CHAP. VII. 
NOTICE OF BARON BENYOWSIvY. 
183 
outlying factories of the French establishment formed at 
Antongil Bay in 1774 by the Baron Benyowsky. The career 
of this remarkable man was characterised by events the most 
startling and extraordinary, and that the same individual 
should be at one time the prisoner of Russia in Siberia, and 
then a trader in China, that he should afterwards be acknow¬ 
ledged as a lineally descended sovereign in Madagascar, and 
be sent by authorities in that island to treat for alliances with 
the sovereigns of Europe, and should finally be shot as a 
rebel by the French, seems more like romance than reality; 
yet such were some of the striking contrasts of his life. De¬ 
scended from Polish ancestors, but bom in Hungary, he 
served as a general in the armies of Russia till after the 
death of the King of Poland in 1765, when he joined the 
army in Cracow, where he was captured by the Russians and 
banished to Siberia. Here he induced a number of others to 
join in an attempt to escape, in which he succeeded; at¬ 
tacked Kamschatka, seized three Russian vessels with their 
cargoes, dismasted the rest, and sailed with his companions to 
China, where he sold his vessels and cargoes. From Macao 
he proceeded in French trading vessels to Mauritius, then 
occupied by the French, where his attention was directed to 
Madagascar. Sailing from Mauritius to France, he was ap¬ 
pointed some time after his arrival to undertake the formation 
of a French establishment in Madagascar. A corps entitled 
the Volunteers of Benyowsky was enrolled, officers appointed, 
and he sailed to Mauritius. The authorities there were op¬ 
posed to the projected establishment, and as he was de¬ 
pendent on them for supplies, he experienced considerable 
disappointment and delay. At length he reached Madagascar, 
where he met with a friendly reception from the chiefs, 
whom he informed that the King of France had decided on 
forming an establishment in their country to defend them 
from their enemies, and to open warehouses for trade. He 
