Governor Buchanan, in one of his dispatches, dated November 6th, 1839, writes: “When at Sierra Leone, I visited a small schooner of one hundred and twenty tons, which was just brought in, with _four hundred and twenty-seven_ slaves on board; and of all scenes of misery I ever saw, this was most overpowering. My cheek tingled with shame and indignation, when I was told that the same vessel, the _Mary Cushing_, had come on the coast, and was sailed for some time under American colors. When taken, the American captain was on board. He had not arrived when I left Sierra Leone, but the governor, at my instance, promised to send him down here, and deliver him up to me, to be sent to the United States. Is there any hope that our government will hang him?” It is a question whether Buchanan had, as the agent of a private association, or the agent of the government for recaptured Africans, any right to seize the goods of British traders, or hold in custody the persons of Americans. But the governor was a man for the time and circumstances, as, taking “the responsibility,” he determined to do right, and let the law of nations look out for itself. CHAPTER XV. BUCHANAN’S ADMINISTRATION CONTINUED--DEATH OF KING BOATSWAIN--WAR WITH GAYTUMBA--ATTACK ON HEDDINGTON--EXPEDITION OF BUCHANAN AGAINST GAYTUMBA--DEATH OF BUCHANAN--HIS CHARACTER. When a frontier rests on a savage territory, a “good look out” must be kept there, and upon every thing beyond it, as the Hollander watches his dykes and the sea. Liberia had to watch an early ally and friend of very equivocal character, already known as King Boatswain. He had founded a new Rome, like Romulus, of ragamuffins. He had made a kind of pet of Liberia, and perhaps intended to give up slaving, and take to better courses. Nothing better, however, came in his way, till all his courses ended. The death of Boatswain, whose tribe was of his own creation, was followed by confusion among them. Gaytumba, an unscrupulous and ready man, with the assistance of Gotera, succeeded to the chief share of influence in the tribe. The Deys, from whom the colonial territory had been purchased, were near neighbors, and most convenient subjects for the slave-trade. An assault was accordingly made, and many secured. A small remnant of the tribe took refuge in the colony; and Gaytumba, not seeing any reason why they should not be caught and sold under colonial protection, as well as elsewhere, many were seized within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth. The northern region was thus black with danger, and the vast woods which surrounded the settlements on the St. Paul’s, became suspicious as a wild, unknown source of difficulty. There was uneasy watchfulness for months; and such preparations as circumstances would admit, were made for resistance. The storm fell on Heddington, a village at the extreme north of the settlements.