack upon Tamatave in 1846 by a combined British and French force, made to redress the wrongs inflicted upon the foreign traders of that port.
This reign of terror was brought to a close in 1861 by the death of the queen and the accession of her son, Radama II. The island was reopened to European trade, and missionary efforts were recommenced. A concession he was induced to sign, giving great powers to a French company, as well as the vices and insane follies into which he was led by worthless foreign and native favourites, soon brought both the reign and the life of Radama II.
to an end. He was put to death in his palace (1863) and his wife was placed on the throne. The new sovereign refused to ratify the agreement with the French company, illegally obtained, choos ing rather to pay a million francs as compensation. During the five years' reign of Queen Rasoherina, quiet and steady advances were made in civilization and education, and treaties were con cluded with the British, French and United States Governments. Besides the London Missionary Society various other Christian agencies were now at work, including the Jesuits and the Anglicans, the Society of Friends and the Norwegian Lutherans.
At the death of Rasoherina in 1868, she was succeeded by her cousin, Ranavalona II. One of the first acts of the new queen was the public recognition of Christianity; and soon after wards she and her husband, the prime minister, were baptized. This was followed in the succeeding year by the burning of the royal idols and immediately afterwards by the destruction of the idols throughout the central provinces, the people generally put ting themselves under Christian instruction.
The Hova Government, though absolute under such monarchs as Radama I., bore traces of popular control. New laws were announced at assemblies of the people, whose consent to them was given through the headmen of the different divisions of native society; this custom was no doubt a survival from a time when the popular assent was not a merely formal act. Ranava lona II., her predecessor and her successor, were successively married to the prime minister, Rainilaiarivony, a man of great ability and sagacity, who, by his position as husband and chief adviser of the sovereign, became virtual ruler of the country. Chiefly owing to his influence, many measures tending to improve the administration were introduced. The Hova army was esti mated at from 30.00o to 40,000 men, several English non-com missioned officers, and later others of higher rank, being engaged to train them in European methods. Revenue was derived from customs duties, first-fruits, fines and confiscation of offenders' property, and a money offering, called hasina, presented on a great variety of occasions both to the sovereign in person and to her representatives; and these were supplemented by "benevo lences" (in the mediaeval sense of the word) levied upon the people for occasional State necessities. The Government also claimed the unpaid services of all classes of the community for every kind of public work.