480 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
Anxious to afford any facility for completing the printing 
of the entire Scriptures, and multiplying books, the directors 
of the London Missionary Society sent out a new printing- 
press and types by Mr. Baker; and these the government 
ordered to be taken up to the capital free of expense to the 
Missionaries.—The carrying of packages for the govern¬ 
ment was often an extremely severe service, and sometimes 
proved fatal to the bearers. On one occasion, several were 
injured, and two died: when the occurrence was reported 
to the queen, she replied, with the heartless indifference of 
one whose political creed is, that the people exist for the 
sovereign, not the sovereign for the people— C£ And what 
then ? Was it not in the service of the government that 
they died ?” 
Soon after the arrival of the first Missionaries in Mada¬ 
gascar, Radama enacted a law which allowed them to remain 
there ten years without becoming subject to the laws and 
usages of the country, but requiring them, at the expiration 
of that period, to become subject to the laws of the island, or 
leave the country, unless the permission to remain was 
renewed. In the year 1829, Mr. Griffiths, having been 
ten years in the country, requested to know the queen’s 
wishes, and received, in reply to his inquiry, a message 
directing him to ‘‘tie up his luggage, and return to his 
native country.” After much negociation, Mr. Griffiths 
was allowed to remain first for one year> afterwards for a 
longer period. Before he left the island, Mr. Griffiths’ 
relation with the Missionary Society terminated, and he 
has since returned to Madagascar, though not in con¬ 
nexion with the Society. 
In 1834, Mr. Canham, having been ten years in the 
island, received a message from the queen expressing her 
majesty’s expectation that he would leave the country. 
