While the above statements from the pen of my friend the Rev. W. E. Cousins are no doubt accurate, and it is also true that the Rev. William Ellis was greatly deceived as to the real character of Radàma, and grossly imposed upon, it is nevertheless a fact that the ruin of the unfortunate king was accelerated, and his untimely end much hastened, by the conduct of some who went to the capital to be present at his coronation and remained there, and aided and encouraged him in his downward course, and in the orgies practised in his palace. Things were brought to a crisis by the king insanely throwing all Malagasy law and tradition to the winds, and wishing to introduce and legalize the custom of duelling. It is said that the prime minister, the commander-in-chief, and the officers of the palace besought him on their knees with tears not to introduce such a practice; but he would not relent. The prime minister deliberately asked him: ‘Do you mean to say that if two men quarrel, they can go out and fight with swords or pistols, and if one kills the other the murderer shall not be punished?’ To which the king replied: ‘that’s it, that’s exactly what I mean.’ The prime minister then said: ‘But we cannot have that.’ To that the king replied: ‘But _I_ will have it; I am the king, and I shall have what I please.’ ‘That is enough,’ said the prime minister. ‘It is time for us to see to our own interests,’ and left the palace. The obnoxious order cost the king his life. ‘In estimating the effect of Radàma’s policy upon the Church of Christ in Madagascar, it must be acknowledged that his thorough hatred of restraint of every kind, and the absolute freedom granted by him to all classes of his subjects, allowed the long repressed power of Christianity to assert itself, and by its rapid progress to take such a firm hold upon the people of the central province of Imèrina as to convince the government of the folly of again attempting a policy of repression. ‘Radàma II was succeeded by his widow, Rabòdo, who was proclaimed queen on the afternoon of the day on which her husband was assassinated, under the title of Ràsohèrina. Before she was proclaimed, a paper was presented to her by ministers, advisers, and officers containing seven articles, one of which set forth the terms upon which she would be acknowledged as queen--that CHRISTIANITY SHOULD NEVER MORE BE FORBIDDEN OR HINDERED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MADAGASCAR! It was generally understood that that was mainly, if not entirely, the work of the late prime minister. The new queen was personally unfavourable to the Christian religion; but during the five years of her reign she never openly deviated from that agreement, the acceptance of which was made a condition of her assuming the crown. In many respects the reign of Ràsohèrina was a period of retrogression, and the Christians were often troubled by the fear of another outbreak of persecution.