Wisely or otherwise, all parties seemed to embrace at once the conclusion that this Shipwreck should furnish the occasion for reconsidering the whole question of a Mission Vessel or no Mission Vessel for the New Hebrides. For the time, arrangements had again to be resumed for the services of the Trading Company; and the interval was to be utilized in consulting the Mission Synod on the Islands, and the Churches concerned, in the light of the experience gained, whether another _Dayspring_ should be built or not. I must openly affirm that this policy never commended itself to my judgment, nor even yet can I see its wisdom. With the Insurance, though limited to the inadequate sum of £2,000 much against my will by the Committee at Melbourne, and with the other Funds for the _Dayspring_ still on hand, besides the Free-Will Offerings that poured in on us from friends everywhere, we could have ordered and paid for a New Ship without one hour’s delay. We had the assent of the Churches and the approval of the Missionaries, and should have gone forward, as if the wreck had never happened. God seemed Himself to be clearly pointing the way. Within a few hours, after the disaster was cabled to Britain, a lady in London sent a check for £1,000 to my Home Committee, “to build or buy a new and larger ship!” Other generous offers were also pressed upon us; and the money is at this moment lying in the Bank awaiting a decision. We could then, and can now, present to the Mission another _Dayspring_, as a free gift from those throughout the world to whom God has endeared the Mission on the New Hebrides. But I was powerless to resist the policy of delay, the consequences of which I cannot but fear, whatever the ultimate decision may be, as highly disastrous to our Mission. Should the vote be in favor of another Ship, the delay will have so damped the interest of supporters, that my British Committee may find it extremely difficult to revive subscriptions and secure the promised £1,000 _per annum_ towards the Maintenance Fund. Should the vote be unfavorable, the dissension amongst the Missionaries and the Churches, and the seesaw policy in the Management of the Mission, will so shake the confidence of the Christian Public, that all our funds are bound to suffer, and the welfare of the Mission be seriously crippled. I do, therefore, most earnestly pray and hope that there may be unity, at whatever cost to my personal predilections; for the spectacle of a disloyal Minority, undermining and destroying the work of the Majority, is enough to bring on our cause the contempt of men, if not also the curse of God. And at the same time, I cannot but fervently desire that the mind of the Synod on the Islands and of the Churches in the Colonies, at Home, and in Nova Scotia, may be clear and decided in favor of a Mission Ship, for the highest welfare of the Church of God on the New Hebrides.[2] Footnote 2: