The Mission Directors had been for a long time debating whether the Mission could really exercise civil or criminal jurisdiction at all. At first they had claimed such jurisdiction, but grave doubts arose on the execution for the murder (page 109) and we did not yet know which way they were likely to decide. They had taken about a year to consider the subject, and no decision had yet reached us. Though well aware that the Law of the Church prevented a Clergyman from being a Magistrate, I thought it was competent for the Directors to carry out their plans by means of Laymen, but it might be argued that the civil Law of Scotland was against the exercise of any jurisdiction, as the Directors had taken no steps to legalise their colony. If this proved correct, then it was clear that even should the Directors insist on Civil Jurisdiction, any magistrate appointed by them was liable in the circumstances to all the consequences of breaking British Law. It was a question in principle like what Scotch Churchmen were familiar with in the Disruption Controversy. Should the Directors decide that the exercise of Jurisdiction was necessary for propagating the Gospel in these parts, and that jurisdiction was to go on as before, the decision was quite intelligible so far as the Church was concerned, but it would not do for any British subject to act on the view. The matter had an important bearing on the question of fugitive slaves. Some of the Directors had at one time admitted, to my great comfort, that it was not _expedient_ to receive refugees. But letters of a subsequent date were strongly in favour of continuing the old practice, and Dr. Macklin who was now at home, refused, we understand, to return to Africa, if slaves were denied protection: so great is the proverbial detestation of slavery in the true Briton. In official letters that arrived at this time, we were urged to adopt a spirited Foreign Policy towards certain troublesome chiefs. The directors indicated a plan of punishing some of these offenders, but as the layman that they had sent out to act as a Christian magistrate, declined to take such a delicate task, I was much puzzled to know who was to be responsible for carrying out the scheme, and on April 5th, I wrote to the Directors with reference to this plan:—“But take into account that we are only poor dominies and tradesmen. The dominies have the Saturday holiday at their disposal, but no other day without doing injustice to school-work.”