185 
His reception at the Isle of France was not of the 
most favourable description. It would be a difficult 
matter, at this distance of time, to judge precisely of 
the merits or demerits of the count: were we to 
believe the French writers, we should conclude him 
to be both a rash adventurer, and a crafty designing 
knave:—but the French were his confirmed enemies, 
and their accounts of him are to be read with caution 
and great allowance. It shall be our endeavour to 
give an impartial account of the transactions in which 
he appears, as connected with the history of Mada¬ 
gascar, and leave it to the reader to. make his own 
conclusions from the facts that we shall state. 
His stav at the Isle of France was short: but at his 
•/ 7 
departure he intimated the probability of his applying 
to the government of France, for a commission to 
establish a colony in Madagascar; which appears to 
have been treated by the French, at the Isle of France, 
with ridicule and contempt: and it would appear that 
the intendant wrote to the French minister of marine, 
to prejudice him against Benyowsky. 
Upon his arrival in France, and after his various 
surprising adventures had transpired, he received a 
communication from the French minister, Monsieur 
de Boynes, of the intention of the government to make 
another attempt to establish a colony at Madagascar, 
for the purposes of trade rather than conquest; and 
inviting him to take charge of the undertaking, as 
governor-general. Whether these overtures arose 
from a previous application on the part of Benyowsky 
