154 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
and that the chieftain Radama was amongst the most en¬ 
lightened, energetic, and powerful princes in the island. 
And this opinion was established and confirmed by informa¬ 
tion obtained from persons trading from different ports in 
Madagascar, and occasionally visiting the interior of the 
country. 
The following letter from the governor of Mauritius, 
addressed to Earl Bathurst, and dated Port Louis, 12th 
September, 1816, farther explains the views and intentions 
of this benevolent man :— 
“ I beg leave to state to your lordship the arrival, in this island, 
of two young brothers of Radama, king of the Ovahs, the most 
powerful of the princes of Madagascar; an event which may be 
of considerable importance to the inhabitants of these colonies, 
and which may be followed by advantageous results for the ulti¬ 
mate civilization of Madagascar. 
“ The different chiefs and sovereigns of the island had been 
inspired with much jealousy and distrust of the British govern¬ 
ment, by the artifices of such of the French traders as had been 
interested in the slave-trade, and whose traffic was suppressed by 
the establishment of the British government in these islands. 
“ I therefore thought it indispensably necessary for preserving 
the harmony which should subsist between the British merchants 
and other subjects settled at Madagascar, and the native princes, 
to send a person properly qualified to the latter, in the hopes of 
forming a lasting peace, and procuring protection to his majesty’s 
subjects in that island. 
“ One of his majesty’s subjects, a Frenchman, of the name of 
Chardeneaux, was indicated to me as peculiarly adapted for the 
accomplishment of this service, from his long and intimate 
acquaintance with the different native chiefs, and particularly from 
the friendship which had subsisted between him and Radama, king 
of the Ovahs, for many years. 
“ As my desire was, at the same time, to endeavour, by every 
amicable means, to cut off one great source of supply for the slave 
traffic, and as such a mission would at first appear as eminently 
