2 75 
to take twenty of his subjects for instruction; ten to 
proceed to the Mauritius, and the other ten to 
England. The critical moment which was to decide 
the welfare of millions, was now arrived: it was an 
awful one for the British agent, and such he felt it to 
be. A momentary struggle took place in his mind, 
occasioned by the appeal of benevolence in behalf of 
a suffering people on the one hand, and the conse¬ 
quence of going beyond the authority with which he 
was invested on the other. The contest however was 
short: with a magnanimity which has conferred eter¬ 
nal honour on his name, after consulting with Mr. 
Jones, who possessed no power or authority to go 
beyond what he had said the day before, he declared 
his determination to agree to Radama’s proposal, even 
if he himself were obliged to bear the expenses of the 
ten Madegasse youths, who were to be sent to 
England. The treaty was accordingly agreed on, a 
cabar convened, the proclamation published, and 
despatches immediately forwarded to the different 
districts, to put an entire stop to the selling of slaves 
to merchants for exportation, from their own country. 
The proclamation was as follows:— 
“ Inhabitants of Madagascar ! 
“ You are none of you ignorant of the friendship we 
enjoy with the governor of Mauritius, and the devoted 
attachment we have avowed to him: his attention, 
unlike that of all other foreign nations, which have 
visited our shores, has been directed to increase our 
t 2 
