under its notice, and going on as it were under the shadow of its flag, a British man of war, a British Consul, missionaries, and merchants being on the spot (Nair, 1972).  
Rather than obeying the Foreign Office directives, the supercargoes resorted to bribing the consul, Thomas J. Hutchinson, whose actions, typically of a corrupted administrator, were at variance with his instructions from the Foreign Office to protect the liberated Africans. Things came to a head in 1859, when Hutchinson sent two liberated Africans back to Sierra Leone for a variety of offences and requested the governor of the colony, Stephen Hill, not to freely permit any returnee to reside within the consular area (Nair, 1972, p. 125). The liberated Africans saw the danger and immediately reported Hutchinson to the Foreign Office for receiving bribes from a Michael and William Hearn, stating that his actions were utterly subversive to all principles of equity and morality. Hutchinson was found guilty and, branded 'a very imperfectly qualified individual' for the important position of a consul superintending the activities of all races in Calabar, was replaced as British Consul for the Bight of Biafra by Richard F. Burton (Nair, 1972, pp. 133-34).