284 
existence in unavailing sorrow ; it is European avarice 
and cupidity that have excited it. On the other 
hand, if she have never till now received moral and 
religious instruction; if she have never been instructed 
in the arts and manufactures; if she have never been 
taught to respect the rights of her neighbours, nor to 
appreciate the natural advantages she possesses it is 
because the dissemination of these blessings were to¬ 
tally inconsistent with the continuance of that accursed 
traffic , which, there is every reason to believe, consti¬ 
tuted the main object of France, in retaining posses¬ 
sion of her as a dependency. 
Probably some of our readers may think that we 
have reflected with too much severity on the conduct 
of the French at Madagascar. We confess we have 
felt strongly, and have found it difficult to speak in 
softer language. With regard to their transactions on 
the island in the first instance, some excuses may be 
admitted, perhaps, on account of the darkness of the 
age, and the imperfect knowledge which then existed, 
of civil and religious liberty; but when we see men 
growing in crime as they advance in intelligence, and 
using their superior knowledge in subjugating, enslav¬ 
ing, and tyrannizing over their fellow-creatures, their 
principles can no longer be doubtful; and it becomes 
the duty of every one who has occasion to speak of 
them, to enter a decided protest against them, an 
omission of which implies a sanction of their conduct. 
In the history of Madagascar, the slave-trade forms 
a prominent feature, as having at least retarded its 
