Excerpt from United States Court of Claims: Decision of the Case of the Private Armed Brig. General Armstrong, Captain Sam C. Reid and Others, Claimants, Vs; The United States Chancellor Kent says, no measure is to be taken that will lead to immediate violence. - 1 Kent Comm, 118. Upon this point the law is clear and indisputable. The first question that presents itself is a question of fact, and that is, whether, in this transaction, the British or the Americans were the aggressors. More than forty-one years have elapsed since the affair happened. We are not, however, forced to depend upon the testi mony Of witnesses given for the first time after so long a period, and from the credit Of which. Time, and the failure Of memory, might properly require us to make some deduction. We have the statements Of those who were actors in the transaction, made at the time of its occurrence, and with every Opportunity Of know ing the truth. It is agreed by the counsel on both sides, that the facts and the law are now both before us, and the various questions in the case have been argued with a skill and ability that leave nothing to be desired. We shall endeavor to examine the evi dence, irrespective Of the consideration that the United States and Great Britain were then at war, and Of any national feeling that might be excited by the sanguin ary conflict that took place in the harbor Of Fayal. We shall examine, in the first place, the testimony Of the witnesses, both American and English, who were actors in the transaction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.