On the completion of her repairs, the _Rochester_ set sail again from Plymouth for New York. She carried a letter from the Lords Justices to Bellamont, approving his zeal and conduct in the whole affair, and requiring him to put the pirates and their goods on board of her. The delay in bringing Kidd to England, whether designed or not, was most unfortunate for him and most opportune for the ministers. The opposition seem to have had some inkling that Kidd’s return was being purposely delayed with the object of enabling the government to deal with him without consulting Parliament. To allay these suspicions, a certificate was produced signed by all the officers of the _Rochester_, from which, according to Bellamont’s apologist, it appeared that they had proceeded on their course to America “as far as their ship was able to bear the beating of the sea and then resolved to return to England.” “When they were returned to England,” he says, “by a like certificate they affirmed the same thing, and that the result was taken merely for securing the ship and the company’s lives.” “The captain,” he adds, “by his letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty says they were got 500 leagues before they met the storms. And orders being sent by the Admiralty to Mr St Lo, the Commissioner of the Admiralty at Plymouth, to examine into the truth of the matter, he certified the Lords of the Admiralty that in pursuance of their commands he, with the assistance of the officers of the Yard, had made a thorough survey of the ship and (mentioning the several particular defects) they unanimously found there was a necessity for her coming back.” These official assurances by no means satisfied the Commons. On the sixteenth of the following March they presented an address to the King, praying that Kidd might not be tried, discharged, or pardoned until the next session of Parliament, and that Bellamont might be required in the meantime to transmit over to England all commissions, instructions, and other papers taken with or relating to him. The King’s reply to this address was communicated to the House on the eighth of April, 1700, by Mr. Secretary Vernon, who informed the Commons that he had presented the address to His Majesty, and that His Majesty had commanded him to acquaint the House that His Majesty having received an account of the arrival of Captain Kidd in the Isle of Lundy, by a ship which the Lords of the Admiralty had sent to fetch him, which was bound for the Downs, His Majesty had ordered a yacht to be sent to the Downs in order for the bringing of him up, and that the commissioners of the Admiralty were likewise directed to send their marshal to take him into custody.