3-082-610 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Antananarivo, Madagascar, 1895. 'At last the "red flag of War" has been hoisted on the twelve sacred mountains of Imerina, and the people summoned to the defence of their country...the French...commenced hostilities several months ago...If the Hovas have not already succumbed, and proper arrangements made for carrying out the government, anarchy may prevail or some terrible fighting may take place in and around the capital. We are under the impression that resistance will collapse before the troops reach the central province, but should that not be the case, it is to be hoped that something may be done to insure the safety of upwards of a hundred missionaries and others who reside in and around Antananarivo. The danger apprehended is not so much from the natives...What is really feared is from the excesses of the auxiliary troops of the French Republic...Nothing need now be said of the justice or injustice of the French cause, but inasmuch as the Republic is posing in this way as the "pioneer of civilisation," and the friend of all foreigners in the island, she is bound to make beforehand the necessary arrangements to render them all proper protection'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.