HISTORY OF EUROPEAN COLONIZATION 
107 
establish a special trade agency in Tamatave, over which 
they placed Sylvain Roux. This man had to give way 
to the English in 18ii, when the latter took the island of 
Mauritius from the French. Sir Robert Farquhar then 
made his appearance as English governor of Mauritius 
and pursued great aims in Madagascar. From this time 
begins a long period of quarrelling, an imbittered struggle 
between English and French interests, which has only 
come to an issue during the last few years. In a treaty 
in 1815 France formally ceded to England all rights 
over the Isle of France and its dependencies. Under 
the head of these dependencies were understood Rodri¬ 
guez and the Seychelles, as was expressly stated in 
Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris. Sir Robert Far¬ 
quhar wrote to the French governor of Bourbon, at the 
beginning of the year 1816, that properly Madagascar 
also formed a dependency of Mauritius and that England 
claimed full rights over the great island. English gar¬ 
risons were placed in Tamatave and Foule Point. The 
interpretation of the treaty of 1815 placed the ‘Unborn 
bashfulness” of England in its right light, and it was, to 
speak mildly, an act of coolness without a parallel. 
When a protest was raised from Paris, however, Eng¬ 
land, at the end of 1816, thought it well to forego her 
unfounded claim. 
Farquhar soon recognized that he must find some other 
way to paralyse the Sister Colony of Bourbon. Mada¬ 
gascar was a good market, which must be conquered 
economically and politically, even if the French claims 
were recognized. 
The island had been till now without political unity. 
Twenty or thirty tribes, with different and often antagon¬ 
istic interests, lived side by side and were often at war 
among themselves. The Sakalava of the west were the 
most powerful. But at the beginning of this century the 
Hova tribes, till then scarcely considered, began to gain in- 
