Knowing what we do now, from the public boast of the Jesuits themselves, that ‘they gained Madagascar for France, and for this ought to have a free hand’; remembering also that these officers were heathens at heart, and that they had only too good reasons for suspecting the Jesuits of playing false, it is not to be wondered at if they wished to follow the old heathen method of dealing with such deceivers; but the queen and the prime minister were wisely advised to act as they did. The policy which the heathen officers wished to follow would have belied the Christian profession of the queen and government, and played into the hands of their enemies, who wished to provoke them to acts which would prove them the barbarians they maintained they were. As the lives of Europeans were respected and their treatment was in every way worthy of a civilized and Christian government the conduct of the Malagasy officials contrasted favourably with that of their antagonists. The French government of that day may have been very much deceived--indeed I am sure they were, and had their hand forced--in many ways; but some thought they were not over anxious to know the truth. The Jesuits and Sisters were ultimately sent to the nearest French colony, Réunion, in a man-of-war, and had to remain there to the end of the war. To add to the embarrassment of the situation the queen, Rànavàlona II, the first Christian Queen of Madagascar, after an illness of some months’ duration, died on the morning of Friday, July 13, 1883. This event, so shortly after the commencement of the war, seemed as if it might prove another blow to the progress of Christianity; but it did not. We had heard that Her Majesty was ill, but were startled that Friday forenoon by the firing of the guns in and around the palace yard; and by seeing the people rushing from the weekly market, the women taking down their hair as they ran--the Malagasy sign of mourning on the part of the women. All were rushing home to hide or to protect their property, as they feared there might be a ‘rising’; but the new queen was immediately proclaimed, and all passed off quietly. Rànavàlona II was born in the year 1829, and ascended the throne on April 2, 1868.