Barry had been joined by the "Constitution," the "Washington" and the "Merrimac" and would later have under his command the "Portsmouth," the "Herald," the "Pickering," the "Diligence," the "Scammel" and the "Eagle." Secretary Stoddert notified him, and also that if his health obliged him to return, Captain Truxtun would take command of the fleet and of the operations.
On St. Patrick's Day, 1799, Captain Barry was at Prince Rupert's Island. The Hibernian Society of Philadelphia for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland were, the same day, at dinner at Shane's Tavern and drank to the toast of
On April 8, 1799, Captain Barry was at Bridgetown, Barbadoes. For that port he had, as the youthful Captain of the schooner "Barbadoes," sailed from Philadelphia on October 2, 1766, almost a third of a century previous. What thoughts must have moved him we may conjecture at the change in his own circumstances and in that of the country of his adoption which had taken place. Then, at twenty-one, he was commander of his first vessel, a trading schooner of 60 tons. He had since made effective war upon the enemy of his native land and of his adopted country. He now entered Bridgetown the commander of a squadron of the chief armed vessels of his country. During the War for Independence he had acted in cooperation with French naval forces, now he was protecting the commerce of his country from the depredations of the French and inflicting punishment upon such as came in his path. He had made war on British naval vessels and taken captive many as well as those of England's merchant marine. Now he and his country were acting in accord with England in opposition to and in restraint of the French.
Friends had become enemies and enemies had become friendly, so much so that a Barbadoes paper, on his arrival there, could declare: "Whatever good fortune attends Commodore Barry will but increase the public esteem which he already possesses, as to see merit rewarded is the generous wish of every British bosom."
This praise arose from the fact that Barry meeting the French privateer "Democrat" took from her the British Letter-of-Marque, "Cicero," which had been captured by the "Democrat." The darkness debarred Barry from capturing the "Democrat" also. The "Cicero" was of 450 tons and 50 men. Her Captain and three of the crew had been killed and thirty-six wounded. She had been in possession of the French for thirty-six hours when retaken by the "United States" with the prize crew of thirty taken prisoners. These he left at Guadeloupe in French possession. As there were no American prisoners there Barry thought it better to do so than to have them on the "United States" frigate "to eat more than they were worth."