0010 Aceh in 1884: Heart of Dutchness (Part 1)

PREVIOUSLY on 1884 

7 January 1884

Sultanate of Aceh

Osram ne nsoromma

As a new day dawns, the Dutch troops are getting ready to land on the northwest coast of Sumatra under Acehnese control. Their mission is to rescue 29 sailors of S.S Nisero --  18 of whom British --  being held hostage by Teuku Imam Muda of Teunom, after the British ship with its cargo of sugar from Surabaya ran aground near his territory two months earlier.

The Dutch-Aceh war, now in its 11th years, have caused strains in the relationship between the two Powers, as British Penang has a near monopoly on Aceh’s lucrative pepper trade accounting for half of the world’s total. Now with, Teuku Imam’s demand for Britain’s guarantee that his ports would be permanent free from Batavia’s shipping restrictions has caused heightened tension between Britain and Holland. After two months of negotiation and its ultimatum failed to secure the hostages, Holland has now decided to give force to its threat.

Teuku Imam Muda, Raja of Teunom (c. 1898)

This is not the first expedition to Aceh for Kwabena. As a barely trained soldier, he was among the first to be sent to Aceh war in a unit consisting mainly of African soldiers from the Gold Coast just like him. It was  part of the first Dutch invasion of Aceh under General Köhler's command… 

It was eleven years ago....

After two days of bombardment, the colonial force made a landing between the port of Ulèë Lheuë and the mouth of the Aceh river. They were suddenly ambushed by klewang-wielding Acehnese who had been hiding in the bush and lost a dozen of soldiers before beating back the attackers.

Six days later after the heavy fighting, the fortified Masjid Raya, the Great Mosque, was seized. But while General Köhler was looking through a binocular to survey the area under a tree behind the mosque, a rain of bullets fatally hit him and nearby soldiers. The shots are followed by a swarm of Acehnese who rapidly cut down survivors like falling leaves.

Aceh villager with klewang and blunderbuss (c. 1874)

Shot in his shoulder, Kwabena managed to block an attacker’s blade with his musket but was attacked by another from the side who opened a gash on his leg. As he fell on the ground bleeding into stupor, he saw General Kohler lying in a pool of blood not far away.

Just when the attacker was about to strike Kwabena the same fate with a deadly blow, his klewang stopped midair and slowly lowered. His fellow Acehnese, having finished off their victims, gathered around and started pointing at the unconscious soldier and discussed something among themselves. One, who appeared to be their chief, ordered his men to carry him back into the jungle with them….

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When Kwabena regained his consciousness in a hut, he found his hand tied but his aching wounds had been dressed and the bleeding stopped. He was puzzled by his own escape from death. Why did the Acehnese fighters spare his life and carry him here?

The chief he previously saw approached Kwabena with a few of his men. His hand clutches on something that Kwabena recognized immediately. It was the leather pendant that his wife had given him before he left his homeland.

The chief asked him in Dutch, “Are you an Ottoman?” Kwabena was puzzled by the question. The chief showed him the pendant and repeated the question but couldn’t get an answer to his satisfaction. He turned to say something to one of the men, who quickly disappeared and came back with what surprised him even more: a tall man dressed much like the Acehnese but appeared to be a white man.

The white man introduced himself in Dutch, “My name is Thepen. The chief wants to know if you are a subject of the Ottoman Empire.”

Kwabena shook his head, “No. Why would they think that? I'm just a Dutch soldier.”

Thepen: Your pendant says that you are protected by the Ottoman flag.

Kwabena: What are you talking about? It’s an adinkra symbol, Osram ne nsoromma. The moon and a star symbolizing love, bonding and faithfulness in marriage. My wife gave it to me.

Thepen chuckles and turned around to interpret Kwabena’s answer to the chief. He was stunned by the answer for a moment, while his men bellowed out their laughs.

Thepen: The chief said you’re a very lucky man. Without that pendant your wife would already be a widow.

Kwabena: But why didn’t they kill me?

Thepen: You see? For them, the symbol of a crescent moon and a star means the Ottoman flag which the Acehnese Sultan also adopted as Acehnese flag. These people are expecting the Ottoman troops to help them fight the Dutch. You have to thank your wife for saving your life.

Flag of the Ottoman Empire from 1844, also adopted by the Acehnese Sultanate

The chief then says something

Thepen: The chief said that you wife may have saved you with the pendant once, but only the Grace of God can keep you alive.

He then lowered his voice and said: If I were you, this would be the moment where you found a new religion ...

Religious conversion is not hard when your life depends on it. Besides, Kwabena has seen many ex-soldiers near Java Hill who have returned from the Dutch East Indies as converts. Happy to be alive, he nods and says thank you to the chief.

 

 

Meanwhile, the first Dutch expedition ended in a disaster. Having lost its commander and many men to diseases and Acehnese defense, they retreated to Batavia three weeks after landing. The Acehnese reoccupied their capital with highest morale than ever, having won a major battle against a European Power. It’s something unheard of, not only in Sumatra but the whole archipelago.

Over the next few weeks, Kwabena slowly recovered from his injuries under the care of Thepen who trained Acehnese soldiers to use small arms for a local rajah. One day, the Dutch man came in with another white man.

Thepen: Kwabena, this is my mate John Swendsen from Norway. He just came back from Penang.

Kwabena reaches to give Swendsen a handshake.

Kwabena: How did you end up here? Did you know each other from before?

Swendsen: Thepen and I were originally sailors. We met each other when he was training soldiers for the Raja of Kedah. After that we tried our luck as trade partners in Penang, but luck ran out and none of the Europeans would help outcasts like us. We were destitute until the local Muslims helped us. Then we entered the service of the Raja of Simpang Ulim and converted to Islam.

Thepen: They call us “rice Muslims” because we were a charity case, I guess.

Kwabena: I guess now I am one too.

Swendsen: I heard how you got here. That’s quite incredible.

Kwabena shows him the pendant that saved his life: Yes, I only have my wife to thank and this.

Swendsen takes a closer look and turns to Thepen with a smile: Very nice. Maybe we should make ones too.

Thepen smiles back: Why not? If we can find some nice leather.

Kwabena: I’m curious. Why did Aceh adopted the Ottoman flag?

Swendsen: You see? In the 16th century, Sultan Alauddin al-Kahar of Aceh sent envoy to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent requesting to come under the Ottoman Empire’s suzerainty in return for military support to fight the Portuguese. There’s still an Ottoman canon called lada secupak guarding the dalam – royal enclosure – that testifies to that relationship. Again in 1850, Aceh sent envoy to the Ottoman Empire to renew the relationship. A few years later, Sultan Ibrahim also sent $10,000 to help the Ottoman’s expenses in the Crimean War.

Kwabena: Wow, you do know a lot about Aceh history.

Thepen: Of course, that’s his job nowadays, running to foreign consuls trying to find alliance for Aceh.

Kwabena: They must be pinning their hope on the Ottoman.

Habib Abdul Rahman in Turkey (1873)

R: Yes. Five years ago, 65 Acehnese notables signed an appeal requesting Ottoman protection against the intransigent Dutch, but it did not get anywhere. So our chief diplomat Habib Abdul Rahman is again carrying Sultan Mahmud’s letter to Constantinople. He must be somewhere between Mecca and Constantinople, as we speak.

Kwabena: How about other Powers?

Swendsen: Our other chief diplomat Panglima Tibang went to Singapore with the Sultan’s letters for the French and American consuls. France used to be interested in a base in this area to match British Singapore. Our sultan still has letters from Louis Phillipe and Napoleon III. But after the Opium Wars, all they are interested in is China by way of Vietnam. So the Sultan’s letter did not attract their interest this time.

Thepen: After their recent defeat at the hands of the Germans, France is very messy right now.

Kwabena: How about the Americans?

Swendsen: Consul Studer was sympathetic. That’s why I was sent as advisor and translator to the Sultan’s retainer to offer trade privileges in exchange for driving away the Dutch. We will have to wait for what President Grant says.

Thepen: We have to be careful not to repeat the same mistake. According to a captured Dutch officer, it was the first meeting with the American consul on possible treaty that alerted the Dutch consul in Penang, Read, who wrote a letter that so panicked the Kompeuni into declaring war. They must have a spy who tipped them off.

Panglima Tibang (c. 1878)

Swendsen: Especially now with the rumored discovery of oil on the island, they definitely do not want any other European Power on Sumatra, after all the sacrifices they have made to keep the British out since the 1824treaty. Britain controls north of the Strait of Malacca, and Holland south of it.

Kwabena: Sounds like what they did more recently in 1867 and 1870.

Thepen: Yes, you must have heard about those because it also concerned the Gold Coast where you’re from. 

Kwabena: Of course. Not only we heard about it, but the whole region and all the peoples went through chaos because they never bothered to ask our opinions, let alone consents. First, they swapped forts so that each would have continuous areas of control, and suddenly natives of the same tribes were separated, and enemies suddenly found themselves within the same border. 

Swendsen: I heard even the French wanted to get involved, trying to exchange their worthless forts for British Gambia which is surrounded by France's Senegal and Casamance.

Kwabena: I didn't know about the French, but it was messy enough just between Britain and Holland. There were wars among tribes and war against the Dutch which went so bad that they wanted out altogether.

Thepen: And that’s when they made the agreement. Britain gets all Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast. Holland gets to do whatever it wants on Sumatra, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize British Penang’s monopoly on the pepper trade. Also the Dutch got Indian workers to work in Suriname.

Kwabena: They carve out empires and swap lands and peoples like a game of cards.

Thepen: Like the good old day when the Pope halved the worldfor Spain and Portugal. I know Britain would rather have Sumatra in Dutch hands rather than more powerful counties.

Swendsen: My country – well, actually the Danes – also used to have slave forts on the Gold Coast -- part of which was robbed from Sweden. But after the end of the slave trade, it’s not profitable anymore, so they sold it off to Britain. I wonder why the Dutch hanged on to theirs for so long. Maybe gold?

Kwabena: I think the real reason is they have turned the source of slaves into a supply of cheap recruits to fight for them in Java and the Moluccas. I am one of them.

Thepen: I am sorry for that. I apologize on behalf of my people – well, they’re not my people anymore – but they have done that for a long time. Long before recruiting soldiers from Africa, they once used their exclusive access to Japan to recruit samurais to do all kinds of dirty works for them, like the annihilation of the natives of Banda islands just to take away their nutmeg plantations. Many atrocities have been committed like using opium to siphon the wealth of other counties, Java war, Bali invasion… 

Painting displayed at Museum Rumah Budaya, Banda Neira, Maluku, Indonesia

Swendsen chuckles: VOC, the Violent Opium Company. The Brits really learned from the best and went further until they were rewarded with Hong Kong.

Thepen: In turn, the VOC also learned from the Portuguese and beat them at their own game.

Kwabena: This may be a rude question. But why are you on the Acehnese side, and not your motherland's? Is it only because the Acehnese supported you during your hard time?

Thepen: I have completely lost all respect in Holland after I read Max Havelaar. Now I don't only hate the Dutch, but all imperialists.

Swendsen: Which means pretty much all of Europe. 

Kwabena: Do you think the Ottoman will help Aceh again this time, like when they helped Aceh fight  the Portuguese?

Swendsen: I sure hope so. Acehnese in Penang and Singapore are also finding ways to recruit fighters from across the archipelago to join Aceh’s war. For them, this is a jihad, a holy war. It’s like going to Mecca for pilgrimage, but they don't even have to go so far.

Thepen: Let’s hope that they can get to Aceh. If the Dutch finds out, they will definitely try to stop them.

Swendsen: They must be preparing for another invasion after the monsoon. We should be prepared, whether outside helps come or not.

Thepen: That’s my job to train our men so that we can beat them off Aceh again like Koxinga kicked their asses off Formosa two centuries ago...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Next on 1884.

0008 Hawaii and China in 1884: Breaking idols

PREVIOUSLY on 1884 

November 1884

Kingdom of Hawaii

As the Hawaii islands become visible as dark lumps on the vast dawning horizon, the eighteen-year-old Chinese student’s heart swells of gladness to see from the ship’s deck the land that for three years he called his second home, even as he feels apprehensiveness about seeing his elder brother again. While he watches the islands slowly growing, the young man – known as Tai Chu to his Hawaiian teachers and classmates – contemplates the reason he was asked to return to Hawaii after being sent back to China just a year ago. If it has anything to do with the incident in the village, his brother could have just written an angry letter. Not that it would make any difference.

Life is hard in China. Many dreams of a better life in faraway lands. America with its gold mines have beckoned cheap labor since the dawn of the gold rushes. Tens of thousands of Chinese men have crossed the oceans to the unknown land of the “ocean-men”. Some returned with riches beyond their dreams, while others are never heard from again. 

But Tai Chu’s dream of faraway land has little to do with gold or silver. He has exhausted all the little knowledge that the temple school can provide him and hungers for more. Much more. 

Then a school comrade who had returned from a distant town told him about a wonderful thing that the “Jesus-men” had hanging on the wall of the temple school there which can answers any questions about mountains, rivers, and towns even before you ask them. The story excited his desire to go to the lands of these Jesus-men and Ocean-men and lean more of their ways. Tai Chu was sure they must have many more things than this unnamed object that will expand his knowledge.

Chinese miners working California's gold mines

But since Tai Chu’s father had lost one brother to the ocean and another in California, such adventure became a forbidden topic in the family, and Tai Chu would have been forever doomed to languish in the village of Cuiheng, if it was not for his maternal uncle Young Mun-nap who took the risk to go to Hawaii and became a successful Honolulu merchant. Tai Chu’s brother, twelve years older, then followed out to start a new life in Oahu first as a vegetable and rice farmer, then a merchant. 

When his brother who he calls Da Ko came back eight years later to marry a wife his parents had arranged for, Tai Chu begged his parents to return with him to Hawaii, but they would not think of risking two precious sons on the same ship. Da Ko left, but Tai Chu persisted. Eventually they relented and allowed him to go with the English steamship that Da Ko and his business partner rented for the Chinese "coolies" who volunteer to work on rice plantations at the Hawaiian King’s invitation (and commission of one hundred dollars per head.)

Tai Chu remembers the first time, at thirteen years old, he saw in Macau the steamship SS Grannock. He was intuitively vindicated that something was wrong in China. Why is it that China, that believes itself to be the greatest on Earth, cannot do something that these foreigners do? Is it not an indication that they are superior to us at least in some ways and we can learn from them, rather than building a world based solely on our own proud knowledge however ancient? Upon seeing the wonderful steamship and the vast ocean, he knew deep in his heart that he wished to learn from the West and seek for the infinite truth.

King Kalakaua of Hawaii (reign 1874-1891)

His train of thought is interrupted when a nearby group of Chinese recruits asks him excitedly in their native Cantonese, “Is that Hawaii?” Tai Chu nods, “Yes, brothers. We are almost there.” The men became even more excited. 

One of them is looking seasick and has a hand on his stomach says, “Thank Buddha. I can’t stand being on this rocking ship anymore…” Suddenly, he runs to grab on the nearest railing and starts vomiting into the sea but the strong wind lands it on his own gown.

A loud laugh is heard from a Hawaiian man standing not far from them. His western costume and lack of queue set him apart from the rest of the passengers who are mostly Chinese. Tai Chu has seen him around during the three week’s journey but has not spoken with him. 

Tai Chu scoffs, “It's uncivilized to laugh at someone’s unwellness.”

Surprised to be scolded by a Chinese and in English at that, the Hawaiian explains himself, “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just laughing because I was just standing downwind from his projectile vomiting a moment ago.”

He then gives a handkerchief to the seasick Chinese to clean himself.

Tai Chu: “Sorry for my misunderstanding then.”

“No worries. Are you Chinese? Where did you learn your English?”

Tai Chu answers, “In Hawaii. Where did you learn yours?”

The Hawaiian laughs, approaches Tai Chu and holds out his hand, “In Hawaii too. My name is Samuel. You can call me Sam. What’s your name?”

Tai Chu: To make it easier for you, people In Hawaii call me Tai Chu. 

Sam: What do you do in our Hawaii?

Tai Chu: It’s not just your Hawaii. It’s my Hawaii too. 

Sam: Why is that?

Tai Chu: I lived here for three years. It was here that I had a real education; and it was here that I came to know what modern, civilized societies and governments are like. That’s why I say it’s my Hawaii too. You must be kanaka maoli, native Hawaiian. What were you doing in Hong Kong?

Samuel: I am. I was just visiting Canton and Hong Kong on my way back to Hawaii after finishing my study in Tokyo.

Tai Chu is intrigued. The few Japanese in Hawaii that he has seen are poor workers in plantations, but he has heard that unlike most Asian countries, Japan is adopting Western knowledge at a fast pace.

Tai Chu: What did you study?

Sam: I got a scholarship from King Kalākaua to study nautical science in Tokyo. Our king was very impressed with Japan’s modernization when he stopped there on his around-the-world trip three years ago, so he wants to use Japan as a model for Hawaii’s strengthening. 

Tai Chu: King Kalākaua is a wise man. I had the honor of receiving a prize for English grammar from his hand during my graduation ceremony two years ago. You know what he gave me as a prize? An English-language book about China!

Sam: So it wasn’t very useful to you then. You must have known everything already.

Tai Chu: On the contrary, I didn’t know anything. That book opened my eyes about my own country. At the village’s temple school, we were made to rote memorize incomprehensible sayings of Confucius and Mencius from two thousand years ago, but nothing of China’s present conditions. We were not taught history because the government are afraid that we would rise against them if we knew too much of our own history. We were not taught the geography of China itself. I didn’t even know what a map is. I had no opportunity to know about good government, since there was no one in the village who knew what government meant other than the threat of the sword of the soldier. The government wants to keep us ignorant, teaching only that the Son of Heaven rules China and that China is the greatest – the world itself. Therefore, the Son of Heaven rules the world. Imagine my surprise when I learned that China is not the center of the world, let alone the world itself. And that it is being ruled by foreigners – the Manchu!

Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Empire (reign 1875-1908)

Sam: That is horrible. That is why China is so weak and being attacked by France right now. I had a plan to visit the Fuzhou Navy School, but it had already been flattened by French bombardment a few months ago. 

Tai Chu: All Chinese are outraged by the French. In Hong Kong, there was a large protest and a riot by all the dockworkers who refused to service French ships. And this show of strength of the Chinese people happened on a Chinese island yielded to Britain due to the Qing Empire’s weakness.

Sam: I also read about the Opium War and got worried about Hawaii too. But in our case, it would be a Sugar War. After bringing diseases that decimated our populations, the haole brought sugar plantation and made claims on our land. Although bringing modernity and prosperity, it is gradually taking away our independence. More and more are falling under the control of the white men. They are only kind and generous to you as long as it serves their interests.

Tai Chu: The Manchurian Son of Heaven would have been overthrown by the Taiping patriots too if not for the support of European interested to protect their opium trade.

Sam: Weren't they led by a man who claimed to be Son of God and brother to Jesus?

Tai Chu: You may think Hong Xiuquan was mad, but he was a true patriot who recognized that the Chinese people were suffering because the weakness and corruption of the Manchu government. With the large-scale import of Opium that the government failed to eliminate, the country grew poorer and weaker. Farmers were heavily overtaxed, rents were rising, and peasants were deserting their lands in droves. Banditry became common, in addition to droughts and famines. Would Hawaiians not rise up against such a government – all the more so because they are foreigners?

Sam: Of course, we would.

A scene of the Taiping Rebellion, 1850-1864

Tai Chu: Please tell me more about Japan. I know that Japan has taken the Ryukyu kingdom and also has an eye on Korea. That’s because China’s own weakness and stupidity. We have to learn how they become so strong and survived Western imperialism.

Sam: They were also forced to sign an unequal treaty with the United States at the threat of the gunboat, and then with other Western powers. They begrudgingly agreed to it in order to buy time for strengthening themselves with modern knowledge and technologies. It’s amazing how much they have modernized in fifteen years. 

Tai Chu: Is it even more modern than Hawaii?

Sam: No doubt about it. And they did it mostly by themselves, always mindful of foreign influence which came attached with the enterprises and loans.

Tai Chu: I’m envious. In China, the government can’t even protect us from bandits and pirates, not to mention foreign powers. There was a man in my village who returned a rich man from working the gold mines all the way in America only to be robbed of all his wealth in his own home. But worse than the bandits and pirates are the government officials. Our neighbor is a well-to-do family with three brothers. One was executed and the others thrown into jail with false charges because a corrupt mandarin wanted their house. There is no law and order in China. The government is our worst enemy. Hawaii is a small kingdom, but it has law and order, and the people are happy and prosperous. I love China and the Chinese people, but if we don’t rid itself of this corrupt government, although there are 400 million people, we won’t keep up with Hawaii, let alone Japan.

Manchu queue

Sam: Yes, and I was surprised to see that people are still so stuck in their old ways with their dresses, their queues and all. Didn’t you get teased about your Chinese gown and your queue in school?

Tai Chu: You have no idea. I was one of the first few Chinese students. And it took months of fighting and defending myself to get the big bullies to leave me alone, although I don’t mind so much about the smaller kids because they are too young to know and it wouldn’t be a fair fight.

Sam: Wouldn’t it be easier to cut if off?

Tai Chu: Yes, it would be easier for me. But what about other Chinese kids who come after me? I’d rather fight the bullies and let them get used to it, so that other Chinese kids who come later and may not be so strong will not have to fight them again. The queue is imposed on us by the Manchu, but here it’s become part of our identity that connects us with China. One day when we can overthrow the Manchu rule, I will cut my queue at the same time as every Chinese man. 

Sam: That’s very noble of you. I sure hope that we kanaka will learn to live harmony with people of other races who come in peace. I forgot to ask. Who do you have here?

Tai Chu: My brother has leased land from the government to develop a cattle ranch at a small town in the Kula area of Maui island. He is also involved in recruiting Chinese men to work in the plantations.

Sam: I feel sorry for them. It’s a tough life out there especially in the sugar plantations. 

Sugar plantations in Hawaii

Tai Chu: What are you talking about? They are happy to have a new life here. If life is tough in Hawaii, it’s ten times tougher back home. The Qing government is not doing anything but squeezing taxes out of them and their families, so they have to leave. And they are treated better here in Hawaii than in many places. The United States now bars Chinese workers. Hawaii is not like Cuba and Brazil, where they will probably end up like slaves. At least that’s what my brother says.

Sam: You really think it’s really better in those white-owned plantations? The only reason more and more of them come here is because they can get away with cheap Asian labors and treating them no better than slaves. Not only that, those haole, they have no aloha aina, and will destroy our beautiful islands and replace them with these plantations. 

Tai Chu: What’s aloha aina?

Sam: It’s the deep love of our islands and our sea and of all the life that the land and the sea nourish.

Tai Chu: Is it not enough that it sustains the people? 

Sam: Sustenance of the people is important, but if we have no respect and love for the land and the sea we are betraying our self.

Tai Chu: It’s like the way we Chinese worship our ancestors.  

Sam: Yes, the land and the sea are our father and mother.

Tai Chu: I will remember this, and I am deeply thankful to Hawaii for helping our people to prosper and someday maybe they can contribute to strengthen our motherland which is now being surrounded by enemies.

Ali'iolani Hale, completed in 1874, was the home of the Hawaiian Legislature in the days before annexation.

Sam: At least you know who your enemies are. For us, it’s become more difficult. May white settlers have become naturalized as Hawaiian on paper, but in their hearts they are not. My father is in the King’s government and he told me that some of them want the United States to annex our kingdom – not as a state within their Union but as a safe haven for importing a massive number of cheap brown workers whom they can mistreat all they want while keeping their mainland a white promised land. You know what happened to the Ryukyu Kingdom?

Tai Chu: It was a tributary state to China but taken by Japan a few years ago.

Sam: According to the Japanese, Ryukyu was a tributary state to both Japan and China. But China was not able to control or protect its tributary state, so Japan had to exert its control. Otherwise America would have annexed it as their own Hong Kong to the danger of both Japan and China.

Tai Chu: Is America becoming imperialist too?

Sam: It already is. How do you think they grew from a tiny portion on the Atlantic side of the continent to swallow up all the way to the Pacific coast which they see as their 'manifest destiny'. With Monroe Doctrine they aim to be the sole power of the Americas. On the Atlantic, they still have to contend with the British navy. But they dream of making the Pacific their own ocean. My family is from the area now leased to them in exchange for free trade in sugar. They now call it Pearl Harbor. In the long term, both Cuba and Hawaii are in danger of being annexed because of our strategic locations and sugar...”

The conversation makes Tai Chu think hard. He’s most disturbed about the conditions of Chinese workers, remembering the bondage slaves in his village who often get flogged by their angry masters and mistresses. He had protested against the system times and again until he realized that the bondage slaves can’t be freed until the minds of the “free” people of his village are liberated from ancient hierarchical traditions which the Manchu’s authoritarian government uses to legitimize themselves. All the barbaric customs of child-selling, female infanticide, concubinage, foot-binding, idol-worship and other reprehensible practices can only be eliminated with modern education instilling a sense of equality and citizenship among the people.

He hopes that the Chinese recruits on the ship have not not escaped debt enslavement at home to be enslaved in a foreign land. That adds one more thing to the list of heavy topics that he will have to convince his brother. It’s one thing to try to reason with strangers, but another thing with one’s own family.

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After saying goodbye at the dock, the two new friends part way. Sam goes to Honolulu with his awaiting family while Tai Chu waits a smaller boat that will take him to Maui where his brother awaits him. Tai Chu's apprehensiveness returns again. 

At Maui’s pier, his brother in a Chinese gown and a cue stands out from the crowd. Tai Chu greets his brother with a bow and a chest-level fist-to-palm gesture. His brother whom he calls Da Ko, pats him lightly on the shoulder and leads him to a horse-drawn cart that will take them to the ranch.

After a welcome feast of Chinese food which Tai Chu has been craving for on the ship, the two brothers sit down on the veranda for some tea. After answering Da Ko’s questions about how the family is doing, Tai Chu brings up the topic that has bothered him since the morning.

A modern Xuanwu (Northern Emperor) shrine

Tai Chu: Is it true that the white plantation owners treat workers like slaves?

Brother: Who told you that?

Tai Chu: A Hawaiian friend. He said they are often whipped.

Brother: Don’t listen to such nonsense. Our men should be grateful they have a job, rather than starve back home. The owners are doing them and this country a favor.

Tai Chu: Are they?

Brother: Stop questioning too much about what goes on between the Hawaiian and white people. We already have enough problems as it is. As more and more Chinese are coming to Hawaii, the white people are envious that we get along better with the natives. Now they are starting to complain that Chinese men are marrying native women and getting an advantage. If there are more problems, then they may import Filipinos and Japanese instead. So keep your head down. Don’t cause any troubles here like you did in the village.

Tai Chu knew this issue will be raised sooner or later: All I did was just breaking an old idol, and our family already paid to repair it. 

Brother: You don’t get it, do you? It’s not just an old idol. It’s the Northern Emperor, the god protecting the whole village. He protected me so that I safely reached Hawaii, and he protected you on your journeys too.

Tai Chu: So how come it didn’t protect our two uncles? Did they not pray to him every day? It's just a powerless idol that can’t even defend itself. 

Brother: I see that the banishment from the village didn’t do you any good. I sent you back to China last year because I thought you were getting too much influenced by the Western ways with the Bible and all. I thought going home would help reorient you in the correct way of our ancestors. I didn’t imagine the outrageous things you would do. Talking bad about the government? Lucky thing our village is remote and there are no Manchu officials to hear you. Otherwise it won’t be the idol’s arm but your neck that will be broken.

Tai Chu: The Manchu government is useless too, like the idol. They demand us to kowtow but can’t even fight the French, let alone protect us as they are supposed to. They talk so much about the Emperor’s mandate from heaven. If that's true, Heaven must be angry with them now. Oppose Qing, Revive Ming!

Brother: Stop doing things that will bring trouble and misfortune to the whole family or I will have nothing to do with you anymore. I don’t want our family to suffer because of you. They have suffered enough.

Tai Chu: That’s one thing you and I agree on, Brother. Our family has suffered enough. They have suffered because of poverty, ignorance and superstition that the government lays on us. Why did our uncles have to die far from home trying to get our family’s conditions? Why does Father have to suffer the corrupt officials who come to collect the "white deed" taxes from us every year even though we don’t own those lands anymore? Why did Mother, our aunts and sister had to suffer the torture of foot binding that could have mutilated them for life? That’s why I tried to awaken our family and our village from this nightmare.

Foot binding - a "badge of honor" for respectable women in imperial China

Brother: What nightmare? What you did was a nightmare! If you still don’t listen to reason. I will have to ask that you transfer back half of the property I registered under your name while you were here last time. I thought I was doing it for the family, but at this rate you will bring disgrace, misfortune and who knows what calamity to the family.

Tai Chu: So that’s why you paid me to come back all the way here, instead of writing an angry letter. Don’t worry Brother. We can go tomorrow to the lawyer’s office and do it. Although eternally grateful, I have no desire whatsoever for the property that you have given me. I have to follow my conscience. I don’t want any harm to fall on my family. But I believe that what I do is good for the family, the village and China. 

Brother: You got it backward. You don’t put yourself first. It’s not “What is good for you is good for the family.”, but rather “What is good for the family is good for you!” Today you break a sacred idol. What will you go on to break next?

Tai Chu: Whatever useless has got to go. Even an empire has to be broken if it doesn't do our people any good... 

At this, Da Ko gets so upset that he storms into his bedroom and slams the door shut. He doesn’t want to continue the conversation lest he says something he may later regret.

Looking out into the darkness of the night, Tai Chu remains in his chair and thinks about the future. The young Chinese will keep the words that he has spoken to his beloved brother on this day. 

In ten years, he would have started his struggle to dismantle one of the largest empires the world has ever known. Although he was known by different names during his lifetime by different people, he would soon become known forever to most of the world as Sun Yat-Sen, the Father of Modern China.

-----------------------------------

Notes:

1. The early years of Sun Yat-sen’s life is not well documented – at least in the English language. The main source of this installment is Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic by Paul Linebarger who interviewed Sun Yat Sen himself many years later when much of it has slipped from his memory. 

2. Throughout his life, Sun Yat-Sen did not speak much about Hawaii and her loss of independence, although he revisited the islands several times throughout his campaign to overthrow the Qing Empire. Samuel is a fictional character that was invented to tease out what the young revolutionary might have thought and how it compared with the situation in his China.

Sources:

1. Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese Republic by Paul Linebarger

2. Sun Yat-sen in Hawai’i: Activities and Supporters by Yansheng Ma Lum and Raymond Min Kong Lim

3. Sun Yat-Sen and Hawaii by William M. Zanella

4. Hawaii: A History by Ruth M. Tabrah

5. Sugar: A Bittersweet History by Elizabeth Abbott

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 Next on 1884.

0007 Madagascar in 1884: The Baobab and the hyena

PREVIOUSLY on 1884 

Màhamàsina, Madagascar

July 3, 1884

For several days after the orders were issued for the assembling of a great royal kabàry on the plain at Màhamàsina, the town and neighborhood are crowded with people flocking in from the country, and everyone is anxiously expecting the queen's discourse. Màhamàsina is a large plain at the foot of the mountain on which the capital city of Antanànarìvo is built. Very careful arrangements has been made for the order and marshaling of such a vast concourse of people, who assemble in their thousands, and a platform erected for the sovereign and her ministers, from which the discourse is to be delivered. 

Crossroads, some ten feet wide, are kept open in every direction by fences and large prominent arches at each entrance enable the people to steer their way in and out of the crowd without disorder or inconvenience. Doctors are stationed at intervals, their positions denoted by a little white flag bearing a red cross. 

By ten o'clock the people are already crowding to their places, and some twenty to thirty thousand are already on the field, while every house and terrace, wall and balcony, overlooking the plain, is covered with women. Among the spearmen are bands of children of all ages armed with spear and shield, one band especially attracting notice as consisting of children between six and ten years of age. Their spears are about five feet long, and their shields of wood fifteen inches in diameter. All the schools of Antanànarìvo are drawn up in arms, and palace school makes a very show in their uniforms. 

A great royal kabàry

There are also countless regiments of recruits armed with muzzle-loaders, flint-locks, and native-made guns. The regular city regiments, consisting of 5000 troops, march on to the field at half-past eleven, and took up their positions along the central enclosure and along the different avenues dividing the plain. They are dressed in white tunics, dark blue cotton trousers, and brown helmets, and were all armed with breech- loading rifles which looked exceedingly bright and clean. 

Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony is waiting for the queen’s arrival. Queen Ranavalona III is supposed to leave the Rova at twelve o'clock but the crowd is so thick that it probably will require more than an hour to pass through the city and descend to the plain.

In his twenty years as prime minister, Rainilaiarivony has been through many royal kabàry, but today’s will go down as one of the most important, as Queen Ranavalona will declare war on France. The Prime Minister gently stroke his favorite white mare’s neck to calm her nervousness. A direct descendant of the first houses presented to the Merina court by the British, she’s a reminder of the beginning of the friendship between the two kingdoms some seventy years ago. 

Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony, in the 1880's.

Madagascar was once in a strategic position on the route to India around the Cape. During the Napoleonic Wars, a naval expedition was sent to capture the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean from the French, in order to prevent them being used as a base to attack Britain's Indian colonies like during the American Revolutionary War some thirty years earlier. In addition, another goal was to get rid of Mauritius-based French privateers who have attacked Britain’s East India Company’s fleet and caused millions of pounds in losses. 

After the war, Britain had to return Réunion and Comoros to France but got to keep Mauritius and Seychelles. Robert Townsend Farquhar, a former Lieutenant-Governor of Penang and Britain’s first governor of Mauritius, sent a mission to the Merina court to request help to end the slave trade and was embraced by King Radama the Great’s reception and cooperation. 

Rainilaiarivony thinks. The English expression “a friend in need is a friend indeed” is just empty air to them. When they needed something from us, then we were their friends – only to be conveniently discarded when no longer in need. If he had given any benefit of the doubt to Britain for her inaction regarding France’s war on Madagascar, his conversation on June 16 with the new British consul Mr. Hicks Graves while waiting for the queen’s arrival in the throne room would have finally confirmed to him that the old Malagasy expression “as false as the British” is true.

PM: I hope you have fully recovered from your eight-day travel from our French-occupied port, Consul.

Consul: Thank you, Prime Minister. I had a couple of days to recover. If this is the good season to make the journey, I don’t want to imagine what it’s like in the bad. Thanks to the eight men who carried me in filanjana or I would not have survived it really. I didn’t expect most of it to be long arduous climbs through such thick forest. With the sunlight only filtered through like tiny stars and the sounds of the lemur throughout days and nights, it seemed like another world. 

PM: You are in another world, Consul. Our island, animals and plants are different from anywhere else. Consul: I was hoping to see some Malagasy Baobab trees which I have read about, but didn’t see any.

PM: They are usually found along the dry western coast, Consul. You must have read the story of how they look as though they appear upside-down and grow in dry land?

Consul: No, please tell me. I’m fascinated by native legends and how they tie the peoples to the land.

PM: Oh, you will love this one. It goes like this. After having created Earth and the animals, God was going to cover the land with trees and plants. The hyena, fancying itself the smartest, proposed to help God so that it can claim the title as chief of all God’s creatures. Then God gave him baobab seeds to grow, saying, “These are Baobab seeds. They are strong but grow very slowly. They will stand the tallest among my creatures even in the most arid lands.” Having heard God’s words, the hyena felt inferiority of its own stature and became jealous of the Baobab. It found the sandiest corner of Earth and put the Baobab seeds in the ground upside down, so that they wouldn’t grow …

Consul: … And the rest is history.  

PM: Yes, Consul, like the history that we are writing. We, all peoples of Madagascar, are as tough as the Baobab trees. We will overcome all difficulties, even this French war.

Consul: But am I right to think that hyenas are not native to Madagascar?

PM: They aren’t, Consul. But hyenas are cunning. They invite themselves over in ships and gunboats!

Consul laughed: I don’t think hyenas are very French either.

Prime Minister chuckles: Oh, no, no, no. Consul. I am not comparing the French to the hyena. That would be too cruel on the poor animal. All I say is when the news reached Antanànarìvo of Admiral Miot's conditions, great indignation was felt by the people. So the royal proclamation was issued in the Malagasy Gazette ten days ago.

Queen Ranavalona III

The Prime Minister signals his aide to hand the Consul a copy of the English translation which reads:

“ I, Ranavàlomanjàka, through the grace of God and the will of people Queen of Madagascar and defender of its laws, declare unto you my subjects that negotiations with the French have come to an end, for we can no longer endure their doings, for they say that this land of our ancestors is not ours but theirs, and has theirs for a very long time; if we give it up to them, that is what they want, say they; but if we do not give it up to them, then they will take it by force, and we shall be deprived of our independence. 

In consequence of these unbearable threatenings, the words which we have long expressed must now become fact, namely, that everyone shall stand up like a man and fight the enemy… Be diligent then in learning the art of war, for the day draws nigh when I shall examine your ability therein, and none shall I exempt from instruction. If there any that you see not learning, be he who he may, bring him to the seat of judgment, and I shall fine him in money equivalent to the price of his head, for he is a traitor. Let each one beware of causing tumult, and be not excited by others to disorder, for order and unity are our strength in thig business. Should tumult or disorder arise, then I shall make that town in which it arises responsible for it. 

Behold also the foreigners that are now in my land and kingdom; take good care of them and of their possessions, for they are our friends, and have nothing to do with those who are fighting against us. Observe well these my words, and let each one show himself a man both in thought and deed, in order that the world may see that our courage is not mere talk. 

RANAVÀLOMANJÀKA, Mpanjàka ny Madagaskara" 

Wearing a traditional striped lamba over his military uniform, Rainilaiarivony sits to inspect his troops at the Rova compound (around 1865)

Consul: I can certainly understand the feelings of Her Majesty and the Malagasy people in this regard, Prime Minister.

As the bugle sounded, the young Queen Ranavalona entered the throne room in her white gown cloaked under a large stately silk lamba with colorful flower patterns. Prime Minister and then Consul kissed her gloved hand.

Consul: “Your Majesty. It is with great pleasure that I find myself in your presence this day. I had hoped to be able to visit this your capital at a less distant period from the date of my arrival in Madagascar, but I have in the meantime visited many of the towns on the coast held by your garrisons, at which I am glad to able to state I was received with all courtesy by the governors in your Majesty's name I would beg to assure your Majesty that I also will spare no effort to compel my men to observe the treaty between the two countries, and in this I feel sure I shall be seconded by Her Britannic Majesty's vice-consul in this city, Mr. Pickersgill, and the different British vice-consuls on the coast." 

Queen Ranavalona replied, " It is a great pleasure to us to see you, representative of our good friends, safely in my capital. I take the words which you have just uttered a fresh proof of the good friendship and the earnest wish your Government entertains towards us. I am delighted to assure you that I am always ready to do my best in opening my country to civilization and commerce with other nations, fully convinced that by so doing it tends not only to increase the wealth of our dominions, but good understanding between us and the Treaty Powers will ensue. I trust that the English nation, which shown feelings towards us for a very long period, will be willing as ever to help us morally in carrying out our views." 

Consul: It will be my greatest privilege to do so, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty’s government. Her Britannic Majesty also sends her deepest condolence again for the passing of Queen Ranavalona II last year.

Queen: Thank you. Please return our deepest gratitude to Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria for her condolence and kindness. I hope that your government has laid before Her Majesty the difficulties we are having with France. It has been thirteen months since they began their unprovoked bombardments of our garrisons and posts along the coast and captured Majunga while the envoys we sent to negotiate with Paris had not even returned home.

Consul: Yes, Your Majesty. I am painfully aware of the difficulties. 

Queen: All of the French residents here in the capital would have been murdered after the news arrived, if my aunt the late Queen had not offered them five days to leave Antanànarìvo safely and provided them with porters to carry their belongings. 

Consul: Her Majesty Ranavalona’s decision was most magnanimous. The remaining foreigners of British, Norwegian and American nationalities in Antanànarìvo are forever grateful for Her Majesty’s permission to stay and for the special guards sent to protect them and their properties. 

Prime Minister's Palace (1884)

Queen: I remember my aunt say, “They call us barbarians, and if we did otherwise we would prove ourselves to be so.” But in response to our justified expulsion of French residents, the French Admiral sent an outrageous ultimatum which we immediately refused, for which they immediately bombarded our fort at Tamatave before proceeding to land and put the whole port town under siege. How long was the notice they gave to other foreigners living in Tamatave to leave, Consul?

Consul: They were given 24-hour notice to evacuate to their country’s ships, Her Majesty.

Queen: That’s 23 hours more than they gave our people at Majunga. And did your predecessor Vice-Consul Pakenham not die during that 24 hours, and a British missionary Mr Shaw not thrown into jail for over a month on a false charge?

Consul: Your Majesty is very well informed. Indeed, Mr Pakenham died of poor health, and Mr Shaw was imprisoned through some misunderstanding. But these have been sorted out to the satisfaction of the parties involved, Your Majesty.

Queen: How cordial the diplomatic conducts between Western nations are. If only our kingdom would be treated similarly as an equal civilized nation.

The Rova (Royal Palace) of Antananarivo (1884)

Consul: Despite the rocky relationship during Queen Ranavalona I's reign, Britain has always cherished the relationship with the Merina Kingdom and treated her as equal, ever since the oath of blood brotherhood between King Radama and Captain Le Sage and the close friendship between the great king and Mr. James Hastie, Your Majesty.

Queen: Mr. Hastie was well loved by everyone. With the treaty that he negotiated, the great king formed a formal alliance with the British crown to eliminate exportation of slaves and was recognized as the King over all of Madagascar. 

PM: I also owe the good Mr. Hastie a personal gratitude. If not for him, I would not have lived a single day of life.

Consul: Oh, how, Prime Minister?

PM: I was born, Consul, on a day considered unlucky day by the mpisikidy – diviners. The traditional practice would be to leave such a baby in a cattle pen to be trampled to death. But thanks to Mr Hastie, such cruel practices were outlawed by the king just a few years before my birth. And look at me. Now I am a Prime Minister and a good Christian just like yourself.

Queen: Thanks to the hard works initiated by the missionaries of the London Missionary Society, now we have established our own churches, schools, hospitals, local industries, flourishing trade and a modern army. We have become a constitutional monarch and a Christian nation just as Britain.

Consul: Madagascar has modernized rapidly in such a short time since the Anglo-Malagasy Treaty of 1817, Your Majesty. During his visit three years ago, our commander-in-chief of the East India Station, Rear-Admiral Gore Jones, was so impressed with the advances made in the kingdom’s civilization, and reported that the Malagasy people have become a race fit to govern their native land, and the fact obviates the necessity for the intervention of any outside nation.

Antananarivo (1884)

Queen: Germany and the United States also recognize the sovereignty of our kingdom over the whole island. On the contrary, France unfortunately seems to think that Sakalava rebels were at liberty to cede to them our coastal territory. 

PM: In any case, the French knew how flimsy their claims were, so they never followed them up with occupation except at Nosy Be. They also repudiated their claims, if any, in the Franco-Malagasy Treaty of 1868 which recognizes our kingdom’s sovereignty over the whole island. Previous French consuls also never made any such rights until recently. 

Consul: Even our government did not know of these treaties existed until the French, after several inquiries, recently supplied us with some sketchy information. 

PM: If I were you, I would not easily trust any documents they produce. You must be aware of the difficulty we have regarding the dubious Lambert Charter. And also regarding the inheritance of the good Monsieur Laborde who received lands from Queen Ranavalona I for his many services. But France would not accept that, according to Malagasy law, the land must revert to the Crown upon their death or departure.

Consul: Indeed, as was the case with Mr Hastie, Prime Minister.

Queen: Exactly, Consul. Besides, the deed supposedly signed King Radama II was dated one year after his death, so it must have been carelessly forged by Monsieur Laborde’s son who, as one of the secretaries of state, had charge of the royal seal for some time.

King Radama the Great reviewing his troops (1825)

Consul: We are aware of the difficulty with France over the issue of the Laborde inheritance and their demand that the law against freeholding of lands by foreigners be revoked. Earl Granville has informed his French counterpart that such laws are common in many countries. Even England used to have one until only a few years ago. We are of the opinion that Your Majesty’s gracious offer to amend the law to allow extendable long leases is entirely satisfactory for us.

PM: I wish the French were as reasonable. They insist on their one-sided story to extort us. The same with the Toualé dhow incident. Although French subjects were trafficking weapons to the warring tribes on our coast in violation of our law and when intercepted fatally shot our people, they are claiming damage for the deaths of the crew who died in the return fire. Why would they make such a demand on us, if they didn’t recognize our authority over that territory in the first place?

Queen: If we yield to them on one question, they will make another more outrageous demand. Admiral Miot threatened that the purpose was to make us come to agreement more quickly. That’s why throughout eight rounds of negotiations, he kept escalating his demands with such arrogant words. Not only the territories, but our very independence is at risk. 

French conquest of Tunisia (1881)

PM: You must realize, Consul, that these are just excuses. Jules Ferry is very eager on his second term to expand the French Empire. After robbing Tunisia from the Ottoman Empire (to Italy’s jealousy) in exchange for British occupation of Cyprus three years ago, now Ferry wants to do one better and bigger to regain France’s prestige after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. He wants another French Algeria to rally popular support and subdue internal troubles. French Catholics, Reunion colonists as well as the mainlanders with interests are pushing for expansion into our great island like a pack of hyenas. Despite the sincere efforts by our own Minister of Foreign Affairs, they tried to steal our island with a straight face, hoping that our envoy would not notice the changes in wordings on the treaty to be signed in Paris. 

Queen: Since our envoys also laid the issues to your government in London, what help can Britain give us, Consul?

Consul: Earl Granville’s offer to mediate was firmly rejected by France, Your Majesty. But we will continue to do our best to convince France to settle the disagreement diplomatically.

The Prime Minister scoffs: And neutrality is the best Britain can do for her friend Madagascar?

He knows the exact reason for the Consul’s lack of commitment although he expected as much. The delegation to Europe arrived in Paris two years ago just as the French public became enraged by Britain’s invasion of Egypt. That’s why Britain would not risk provoking more French wrath.

The invasion of Egypt again exposed Britain’s real interest: the control of the sea route to India. Suez Canal, mostly funded by French financiers, in French-influenced Egypt was supposed to give France a strategic advantage, but Britain snatched Egypt from French jaw of victory. Maybe Britain is even willing to turn a blind eye if France claims Britain-influenced Madagascar as compensation. If they can betray powerful China on French invasion of Tonkin question, why not us? 

What a friend indeed. To Prime Minister, Western powers may behave like hyenas against non-Western nations, but among themselves they are like grooming lemurs licking each other’s dirty parts. If only one can find a way to turn them against each other like hyenas fighting over a juicy bone. The Pakenham-Shaw incident was close, and could have provoked a fallout if not for British restraint over Egypt …

Prime Minister noticed that, on his part, the Consul also kept his words at minimum. If only he could read his mind, he would be confirmed how peripheral Madagascar was to British attention. A lot other British interests in and around Africa were at stake. After Egypt, France is trying to find a foothold for control around the Red Sea and Suez facing off British Aden. There are also other areas of potential Anglo-French conflict over the Congo and the Niger. And who knows what Bismarck has up his sleeves, now that Germans are appearing on the Southwestern coast of Africa?  what if they ally with the Boers or, God forbid, France? And there’s also their activities in East Africa and Zanzibar. 

East Africa and Madagascar

Consul then broke the awkward silence by sharing some small pieces of intelligence: Let this stay between us, Prime Minister. As I arrived in Mauritius, I received the telegram updating us that France had just concluded an accord with China over the war in Tonkin, so more ships could be heading this way.

PM: Let them come, Consul. It’s easy for them to underestimate the difficulties of conducting war on our island.  

Consul: It seems to me that they have become bogged down on the coast. A large number seemed to be ill, and they had to call for reinforcement from Reunion. 

PM: And the Sakalava chiefs that they claimed as allies never to rally to their cause. Thanks to General Hazo and General Tazo, it’s not … What’s the English expression? … a walk in the park for them.

Consul: Who are General Hazo and General Tazo, Prime Minister?

Prime Minister smiles: General Forest and General Fever, Consul. In addition we also have to thank our chief military advisor Adjutant-General Digby Willoughby. He’s a Zulu War veteran from your country.

Consul: Ah, yes. The French also inquired why a British officer was fighting on the Malagasy side, and our Earl Granville informed them that although he’s a British subject, but not an official military officer, so the British Government cannot stop him from his employment.

PM: If you please, I can also arrange for you to review some of our infantry practicing their drill with Remington rifles. Perhaps we can discuss a purchase of more weapons from you….

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The trumpets and bugles sound a flourish, as the queen arrives in a gilt palanquin carried by twelve bearers, and is received by the Prime Minister. Her Majesty then mounts the platform and takes her seat on the throne under the canopy. Ranavàlomanjàka III is in European costume, a robe of white silk trimmed with pink satin. She wears her hair plaited, and on her head was a light gold coronet. On a small table to her right is a large Bible, and on a similar table at her left is a scarlet and gold crown. 

The kabàry has now commenced. Prime Minister, drawing his sword, salutes, the whole army presents arms, the bands plays the national anthem, and the cannon in the battery above fires a salute of twenty-one rounds. The saluting over, the troops comes to “the shoulder," the trumpets and bugles sound a flourish, and the queen rises from her throne. In a few minutes a perfect silence ensues amongst the expectant multitude, and, waving her small golden scepter over her people, Ranavalona in a clear ringing voice addresses the people: 

Queen Ranavalona III with royal crown and scepter (around 1890-5)

" O ye people devoted to your fatherland, and ye soldiers strong in battle, my heart is glad as I stand among you. I see that both I, your queen, and this land of our ancestors are indeed dear you; and when I have summoned you to assemble, you have come at the appointed time; therefore I express my satisfaction to you; life and the blessing of God be upon you. 

"And I have to say to you, O my soldiers -- for we all form of the army now, both I and my people -- that since those Frenchmen have invaded our land, I have done everything to bring about a termination of the war. 

"Although we have paid sums of money twice, it was my Intention to give whatever would not involve my sovereignty or impair the independence of Madagascar, this land of our ancestors; for I particularly dislike, and it grieves me indeed, that your blood should be shed. 

“But they were not willing, O my army, and want one-third of Madagascar for themselves, and for us to pay £120,000, as also to indemnify all the losses of other nations during the war; and yet it was not we that destroyed that property but the French alone bombarded and destroyed; they struck the first blow, and did not even give notice of war, but even assailed women and children; and that even is not all they want, but I and my ancestors have been insulted and they will not acknowledge me as Queen of Madagascar but only Queen of Merina. 

"I shall fulfill, O my people, the share in the defense of the land which belongs to me as queen. I have done so, but still I will do more, for, though I am a woman, I have the heart of a man, and I stand up to lead you forth to prevent and oppose those who seek to take our land; for God forbid, O ye people, that we should become the servants of foreigners. Is it not so, ye people? I am confident, O my people in arms, that we are all united as one in holding fast to this beloved land of our ancestors, and in acting so as to frustrate the evil designs of our enemy. For is it not so, O ye people? 

"Further I have to say to you I am extremely gratified to see the unity of combination in learning the art of war. Go on learning and await my commands for I shall not let the enemy come upon you unawares, for our courageous friends have gone to guard the coasts where the enemy will land. And I have to say to you, O people, that you may all know at once, there are no Frenchmen here, but they are foreigners entertaining good friendship toward us who remain here now; so let everyone take good care not to interfere with their persons or property. 

"However, my people, whatever be our strength, or however great our numbers, all this is in vain without the help of God; let every one of us therefore ask for His help for deliverance in this our just cause. 

“And these are my last words to you, O my army, though our bodies be annihilated, we shall not be ashamed nor confounded, but our name and our fame will live forever, because we rather choose to die than yield up our fatherland and the good which God has given us. For is it not so, O ye warriors?” 

It requires some little time for the queen's words to be circulated among the crowd; but by the time Ranavalona reaches her last “Is it not so, ye soldiers ? " the excitement and enthusiasm are at a climax, the people shout, wave their spears and shields, and the sight is one never to be forgotten. 

It is now the turn of the people to reply to her Majesty. First comes the representative of the civilians and the different noble clans of the Merina; their speeches consist of assurances to the queen that they were ready to fight. Their indignation about the queen being called Queen of Merina is very great. 

One spectator says, " We have seen your Majesty's caution in not wishing to endanger the lives of the people, and in trying to make it up by paying money, etc; but we won't have any more trying to make it up.” At this expression the enthusiasm of the people becomes so great that the speaker's voice is no longer heard. 

A great royal kabàry of 1895

Prime Minister next addresses the queen :

"On this occasion of your appearance in Màhamàsina, O Ranavàlomanjàka, before the people who are as your father and your mother, it is not a question of how many persons God left this kingdom to be ruled by, for you alone inherited it from your ancestors. You have come here before the people to thank us, to express your satisfaction at our preparations for war. But we, on the other hand, would say : It is not for you, the queen, to thank us, but we, the people, come to thank you, O lady, and may God’s blessings be upon you. 

“As regards the French making war upon us, especially in what concerns the command of the army, its organization and discipline, rest assured, for here am I, Prime Minister, and everyone will have his part. The man who stands before your Majesty was born to defend this land and to serve his queen. That is no empty expression, for God sees into my heart. Come death, come loss, before the land shall be taken from us. Our war is a just war, and we do not fear; if we die, we have right on our side, and God knows it.. And the fame of those who die in the defense of their country will never perish. 

“We must all die whether we fight or not, much more when our country is taken from us. But if we die in good actions, erect a stone, your Majesty, to our memories and trust in your army. Is it not so, O soldiers?” 

After the prime minister had finished his speech, the queen again rose and said, "Since those are the words of you and your soldiers, I am confident; life, prosperity, and the blessing of God be upon you."

Her Majesty then expresses a desire to see some of the schools go through their spear exercise. Some of the schools from the Bétsiléo province then came forward chanting their war-songs. The boys are about twelve years of age and are very proficient. Her Majesty now descends from the platform, and mounting a white horse, rides round the plain of Màhamàsina to review the troops amid the cheers of the people. The prime minister then declares the kabàry at an end, the royal salute is given, and the troops and the people disperse. 

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 Next on 1884.