After the beginning of the nineteenth century the English attempted to found settlements in Madagascar, but they too were unsuccessful. They took possession of the harbors of Tamatavé and Foul Point, but only kept them a short time. Meanwhile the empire of the Hovas in the interior had increased considerably. Dianampoiene, the chief of Tananariva, carried on successful wars against the petty chiefs, and annexed their states to his own. He is reported to have been a very active and intelligent man, and to have given good laws to his people; under his rule the use of spirituous liquors and of tobacco was forbidden. Dianampoiene died in the year 1810, and left his kingdom, which had already become powerful, to his son Radama.
This potentate was only eighteen years old when he came to the throne. Like his father, he was intelligent, upright, and very ambitious. He loved the Europeans, and sought to increase his knowledge by consorting with them.
The English very cleverly made use of this disposition of the king’s, and managed to get into high favor with him. Radama was soon so prepossessed by them that he allowed them distinctions of every kind, and sometimes even wore an English uniform. He likewise made a treaty with England, by which he bound himself to give up the export slave-trade. As an indemnity he received money and presents to the amount of about £2000; and the English government farther undertook to send ten young men from Madagascar to England, and ten others to the Mauritius, to be instructed in various handicrafts and trades.
Radama kept the treaty strictly; but not so did the English General Hall, who succeeded Mr. Farquhar as Governor of the Mauritius. General Hall seems to have held the doctrine that savages are not men. He was not ashamed to declare openly that a contract made with a chief of savages was entirely invalid, and accordingly he constantly broke the treaty. A natural consequence of this manner of dealing was, that Radama again licensed the slave-trade, and began to favor the French at the expense of the English, giving his new friends a small strip of land in the Bay of Vanatobé.
The English strove for a long time to regain their influential position, but in vain. They had made themselves so hateful not only to Radama, but to the people, that every thing false and mendacious used to be called “English.” Nevertheless, they succeeded at last in getting the treaty renewed, and even obtained fresh privileges. They got permission to bring in missionaries, to build schools, and to teach the Bible. In consideration of a duty of five per cent. they were allowed to enter all the harbors, to carry on trade, to cultivate the ground, and to found industrial establishments.