THE COLONIAL EXPANSION OF FRANCE 235 



Madagascar is one of the most hopeful colonies. The work of 

 France here has been both destructive and constructive. She has 

 overthrown the despotic Oriental government of the Hovas. The in- 

 surrection whicli followed was not so much the result of French con- 

 quest as the continuation of the movement of the Fahanalos, outlaws 

 who for man}^ 3^ears had been a very disturbing element. General 

 Galieni, in a most humane manner, restored order. The island is 

 now more pacified than it ever was during the last ten years of the 

 Hova government. The tribes are happy to have their own tribal 

 chiefs and to be delivered from the former Hova governors, hated by 

 all. Slavery has been abolished. State compulsory labor has been 

 freed of its worst and more arbitrary features. The state church, with 

 its official hypocrisy, has been disestablished. The schools, founded 

 by the missionaries before the conquest, have gained in number and 

 character. In the province of Emyrna. French Protestant missions 

 have 800 schools ; the Catholic, 700; the English and Norwegian mis- 

 sionaries, 250, and the government, 150. All fair-minded men must 

 recognize that missionaries have never had a truer freedom nor a truer 

 security in the island than now. France has constructed important 

 public works. She has built roads from the capital to the coast on 

 two sides of the island which previously was roadless. Now heavy 

 trucks drawn by oxen take the place of men's backs in the transport- 

 ation of goods from the coast to Antananarivo, the capital. This 

 work will be done before long by a railroad. Telegraphic lines built 

 by France extend in many directions. An extensive agricultural 

 development is taking place, and a new life has dawned for that in- 

 teresting island. 



The field which is likely to undergo the greatest immediate changes 

 is that immense possession south of the Sahara. With the exception 

 of Senegal and other establishments upon the western littoral, the 

 whole territory is as yet but very imperfectly organized. Vast districts 

 have never been explored. Recent applications for concessions have 

 been great. Three-quarters of the French Kongo have been leased 

 by French companies, forty of which during the.last year have here 

 invested no less than $10,000,000. Wiiatever jnay be the economic 

 future of this section of Africa, some i)Ositive results, which cannot 

 but be approved by all, are already visible. 



First, there has been an overthrow of the cruel African despots — 

 black Caligulas — represented by Ahmadon, Behauzin, and Samory ; 

 second, the sto])ping<)r the slave trade, witli its ind(!scril)able liorrors ; 

 third, the great efforts made to ))ring liat-k the; natives to agriculture, 



