M. Laroche, Prefect of the Garonne, has been appointed Resident-General
in Madagascar. He is a Protestant, and will therefore, it is imagined, protect the Protestant Eng- lish missionaries. We have no reason to believe be will not, but it is a remarkable fact that, outside France, both Protestant and agnostic French officials think it their duty specially to protect the Roman Catholic missions. This has been noticed in China, in Indo.China, and in East Africa, and we fancy that the same policy will be pursued in Madagascar. It is quite possible that M. Laroche will be called upon to act, for the English are unpopular because they did not resist the French advance, and the English missionaries have many enemies. On November 22nd, a body of natives attacked a mission-station five miles out of Antananarivo, and murdered Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, members of the Society of Friends. The motive is stated by Renter to have been hostility to foreigners ; and though it is assumed that the murderers were marauders, encouraged by the prevalent disorder, that is by no means certain. We should not wonder in the least if the conquest of the country were followed by a temporary recrudescence of paganism, the idea being that protection not having been accorded by heaven, Christianity was untrue.
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