previously made. London, however, yielding to the colonial pressure, regretted that no solution had been reached, and claimed that it was “justified in view of the facts” in only recognizing Liberia’s sovereignty over Sugaree. The closing episode in this exchange of views was the sending of a letter by Dr. Blyden, who was then Secretary of State for the Republic, which ran as follows: “The President is equally grieved that the oral statements of barbarous and heathen chiefs on a subject affecting the prosperity of a rising Christian state should be regarded by Her Majesty’s Government as entitled to more weight than the statements of Christian men supported by written documents and by the known local conduct of the chiefs towards the Liberian Government since the cession of their territories until very recently.” As might be expected, the troubles did not cease. Traders continued to smuggle; local chiefs continued to harass; shipping continued to bid defiance to Liberian laws; vessels continued to be seized; threats continued to be made. Harris began to act almost as if he were an independent chief within this territory; there were various tribes about him, and some of them were inclined to resist his exactions; disputes with him aroused the Vai to undertake reprisals; Harris organized the Gallinhas peoples in an attack upon the Vai; the Liberian Government sent forces in 1869 to aid the Vai, who were loyal to them. The Gallinhas natives were defeated, fled, and in their rage turning on Harris, destroyed one of his factories; this of course gave him a basis for new claims for damages. On this military expedition some property had been destroyed or confiscated. Thus new difficulties grew up; there were occasional seizures, retaliatory threats, demands for damages, shows of force. Naturally, the hostile chiefs living in the Mano District, encouraged by the unsettled conditions, raided and destroyed Liberian settlements; things presently were critical, and in 1871 another expedition was despatched by the Liberian Government into Mano and Sulima; property was destroyed, including powder and goods belonging to British owners; the usual demands for damages were made, and these demands known as the “Mano River Claims” were pending until 1882.