during that time , they had progressed from hostility toward the french , who had obviously stolen the gold in some sleazy , underhanded fashion , to suspicion of the english leaders of finance and industry , who were at best guilty of gross incompetence and at worst culpable of the crime itself , and eventually to a sort of admiration for the resourcefulness and daring of the english rogues who had plotted and carried out the escapade -- - however it was actually done .