CONQUEST BY THE HOVAS. 
57 
faithful, and in spite of their untoward circum¬ 
stances, cheerful and industrious. Many of 
them have risen to high rank in the country by 
purchasing their own freedom, and making them¬ 
selves useful to the Hova Government, and have 
thus shown again that there is nothing in the 
natural capabilities of the negro to prevent his 
becoming, with favourable surroundings and 
fair opportunities, an intelligent and useful mem¬ 
ber of any civilised community. The manumis¬ 
sion of all who were either brought into the 
island, or who could trace their descent from 
any imported slaves even to the remotest period, 
was a bold measure on the part of the present 
Prime Minister, who, in conjunction with the 
late British Consul, Mr Pakenham, ever a true 
friend and counsellor to the native authorities, 
designed and carried out the manumission in the 
face of great opposition on the part of a consid¬ 
erable section of the native nobility. By this 
stroke of policy, however, the Prime Minister at 
once secured a new and powerful body of support¬ 
ers and devoted adherents, who felt that they 
could not do less than give in their entire allegi¬ 
ance to a man who had dared to free them from 
the bonds of slavery, and had not even paused 
to consider the question of compensation to their 
masters. 
That the “ Mozambique ” element in Malagasy 
