322 POLITICAL PUNISHMENTS. 



shall we bring the man ? for the bread is spent, and there is 

 not a present to bring to the man of God : what have we ? " 

 I Sam. ix. 7) ; the servant's finding a quarter-shekel ; his 

 master's immediately appropriating it — all this is true to the 

 life to what continually happens in Madagascar. 



As among the Jews and most Eastern nations, the staff is a 

 sign of office and authority, so also it is among the Malagasy 

 (see Numb. xvii). When the elders of the people, chiefs of 

 villages and tribes, come in from the country to the capital, 

 they frequently carry with them this staff or rod of office as 

 a sign of their position. 



Up to a very recent period, the punishments for political 

 and other crimes in Madagascar were very severe. The code 

 of laws in the time of sovereigns preceding the present one 

 commenced by denouncing death for a number of offences ; 

 but beside this it provided also that the wife and children of 

 the culprit should " be lost," that is, reduced to slavery. And 

 so " the sins of the fathers were visited upon the children," a 

 thing which, although prohibited by the law of Moses (Deut. 

 xxiv. 1 6 ; Ezek. xviii. 20), was often practised by Jewish 

 rulers, as well as by neighbouring nations (see 2 Kings x. 

 6, 14, xi. 1 ; Dan. vi. 24). 



In the case of popular risings against obnoxious counsellors 

 of the sovereign, as was the case in May 1863, when a num- 

 ber of the king's friends were accused and put to death, their 

 houses were in several instances set upon by the populace, 

 torn to pieces, and all the property destroyed in a very few 

 minutes, giving a striking and rather terrible illustration of 

 the passage, " Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man 

 dwell therein" (Ps. hrix. 25 ; Acts i. 20). 



We are accustomed in this country to consider all Govern- 

 ment officials as servants of the public ; but in Madagascar, 

 as in the East generally, the reverse is usually the case. And 

 so, any little petty officer can command service and assist- 

 ance by pronouncing the magic words, Fanjakari Andriana, 

 " Queen's business " (literally, " Kingdom of the sovereign"). 

 " Dressed in a little brief authority " given by his connection 

 with the Crown, he can lord it over people much his superiors 

 in every way, and everywhere require obedience to his demands 



