After behaving fairly well--outwardly at least--for a year, these men applied to be restored to church fellowship; and the two teachers--whom the Quarterly Meeting had placed in charge of the church--sent on to me to ask what they were to do. I sent back word that neither they nor the church could do anything, as only the Quarterly Meeting could restore to membership in such cases. For we had been compelled by our peculiar circumstances to pass a by-law, that if any one was suspended from church fellowship, only by vote of the Quarterly Meeting could the party be restored. We had been compelled to pass this by-law because we found, when any of the petty chiefs or head men were suspended from church membership, generally they had only to _say_ they repented, and they were restored to full communion, or if they were not, they managed to make things very uncomfortable for both office-bearers and members until they were. We had, therefore, as a body, to come to the rescue of these weak and harassed churches, in order to put a stop to such a state of matters. All suspended persons had to be restored by the Quarterly Meeting and not by the individual church as formerly. After a time these men applied to the Quarterly Meeting to be restored; but we were unanimous in the opinion that they were unfit for church membership, and ought not therefore to be readmitted. At this they were very much astonished and angry. On the way home from the meeting, they managed to intimidate and terrify their slaves (who had been the representatives of the church of Antsàmpandràno to the Quarterly Meeting), so that they did not report to the church that their masters had been refused readmission. It was such an extraordinary thing for _chiefs_ to be refused anything, that I suppose the church had taken it for granted that their application had been sustained, and they were received to the communion the following Sabbath. We heard on the Monday what had been done, and I sent on at once to inform the church that they would be cut off from all connexion with us, unless these men were at once expelled. On the Wednesday following, the two teachers, along with the deacons of the church, came to see me, and discovering how matters stood, they returned home, and to their credit be it told, notwithstanding threats and attempts to intimidate and terrify them, the small church, mainly composed of _clansmen and slaves_, expelled their chiefs and masters from fellowship, as being unfit for communion in the Church of Christ!