Great and corresponding energy was displayed by Buchanan in civil concerns. The legislature passed an act that every district should have a free school. Rules and regulations were established for the treatment of apprentices, or recaptured Africans not able to take care of themselves. Provision was made for paupers in the erection of almshouses, with schools of manual labor attached. The great point was, that the people had begun to be the government; and there, among colored men, it was shown that human nature has capacity for its highest ends on earth, and that there is no difficulty or mystery in governing society, which men of common sense and common honesty cannot overcome. Buchanan died in harness. Drenching, travelling and over-exertion, brought on a fever when far from the means of relief. He expired on the 3d of September, 1841, in the government house at Bassa. Then and there was a remarkable man withdrawn from the work of the world. Ever through his administration he illustrated the motto of his heart: “The work is God’s to which I go, and is worthy of all sacrifice.” The narrative already given is his _character_ and his eulogium. His deeds need no explanatory words--they have a voice to tell their own tale. The blow given to King Boatswain’s successor, Gaytumba, nearly obliterated the predatory horde which he had collected: they were scarcely heard of afterwards. A small portion of them seem to have migrated northwards, so as to hang on the skirts of more settled tribes, and carry on still, to a small extent, the practice of slaving and murder, to which they had been accustomed. The Fishmen tribe still continued to raise some disturbance. Certain points on the sea-coast gave great uneasiness; these points were the haunts of slavers. Merchant traders, at least some of them, came peddling along, establishing temporary factories for the disposal of their goods, and not unfrequently having an understanding with the slavers for their mutual benefit. CHAPTER XVI. ROBERTS GOVERNOR--DIFFICULTIES WITH ENGLISH TRADERS--POSITION OF LIBERIA IN RESPECT TO ENGLAND--CASE OF THE “JOHN SEYES”--OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF EVERETT AND UPSHUR--TROUBLE ON THE COAST--REFLECTIONS.