CHAP. VII. NOTICE OF BARON BENYOWSKY. 183 



outlying factories of the French establishment formed at 

 Antongil Bay in 1774 by the Baron Benyowsky. The career 

 of this remarkable man was characterised by events the most 

 startling and extraordinary, and that the same individual 

 should be at one time the prisoner of Russia in Siberia, and 

 then a trader in China, that he should afterwards be acknow- 

 ledged as a lineally descended sovereign in Madagascar, and 

 be sent by authorities in that island to treat for alliances with 

 the sovereigns of Europe, and should finally be shot as a 

 rebel by the French, seems more like romance than reality ; 

 yet such were some of the striking contrasts of his life. De- 

 scended from Polish ancestors, but born in Hungary, he 

 served as a general in the armies of Russia till after the 

 death of the King of Poland in 1765, when he joined the 

 army in Cracow, where he was captured by the Russians and 

 banished to Siberia. Here he induced a number of others to 

 join in an attempt to escape, in which he succeeded ; at- 

 tacked Kamschatka, seized three Russian vessels with their 

 cargoes, dismasted the rest, and sailed with his companions to 

 China, where he sold his vessels and cargoes. From Macao 

 he proceeded in French trading vessels to Mauritius, then 

 occupied by the French, where his attention was directed to 

 Madagascar. Sailing from Mauritius to France, he was ap- 

 pointed some time after his arrival to undertake the formation 

 of a French establishment in Madagascar. A corps entitled 

 the Volunteers of Benyowsky was enrolled, officers appointed, 

 and he sailed to Mauritius. The authorities there were op- 

 posed to the projected establishment, and as he was de- 

 pendent on them for supplies, he experienced considerable 

 disappointment and delay. At length he reached Madagascar, 

 where he met with a friendly reception from the chiefs, 

 whom he informed that the King of France had decided on 

 forming an establishment in their country to defend them 

 from their enemies, and to open warehouses for trade. He 



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