156 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
his employment is of that nature to be viewed with jealousy by 
colonists in general. It is my intention to propose to this man to 
proceed to the court of Radama, and reside there ; by which means 
I shall have constant communication with the interior of Mada¬ 
gascar, and be able to make the best use of the friendship of that 
prince, for the mutual interests of our respective countries. 
“ I trust your lordship will not disapprove of those peaceful and 
unexpensive overtures to a more constant and safer intercourse 
with the island of Madagascar; means of this nature will enable 
us to push our commerce farther than the forts and garrisons 
which have hitherto afforded protection to the merchants who 
traded thither. The former governors of these islands have, in 
every period of their history, in vain endeavoured to obtain that 
friendly footing which is now sought and offered to us by the 
native princes. 
“ I shall not intrude longer upon your lordship’s time, by any 
exposition of the political value of Madagascar, as forming an 
appendage to the British sovereignty in these seas, as my former 
letters have been sufficiently explicit on that head; but I may be 
allowed to observe, that it appears to me, that the means are at 
present in our hands of cutting off, in a great measure, at its 
source, the slave-trade in these seas, and that I shall not neglect 
so favourable an opportunity of availing myself of them to the 
fullest extent.” 
Such were the means adopted to induce Radama to send 
over to Mauritius two of his younger brothers, Ratifikia 
and Rahovy, for the purpose of receiving an European 
education. At the close of the same year, a mission was 
sent by Governor Farquhar to Xmerina, the district of 
the Hovas, and part of the province now called Ankova, 
conducted by Captain Le Sage, attended by several 
persons of ability, with the intention of forming a treaty of 
friendship and peace with Radama; in which prudential 
step was laid the foundation of a future connexion of a 
more specific and permanent nature. It would have been 
