It was thought in England, and elsewhere, that the Malagasy made a most disgraceful appearance in the defence of their fatherland; but it was not known that the right sort of people were kept from rising to defend their country by these traitors. Nor was it known that neither officers nor soldiers of the native army received any pay, and the officers lived by blackmailing their men. Of 20,000 sent out to meet the French, some 14,000 bought themselves off or deserted. The chief traitor had control of the _Madagascar Times_, in which the French were vilified, and represented every week as defeated and all but annihilated. All this was a blind. This patriot volunteered at the last to lead 6,000 men to meet the French; but took the precaution of going along a route by which he knew they would not come. If the French officers had had their way, these traitors as a body, and the chief one in particular, would have had short shrift; and if they had been so dealt with, the lives of many honest and innocent men would have been saved, and many mistakes avoided. It was reported that copies of the prime minister’s dispatches--as commander-in-chief of the Malagasy army--were sent to the French general, and thus he knew every move that was to be taken, and was prepared for it. After the French reached the capital, and the people saw how basely they had been betrayed, they rose 100,000 strong, and if they had had arms and ammunition, or could have obtained them, the French would have been defeated before reinforcements could have arrived. This rising may have been sheer madness on the part of the natives, after things had gone so far; but they did not know this, and they were greatly exasperated over their betrayal. As the old heathen and semi-heathen element greatly preponderated in the rising, and all who would not join it were shot or had their throats cut, thousands who saw the madness of the rising were compelled to join it, or at least to pretend to join. They suffered severely for their unhappy effort to redeem the situation, as also did their relatives--many being shot as suspects.