“Their Lordships take this opportunity of stating to you, for the information of the memorialists, that from the accounts which their Lordships have received of the description of vessels which had formed the largest proportion of the captures in the Irish and Bristol channels, it appears that if their masters had availed themselves of the convoys appointed for their protection from foreign ports, or had not in other instances deserted from the convoys under whose protection they had sailed, before the final conclusion of the voyage, many of the captures would not have been made. It is their Lordships’ determination, as far as they may be enabled, to bring the parties to punishment who may have been guilty of such illegal acts, and which are attended with such injurious consequences to the trade of the country.” Little by little the Americans had repaid every item of the debt of insult they owed, and after Croker’s letter the account could be considered settled. Even the “Times” was not likely to repeat its sneer of 1807, that the Americans could hardly cross to Staten Island without British permission. Croker’s official avowal that no vessel could safely enter or leave one port in the British Islands for another except under guard of a man-of-war, was published on the same page with the memorialists’ assertion that the rate of insurance had gradually risen till it exceeded twofold the usual rates prevailing during the wars on the Continent. The spirit of exasperation shown by Croker extended through the navy. The conduct of Cochrane and Cockburn has been already told. That of Captain Hillyar at Valparaiso was equally significant. Under the annoyance of their mortifications the British commanders broke through ordinary rules. Captain Lloyd of the “Plantagenet,” seventy-four, on arriving in the harbor of Fayal, September 26, saw a large brig in the roads, which he must have known to be an American privateer. He was so informed by his pilot. It was the “General Armstrong,” Captain Samuel C. Reid, a brig which for two years had fretted and escaped the British navy. The “Plantagenet,” with two other ships-of-war, appeared at sunset. Reid dared not run out to sea, and the want of wind would in any case have prevented success. A little after dusk, Reid, seeing the suspicious movements of the enemy, began to warp his vessel close under the guns of the castle. While doing so, at about eight o’clock four boats filled with men left the ships and approached him. As they came near he repeatedly hailed and warned them off, and at last fired. His fire was returned, but the boats withdrew with the loss of a number of men.[305]