The Rev. G. A. Shaw, the Missionary arrested at Tamatave,
related his case on Thursday to a vast crowd in Exeter Hall. We have said enough of his statement elsewhere, but we wish to notice a statement made by the Rev. G. Cousins, of Antana- narivo, of which more will be beard. This gentleman, who has. resided nineteen years in the capital of Madagascar, bore em- phatic testimony to what he called the "kindness" of the Malagasy to the French after the bombardment of Tamatave. They ex- pelled all the French, but let them get safely to the coast, and drove away all the Roman Catholic priests, but still allowed Roman Catholics to practise their religion. Is not that rather an optimistic version of what happened P It seems to us that a French Foreign Minister, even of less acrid temper than M. Challemel-Lacour, has fair ground for saying that the Malagasy plundered and expelled quiet French residents who• had nothing to do with the bombardment, and persecuted Catholicism in the most effective way, by banishing all men com- petent to perform any offices of religion. That is certainly what• he will say, and if Mr. Cousins's statement is true, we hardly wonder that French sailors and French priests are somewhat savage against Protestant teachers of religion. Exeter Hall would have been, if all Protestant teaching had been stopped,. and Catholicism alone protected.
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