104 MADAGASCAR 
new commander succeeded in setting all the world 
against him by his arbitrary conduct; the reign of terror 
as it existed once before under Pronis and Flacourt 
recommenced. A certain chief did not hurry himself to 
present his homage, and La Haye, too autocratic to 
wait, sent out a force of 1300 men to chastise him and 
suffered a complete defeat. 
The natives, who had been deceived so often by 
friendly promises, set on foot a general rising. La Haye 
fled from Madagascar, while the Frenchmen who re¬ 
mained behind endeavoured to come to terms with the 
natives. These, however, declared that they had quite 
lost faith in Europeans; they stormed Fort Dauphin and 
put the French to death to the last man. This took 
place in the year 1672. The fruits of the thirty years’ 
attempts at colonization were thus utterly destroyed. 
Louis XIV. was too much taken up with European 
matters to concern himself any further with Madagascar. 
Colbert died, and it was considered sufficient in 1686 to 
declare the island to be crown property; this declaration 
was renewed in 1720 and again in 1725. 
The first phase of serious colonization came to an end 
with the disaster of 1672. Erance might till then, with a 
little tact, have obtained a peaceful conquest of the 
island in spite of initial mistakes. Now the island became 
part of the royal domain, but no one ventured to have 
anything to do with it. 
Later begins a second phase, during which the strang¬ 
est adventurers went in search of fortune, after nothing 
had taken place in Madagascar for a century or so. 
Before all must be mentioned the Count Benjowsky, 
one of the drollest figures of the last century, a cap¬ 
tivating personality, with a past life of many vicissitudes; 
one who, with the education of a man of the world, pos¬ 
sessed unusual energy, and one about whom we are 
frequently in doubt whether his conduct sprang from 
