Alexandria Gazette

A Martyr.

Among the articles of late intelligence from England, is an account of the death of a woman of the island of Madagascar under circumstances which place her name high in the rank of Christian martyrs. It appears that the London Missionary Society had been successful in establishing the means of religious instruction in Madagascar, and that a number of the natives had embraced christianity. In 1835 the Queen issued an edict forbidding public worship under the heaviest penalties, and in consequence some of the converts were in the habit of meeting on a retired mountain for the performance of the duties of the Sabbath, which they felt themselves conscientiously bound not to intermit. The retreat of this little band was not long since discovered, and fifteen persons were apprehended, condemned to perpetual slavery, and their property was confiscated. Their families were involved in the same sentence, excepting that they had the privilege of redemption. A conspicuous individual among these native Christians was a woman named Rafaravelo, well known to the government as an indubitable Christian from the time she abandoned idolatry, which was about seven years before her death. In the summer of 1831 she was informed against as an observer of the Sabbath and a reader of the Bible- She was then condemned to a fine equivalent to half her value if sold into slavery, and gave on that occasion a striking example of meekness combined with an immovable principle. In the summer of last year, a box of religious books was found near her house, and she was again apprehended and imprisoned. Her property was immediately confiscated, and she was loaded with irons and kept for several weeks in the hope that time and violence would induce her to give up the names of her companions. That was vain. She continued faithful, firm, and composed and was employed until the moment of her execution in praying for all around her, and exhorting them to embrace the true faith. She was put to death by the spear. The best evidence of the sincerity of this woman's confession of christianity even to death, is the fact that she knew nothing of the fame of martyrdom and anticipated no honors from her devotion. She acted on the broad principles of her convictions of duty, and received no credit for her integrity from any friends around her. Her age was thirty-eight-Yankee Gazette.