The death of M. Gambetta has probably preserved Mada- gascar
from a French descent. The French Government has too much to do to think of expeditions, and the " policy of the fireside" will probably be triumphant. We therefore note only as an incident in history that on January 10th, M. Dnclerc peremptorily, though civilly, rejected Lord Granville's offer to mediate between the French Government and the Hovas. The Malagasy Envoys, he wrote, quite understood French claims and the concessions to which France could agree, and " cannot have entertained any illusions respecting the consequences of the attitude which they have thought fit to maintain." It is an odd illustration of the existing solidarite of our planet that, in an African island, in a thousand Wesleyan :chapels, brown men will sing Te Deums in bastard Malay because Admiral Janr6guiberry could not approve the expulsion of the Comte de Paris. Prince Napoleon's placard probably affects the whole future history of Madagascar.
Previous page
