432 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. XV. 
the former but reluctantly spared his popish sister Mary, the 
latter preserved the life of a heathen priest who had devised 
and attempted the destruction of his own. 
The temperament of the prince is ardent and impulsive. 
Hence his conduct may at times be hasty; and this tendency 
has not been restrained by the discipline of sound education. 
His disposition prompts him to rely much on others; hence 
his greatest danger is from false and pretended friends, and 
his greatest want is wise and faithful counsellors. Still there 
is much to excite admiration, if not surprise, in the amount of 
his intelligence, and the soundness of his judgment. But 
when his parentage, and the tone of feeling amongst those 
around him on the subject of torture and bloodshed are con¬ 
sidered, together with the spectacles of misery and the exam¬ 
ples of cruelty to which his childhood and youth must have 
been exposed, his kindly sympathies, his horror at the shed¬ 
ding of innocent blood, and his sacred regard for human life, 
appear truly marvellous. Considering his character, and his 
influence for good, together with the perils of his position, for 
his friends are painfully apprehensive for his life, as well as 
the hallowed hopes that seem to hang upon that valuable 
life, every friend of religion and humanity must feel impelled 
to pray that the prince royal of Madagascar may be preserved, 
and his career be prosperous. 
