ul on the coast of Spain and Portugal. By an odd
coincidence, another of the same class, bearing the nearly identical
name, "Lion," was operating at the same time in the same waters, and
with like results; which may possibly account for a contemporary
report in a London paper, that an American off the Tagus had taken
thirty-two British vessels. The "Leo" destroyed thirteen, and took
four others; while the "Lion" destroyed fifteen, having first removed
from them cargo to the amount of $400,000, which she carried safely
into France. A curious circumstance, incidental to the presence of the
privateers off Cape Finisterre, is that Wellington's troops, which had
now passed the Pyrenees and were operating in southern France, had for
a long time to wait for their great-coats, which had been stored in
Lisbon for the summer, and now could not be returned by sea to Bayonne
and Bordeaux before convoy was furnished to protect the transports
against capture. Money to pay the troops, and for the commissariat,
was similarly detained. Niles' Register, which followed carefully the
news of maritime capture, announced in November, 1813, that eighty
British vessels had been taken within a few months in European seas by
the "President," "Argus," and five privateers. Compared with the
continuous harassment and loss to which the enemy had become hardened
during twenty years of war with France, allied often with other
maritime states, this result, viewed singly, was not remarkable; but
coming in addition to the other sufferings of British trade, and
associated with similar injuries in the West Indies, and disquiet
about the British seas themselves, the cumulative effect was
undeniable, and found voice in public meetings, resolutions, and
addresses to the Government.

Although the United States was not in formal alliance with France, the
common hostility made the ports of either nation a base of operations
to the other, and much facilitated the activities of American cruisers
in British seas. One of the most successful of the privateers, the
"True Blooded Yankee," was originally equipped at Brest, under
American ownership, though it does not appear whether she was American
built. On her first cruise her prizes are reported at twenty-seven.
She remained out thirty-seven days, chiefly off the coast of Ireland,
where she is said to have held an island for six days. Afterwards she
burned several vessels in a Scotch harbor. Her procedure illustrates