Page:Madagascar - Phelps - 1883.djvu/10

 go forward, which a gentleman in Huntingdonshire, bred a merchant, in love told me, which he heard from others, or rather, as I understood it, from Bishop Moreton's own mouth, that if the bishops of England, lately dismissed from voting in Parliament, and tyrannizing in temporal authority, should still continue in disrespect with the King and Parliament, they, or most part of them, would go and plant a colony in Madagascar, and endeavor to reduce those ignorant souls to Christianity. God grant that, by them or others, such a pious design my speedily take effect."

The numerous advantages possessed by the 'island made such a strong appeal to the public mind that it was agreed at the council-board, says Mr. Boothby, that Prince Rupert should go as Viceroy to Madagascar. He was to have twelve sail from King Charles, and thirty merchantmen to attend him to the plantation, and to have supplies yearly sent out from England. It was likewise agreed upon, and a charge given to the governor, Sir Maurice Abbot, Sir Henry Garway, and others of the committee of the Honorable East India Company, to give all their loving assistance and furtherance to Prince Rupert in this design, whensoever he came into Asia or India, and all other parts adjacent to the Island of Madagascar.

Mr. Boothby was present "when this was ordered at the council-table, and the charge given to the aforesaid governor and committee of the East India Company; but Prince Rupert going into France and Germany about his weighty affairs, in the meantime it was thought fit, and concluded upon, that the Earl of Arundel, earl marshal of England, should go governor for Madagascar, it being the most famous place in the world for a magazine. This honorable earl was in such resolution and readiness that there were printed bills put up on the pillars of the Royal Exchange, and in other parts of the city, that abundantly showed his forwardness in promoting a plantation in Madagascar; but a new Parliament being called, it put a stop to the design of Madagascar."

The next account of the island which we have in connection with the English is given in the history of Robert Drury, who from the year 1702 until 1717 was detained there by the natives as a slave. Drury had received but a limited education, and at an early period of life was induced, as many other youths have been, through love of adventure and romance, to seek his fortune at sea. At the age of fourteen he embarked as passenger on board a ship bound for the East Indies, and sailed from Lon-