HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
33 
These, and a vast number of other supposed advantages, 
appear to have occupied the serious consideration of many 
merchants and other persons in Great Britain at that 
period. So much so, that, according to Mr. Boothby, it 
was agreed at the council-board that Prince Rupert should 
go as viceroy for Madagascar. He was to have twelve 
sail from king Charles, and thirty merchant-men to attend 
him to the plantation, and to have supplies yearly sent 
out from England. It was likewise agreed upon, and 
a charge given to the governor, Sir Maurice Abbot, Sir 
Henry Gar way, and others of the committee of the honour¬ 
able East India Company, to give all their loving assistance 
and furtherance to Prince Rupert in this design, whenso¬ 
ever he came into Asia or India, and all other parts adja¬ 
cent to the island of Madagascar. 
“ I was present,” says Mr. Boothby, “ when this was 
ordered at the council-table; and the charge given to the 
aforesaid governor and committee of the East India Com¬ 
pany : but Prince Rupert going into France and Germany 
about his weighty affairs, in the mean time it was thought 
fit, and concluded upon, that the Earl of Arundel, earl 
marshal of England, should go governor for Madagascar, it 
being the most famous place in the world for a magazine. 
“This noble earl,” says the same writer, “ hath written 
a book to that purpose, and allowed weekly means of sub¬ 
sistence to divers seamen, who have good judgment and 
experience all over the Oriental seas, and at Madagascar. 
This honourable earl was in such resolution and readiness, 
that there were printed bills put up on the pillars of the 
Royal Exchange, and in other parts of the city, that abun¬ 
dantly shewed his forwardness in promoting a plantation 
in Madagascar; but a new parliament being called, it put 
a stop to the design of Madagascar.” 
ii. 
D 
