HISTORY OF EUROPEAN COLONIZATION 105 
lofty inspiration or from excessive vanity. This Polish 
nobleman had entangled himself in a conspiracy in St. 
Petersburg and was in consequence banished to Kamt- 
schatka. There he succeeded so well in ingratiating 
himself with the governor that the latter gave him his 
daughter in marriage. Soon after his marriage he escaped, 
and landing first at Formosa, entered into negotia¬ 
tions with the chiefs of the natives there and gained 
their consent to a European protectorate; later on, a 
French ship brought him to Mauritius and to France. 
In Paris they took a fancy to this piquant nobleman 
whose deeds were in everybody’s mouth. Benjowsky was 
for a time the lion of the day and all salons were open 
to him. Even the eovernment interested itself on his 
behalf and bestowed on him the command of a regiment 
of infantry; he accepted it on the condition that he should 
be employed in the colonial service. The idea of coloniz¬ 
ing P'ormosa revived in his mind. The Secretary of 
State assented, only the attempt was to be undertaken 
in Madagascar and not in Eormosa. Benjowsky declared 
himself ready to found a settlement in Madagascar, to gain 
the confidence of the princes and kings of the island and 
ultimately to lay the protectorate over the whole island 
at the feet of the Kino^ of France. The Government of 
o 
Mauritius was to furnish him with what he required for 
the first few years, but in return was to exercise control 
over his magazine. Benjowsky left France in May 1773 
and came to the Isle of PTance (Mauritius) in September 
of the same year. Here, however, the government per¬ 
sistently thwarted him, but ultimately he collected suffi¬ 
cient men and landed in Antongil Bay (1774), where he 
founded the settlement of Louisbourg, displayed extra¬ 
ordinary activity and soon succeeded in winning over the 
surrounding tribes. 
For reasons which are not fully explained he was 
left entirely in the lurch by the authorities in Paris, 
