500 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
is supposed that upwards of four hundred officers were de¬ 
graded on this occasion. 
In reference to the holding of prayer-meetings in their 
houses, the Missionaries deemed it proper to write to the 
queen, informing her, that whatever blame this might incur, 
ought to be attached to them, as they had recommended 
and encouraged the people to meet for prayer, in their own 
dwellings. They also wrote to say, that their own servants, 
and all other natives residing with them, as transcribers or 
assistants, had read the Scriptures, observed the Sabbath, 
and attended public worship at their request, and in con¬ 
sequence of their recommendation; and that they were 
willing to bear any blame that the queen might attach to 
their having done this. They stated at the same time that 
they had recommended it on the permission formerly given 
by the queen, and did not know that there was any law 
against it. The letters of the Missionaries were respectfully 
acknowledged; they were told that no blame attached to 
them, but their servants and assistants shared in common 
with others the penalties inflicted on the Christians. The 
accused were offered the trial by poison, if they wished to 
prove their innocence; but knowing the treachery so fre¬ 
quently employed in preparing it, no one risked his life by 
taking it. 
For some time the distress among the people was so great, 
that instead of crowding the houses of the Missionaries as 
they had been accustomed to do, scarcely a native came 
near their dwellings for days together, and no one dared to 
repair to the places of public worship. The children in 
the schools established by order of the government, were 
required to attend; but the Missionaries were only allowed 
to teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic, without the 
least allusion to Christianity. The children were not to 
