of Ida Pfeiffer, published in London in 1861, called
the public attention to an island which had been excluded from
civilization for more than a quarter of a century. The great Island of
Madagascar, situated in the path of all the commerce of Europe with the
East, for reasons we are about to explain, has again attracted the
notice of diplomatists, and threatens to become a second Eastern
question. We propose to sketch the history of the island and to explain
the cause of its sudden importance.

Though discovered in 1506 by the Portuguese, and partially colonized at
times by the Dutch, French, and English, it has, up to this time,
preserved an independent government; or rather, the native tribes have
been allowed to fight and enslave each other without much aid or
hindrance from Europeans.

When England, early in the present century, began the task of subduing
the East, she found in her conquests of Mauritius and Bourbon the
natural and important links in her chain of posts. As a recent writer
has well pointed out, she has a succession of fortified posts,
Gibraltar, St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, and Ceylon,
reaching from London to Calcutta and Singapore. The commerce of the
world, as it sweeps by the Cape of Good Hope, is forced to pursue a
track in which her strongholds are situated. But for the blindness of
her former rulers, she would be the mistress of the Eastern seas. Two
points, however, have been left unguarded. In some trading convention,
some congress of nations, England made the great mistake of restoring to
France the Island of Bourbon, surrendering one of the keys to the
impregnable position she held. Other reasons have prevented the
acquisition of Madagascar, and it is not yet too late to render this
mistake fatal to her supremacy. It is true that in case of war, her
armed steamers may start with the assurance of a secure coaling station
at the end of every ten days' journey, but from the Cape eastward she is
dependent upon her maintenance of Mauritius.

France has made the most of the opportunity given to her, by holding
Bourbon as a military colony, and maintaining a powerful fleet there. It
is, however, for us to regard the interests of the United States, and to
see if any foothold can be gained for our protection. Had war been the
result of the _Trent_ affair, what would have become of our immense
fleet of merchant ships which was then afloat in Indian waters? Manila
and Batavia were