THE MADAGASCAR WAR. 758 with it, but unhappily for her some of her relativesand her ministers were deepinit. On August 8th, 1896, the French Government abolished the protectorate and declared Madagascar a French colony. General Gallieni was appointed the first Governor, and sailed from France on the 10th.

Marseilles and Toulon and reported how many morehad diedon the voyage andbeen buried at sea. The 200th Regiment was disbanded, and its colours weregiven an honoured place at the Invalides,but very few of the 1,800young men who had volunteered for service in its ranks survived to rejoin their old regiments.

On October ist General Duchesne entered theHova capital, and a treaty wassigned by the Queen recognising a French protectorate that amounted to a practical annexation. ThePrime Minister wasdeposed, but another Hova official took his place, the Queen's flag was again displayed on the palace, and the decrees of the new administration were publishedinher name. Tlae Hova commandant of the entrenchments in front of Tamatave, after obstinatelyattempting to prolong the war on his own account, was induced to surrender onOctober 9th.

Gallieni was a brave and skilful soldier, who had won a well-deserved reputation in the expeditions and wars of West Africa. But he was more than this. He was an able administrator whobelievedin developingas wellasconquering new territory. He said once to his officers in Africa:"My idea of our duty is that if we storm a village one day we ought to begin building a schoolhouse in it the next." His work in Madagascar was to be— first to put an end to the rebellion and then to organise the new colony. General Duchesne remained in the island till January 24th, 1896, when he handed over his powers as the representative of France to M. Laroche, the newly-appointed resident. During the General's brief rule things had gone well in the island. The tribes, including the late rulers of Madagascar, theHovas, seemedto have loyally accepted the new state of affairs. In some districts bands of brigands had appeared. But this wasnothing newin the country; what was new was the vigour and the success with which tlae French flying columns hunted them down.

Gallieni landed at Tamatave on September iotla, and reached the capital on the 16th. His escort was fared upon by the rebels on the way up. His first work was to clear the Tamatave road of the insurgents and to makeit secureby meansof a chain of blockhouses and a system of patrols. Flying columns then broke up the rebelbandsin theneighbourhood of the capital. The Hova predominance was declared to be at an end, and in the provinces the people were invited to elect chiefs of their own race to replace the local Hova governors. In October two Hova nobles were arrestedin the palace at Antananarivo and tried and convicted by a court-martial of correspondencewith the rebels. One was uncle of the Queen, the other her Minister of theInterior. They werecondemned to death and shot in oneof the squares. Gallieni hadreported to his Government that aslongas the Queen remained in the island her court wouldbe a centre of hostile intrigue,andaccordingly in February, 1897, she was removed from the capital and conveyed by a cruiser from Tamatave to Reunion, where she was tolive as a pensioner of theFrench Government, withan allowance of about a thousand a year. It was not,however, till thebeginningof 1898 that the last bands of rebels made their submission and French rule was finally established with undisputed sway in Madagascar.

But soon there were signs of growing discontent. The Hovas,intriguers by nature, were dreaming of regaining their independence, and the other tribes were discontented at seeing so many of the Hova nobles installedas governors of towns and districts, and both mistook the conciliatory attitude of the French for a sign of weakness. In tlae summer of 1896 a plot, formedby some of the Hova nobles,resulted in an insurrection, which began with the murder of a number of French settlers in the outlying districts,while bands ofrebels rendered eventhe. roads round the capital unsafe and cut it off from communication with Tamatave. The Queen herself was suspected of not being an entire stranger to the conspiracy. Probably, however, she was innocent of any connection