On the 6th, I addressed to the Minister of Marine the following
remonstrance against the before-mentioned regulation of the Admiralty
Court, that vessels captured within a certain distance of the shore
should not be prize to the captor; this regulation being evidently
intended as retrospective, with a view of nullifying the captures which
had already been made:--

As I have before endeavoured, by anticipating evils, to prevent
their occurrence, so in the present instance, I feel it my duty to
His Imperial Majesty to place you, as Minister of Marine, on your
guard against countenancing any such measure in regard either to
the vessels captured in the blockade of Bahia, or to those taken
in the colonial possessions, and under the forts and batteries
of the enemy--and also in the case--if such there should be--of
vessels captured on the shores of Portugal.

It is quite clear that these cases of capture are distinct from
those in which protection is afforded by independent states to
belligerents approaching within a certain distance of neutral shores.
But you must be perfectly aware that, if enemy's ships are not to
be prize--if captured navigating near the shore no blockade can be
effective, as there will be no right to disturb them; besides which
the mass of the people engaged in a naval service will certainly not
encounter toil and hazard without remuneration of any kind beyond
their ordinary pay.

Should such a decree be really in contemplation, there is nothing
to hope from the naval service useful or creditable to the state;
and this opinion is founded on more than thirty years' unremitting
experience of seamen--that where there is no premium there is no
permanent zeal or exertion.

(Signed) COCHRANE & MARANHAO.

On the 10th of January, I communicated to the Government the contents of
another despatch from Captain Haydon, at Pernambuco, reporting that the
new Junta there had seized the Imperial ship of war, _Independencia ou
morte_, and had removed the officer in command, at the same time
threatening to treat Captain Haydon as a pirate.

The revolt was now becoming serious, and His Majesty--anxious to
expedite the equipment of the squadron--on the 12th of February, 1824,
sent for me to consult on the subject. Having told His Majesty the
course which had been pursued by the prize tribunal, he said he would
see justice done in spite of factio