109 
thoughts of promoting the civilization and happiness 
of his subjects, but has in good earnest, and in the 
most determined manner, set about it. With a pro¬ 
found, and, we believe, a sincere respect for the 
British nation, he has, in a late transaction with them, 
made it a sine-qua-non , that while he agrees to do his 
utmost to comply with their request of abolishing the 
slave-trade throughout the island, they, on their part, 
shall undertake to instruct a number of his subjects 
in the civil arts; and at the same time he invites arti¬ 
ficers of every description, to come and settle in 
his dominions, with the most positive assurances of 
his protection and support. We may therefore expect 
to hear more of this long-forgotten place before many 
years are elapsed; for unless we have entirely mis¬ 
taken the genius and disposition of her people, civili¬ 
zation will make a rapid progress amongst them: we 
are not speaking of a nation who are not alive to the 
advantages of such a state, or who are indifferent 
about them ; but of one possessing a mind capacious 
enough to' view them in their fullest extent;-—which 
feels, and is impatient of the want of them,—and 
which has the power and the resolution to supply that 
want. After having seen and heard what is going 
forward amongst the civilized nations of Europe, the 
Madegasses cannot , like the people in the frozen 
regions of the north, sit down in their smoaky huts, 
contented with the superstition and ignorance entailed 
upon them by their forefathers: nor mil they, with 
the enervated inhabitants of the East and the abori- 
