^^ ■^. -^.^ 
 
.V 
 
 
 .^x'^ 
 
 ^^/' 
 
 ^.^ .^' 
 
 ^^f 
 
 A 
 
JOHN PAUL JONES 
 
John Paul Jones 
 
 Of Naval Fame 
 A Character of the Revolution 
 
 By Charles Walter Brown 
 
 Author of "Nathan Hale," "Paul Revere," "Ethan Allen," "Count 
 Pulaski." "La Fayette," Etc.. Etc. 
 
 "The Flag- and I are tivins. Born the same hour -we 
 cannot be farted in life or death. So long as we can Jloat 
 ive shall Jloat to£rethcr.^''—Vii.VL Jones. 
 
 H 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Chicago 
 
 M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 
 
 407-429 Dearborn St. 
 
o 
 
 t 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 CONGRESS, 
 
 Two CoptEe Rbceived 
 
 JUN. 2 1902 
 
 COPVT»IOHT ENTRY 
 
 CLASS <2^XXc No. 
 COPY B. 
 
 Copyright 1902 
 
 M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 
 
 A. DONOHUE A CO,, PRINTERS AND BIMDERS, CHICAQO. 
 
TO MY FATHER 
 
 ISAAC HINTOlSr BEOWN 
 
 (1842-1889) 
 
 WHO 
 
 DURING THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 
 
 DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF AS AN OFFICER 
 
 IN THE NAVY OF HIS COUNTRY 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
 
/ 
 
 5'> 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 chapter pagb 
 Introduction 9 
 
 I. Early Life of John Paul 13 
 
 II. Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia 23 
 
 III. In the Service of the United States 89 
 
 IV. The Org-anization of the Navy 51 
 
 V. Goes to Europe 71 
 
 VI. In Command of the Bon Homme Richard 94 
 
 VII. Operations on the British Coast 115 
 
 VIII. The Capture of the Serapis 136 
 
 IX. Ordered to Leave Amsterdam 141 
 
 X. In France — Sails for America 157 
 
 XI. In America — The Birth of a Nation 170 
 
 XII. Leaves America — Enters the Russian Navy 193 
 
 XIII. In Paris 213 
 
 feiy^ Death of John Paul Jones 225 
 
 XV. Estimates of His Character 233 
 
 XVI. Correspondence, Will 239 
 
 7 
 
Insulted freedom bled; I felt her cause, 
 And drew my sword to vindicate her laws 
 From principle, and not from vain applause. 
 I've done my best; self-interest far apart, 
 And self-reproach a stranger to my heart. 
 My zeal still prompt, ambition to pursue 
 The foe, ye fair! of liberty and you; 
 Grateful for praise, spontaneous and unbought , 
 A generous people's love not meanly sought; 
 To merit this, and bend the knee to beauty, 
 Shall be my earliest and latest duty. 
 
 — John Paul Jones. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 American history gleams with the brilliant achieve- 
 ments of her adopted sons. No historian ever wearies 
 in telling of the glorious deeds and self-sacrifices of 
 La Fayette, De Kalb, Pulaski, Kosciuszko, De Grasse, 
 Eochambcau, Steuben, St. Clair and D'Estaing, whose 
 deeds of heroism, great privations and unceasing devo- 
 tion to the cause of liberty will never be forgotten by 
 their countr^anen on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Of all the revolutionary patriots, however, who 
 crossed the ocean to offer their fortunes, and their lives 
 if necessary, that the spirit of freedom might not 
 perish from the face of the earth, there is no name 
 deserving of higher veneration than that of John Paul 
 Jones, and while his name and office is familiar to 
 millions of the youth of our land, yet it is a lamentable 
 fact that many of them know scarcely anything of the 
 early history, the trials and disappointments he ex- 
 perienced in the organization of the American Navy, 
 or the last years of the life of this remarkable man. 
 
 Republics are not ungrateful, nor has the United 
 States been unmindful of the valiant services of her 
 alien sons. In America, we do not manifest our ap- 
 preciation of gallantry by some gaudy decoration at 
 the hands of our citizen ruler. We have no euphoni- 
 ous titles to confer and no flaring bawbles with which 
 to decorate our patriots. "I prefer a solid to a shining 
 
10 Introduction. 
 
 reputation, a useful to a splendid command/' was the 
 only favor the Congress could bestow on Captain Jones ; 
 but even though the latter was denied him, his reward 
 has been ample. — magnanimous as were his services. 
 
 The everlasting gratitude of admiring millions of 
 American freemen should be, and is, a sufficient recog- 
 nition even for the greatest sacrifice. Nathan Hale 
 regretted that he had but one life to give to his coun- 
 try, and he gave even that without hope or expectation 
 of reward, or that his name would live in the hearts of 
 his compatriots even until the close of the struggle that 
 meant liberty or greater enslavement to those who sur- 
 vived. 
 
 So it was with Paul Jones; this same feeling mani- 
 fested itself in his every thought, word and action. It 
 was his' constant desire "to go in harm's way," and the 
 heart burnings of this brave man can readily be 
 imagined when we read in subsequent chapters of the 
 trials and disappointments he endured until the end of 
 the war, when his services were no longer required and 
 he returned over the seas to fight oppression under 
 other flags than ours. 
 
 Though dissensions arose continually that caused 
 him much apprehension as to the appreciation in which 
 his services were held, yet he had the fortitude and 
 great good sense to submit to the commands of his 
 superiors and ask the Congress to sit in judgment 
 concerning his conduct, while never for a moment per- 
 mitting the service or the cause for which he was fight- 
 ing to suffer by any word or act or neglect of his. Even 
 if Captain Jones had not been the leading spirit in the 
 
Introduction. 11 
 
 formation of our navy — even if he had not worked 
 miracles in naval warfare, the Congress was not jealous 
 of his successes, but rather proud of his achievements, 
 and showed its appreciation by never restricting liis 
 operations, nor criticising his plans, either before or 
 after an engagement. Congress realized that if ever 
 the yoke of British tyranny was to be throvm off and 
 the Colonies let loose from the fetters that bound them 
 to the despotism of George the Third, that time had 
 come, and neither Washington, nor the Marine Com- 
 mittee, nor the Congress would permit petty jealousies 
 to affect the greatest good possible in the navy or in the 
 army of the Eepublic. 
 
 Captain Jones' active participation in the revolt of 
 the American Colonies, when even the slightest mani- 
 festation of sympathy was appreciated by Wa?-hington 
 and the Congress, justifies the many memorials that 
 have appeared, and though the story of his adventures 
 has many times been told, each attempt only adds re- 
 newed interest and brings to light new facts in the life 
 of this romantic character in his unselfish devotion to 
 the "cause of freedom and the rights of man." 
 
 The purpose of this book is to deal largely with the 
 incidents in the life of Paul Jones so far as they have 
 helped to make the naval history of our country and to 
 show how intimately associated is his name with that 
 which we prize above all else in this world — Liberty; 
 yet it would be hard to tell the story of this courageous 
 man if no mention was made of his adventures under 
 other flags than, ours and in other parts of the world. 
 It is therefore essential to the completion of this nana- 
 
12 Introduction. 
 
 tive that brief mention be made of his whole naval 
 career, whether under the banner of America, France 
 or Russia, and though his life after his entrance into 
 the Russian navy loses its direct importance to us, the 
 well-wishes of four million grateful freemen followed 
 him across the ocean to his native shores and bid him 
 God-speed in his assault on tyranny wherever found. 
 
JOHN PAUL JONES OF NAVAL FAME 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE OF JOHN PAUL. 
 
 Arbigland wa^ the iname of a large private estate 
 bordering on the shores of the Solway in the South of 
 Scotland. Its owner, Mr. John Craik, member of Par- 
 liament from Galloway, was of noble ancestry, being a 
 lineal descendant of the Earl of Argyll, and from whom 
 he had inherited much of his vast landed possessions. 
 A great number of tenants were required to care for so 
 many thousands of cultivated acres, yet in all this vast 
 domain, where the controlling power was centered in 
 one man whose authority was absolute, there was no 
 murmuring, no complaining among the tenantry. They 
 were universally happy, prosperous and contented. 
 
 We do not wonder, then, that when John Paul, of 
 Leith, but formerly of Fifeshire, went very early in life 
 to be bound a gardener's apprentice to Mr. Craik, that 
 he rejoiced at his good fortune in finding so kind and 
 generous a master, for at that time an apprenticeship 
 more often meant a period of servitude, with the inn 
 fliction of inexpressible cruelties for the slightest diso-' 
 bedience. At Arbigland there were no cruel overseers; ? 
 every infraction of established rules came before Mr. f 
 Craik, who disposed of each case in a manner befitting 
 
14 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 the offense — the severest punishment being dismissal 
 from his service. 
 ,■ The occupation of a gardener on a large estate was 
 ^ similar to that of an overseer or landscape artist of to- 
 day, and it should be understood that such a position is 
 given only to one who is especially adapted for the 
 work, which in all cases must be an intelligent man, 
 better educated than the common operative mechanic 
 in ordinary handicraft. Such a man must have been 
 John Paul, for after his term of apprenticeship had 
 expired his master "set aside a portion of the estate as ' 
 a permanent home for his faithful servant and his im- 
 mediate family after his death," which occurred about 
 the year 1763. 
 
 The Craik Mansion of Arbigland stands about a 
 quarter of a mile from the shore, and a little farther^ 
 west on the same gentle sloping promontory still stands / 
 the self-same cottage in which young Paul was born. 
 The present condition of the house is little changed 
 from what it was three-quarters of a century ago, when 
 an account of the surroundings, from which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract, appeared in the Dumfries' Courier 
 of July 30, 1834. Lieutenant A. B. Pinkham, of the 
 American Navy, had just donated from his own purse 
 a princely sum for the purchase and maintenance of the 
 cottage, and had erected a small monument "to the 
 memory of Paul Jones as a slight token of esteem in 
 which his name is held by his American benefactors : 
 
 "The site of the cottage is a glade in a thriving wood, 
 on the shores of the Solway, with a green in front, fan- 
 cifully railed in, and tastefullv ornamented with ever- 
 
Early Life of Jolin Paul. 15 
 
 green flowers and flowering shrnbs. Inside and out, it 
 is a trim cottage and may vie with similar buildings in 
 England, and, as the walls are whitened annually with 
 the finest lime, it is become a sort of landmark to nearly 
 every sail that enters the Solway. The widow of a fish- 
 erman, who died under highly distressing circumstances, 
 and who owed much to the humanity of Mr. Craik, 
 tenants it rent free, and will probably close her eyes 
 under its honored roof, and as this fact is generally 
 known, almost every tar, in passing the spot, doffs his 
 bonnet in token of gratitude, and says ^God bless the 
 kind Lieutenant Pinkham/ " 
 
 The work of constructing reservoirs, fountains, build- 
 ing lakes, laying out the drives, gardens, walks, lawns, 
 flower-beds, and the planting of trees, that to this day 
 iembellish the grand old estate, was entrusted to the 
 care of John Paul, and after the lapse of nearly two 
 hundred years, it is said that there is no park in all 
 Scotland that shows the skill of a landscape gardener 
 more than that of Arbigland of Kirkcudbright (Kir- 
 koo-bre). The natural beauty of the estate was greatly 
 enhanced by the dark mountain ranges stretching away 
 toward the north, and, as if in contrast to the sombre 
 mountain colors, the bright blue waters of Solway Frith 
 and the green fields of Cumberland in the North of 
 England, lent gladness to the scenes in the south, while 
 in the remote distance, marking the eastern end of the 
 estuary, rise the majestic summits of Helvellyn, Skid- 
 dow and the Saddleback in the hills of Cheviot. The 
 towering granite shaft of Crippel still stands, like a 
 lone sentinel on the north shore, and away in the east, 
 
16 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 beyond the sliinin<? Frith the waters of the Esk freshen 
 those of the Solway. The wide sweeping lawns and 
 avenues of poplar, elm, maple and birch that overshadow 
 the walks and drives that led down to the sea at the 
 foot of the lawn, were the pride and constant care of the 
 overseer — John Paul. 
 
 Shortly after entering the employ of Mr. Craik, Paul 
 married Jean Macduff, the daughter of a poor but indus- 
 trious farmer in the neighboring parish of New Abbey. 
 The ^lacduifs were a respectable rural clan, and some 
 of them had been small landed proprietors in the parish 
 of Kirkbean for many generations. Of this marriage 
 seven children came to bless the union. The first born 
 was William Paul, who came to America early in life, 
 and finally settled near Fredericksburg, Virginia, close 
 by the Ecippahannock, where he died about the year 
 1773, leaving a small estate, but no family to inherit 
 the fruits of his labors. The next three were girls — 
 Elizabeth, Janet and Mary Ann, while two others, one 
 boy and a girl, died in infancy. Elizabeth never mar- 
 ried; Janet married Mr. Taylor, a watchmaker in Dum- 
 fries, and Mary Ann was twice married, first to a Mr. 
 Young and after his death to a Mr. Louden. 
 
 On the 6th of July, 17-47, another son was born to 
 John and Jean Paul, and they named him after his 
 father — John Paul. His youth was passed very much 
 after the way of other boys who are fortunate in being 
 born in the country. When old enough he attended 
 the parish school at Kirkbean, spending much of his 
 time scaling the cliffs and rocky promontories along his 
 native coasts — watching the ships and fishing smacks 
 
Early Life of John Paul. 17 
 
 going to and fro on the broad expanse of sea, or talk- 
 ing with the mariners and seafaring men who fre- 
 quented all parts of the globe. 
 
 Though there were no large seaports on the shores 
 of Solway Frith, yet vessels ascended the river Nith to 
 Dumfries, and considerable coast trade was carried on 
 along the Irish Sea. Trade was quite brisk between 
 Kirkbean and Liverpool and the fishing smacks dotted 
 the horizon in all directions. When the tides came in, 
 or the storm tossed waters laved the rock-bound shores 
 of Galloway and overflowed the meadows that border 
 the seas in Cumberland, large ships came to anchor 
 in the land-locked harbor below Arbigland. 
 
 In the days of the highland elans when the whole 
 of Scotland was divided into almost numberless tribes, 
 Kirkcudbright was known as Galloway and for an 
 hundred miles this picturesque bit of land bounded 
 Solway Frith on the north. This deep inlet from the 
 Irish Sea, separating England from Scotland, was no 
 barrier to the brave mariners who made their homes 
 along its hospitable shores. Returning from a year's 
 voyage to distant parts of the world, how pleasant must 
 have seemed to them the green meadows in Britain, the 
 hills of Cheviot, or the northern mountains that shel- 
 tered Bruce and Wallace, giving us Ben Lomond with 
 its wealth of song and poetry? 
 
 Though Scotland lost its independence forty years 
 before, it was only.. the year preceding the birth of the 
 younger Paul that the last independent office, the Scot- 
 tish Secretary of State at London, was abolished. We 
 do not wonder then that the birth of Paul Jones, or 
 
18 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Jolm Paul, as we yet know him-Vassociated so closely 
 with the loss of Scottish independence— left its im- 
 press upon his youthful mind and caused him some 
 years after he had taken up his residence in Virginia 
 to write to his friend Baron Vander Capellan at Am- 
 sterdam : 
 
 "I was born in Britain, but I do not inherit the de- 
 generate spirit of that fallen nation, which I at once 
 lament and despise. It is far beneath me to reply to 
 their hireling invectives. They are strangers to the in- 
 ward approbation that greatly animates and rewards 
 the man who draws his sword only in support of the 
 dignity of freedom. America has been the country of 
 my fond election from the age of thirteen, when I first 
 saw it. I had the honor to hoist, with my own hands, 
 the flag of freedom the first time it was displayed on 
 the Delaware, and I have attended it with veneration 
 ever since on the ocean." 
 
 The education which young Paul received at the par- 
 ^ ish school of Kirkbean, must have terminated after he 
 went to sea. His subsequent acquirements — and they 
 were considerable — were the fruits of private study and 
 of such casual opportunities as in boyhood he had the 
 forethought to improve as often as his ship arrived in 
 port. 
 
 N^ Among the numerous unfounded slanders and rumors 
 Nof which this brave and often misrepresented man has 
 been the subject, is the assertion that he ran off to sea 
 against the will of his parents. Even this transgres- 
 sion, however, might have been atoned by his after life ; 
 but there was no foundation for such belief. His in- 
 
Early Life of John Paul. 19 
 
 clination for the bold and hardy mode of life which 
 he adopted, appears, as it often does in boyhood, to 
 have been a strong passion, fostered by his childish 
 pastimes, and encouraged by much that he saw and 
 heard in his daily intercourse with ships and seamen 
 along the shores of the Solway. 
 
 It is also observed that his regard for America, and 
 his willingness "to descend with fire and sword," in 
 her cause, upon the shores of his native land, which 
 were thought unnatural, may have had their origin in 
 the conversations he had with the mariners from the 
 discontented colonies in America. 
 
 In after times, when the name of Paul Jones became 
 the subject of historical interest, an effort was made to 
 assign to him. what was thought a nobler origin, as the 
 natural son of the Earl of Selkirk, or of Mr. Craik. 
 As if the brand of illegitimacy, and the stigma on a 
 mother's fame, would be more than compensated by 
 an association with noble names, or a sinister descent 
 from a Scottish earl or from a "bonnet laird" best 
 known to fame by the fact of our hero being the son 
 of his gardener, would be a more fitting introduction to 
 a career of glory than birth in honorable wedlock, of 
 humble but honest parents. These calumnies, though 
 intended for commendations, were falsified by the un- 
 sullied character of the wife of John Paul, and by the 
 happiness of their union. 
 
 ' These weak inventions have long since been exploded, 
 though preserved in the pages of fanciful novelists and 
 scattering accounts in the remote parts of England. In 
 answer to an inquiry of Baron Vander Capellan in 
 
20 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 1779, Jones says with respect to his parentage: "1 
 never had any obligation to Lord Selkirk, except for his 
 good opinion, nor does he know me or mine, except by 
 character." This is further verified by the correspond- 
 ence which we shall have occasion to introduce as our 
 narrative proceeds. 
 
 Thus, early in life, before most boys have laid aside 
 their childish toys, or given one thought to the stern 
 realities of life, we find young Paul already engaged in 
 laying the foundation for his life's work. His knowl- 
 edge of geography, of the customs and the habits of the 
 people w^ho inhabited all parts of the earth's surface, 
 were as well understood by him at the age of ten years 
 as was expected of one twice his age. He lost no oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring information pertaining to America 
 and its people, not merely because his brother William had 
 made his home here, but because he had early formed a 
 hatred for England on account of her treatment of his 
 ancestors, who, like the Americans, had long contended 
 for their independence. He resolved to cross the ocean, 
 and when old enough he would return to England in a 
 great ship and destroy her commerce, lay ransom to her 
 coast cities, burn the shipping in her harbors, and in a 
 hundred ways spread alarm and disaster and ruin every- 
 where throughout Britain. Such were the dreams, the 
 ambitions, the hopes of this young Scotchman, and 
 with what determination did he adhere to his youthful 
 resolve we shall see in subsequent chapters. 
 
 Thus the scenes and incidents that so early engaged 
 his attentions, which we can well imagine took pos- 
 session of his entire being, displeased his parents very 
 
Early life of John Paul. 21 
 
 much, for their judgment and ambitions were to have 
 their youngest son remain -at home and follow the pro- 
 fession of a tradesman or artisan, instead of going off- 
 to the colonies — India, America, Australia — as was the 
 custom with young men in those days. His associations 
 and frequent visits to the village harbor only intensified 
 his longings for the sea. He had fully determined upon 
 the course he would pursue; he chose the following of 
 the sea at first, he said, for adventure and profit, but 
 afterward as a profession and a home which only the 
 freedom of the sea, he thought, could afford him. 
 
 In the traditions of his family, young Paul is de- 
 scribed as launching, while a mere child, his mimic 
 ship ; hoisting his flag and issuing his miandates to his 
 imaginary crew with all the firmness and dignity of 
 one born to lead and command his fellows. 
 
 Again, he was wont to repeat among his playmates, 
 mustered on the shores of some little inlet and each 
 with his mimic bark, ^while he himself, perched on a 
 rocky eminence, various, "make believe" orders, in imi- 
 tation of the mariners. At other times, he passed his 
 days alone, sometimes along the coasts, at other times 
 constructing and launching his toy ships in the little ■ 
 brook that flowed by the north meadow, but which is 
 now dry save in the rainy seasons. 
 
 Thus we see that whether man or boy, John Paul was 
 not moulded in the stamp of character which shrinks 
 from facing what he once firmly resolved to do. So 
 constituted was he that whatever seemed his duty, he 
 let no excuse or obstacle arise to thwart the accomplish- 
 ment of his set purpose. 
 
22 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 A sailor's life, with all of its attending hardships and 
 varying fortunes, was his decided choice, and we can 
 well imagine with what heart burnings and great re- 
 luctance he was sent by his father across the Solv/ay and 
 bound apprentice to a Mr. Younger, of Whitehaven, in 
 Cumberland. As his father had served an apprentice- 
 ship, so young Paul was bound out to service — to a life 
 on the seas — at the tender age of twelve years. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 GOES TO SEA — SETTLES IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 John Paul was not yet thirteen years of age when 
 he first saw America. His initial voyage was made in 
 the brigantine Friendship^, Captain John Benson com- 
 manding, which sailed from Whitehaven early in the 
 spring of 1760, bound for Jamaica by the way of Vir- 
 ginia. The vessel ascended the Rappahannock as far 
 as Fredericksburg, in order to obtain such supplies and 
 make such repairs as was required after an eventful 
 voyage in which the brig had several times become dis- 
 abled owing to the unusually rough seas which were 
 not unexpected at this season of the year. A collision 
 with an iceberg which almost capsized the ship; one 
 whole week passed in plowing through tempestuous seas 
 in the face of a blinding storm of hail, sleet and snow 
 alternately; two weeks aground on the banks of New- 
 foundland; a week becalmed in mid- Atlantic — these 
 and numberless other causes added to the discomfiture 
 of the crew; but the complete exhaustion of both pro- 
 visions and water gave them greater anxiety than any 
 of their other troubles. We can imagine the rejoicing 
 on board the Friendship when it came to anchor in 
 the beautiful inlet of Carter's Creek, on the north shore 
 of the Rappahannock, a few miles above its junction 
 with the Chesapeake. Had the vessel been delayed a 
 
 83 
 
24 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 few days longer, the pangs of hunger and of thirst 
 wouhl doubtless have driven many of the poor fellows 
 to acts of desperation. 
 
 It was now almost mid-summer. The balmy airs 
 from the ocean, mingling with a gentle west wind, re- 
 dolent with the perfumes of a dense semi-tropical foli- 
 age and the music from a thousand feathered songsters 
 — all amid a landscape such as young Paul had never 
 beheld — must have seemed to him a wonderful contrast 
 to the caprices of nature he had just experienced out 
 on the Atlantic. His introduction to America could 
 not have been under more favorable auspices if he could 
 forget the trying experiences of that long and distress- 
 ing sea-voyage. 
 
 When the vessel left Whitehaven, Paul had no inten- 
 tion of remaining in America longer than was required 
 to reprovision the ship and make such repairs as might 
 be found necessary after a three-thousand mile cruise, 
 but after the experience he had just gone through in 
 his first long sea-voyage, and the lasting impression the 
 first view of America made upon his youthful mind, he 
 prevailed upon the captain to allow him to remain with 
 his brother until the return of the Friendship from its 
 voyage to the West Indies. After receiving such sup- 
 plies as were absolutely required, the Friendship con- 
 tinued its voyage up the Eappahannock as far as the 
 City of Fredericksburg, near which, we remember, is 
 buried Mary Ball Washington, the mother of our first 
 President. N'ot far distant was also the home of Paul's 
 elder brother William, who had married and settled 
 upon an estate of some two or three hundred acres. 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 25 
 
 Much importance attaches to this old homestead, for it 
 was here just one hundred and two years later that the 
 army of the south met the army of the north and sev- 
 enteen thousand men died for the cause they believed 
 was right. Though the dwellings and orchards were 
 completely demolished by the fierce cannonading and 
 musketry, evidences still exist of the ambitious efforts 
 of its former owner to build on the banks of the Rap- 
 pahannock what his father's master had on the shores 
 of the Solway. 
 
 It was here that young Paul came immediately upon 
 the arrival of the ship at Fredericksburg. We can 
 scarcely imagine the joy that the meeting of the two 
 brothers for the first time occasioned. The sudden ap- 
 pearance in this far off country of one who was not 
 yet born when the elder Paul left his old home in the 
 highlands, and coming as he did unheralded and with- 
 out giving the slightest intimation of his intended 
 visit, the meeting must have been at once romantic and 
 affecting. Under a sky as blue as ever shone above the 
 Bay of I^aples, with a west wind as balmy as the breezes 
 that sweep the plains of Tuscany, resonant with the 
 songs of birds and the murmuring of the swiftly flow- 
 ing waters of the Rappahannock — it was here the broth- 
 ers met, and the impression formed, stamped itself so 
 deeply on the mind of the youthful adventurer that 
 years after he wrote in memory of the event : "America 
 has been the country of my fond election from the age 
 of thirteen when I first saw it." 
 
 In a few days the novelty of his new surroundings 
 and the effects of that long and harrowing sea-voyage 
 
26 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 had worn off. Being a close observer he was quick to 
 comprehend his new environments, and he was not 
 backward in accepting their responsibilities. He saw 
 his brother, who was without culture or learning, hon- 
 ored and respected among his neighbors, even as Mr. 
 Craik was in the parish of Kirkbean. He observed the 
 ■carriages as they went by, that they bore no coat-of- 
 arms; the occupants had not the air of the well-fed, 
 well-groomed English aristocrat; but on the other 
 hand, the haughty demeanor — if there was any — was 
 that of one conscious of the fact that he was as good 
 as his neighbor, that he bowed to no man because of 
 rank or station, for here, there was neither. All men 
 in America were equal. Freedom was no longer to him 
 a myth. The spirit, born in restraint, had burst its 
 bounds and an inordinate ambition such as only those 
 who have felt the fetters can know, took possession of 
 mind, body and soul of this young Scotchman. 
 
 In his youthful hours of reverie he had resolved to 
 humble the pride of boastful Britain, by attacking, sin- 
 gle handed if need be, her invincible navy, her imperial 
 cities by the sea, and her maritime commerce that en- 
 compassed the globe. If the spirit of revenge for the 
 wrongs he believed his ancestors had suffered was strong 
 enough to cause him to make so dire a threat while 
 yet a British subject, what must have been the feelings 
 which stirred his soul when he saw three thousand 
 miles of ocean rolling between him and his native 
 shores, hated and despised because of her spirit of dom- 
 ination — to rule or ruin? 
 
 John Paul was yet a mere boy, a lad of less than 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 27 
 
 a dozen years, when he began to harbor these bitter 
 feelings of revenge. The more he thought of the 
 wrongs and persecutions heaped upon his defenseless 
 ancestors, the greater became his hatred of King George 
 and the Home Government that ruled her dependencies 
 with a despotism second only to that of the Czar of 
 Kussia. But the hour had not yet come when the 
 colonies in America (single or united) felt strong 
 enough to declare themselves free and independent, 
 capable of battling with the intricate problems that 
 daily confront nations and states. 
 
 Though young Paul had renounced his allegiance to 
 Great Britain he still cherished a strong love for his 
 oppressed countrymen struggling under the yoke of 
 British tyranny. Having once tasted the sweets of 
 freedom — freedom born of security through distance 
 from the oppressor, he resolved never to lose a moment 
 in preparing himself for a life on the seas, so that 
 should the time ever come when occasion demanded his 
 services, he would be prepared to command not only 
 one ship, but a dozen — a fleet of a hundred vessels. 
 
 Diligently he pursued the fascinating studies of navi- 
 gation and mathematics; geography, history, German, 
 French, Spanish and a general improvemxcnt of his Eng- 
 lish composition occupied every moment of his spare 
 time. To become a great and successful navigator or 
 naval commander he realized the importance of pos- 
 sessing every accomplishment. To be able to speak the 
 various languages would render him independent of in- 
 terpreters, he reasoned, and years afterward, these sev- 
 eral attainments stood him in good stead, for when his 
 
28 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 crews were made up of the ignorant, one language, rab- 
 ble of every country in Europe, he commanded respect 
 and a fair measure of subordination by addressing each 
 man in his own tongue. While living in the foreign 
 capitals — Paris, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Constan- 
 tinople — he found favor with the court officials because 
 he spoke the language and entered into their life and 
 customs with the spirit of native grace and dignity. 
 
 But to return to the Friendship and her motley crew 
 of adventurers; after a month or so spent in Vir- 
 ginia she departed on her voyage to the West Indies. 
 Some months were spent in cruising from island to 
 island gathering a cargo of slaves, grain and tropical 
 fruits, after which she sailed for England, where she 
 arrived late in the fall of 1760. When Mr. Younger 
 learned of Paul's determination to temporarily retire 
 from his service, he was naturally very much disap- 
 pointed; but Paul had written him setting forth his 
 aims and hopes and concluded by saying that he would 
 re-enter his employ when the Friendship or any other 
 vessel belonging to him arrived in Virginia. Mr. 
 Younger replied that he would send no more vessels 
 to America, as the slave trade was no longer profitable 
 and the demand for slaves was growing less and less 
 each year. 
 
 During the short time Paul had been in his employ 
 at Whitehaven, his good conduct, intelligence and ab- 
 sorbing interest in his chosen profession, had procured 
 for him Mr. Younger's lasting friendship, as well as 
 his future favor and protection. Mr. Younger owned 
 several vessels employed in the American trade and 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 29 
 
 though he was engaged largely in the slave traffic he 
 was a kind and liberal master to the unfortunate crea- 
 tures in which he bartered, as well as to Paul, whom 
 he had come to look upon as his future partner and 
 representative in America. From the embarrassment 
 of his own affairs the following spring, however, Mr. 
 Younger was unable to fulfil these promises, but in re- 
 leasing Paul from his unexpired term of apprenticeship 
 he did all that he could then perform. 
 
 Late in the summer of 1763 there came to anchor 
 in the Eappahannock, just below Fredericksburg, the 
 King George of Whitehaven, a staunch brig of three 
 sails and topmast, with a crew of sixty-five men and 
 officers. More out of curiosity than in anticipation of 
 future employment young Paul visited the ship in com- 
 pany with his brother William. He was surprised to 
 see on board the vessel many of the men who had com- 
 posed the Friendship's crew three years before. Upon 
 learning his name the captain produced a letter ad- 
 dressed to "John Paul, Esquire, Virginia in America." 
 The letter acquainted him of the health of Mr. Younger, 
 who had expressed great solicitude for Paul's health 
 and happiness. The captain was authorized, the writer 
 said, to tender Paul the post of third mate, which offer 
 was made through the good offices of Mr. Younger. 
 
 Paul had long been waiting for just such an oppor- 
 tunity, having grown tired of the monotonous life of 
 a student, and was anxious to put into practice much 
 of the knowledge he had acquired through study. He 
 had longed to return to sea-service, but the opportunity 
 had not presented itself until now. Without a mo- 
 
30 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ment's delay he accepted the post and on the following 
 day the two brothers parted never to meet again. 
 Slowly the vessel descended the Eappahannock, and 
 when she had gained the open sea, the sails were spread 
 and the King George headed for Jamaica and the 
 Caribbees. 
 
 This vessel was also employed in the American slave 
 trade, though not exclusively, for the industry was 
 yearly becoming less profitable in England owing largely 
 to the Quakers, who had issued strong dissuasives 
 against the practice. Paul remained on this vessel until 
 1766, having made many trips between Jamaica and 
 Liverpool. 
 
 About this time he was appointed chief mate of the 
 brigantine Two Friends of Kingston, and continued 
 bartering in slaves, but on a much smaller scale as com- 
 pared with the Friendship or King George. The few 
 slaves that found their way to England were afterward 
 sent to Spain and Portugal, as traffic was prohibited in 
 many of the coast cities. Maize, coffee, bananas, 
 oranges, lemons, cocoanuts, and other tropical fruits 
 constituted the cargo of the Two Friends on the return 
 voyage. It is stated by his relatives that Paul quitted 
 the abominable slave trade in disgust at its enormities, 
 "a violation," said he, "of the rights of man." In con- 
 sequence of abandoning it, he returned to Scotland in 
 1768 as a passenger in the brigantine John of Kirk- 
 cudbright with Captain Macadam commanding. 
 
 On this voyage the captain and mate both died of 
 yellow fever contracted in Jamaica. There being no 
 one on board capable of navigating the ship, John Paul 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 31 
 
 assumed the command and brought the vessel safely 
 into port. For this service he was appointed master 
 and supercargo by Messrs. Currie, Beck & Co., owners 
 of the John as well as a number of other merchantmen 
 on the Atlantic. 
 
 While Paul was on board this vessel, a circumstance 
 occurred which afterwards, in times of violent prejudice 
 and party feeling in England, but more especially dur- 
 ing the progress of the Eevolution in America, was 
 eagerly used to traduce and blacken his character. He 
 was often represented as a cruel and lawless brigand, 
 eager to plunder and thirsting for blood and guilty of 
 a thousand enormities, though of what precise character 
 no one could or would specify. It was confidently stated 
 — and is still very generally believed in England — that 
 while in the command of the John he punished a man 
 named Mungo ^laxwell, the ship's carpenter, so severely 
 that he died in consequence of the stripes he received. 
 The affidavits secured iit the time clearly refute this 
 calumny, which probably originated among those of 
 his contemporaries who envied the place and influence 
 hi? superior intelligence and energy had so early ac- 
 quired for him. 
 
 The following official document is but one of many yet 
 preserved among Paul Jones' effects which he thought 
 proper or found expedient to procure in relation to 
 this affair: 
 
 "James Eastment, mariner, and late master of the 
 Barcelona packet, maketh oath, and saith. That Mungo 
 Maxwell, carpenter, formerly on board the John, Cap- 
 tain John Paul, master, came in good health on board 
 
32 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 his, this deponent's said vessel, then lying in Great 
 Rocklcy Bay, in the island of Tobago, about the middle 
 of the month of June, in the year one thousand seven 
 Imndred and seventy, in the capacity of a carpenter 
 aforesaid; that he acted as such in every respect in 
 perfect health for some days after he came on board 
 this deponent's vessel, the Barcelona packet ; after which 
 he was taken ill of a fever and lowness of spirits which 
 continued for four or five days, when he died on board 
 the said vessel, during her passage from Tobago to 
 Antigua. And this deponent further saith that he never 
 heard the said Mungo Maxwell complain of having re- 
 ceived any ill usage from the said Captain John Paul, 
 but that he, this deponent, verily believes the said 
 Mungo Maxwell's death was occasioned by a fever and 
 lowness of spirits, as aforesaid, and not by or through 
 any other cause or causes whatsoever. 
 
 "James Eastment. 
 "Sworn at the Mansion House, London, this 30th of 
 January, 1773, before me, James Townsend, Mayor." 
 
 It has been alleged that about this time young Paul 
 was engaged in the contraband trade, then very gen- 
 erally practiced among the self -named "fair dealers" of 
 the towns along both shores of the Solway as well as 
 along the west coast of Wales and England. Without 
 entering into the question of how far at that period 
 the act of smuggling might otherwise affect a man's 
 moral character or esteem in society, John Paul long 
 afterward decidedly and indignantly denied the charge. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, that many of his own 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 33 
 
 intelligent countrymen, do to this day know of Paul 
 Jones, or John Paul, as some few called him, only as 
 a wild reckless adventurer, a sort of modern buccaneer, 
 possessed of no redeeming qualities save great personal 
 courage and intrepidity — or as the subject of vulgar 
 ballads and marvelous legends, daring, impossible and 
 acting horrible deeds, among which were murder, arson, 
 smuggling — in brief a pirate, bolder and more blood- 
 thirsty than ever infested the Spanish Main, the Car- 
 ibbean, or the Mediterranean in the days when bucca- 
 neering was a recognized profession. 
 
 One of the earliest letters of John Paul now extant 
 relates to these unfortunate affairs which were calculated 
 to make a deep impression on a young and ingenuous 
 mind, and which gave him much uneasiness and pain. 
 The letter is addressed to his mother and sisters and 
 gives a better and fairer view of his youthful char- 
 acter than could be given by the most labored panegyric 
 of a biographer : 
 
 "London, 24 September, 1772. 
 
 "My Dear Mother and Sisters : — I only arrived here 
 last night from the Grenadas. I have had poor health 
 during the voyage, and my success in not having 
 equaled my first sanguine expectations, has added very 
 much to the asperity of my misfortunes, and I am well 
 assured, was the cause of my loss of health. I am now, 
 however, better, and I trust Providence will soon put 
 me in a way to get bread, and (which is by far my 
 happiness) be serviceable to my poor but much valued 
 friends. I am able to give you no account of my future 
 proceedings, as they depend upon circumstances which 
 are not fully determined. 
 
34 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 "I have enclosed you a copy of an affidavit made 
 before Governor Young, by the Judge of the Court of 
 Vice Admiralty of Tobago, by which you will see with 
 how little reason my life has been thirsted after, and, 
 which is much dearer to me, my honor, by maliciously 
 loading my fair character with oblique and vile asper- 
 sions. I believe there are few hard hearted enough to 
 think I have not long since given the world every satis- 
 faction in my power, being conscious of my innocence 
 before heaven, who will one day judge even my judges. 
 I staked my honor, life and fortune for six long months 
 on the verdict of a British jury, notwithstanding I was 
 sensible of the general prejudices which ran against 
 me ; but, after all, none of my accusers had the courage 
 to confront me. Yet I am willing to convince the 
 world, if reason and facts will do it, that they have no 
 foundation for their harsh treatment. I mean to send 
 Mr. Craik a copy properly proved, as his nice feelings 
 will not perhaps be otherwise satisfied; in the mean- 
 time, if you please, you may show him that enclosed. 
 His ungracious conduct to me before I left Scotland, 
 I have not yet been able to get the better of. Every 
 person of feeling must think meanly of adding to the 
 load of the afflicted. It is true I bore it with seeming 
 unconcern, but heaven can witness for me that I suf- 
 fered the more on that very account. 
 
 "But enough of this. And now a word or two in the 
 family way, and I have done. With affection, 
 "Yours always, 
 
 "John Paul.'' 
 
 As to the employer and patron of his deceased father. 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 35 
 
 young Paul naturally looked to Mr. Craik for advice 
 and counsel as well as asking his protection and kind- 
 ness to his mother and sisters. Mr. Craik wrote Paul 
 at the request of his mother, setting forth the rumors 
 current in England, stating at the same time that he 
 was fully convinced of his innocence. This should set- 
 tle in our minds the falsity of the unproved charges of 
 murder, for we would not like to associate so horrible a 
 crime with so great and honored a name as John Paul 
 Jones. 
 
 While in London in the fall of 1772 he obtained com- 
 mand of the bark Betsy, a West India trading ship on 
 which he made a number of voyages to those islands. 
 His speculations in the islands, aside from those made 
 in the interests of his employers, appear to have been 
 chiefly in tropical fruits, tobacco, spices, coffee, maize, 
 etc., taken in exchange for manufactured goods from 
 England and the East. From correspondence and a 
 marginal reference in his early journal, it appears that 
 he left considerable property on the Island of Tobago 
 and in the Grenadas. The property consisted chiefly, 
 however, of produce, fruits and merchandise held by 
 his agents during his absence en voyage. The goods 
 being of a perishable character, were doubtless sold to 
 prevent their total loss, and his agents, of whom he 
 often complained, were too dishonest to reimburse him 
 for his interest in the goods. 
 
 It was about this time, or a few months later, that 
 the surname of Jones was adopted. Though many 
 causes have been assigned for the reason of this arbi- 
 trary change, yet the best are merely conjecture. His 
 
36 Jojbn Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 relations in Scotland were never able to assign one; 
 there is no allusion to the circumstance in the journals 
 and manuscripts which he left, and tradition is silent 
 on the subject. It was however a caprice by no means 
 singular in sea-faring men. It is mentioned in the 
 biographical sketch written for the Edinburgh Ency- 
 clopedia, by Dr. Duncan, of Leith, that the custom of 
 taking the father's Christian name as a patronymic, 
 was not prevalent in the immediate vicinity of Paul's 
 birthplace. But it was common in Wales, the Isle of 
 Man, and other parts of Great Britain, with which he 
 was as familiarly acquainted. It does not seem to be, 
 in the language of logicians, "drawing a long confer- 
 ence," to suppose, that in adopting a country where he 
 meant to establish his household gods, and be the father 
 of his own line, he chose to assume a new name, which 
 he had good reason for doing, and which should be 
 his own, and that of his descendants. His retaining 
 that by which he had been always known, proves that 
 he did not consider it to have been sullied. It is only 
 because calumny and invention had been busy with 
 the topic, that it seems proper to suggest a plausible 
 explanation for this change. In brief, the very com- 
 mon name of Jones (which might have been either 
 Brown or Smith) was assumed presumably to quiet the 
 talk in England concerning his conduct on the John, 
 which was running high, but as a court having juris- 
 diction to try crimes committed on the high seas had 
 exonerated him from all responsibility of the death of 
 Maxwell, Paul need not have assumed the name of 
 Jones from any fear of further prosecution. However, 
 
Goes to Sea — Settles in Virginia. 37 
 
 it is well that we should believe that he desired to lose 
 his identity for the time being at least, and should 
 fame and fortune smile on him he could afterward 
 reclaim his discarded name simply by dropping the 
 name of Jones and live in retirement, without fear of 
 insult and persecution. 
 
 In the spring of 1773, while in Havana, he learned 
 of the death of his brother William. Transferring his 
 interests in the cargo of the Betsy to the first mate, and 
 sending the bark home in his care, Jones hastened to 
 Virginia to assume charge of his brother's estate. Mis- 
 fortune, however, had overtaken them both and neither 
 the Virginia estate nor the properties in the West 
 Indies availed Jones more than a pittance. For twenty 
 months, it is said, he subsisted on the inconsiderable 
 sum of fifty pounds ($250). It is to this period that 
 he refers in his letter to the Countess Selkirk, when 
 he says: 
 
 "Before the war (the American Eevolution) I had 
 at an early time of life withdrawn from the sea ser- 
 vice, in favor of ^calm contemplation and poetic ease.' 
 I have sacrificed not only my favorite scheme of life, 
 but the softer affections of the heart, and my prospects 
 of domestic happiness, and am ready to sacrifice my life 
 also with cheerfulness, if that forfeiture could restore 
 peace and good will among men." 
 
 The breaking out of the Eevolution found Paul Jones 
 living in deep retirement on the peaceful shores of the 
 Rappahannock, but he was not an indifferent spectator 
 to the events transpiring in the colonies. The battles 
 of Concord and Lexington had been fought. Fort 
 
38 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Ticonderoga had surrendered to Ethan Allen and Wash- 
 ington was calling for volunteers to defend the coast 
 cities against the invasion of the British. 
 
 Now was the opportunity for which Paul Jones had 
 long been waiting. His disappearance from the sea 
 had occasioned much comment in England, and he felt 
 that while he was righting some of the wrongs he had 
 suffered through false accusations he would not have 
 to shoulder the burdens of John Paul in assuming the 
 name of Paul Jones. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Though Paul Jones had not received his maritime 
 education in ships of war, he had frequently sailed in 
 armed vessels and had been early trained into an ex- 
 cellent, practical seaman, completely realizing the mer- 
 chant-sailor's adage: "Aft the more honor — forward 
 the better man," 
 
 The West Indies had long been a favorite resort for 
 pirates, and all vessels visiting that part of the world 
 carried a small armament and a crew trained in the 
 use of these instruments of defense. In his correspond- 
 ence and journal, Jones makes no mention of having 
 come in contact with any of these sea-rovers, but we 
 may be sure that had one chanced to meet the John or 
 the Two Friends while the guns of those vessels were 
 in charge of Paul Jones, there would have been little 
 piracy practiced in those waters for some years to 
 come. 
 
 It might not be out of place at this time to give a 
 brief description of Paul Jones as he appeared upon 
 his return to Fredericksburg after an absence of some 
 ten or twelve years: In height he was a trifle above 
 the medium, perhaps about five feet seven or eight 
 inches, and weighing about 145 pounds. He was active 
 and graceful in his movements, but quiet and manly 
 
 89 
 
40 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 in deportment and capable of enduring great fatigue. 
 His voice was soft and low even in delivering his com- 
 mands. His countenance was thoughtful, melancholy 
 and somewhat stern in its expression, though not so at 
 all limes. His carriage was manifestly that of a sol- 
 dier, and when applying for a commission in the navy 
 his officer-like appearance won for him a lieutenancy, 
 which was shortly afterwards changed by the Marine 
 Committee to a captaincy, upon the recommendation 
 of Washington. 
 
 His nautical skill, as well as his boldness and capac- 
 ity, were thus of incalculable value to the infant navy 
 of America; and in 1775, when the combustibles of 
 revolution, so long smouldering, burst into an open, 
 irrepressible flame, his services were as readily accepted 
 as they were heartily tendered. Thus we see how essen- 
 tial it was for Jones to possess a technical knowledge 
 of navigation, gained by three long years of close ap- 
 plies tion after a brief service on the sea. Added to 
 this came twelve years of the hardest kind of sea 
 service in vessels armed and equipped for battle and 
 doubtless not without its "occasional alarm and an en- 
 counter," and all this before his twenty-sixth year. 
 
 In organizing the maritime service of the young 
 Kepublic, three classes of lieutenants were appointed by 
 the Marine Committee of Congress, and of the first 
 class Paul Jones was appointed senior lieutenant. Only 
 his extreme youth prevented his immediate appointment 
 to a captaincy, for his knowledge of sailing, navigation 
 and details of the manual of arms, surpassed that of 
 any other appointment in the navy. 
 
In tlie Service of the United States. 41 
 
 The first commission he received from Congress 
 bears the date of December 7, 1775, and is signed by 
 John Hancock, Eobert Morris and William Whipple, 
 members of the Marine Committee. Lieutenant Jones 
 was assigned to duty on the Black Prince (the Alfred), 
 a name of good omen they doubtless thought when they 
 changed names, and it was on board of this vessel on 
 New Year's day 1776, then lying before Philadelphia, 
 that Paul Jones hoisted the ensign "Kattlesnake — 
 Don't Tread On Me," the first time this or any other 
 American flag was ever displayed on an American 
 vessel. 
 
 The American navy at this time consisted of only two 
 ships, two brigantines and one sloop. Even these it 
 v/as not easy to officer with persons properly qualified. 
 There were men in the colonies who had received some 
 training on board British ships of war, but not in the 
 capacity of officers. The Admiralty saw to it that no 
 American rose higher than an ordinary seaman, for it 
 might stand the colonies in good stead to be able to 
 return blow for blow and in the way they were taught. 
 It must not be forgotten that George Washington had 
 received his military training under Dinwiddle and 
 Brad dock of the English army, and that it was he who 
 marched in and planted the British flag on the yet 
 smoking ruins of Fort Duquesne, Fort Pitt, or Pitts- 
 burg as the place has since been called. 
 
 The marine committee had dreams of a great navy, 
 but they were without means to either build or buy 
 ships, or procure capable men to officer them even if 
 they had possessed the necessary funds or ships. Orders 
 
42 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 had been placed for thirteen new frigates, however, to 
 be completed within the year, and in order to properly 
 man these vessels, more than one hundred men were 
 taken aboard the Alfred under the command of Paul 
 Jones, who had been directed to "instruct them in the 
 arts and practices of war" for service in the new navy. 
 
 Among the papers drawn up by himself — and which 
 remain among the effects of Paul Jones, is one pre- 
 pared for the private information of Louis XVI, King 
 of France, the friend and patron of America. This 
 journal was read with absorbing interest by that unfor- 
 tunate monarch while a close prisoner during the stormy 
 days following the fall of the Bastile. This document 
 contains the following clear and succinct account of 
 Jones' early operations written in the third person, so 
 that should it fall into other hands, it would not appear 
 as self-laudation or a personal justification of his course 
 in criticising the personnel of the infant navy: 
 
 "When Congress thought fit to equip a naval force 
 toward the conclusion of the year 1775, for the defence 
 of American liberty, and for repelling every hostile in- 
 vasion thereof, it was a very difficult matter to find 
 men fitly qualified for officers and willing to embark in 
 the ships and vessels that were then put into commis- 
 sion. The American navy at first was no more than 
 the ships Alfred and Columbus, and brigantines An- 
 drew Doria and Cabot, and the sloop Providence. A 
 commander-in-chief of the fleet, Ezekiel Hopkins, 
 Esquire, was appointed, and Captains Dudley Salton- 
 etall of the Alfred, Abraham Whipple of the Columbus, 
 Nicholas Biddle of the Andrew Doria, and John B. 
 
In the Service of the United States. 43 
 
 Hopkins, Jr., of the Cabot, were named for the ships 
 and brigantines. The Alfred carried 30 guns and 300 
 men, the Columbus 28 guns and 300 men, the Andrew 
 Doria 16 guns and 200 men, the Sebastian Cabot 14 
 guns and 200 men, the Providence 12 guns and 150 
 men. 
 
 "A captain's commission for the Providence, William 
 Hazard commanding (bought, or to be bought, about 
 this time, from Captain Whipple) which Mr. Joseph 
 Hewes of the Marine Committee offered to his friend 
 Mr. John Paul Jones, was not accepted because Mr. 
 Jones had never sailed in a sloop, and had no idea of 
 the parts contained in the Declaration of Independence 
 that took place the next year. It was his early wish to 
 do his best for the cause of America, which he con- 
 sidered as the cause of human nature. He could have 
 no object of self-interest, and having then no prospect 
 that the American navy would soon become an estab- 
 lished service, that rank was the most acceptable to 
 him by which he could be the most useful in that mo- 
 ment of public calamity. 
 
 "There were three classes of lieutenants appointed: 
 The first lieutenants were John Paul Jones, Khodes 
 Arnold, John Stansburg, Hersted Hacker and Jonathan 
 Pitcher. The second lieutenants were Benjamin Sea- 
 bury, Joseph Olney, Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver 
 and George McDougall; and the third lieutenants were 
 John Fanning, Ezekiel Burroughs and Daniel Vaughan. 
 These with the four captains and Commander-in-Chief 
 Hopkins, together with about 1,000 seamen, comprised 
 the entire personnel of the American navy. What was 
 
44 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 this insignificant force compared to the hundred vessels 
 and the 38^000 well seasoned sailors and officers Tinder 
 the command of Admiral Eichard Howe? 
 
 "Paul Jones, it will be noticed, was appointed first 
 of the first lieutenants, which placed him well in com- 
 mand next to the four captains already mentioned. This 
 commission is dated the 7th of December, 1775, as first 
 lieutenant of the Alfred. On board of that ship, be- 
 fore Philadelphia, Jones hoisted the flag of America 
 with his own hands the first time it was ever displayed. 
 All the commissions for the officers of the Alfred were 
 dated before those of the Columbus, previously referred 
 to by Captain Jones. 
 
 "All the time this little squadron was fitting and 
 manning, Mr. Jones superintended the affairs of the 
 Alfred, and as Captain Saltonstall did not appear at 
 Philadelphia, the Commander-in-Chief told Mr. Jones 
 he should command that ship. A day or two before 
 the squadron sailed from Philadelphia, manned and 
 fit for sea. Captain Saltonstall appeared, and took com- 
 m.and of the Alfred. The object of the first expedition 
 was against Lord Duncan, in Virginia. But instead of 
 proceeding immediately on that service, the squadron 
 was hauled to the wharfs at Eeedy Island, and lay 
 there for six weeks frozen up. Here Mr. Jones and 
 the other lieutenants stood the deck, watch and watch, 
 night and day, to prevent desertion, and they lost no 
 man from the navy. 
 
 "On the 17th of February, 1776, the squadron sailed 
 from Cape Henlopen, in the Bay of Delaware; on the 
 first of March the squadron anchored at Abaco, one 
 
In tlie Service of tlie United States. 45 
 
 of the Bahama Islands, and carried in there two sloops 
 belonging to New Providence; some persons on board 
 the sloops informed that a quantity of powder and 
 warlike stores might be taken in the forts of New Prov- 
 idence. An expedition was determined on against that 
 island. It was resolved to embark the marines on board 
 the two sloops. They were to remain below the deck 
 until the sloops had anchored in the harbor close to 
 the forts, and they were to land and take possession. 
 There was not a single soldier on the island to oppose 
 them; therefore the plan would have succeeded, and 
 not only the public stores might have been secured, but 
 a considerable contribution might have been obtained as 
 a ransom for the town and island, had not the whole 
 squadron appeared off the harbor in the morning, in- 
 stead of remaining out of sight till after the sloops had 
 entered and the marines secured the forts. On the 
 appearance of the squadron the signal of alarm was 
 fired, so that it was impossible to think of crossing 
 the bar. The commander-in-chief proposed to go 
 around the west end of the island, and endeavor to 
 march the marines up and get behind the tpwn; but 
 this could never have been effected. The islanders 
 would have had time to collect; there was no fit an- 
 chorage for the squadron, nor road from that part of 
 the island to the town. Mr. Jones, finding by the 
 Providence pilots that the squadron might anchor under 
 a key three leagues to windward of the harbor, gave 
 this account to the commander-in-chief, who, objecting 
 to the dependence on the pilots, Mr. Jones undertook 
 to carry the Alfred safely in. He took the pilot with 
 
46 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 him to the foretopmast head, from whence they could 
 clearly see every danger, and the squadron anchored 
 safe. The marines, with two vessels to cover their land- 
 ing, were immediately sent in by the east passage. The 
 commander-in-chief promised to touch no private prop- 
 erty. The inhabitants abandoned the forts, and the 
 Governor, finding he must surrender the island, cm- 
 barked all the powder in two vessels, and sent them 
 away in the night. This was foreseen, and might have 
 been prevented, by sending the two brigantines to lie 
 off the bar. The squadron entered the harbor of New 
 Providence and sailed from thence the 17th of March, 
 having embarked the cannon, etc., that was found in 
 the fort. 
 
 "In the night of the 9th of April on the return of "^ 
 the squadron from the Providence expedition, the 
 American arms by sea were first tried in the affair 
 with the Glasgow, off Block Island. Both the Alfred 
 and the Columbus mounted two batteries consisting 
 of 58 guns. The first battery was so near the water 
 as to be fit for nothing except in a harbor or a very 
 smooth sea. The sea at the time was perfectly smooth. 
 Mr. Jones was stationed below deck to command the 
 Alfred's first battery, which was well served whenever 
 the guns could be brought to bear on the enemy, as 
 appears by the official letters of the commander-in- 
 chief giving an account of that action. Mr. Jones there- 
 fore did his duty; and as he had no direction whatever, 
 either of the general disposition of the squadron, or 
 the sails and helm of the Alfred, he can stand charged 
 with no part of the disgrace of that night. The squad- 
 
In tlie Service of tlie United States. 47 
 
 ron steered directly for New London, and entered that 
 port two days after the action. 
 
 "Here General Washington lent the squadron 200 
 men, as was thought, for some enterprise. The squad- 
 ron, however, stole quietly around to Rhode Island, and 
 up the river to Providence. Here a court-martial was 
 held for the trial of Captain Whipple, for not assist- 
 ing in the action with the Glasgow. Another court- 
 martial was held for the trial of Captain Hazard, who 
 had been appointed captain of the sloop Providence at 
 Philadelphia, some time after Mr. Jones had refused 
 that command. Captain Hazard was sick and ren- 
 dered incapable of serving in the navy. The next day, 
 the 10th of May, 1776, Mr. Jones was ordered by the 
 oommander-in-chief to take command ^as captain of 
 the Providence/ This proves that Mr. Jones did his 
 duty on the Providence expedition. 
 
 "As the Commander-in-Chief Hopkins had in his 
 hands no blank commission, he had this appointment 
 written on the back of the commission that Mr. Jones 
 had received at Philadelphia the 7th of December, 1775. 
 Captain Jones had orders to receive on board the Provi- 
 dence the soldiers that had been borrowed of General 
 Washington, and carry them to New York, there to 
 enlist as many seamen as he could and then return to 
 New London, to take in from the hospital all the sea- 
 men that had been left by the squadron, and were re- 
 covered, and carry them to Providence. Captain Jones 
 soon performed these services, and having hove down 
 the sloop and partly fitted her for war at Providence, 
 he received orders from the commander-in-chief, dated 
 
48 Jolin Paul Jones of Kaval Fame. 
 
 Rhode Island, June 10, 1776, to come immediately 
 down to take a sl'oop then in sight, armed for war, 
 belonging to the enemy's navy. Captain Jones obeyed 
 orders with alacrity, but the enemy had disappeared 
 before he reached Newport. 
 
 "On the 13th of June, 1776, Captain Jones received 
 orders, dated that day at Newport, Ehode Island, from 
 the commander-in-chief to proceed to Newburyport to 
 take under convoy some vessels bound for Philadelphia, 
 but first to convey Lieutenant Hacker in the Fly, with 
 a cargo of cannon, into the Sound for New York, and 
 to convoy some vessels back to Stonington to the en- 
 trance of Newport. In performing these last services. 
 Captain Jones found great difficulty from the enemy's 
 frigates, then cruising around Block Island, with which 
 he had several encounters; in one of which he saved 
 a brigantine that was a stranger from Hispaniola, 
 closely pursued by the British ship Cerberus, and laden 
 with provisions and public stores. This brigantine was 
 afterward purchased by the Consress, and called the 
 Hampden. Captain Jones received orders from the 
 commander-in-chief to proceed to Boston instead of 
 Newburyport. At "Boston he was detained a consider- 
 able time by the delay of the purchasing agent in 
 securing the necessary supplies. He did not arrive with 
 his convoy from Boston, in the Delaware, until the 1st 
 of August. This service was performed while the 
 enemy was arriving at Sandy Hook from Halifax and 
 England." 
 
 This lengthy account of the details of Paul Jones' 
 early operations in America has for us more than a 
 
In the Service of the United States. 49 
 
 passing interest; it is valuable, firstly, because it pre- 
 sents in a concise, yet lucid form, the chief operations 
 of the entire American navy in the early stages of the 
 Revolution, wholly ignored by most of the biographers 
 of Paul Jones and but slightly alluded to even by the 
 prosiest of historians, and secondly it furnishes a clearer 
 insight to the character of the founder of our navy than 
 all the histories and memoirs of Jones have so far 
 given us. No matter what may be our private opinion 
 of his character, his patriotism and his devotion to the 
 principles of free government, as exemplified by the 
 Constitution, stand unimpeached. He consecrated 
 his life to the "cause of freedom and the rights of 
 man,'' and was ever ready to defend his convictions or 
 to be sacrificed on the altar of human liberty, should 
 the hour demand so great a forfeiture. 
 
 Jones was but twenty-eight past when we ascribe to 
 him the distinction of being the founder of the Amer- 
 ican navy, and though he lived long enough to receive 
 full assurance that his services were appreciated, yet 
 we must acknowledge that the indifference and neglect 
 that those astute founders of States displayed toward 
 him was largely the cause of the continuance of diffi- 
 culties with England. It is firmly believed by many 
 that had Paul Jones been placed at the head of the 
 navy when he demonstrated his ability to command 
 and execute the orders received from his superiors 
 in a masterly manner — if given full authority to act 
 independently of Congress and the entangling alliances 
 with which he was continually subjected, he would 
 have prevented in a large measure the landing of re- 
 
50 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 inforeements from England. The war could have been 
 brought to a close by the quick, decisive, and well- 
 directed operations of the navy acting in harmony with 
 the land forces under Washington. 
 
 Without an effective navy and a master at the helm 
 there was no way of preventing the enemy from landing 
 as many men as British gold could buy, and it seemed 
 only a question of time when the little handful of col- 
 onists must succumb to overwhelming numbers of Hes- 
 sian hirelings and British adventurers. 
 
 The presence of so many of the enemy's ships at 
 this time was a part of General Howe's plan to shut 
 Washington up in New York. The battle of Long Isl- 
 and, resulting so disastrously as it did to the Ameri- 
 cans, had been fought; Washington had escaped across 
 the bay to New York, where he established temporary 
 headquarters at the • old Beekman mansion, near the 
 present site of the Grand Central Station; Captain 
 Nathan Hale, who had been commissioned first lieuten- 
 ant a short time prior to the date of Jones' commission 
 as first lieutenant, and whose commission to a cap- 
 taincy also preceded that of Jones by a few months, 
 had been captured and hanged as a spy. Ethan Allen, 
 the hero of Fort Ticonderoga, had been captured in 
 his ill-planned invasion of Canada and carried in chains 
 to England. The Eevolution was now in full sway, and 
 for seven long years the colonists suffered many re- 
 verses and untold privations for the short time it was 
 their privilege to enjoy the freedom they so dearly pur- 
 chased. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE NAVY. 
 
 Paul Jones was yet in his twenty-ninth year — the 
 very prime of his activities— full of talent, enterprise 
 and patriotism; he was ardent and ambitious, and 
 thought it nothing short of a crime, for which no pun- 
 ishment could be too severe, for an American to be in- 
 different to the events transpiring around him, and 
 more especially when each blow struck was in defense 
 of liberty — the liberation of four million human beings 
 from a bondage but little removed from the condition 
 in which their descendants subjected an equal number 
 of their fellow beings, until a Lincoln burst their 
 shackles after four score years of national dishonor. 
 
 Many causes combined to convince Jones that the col- 
 onies had a just grievance against the mother country. 
 The colonies were right, he argued, in demanding jus- 
 tice, liberty and the right to self-government. Taxa- 
 tion without representation was servitude pure and sim- 
 ple, reasoned Jones, and after all, thought he, what 
 more right had England to levy taxes in America than 
 Spain, France, Portugal, or any other colonizing power, 
 who, perchance, had subjects here. If England could 
 demand tribute in the name of taxation, why would 
 he not be justified by the same international law that 
 
 51 
 
52 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 recognized England's right to plunder her subjects in 
 America, to lay siege to her coast cities and demand 
 ransom — under whatever name they wished to call it — 
 ransom, piracy, buccaneering — that he, too, might be 
 able to carry on an internecine warfare. 
 
 What better disciple of a pure democracy could the 
 cause of republicanism in America have had in the 
 first stages of its conception, its parturition and sub- 
 sequent development, than this venturesome iconoclast 
 from imperial Britain? A man who, from the age of 
 twelve years had been a wanderer on the deep, must 
 have been as much at home in America as he was in 
 his native highlands. Both countries must have ap- 
 peared to him as integral portions of the same state 
 with only civil dissensions and his individual circum- 
 stances to determine the part he should take. Thus, 
 right or wrong as to the side he took, he stood clear in 
 his own conscience, and to question his motives in es- 
 pousing the cause of the colonies would be little less 
 atrocious than to impugn the motives of Washington, 
 and other defenders of the Constitution, when many of 
 them had actually served in the British army in 
 America. 
 
 In the heat of a struggle, which, from its very nature, 
 was like the feuds of the nearest relatives, singularly 
 rancorous and bitter, Jones was branded as a traitor, 
 a pirate, a libertine, and a felon; after his most bril- 
 liant action, the capture of the Serapis, he was for- 
 mally denounced by the British Ambassador at The 
 Hague (Sir Joseph Yorke) as a rebel and a pirate 
 according to the laws of war. It must be remembered 
 
The Organization of tte Navy. 53 
 
 that he bore this stigma in common with the best and 
 greatest spirits of liis contemporaries — with Adams, 
 with Franklin, with Jefferson, and with Washington, 
 the latter of whom, together with man}^ of the signers 
 of the Declaration of Independence, had actually 
 borne arms in the service of the King of England, 
 
 The memory of Paul Jones now needs little vindica- 
 tion in the position he took with respect to the Revolu- 
 tion in the colonies. After the war he enjoyed the 
 esteem and friendship of Englishmen in all stations 
 of life who might have forgiven the most embittered 
 political hostility, but never could have overlooked a 
 taint on personal honor. 
 
 In the organization of the navy, Jones took a supreme 
 interest. He had been trained in a good school — the 
 school of experience. He knew the importance of 
 proper subordination, and of the strict enforcement of 
 a rigid system of discipline, which, hov\^ever unpleasant 
 to the rebellious spirit of citizenship, is especially indis- 
 pensable to the sea service. His views of maritime pol- 
 icy show much soundness, and considering that he 
 was still a young man, and a very young officer, he dis- 
 played great judgment and understanding of naval and 
 state affairs. 
 
 "As the regulations of the navy," he says in a letter 
 to Robert Morris, a member of the Marine Committee, 
 "are of the utmost consequence, you will not think it 
 presumptive if, with the utmost diffidence, I venture 
 to communicate to you such hints as, in my judgment, 
 will promote its honor and good government. I could 
 heartily wish that every commissioned officer was to 
 
54 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 be previously examined^ for, to my certain knowledge, 
 there are persons who have already crept into commis- 
 sion without abilities or fit qualifications — I am myself 
 far from desiring to be excused/' 
 
 In other letters on this subject he eloquently recom- 
 mends a liberal policy toward the private seamen and 
 a general system worthy of a srreat and enlightened 
 nation. "It is, he further says, "to the last degree dis- 
 tressing to contemplate the state and establishment of 
 our navy. The common class of mankind are actuated 
 by no nobler principle than that of self-interest. This, 
 and this only, determines all adventures in privateers — 
 the owners as well as those they employ, and while this 
 is the case, unless the private emolument of individ- 
 uals in our navy is made superior to that of privateers, 
 it can never become respectable — it never will become 
 formidable, and without a respectable navy, alas, alas, 
 America ! 
 
 "In the present critical situation of human afi^airs, 
 wisdom can suggest no more than one infallible ex- 
 pedient — enlist the seamen during pleasure, and give 
 them all the prizes they take. What is the paltry emol- 
 ument of two-thirds of the prizes to the finances of this 
 vast continent? If so poor a resource is essential to 
 its independency, in sober sadness we are involved in 
 a woeful predicament, and our ruin is fast approaching. 
 The situation of America is new in the annals of man- 
 kind; her affairs cry haste, and speed must answer 
 them. Trifles, therefore, ought to be wholly disregarded 
 as being in the old vulgar proverb, 'penny wise and 
 pound foolish.' 
 
L^ 
 
 The Organization of tlie Navy. 55 
 
 "If our enemy, with the best established and most 
 formidable navy in the world, has found it expedient 
 to assign all prizes to the captors, how much more is 
 such a policy essential to our infant fleet? But I need 
 use no arguments to convince you of the necessity of 
 making the emoluments of our navy equal, if not supe- 
 rior, to theirs. We have had proof that a navy may be 
 officered almost upon any terms, but we are not so sure 
 that these officers are equal to their commissions; nor 
 will the Congress ever obtain such certainty until they, 
 in their wisdom, see proper to appoint a Board of Ad- 
 miralty competent to determine impartially the respect- 
 ive merits and abilities of their officers, and to super- 
 intend, regulate and point out all the motions and 
 operations of the navy." 
 
 Paul Jones received his captain's commission from 
 John Hancock, President of the Congress, on the 8th 
 of August, 1776. The following is an exact copy of 
 the commission, which was similar to that issued to 
 two others on the sam.e date when the relative rank of 
 the captains was established by Congress : 
 
 IN COXGEESS. 
 
 "r/ie Delegates of the United States of New Hamp- 
 shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 New YorTc, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and 
 Georgia, 
 
 ^^TO JOHN PAUL JONES, ESQ. 
 "Wc; reposing especial trust and confidence in your 
 
/ 56 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 patriotism, valor, conduct, and fidelity, DO, by these 
 presents, constitute and appoint you to be Captain in 
 the navy of the United States of North America, fitted 
 out for the defense of American Liberty, and for repel- 
 ling every hostile invasion thereof. You are therefor 
 carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of Cap- 
 tain, by doing and performing all manner of things 
 thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and 
 require all officers, marines and seamen under your com- 
 mand to be obedient to your orders as Captain. And 
 you are to observe and follow such orders and directions 
 from time to time, as you shall receive from this 
 or a future Congress of the United States, or commit- 
 tee of Congress for that purpose appointed, or com- 
 mander-in-chief for the time being of the navy of the 
 United States, or other superior officer, according to 
 the rules and discipline of War, the usage of the sea, 
 and the instructions herewith given you, in pursuance 
 of the trust reposed in you. This Commission to con- 
 tinue in force, until revoked by this or a future Con- 
 gress. 
 
 "Dated at Philadelphia, August 8, 1776. 
 "By order of the Congress, 
 
 "John Hancock, President. 
 "Attest, Charles Thompson, Secretary." 
 
 At the same time it was proposed to Captain Jones 
 by the Marine Committee that he should go to New 
 London, Connecticut, to command the brigantine 
 Hampden, but he preferred to remain in the sloop 
 Providence, having previously received orders to go 
 
The Organization of tlie 'Nslyj. 57 
 
 out on a cruise against the enemy "for six weeks, or 
 for two or three months." His instructions were not 
 limited to any particular station or service. He left 
 the Delaware on the 21st of August and arrived off 
 Ehode Island on the 7th of October, 1776, just two 
 weeks after the capture of Captain Nathan Hale a 
 little further up the sound. 
 
 On board the Providence, which carried only twelve 
 guns, were but seventy men when the vessel left the 
 Delaware. Near the latitude of the Bermudas Jones 
 had a narrow escape from the enemy's frigate, the 
 Solba}^, bound for the Carolinas and having on board 
 Colonel Ethan Allen^ the hero of Fort Ticonderoga, 
 who was being returned from England, where he had 
 been carried a prisoner earlic" in the fall. After a 
 lively chase of six hours, continuing for some time 
 within cannon shot of the enemy, Jones finally 
 made good his escape. Afterwards, near the 
 Isle of Sable, Jones had an engagement with 
 the British frigate Milford, the firing lasting 
 from ten o'clock in the morning until after sun- 
 set, without serious loss to either ship. The day after 
 this encounter the Providence entered the harbor of 
 Canso, where they recruited several men, took the tories' 
 flags, destroyed the fishing and sailed away the next 
 morning on an expedition against the island of Mad- 
 ame. Two days later Jones made two attacks on the 
 principal forts of that island. The sudden attack sur- 
 prised and terrorized the islanders, though there were 
 hundreds of men and plenty of arms and ammuni- 
 tion available on the island. 
 
58 Joliu Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 This was all accomplished in making the voyage from 
 the Delaware to Providence, and was performed in six 
 weeks and five days, in which time the Providence took 
 sixteen prizes, besides a great number of small craft. 
 Jones equipped eight of them from the crew of the 
 Providence, and sunk, burned, or otherwise destroyed 
 the rest. 
 
 In consequence of these successes Commodore Hop- 
 kins ordered an expedition against Cape Breton and 
 the fisheries, as well as to relieve a number of Ameri- 
 can prisoners from the coal mines where they were 
 enforced into labor by the British. The Alfred had 
 remained idle ever since the Providence expedition, and 
 was without a commander or crew. It was proposed 
 to put this vessel as well as the brig Hampden and the 
 sloop Providence into commission and all under the 
 command of Captain Jones, who had been given orders 
 to prepare for the expedition. The Alfred was in bet- 
 ter sailing condition than the Providence, and on the 
 23d of October Jones changed his flagship from the 
 latter to the former. 
 
 Finding it impossible to enlist a sufficient number 
 of seamen to man the three vessels, he decided to leave 
 the Providence behind; but the wreck of the Hampden, 
 on the 27th of October, when under command of Cap- 
 tain Hacker, necessitated the refitting of the Provi- 
 dence, which required but five days. On the 2d of 
 November, with only 140 men aboard the Alfred, and 
 the Providence with but 125, Captain Jones laid his 
 course to the northward, his objective point being Cape 
 Breton. The vessels anchored for the night at Tar- 
 
The Organization of the Navy. 59 
 
 pawling Cove, near Nantucket, R. I., and finding there 
 a privateer inward bound, Jones went aboard in search 
 of deserters; finding four men carefully concealed he 
 took them aboard the Alfred, together with some twelve 
 or fifteen seamen, for his crews on both vessels re- 
 quired 100 men to make up the necessary complement. 
 The owner of the vessel brought action against Paul 
 Jones in the sum of £10,000 ($50,000), but the case 
 never came to trial owing to the unsettled condition 
 of the civil courts as well as to the unwillingness of 
 the Rhode Island authorities to interfere with the good 
 work then being accomplished by Captain Jones in 
 defense of the colonies. 
 
 Proceeding with the expedition, a brig richly laden 
 with dry goods, a smack with a cargo of fish and a 
 small armed ship, the Mellish, bound for Montreal and 
 laden with clothing for the British troops in Canada, 
 were captured by Jones off Louisburg without much 
 resistance. The next day, November 18, dawned gray 
 and cheerless; a heavy snow fell on the land and flur- 
 ries swept across the waves, and by noon a violent gale 
 was blowing from off Cape Breton, which necessitated 
 casting anchor to prevent the separation of the fleet. 
 The storm continued for some time, doing considerable 
 damage to both the Providence and the Alfred. As 
 soon as the storm abated and repairs were made on the 
 disabled ships Captain Jones signalled the sloop Canso, 
 and together they destroyed a large British transport, 
 burned the oil warehouses and captured several small 
 vessels lying in the harbor at Louisburg. On the 24th 
 Jones captured three out of five of the British coal 
 
60 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame, 
 
 fleet bound for New York, being towed by the Flora. 
 On the 26th he took a letter-of-marque ship from Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 He had now 150 prisoners on board the Alfred and 
 as his crew consisted of about the same number it was 
 necessary for him to seek some friendly port with 
 the five prize ships and prisoners. He therefore set 
 sail for Boston, at which port he arrived December 5. 
 
 Immediately upon arrival at Boston he communicated 
 with Washington, informing him of the shipment of 
 a considerable quantity of clothing and provisions, 
 which Washington received just before he recrossed the 
 Delaware. What rejoicing there must have been when 
 the starving, freezing, bleeding patriots received this 
 small stock of provisions and raiment ! We may be 
 sure that Washington saw to the division of the rai- 
 ment himself; that he saw that no man got more than 
 a coat, or a pair of shoes, but not both. 
 
 By a letter from Commander-in-Chief Hopkins, dated 
 on board the Warren, at Providence, January 14, 1777, 
 Jones was superseded by Captain Hinman, who said he 
 had a commission from Congress to take immediate 
 command of the Alfred. This attempt to supersede him 
 was the first occasion on which Jones decidedly showed 
 his firmness and tenacity of character and his deter- 
 mination to assert his rights. Even then, unknown, 
 and without friends to assist him, he was quite equal 
 to the undertaking of placing himself rightly before 
 Congress. In a letter to the Marine Committee, dated 
 January 21, 1777, which was followed the next day by 
 a journey from Boston to Philadelphia in order to 
 
The Organization of the Navy. 61 
 
 ascertain the cause of his removal and reply thereto 
 in person, shows the neglect and heart burnings to 
 which this brave man was subjected from the first 
 hour of his entering the American navy. Three-fourths 
 of his whole life was a struggle to overcome the preju- 
 dices, defeat the cabals, or quicken the tardy justice 
 of his temporary official superiors. 
 
 Six weeks after his removal from the command of 
 the Alfred (though in the interim he had by no means 
 been inactive or unmindful of his country's welfare, 
 as will be seen from the following defensible letter), he 
 was still in idleness, awaiting the pleasure of Congress. 
 This letter, though a little tardy in reaching its des- 
 tination, did not, however, fail of setting him aright in 
 the estimation of the Marine Committee: 
 
 "Boston, 21st January, 1777. 
 *' Robert Morris, Esquire, Marine Committee: 
 
 "Sir: — I am now to inform you, that by a letter 
 from Commodore Hopkins, dated on board the Warren, 
 January 14, 1777, which came to my hands a day or 
 two ago, I am superseded in the command of the Alfred 
 in favor of Captain Hinman, and ordered back to the 
 sloop in Providence Eiver. Whether this order doth 
 or doth not supersede also your orders to me of the 
 10th ult., you can best determine; however, as I under- 
 took the late expedition at his (Commodore Hopkins') 
 request, from a principle of humanity, I mean not now 
 to make a difficulty about trifles, especially when the 
 good of the service is to be consulted. As I am un- 
 conscious of any neglect of duty, or misconduct since 
 
62 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 my appointment at the first as elder lieutenant of the 
 navy, I cannot suppose that you have intended to set 
 me aside in favor of any man who did not at that time 
 bear a captain's commission, unless indeed, that man, 
 by exerting his superior abilities, hath rendered, or can 
 render, more important services to America. 
 
 "Those who stepped forth at the first, in ships alto- 
 gether unfit for war, were generally considered rather 
 as frantic than as wise men; for it must be remem- 
 bered, that almost everything then made against them. 
 And although the success in the affair with the Glasgow 
 was not equal to what it might have been, yet the 
 blame ought not to be general. The principal or prin- 
 cipals in command alone are culpable; and the other 
 officers, while they stand unimpeached, have their full 
 merit. There were, it is true, divers persons, from mis- 
 representation, put into commission at the beginning, 
 without fit qualification and perhaps the number may 
 have been increased by later appointments; but it 
 follows not that the gentleman or men of merit should 
 be neglected or overlooked on their account. None 
 other than a gentleman, as well as a seaman both in 
 theory and practice, is qualified to support the charac- 
 ter of a commissioned officer in the navy; nor is any 
 man fit to command a ship of war who is not also 
 capable of communicating his ideas on paper in lan- 
 guage that becomes his rank. If this be admitted, the 
 foregoing operations will be sufficiently clear, but if 
 further proof is required it can easily be produced. 
 
 "When I entered the service, I was not actuated by 
 motives of self-interest. I stepped forth as a free citi- 
 
The Organization of the Navy. 63 
 
 zen of the world, in defense of the violated rights of 
 mankind, and not in search of riches, whereof, I thank 
 God, I inherit a sufficiency; but I should prove my 
 degeneracy were I not in the highest degree tenacious 
 of my rank and seniority. As a gentleman, I can 
 yield this point up only to persons of superior ability 
 and superior merit; and under such persons it would 
 be my highest ambition to learn. As this is the first 
 time of my having expressed the least anxiety on my 
 own account, I must entreat your patience until I ac- 
 count to you for the reason which hath given me this 
 freedom of sentiment. 
 
 "It seems that Captain Hinman's commission is 
 Number One, and that, in consequence, he was at first 
 my junior officer by right, hath expressed as my senior 
 officer in a manner which doth himself no honor, 
 and which doth me signal injury. There are also in 
 the navy, persons who have not shown me fair play 
 after the service I have rendered them. I have even 
 been blamed for civilities which I have shown to my 
 prisoners, at the request of one whom I herein enclose 
 an appeal, which I must beg leave to lay before Con- 
 gress. Could you see the appellant's accomplished lady, 
 and the innocents, their children, arguments in their 
 behalf would be unnecessary. As the base minded only 
 are capable of inconsistencies, you will not blame my 
 free soul, which can never stoop where I cannot also 
 esteem. Could I, which I never can, bear to be super- 
 seded, I should indeed deserve your contempt and total 
 neglect. I am, therefore, to entreat you to employ me 
 in the most enterprising and active service, accountable 
 
64 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to your honorable board only, for my conduct, and con- 
 nected as much as possible with gentlemen and men 
 of good sense. 
 
 "1 have the honor to be with much respect, 
 
 "John Paul Jones/' 
 
 It must be admitted that Paul Jones, whether in the 
 service of Mr. Younger, the shipowner of Whitehaven, 
 or that of America, never lost an opportunity of bringing 
 himself forward and placing his services in a fair light. 
 Though he never claimed more than his due, as we 
 now see it, yet he never through delicacy or indifference 
 allowed his efforts to be ignored. 
 
 "My conduct hitherto," he says, in a memorial to 
 Congress from the Texel, "was so much approved of 
 by Congress, that on the 5th of February, 1777, I was 
 appointed, with unlimited orders, to command a little 
 squadron of the ships Alfred, Columbus, Cabot, Hamp- 
 den and the sloop Providence. Various important ser- 
 vices were pointed out, but I was left at free liberty 
 to make my election. That service, however, did not 
 take place; for the commodore, who had three of the 
 squadron blocked in at Providence, affected to disbe- 
 lieve my appointment, and would not at last give me 
 the necessary assistance. Finding that he trifled with 
 my applications as well as the orders of Congress, I 
 undertook a journey from Boston to Philadelphia, in 
 order to explain matters to Congress in person. I took 
 this trip because Captain Hinman had succeeded me 
 in the command of the Alfred, and, of course, the 
 service could not suffer through my absence. I arrived 
 
KING GEORGE IIL 
 
The Organization of the Navy. 65 
 
 at Philadelphia on the beginning of April. But what 
 was my surprise to find, that by a new line of the navy 
 rank, which had taken place on the 10th of October, 
 1776, all the officers that had stepped forth at the be- 
 ginning were superseded ! I was myself superseded by 
 thirteen men, not one of whom did (and perhaps some 
 of them durst not) take the sea against the British 
 flag at the first; for several of them who were then 
 applied to refused to venture — and none of them have 
 since been very happy in proving their superior abili- 
 ties. Among these thirteen there are individuals who 
 can neither pretend to parts nor education, and with 
 whom, as a private gentleman, I would disdain to asso- 
 ciate. I leave your excellency, and the Congress to 
 judge how this must affect a man of honor and sen- 
 sibility.'' 
 
 The appearance of Jones at Congress at this time; 
 his apppeals to their justice; his animated remon- 
 strances, and the capacity displayed in the hints and 
 projects he threw out, had a good effect. They inspired 
 esteem for his character, and gave confidence in his 
 ability. This became apparent in the immediate pro- 
 ceedings of that body, for "Congress," he says, "saw 
 fit to drop the expedition that had been proposed; and 
 the Marine Committee appeared very sorry that there 
 was not then vacant a good ship for my command. 
 Three ships were ordered to be purchased in the east- 
 ern department, and by a resolution of Congress March 
 15, I was authorized to take my choice of these ships, 
 until Congress could provide a better command. I then 
 returned to Boston, and before this last plan could be 
 
66 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 carried into execution I received a new and honorable 
 proof of the good opinion of Congress by being ordered 
 on the 9th of May, 1777, to proceed to France from 
 Portsmouth in the Amphitrite, with a positive order 
 to the Commissioners at Paris to invest me with the 
 command of a fine ship as a reward for my zeal and 
 the signal services I had performed in vessels of little 
 force. This was generous, indeed, and I shall feel the 
 whole force of the obligation to the last moment of my 
 Hie.'' 
 
 m MAEINE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 9, 1777. 
 John Paul Jones, Esq. 
 
 Sir — Congress have thought proper to authorize the 
 secret Committee to employ you on a voyage in the 
 Amphitrite from Portsmouth to Carolina and France, 
 where it is expected you will be provided with a fine 
 frigate ; as your present commission is for the command 
 of a particular ship, we now send you a new one, where- 
 by you are appointed a Captain in our navy, and of 
 course may command any ship in the service to which 
 you are to obey the orders of the secret Committee. We 
 are, sir. Yours, etc., 
 
 [Signed] John Hancock, 
 
 Robert Morris. 
 
 Wm. Whipple. 
 
 The letter which Paul Jones took to Europe, ad- 
 dressed to the Commissioners at Paris, confirms the 
 sincerity of the purpose of Congress. It also put to 
 
The Organization of tlie Navy. 67 
 
 rest the charge of piracy or that Jones was nothing 
 more than the commander of a privateer, winked at, or 
 perhaps secretly aided by Congress, but never recog- 
 nized as a regularly appointed commander in the Amer- 
 ican service during his cruises on the British coasts. 
 
 His first act on reaching France was to write to the 
 Commissioners, to whom he was now to look for orders 
 and also for equipments. Though his first note was 
 brief, it showed his deep appreciation of the recogni- 
 tion and confidence which the Congress reposed in him, 
 and also his devotion to the spirit of freedom as pro- 
 claimed in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on 
 the 4th of the preceding July. "I yesterday,^' he writes 
 to the Commissioners at Paris, "inclosed you copies of 
 two letters which I wrote you previous to my departure 
 from Portsmouth, together with a plan which I drew 
 up at Philadelphia, on the regulation and equipment 
 of our infant navy. It is my first and favorite wish 
 to be employed in active and enterprising services, when 
 there is a prospect of rendering acceptable services to 
 America. The singular honor which Congress has done 
 me by their generous acknowledgment of my past serv- 
 ices hath inspired me with sentiments of gratitude 
 which I shall carry with me to my grave ; and if a life 
 of service devoted to America can be made instru- 
 mental in securing its independence I shall regard the 
 continuance of such approbation as an honor far supe- 
 rior to what kings ever could bestow.'' 
 
 On reaching Paris late in December, Paul Jones 
 hastened to the residence of Benjamin Franklin, where 
 he had been summoned to go with all possible haste. 
 
68 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Here he found Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, the latter 
 of whom had just returned from UOrient, whither he 
 had been sent by Franklin to negotiate for the purchase 
 of a number of vessels purported to be for sale at that 
 port. The Commissioners were seriously considering 
 the advisability of purchasing an entire fleet of three 
 or four ships and other of smaller force, when Jones 
 entered the small and poorly furnished apartments of 
 the frugal Franklin. Though the great man had been 
 tendered more sumptuous quarters by the King, Louis 
 XVI, we are not surprised that he should have de- 
 clined to accept apartments in Palace Eoyal, when we 
 read further on of his desperate effort to obtain suffi- 
 cient means to supply the bare necessities of the Ameri- 
 can arms in Europe, not to mention his European mis- 
 sion to obtain funds to aid the starving, freezing pa- 
 triots of the infant Republic across the sea. 
 
 The meeting was cordial in the extreme, for Franklin 
 recognized that whatever good was to be accomplished 
 by an American fleet in European waters, it must be 
 done at once, and Jones had been sent by the Congress 
 to carry out the wishes of the Commissioners. When 
 ushered into the presence of Franklin and his fellow- 
 Commissioners — Deane and Lee — Jones displayed as 
 little ostentation as though he was the bearer of a mes- 
 sage and not an envoy commissioned by Congress to 
 command a fleet that was destined to perform greater 
 deeds than had yet been witnessed, and none more de- 
 cisive since, until the day Admiral Schley destroyed 
 ihe Spanish fleet off Santiago, while Dewey was bring- 
 ing still greater renown to American arms in the Far 
 East. 
 
The Organization of the Navy. 69 
 
 In the following commission, signed by four of the 
 most distinguished citizens in the Colonies and mem- 
 bers of the Committee on Naval Affairs, Captain Jones 
 had good reason to resent the charges of piracy, as well 
 as to refuse the proffered command of privateers of- 
 fered to him by the French Minister of Marine: 
 
 m MARINE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Philadelphia, 9th May, 1777. 
 Honorahh Gentlemen: 
 
 This letter is intended to be delivered to you by John 
 Paul Jones, Esq., an active and brave commander in 
 our navy, who has already performed signal service in 
 vessels of little force; and in reward for his zeal we 
 have directed him to go on board the Amphitrite, a 
 French ship of twenty guns, that brought in a valu- 
 able cargo of stores from Mons. Hostalez & Co., and 
 with her to repair to France. He takes with him his 
 commission, some officers and men, so that we hope he 
 will, under that sanction, make some good prizes with 
 the Amphitrite ; but our design in sending him is (with 
 the approbation of Congress) that you may purchase 
 one of those fine frigates that Mr. Deane writes us you 
 can get and invest him with the command thereof as 
 soon as possible. We hope you may not delay this busi- 
 ness one moment, but purchase, in such port or place 
 in Europe as it can be done with most convenience and 
 dispatch, a fine-sailing frigate or larger ship. Direct 
 Captain Jones where he must repair to, and he will take 
 with him his officers and men toward manning her. 
 You will assign him some good house or agent to sup- 
 
70 Paul Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ply him with everytliing necessary to get the ship speed- 
 ily and well equipped and manned — somebody that will 
 bestir himself vigorously in the business and never quit 
 until it is accomplished. 
 
 If you have any plan or service to be formed in 
 Europe by such a ship that you think will be more for 
 the interest and honor of the States than sending her 
 out directly. Captain Jones is instructed to obey your 
 orders; and, to save repetition, let him lay before you 
 the instructions we have given him and furnish you 
 with a copy thereof. You can then Judge what will be 
 necessary for you to direct him in, and whatever you 
 do will be approved, as it will undoubtedly tend to pro- 
 mote the public service of this country. 
 
 You see by this step how much dependence Congress 
 places in your advice, and you must make it a point not 
 to disappoint Captain Jones' wishes and expectations 
 on this occasion. We are yours, etc., 
 
 Robert Morris^ 
 EiCHARD Henry Lee^ 
 William Whipple^ 
 Phil Livingston. 
 To the 
 
 Honorable Benjamin Franklin^ 
 
 Silas Deane, and 
 
 Arthur Lee, Esquires, 
 Commissioners, etc. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GOES TO EUROPE. 
 
 Paul Jones had expected to sail for France in the 
 Amphitrite, but was prevented from doing so at the 
 last moment by -its commander, who argued that while 
 France and England were not in open conflict, it only 
 lacked the slightest provocation on the part of France, 
 or one of her subjects, for England to declare war 
 against his country. The carrying of Paul Jones and 
 his officers to France in a French vessel, he thought, 
 would be ample grounds for such a declaration, and 
 in addition to the danger of precipitating the two coun- 
 tries in war he stood in fear of capture and imprison- 
 ment, together with the loss of his ship. He therefore 
 took "French leave'^ during the early morning hours, 
 leaving Jones and his companions in a dejected but 
 thoughtful m-ood. There was nothing to do now but 
 to return to Boston and await the action of the Marine 
 Committee, but we can be assured that Jones was not 
 idle in the meantime. 
 
 While at Portsmouth he went aboard the Eanger, a 
 vessel of little force, but which Jones thought might 
 be put in seaworthy condition, without the loss of much 
 time and at no great expense; so, without waiting for 
 instructions from Congress, he ordered the Eanger put 
 
 71 
 
72 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 in readiness for a voyage across the Atlantic, after 
 which he made a full report to the Marine Committee 
 concerning the conduct of the French commander of 
 the Amphitrite and his action with regard to the Ran- 
 ger. Within a fortnight after the departure of the 
 Amphitrite and the receipt of Jones' letter he received 
 a very satisfactory reply from John Hancock, severely 
 criticising the conduct of the French Captain, but 
 warmly approving Jones' action in leasing the Eanger, 
 subject to the approval of Congress. 
 
 It was fortunate for Jones' after reputation that the 
 Marine Committee had the forethought to send him a 
 commission, bearing date of June 14, 1777, the result 
 of a resolution passed that day by Congress, directing 
 him to take command of the Eanger as soon as re- 
 fitted and proceed to France, where further instruc- 
 tions awaited him. After the attempt made on White- 
 haven, the capture of the Drake and numerous mer- 
 chantment, the name of Paul Jones became a synonym 
 for traitor, renegade and pirate, and not since the days 
 of Spanish buccaneering was a man or ship so dreaded 
 and strenuously avoided by seafaring men as that of 
 "the Eanger and her crew of sea rovers, with the bold 
 pirate Jones and his black flag." 
 
 It was a mistake to charge Paul Jones with piracy, 
 and recent accounts published in England have very 
 generously set at rest all such vilifying reports. Preju- 
 dice having died out, the true character of the man, as 
 well as his motives, now place him in the light of a 
 hero and a patriot. The Eanger, as well as the Bon 
 Homme Eichard (Bo-nom-re-char) were ships of war 
 
Goes to Europe. 73 
 
 in the service of the United States and flying the colors 
 of the young Eepublic. Jones was the regularly ap- 
 pointed commander of both vessels, holding commis- 
 sions from Congress signed by John Hancock, Pres- 
 ident, and attested by Charles Thompson, Secretary. 
 
 The character of the Eanger, as also that of the Bon 
 Homme Eichard, was certainly anomalous in any regu- 
 lar navy, but the new States were glad to possess any 
 kind of a navy, whether under the guidance of a Ma- 
 rine Committee, an admiral or an individual com- 
 mander. Jones preferred to act alone and single- 
 handed, and his temper and the nature adopted by 
 him proved that it was the most advantageous way of 
 accomplishing England's defeat on the high seas. When 
 harassed at home England felt that her time-honored 
 maritime supremacy was in name only, and that she 
 was not prepared to defend her own coasts and at the 
 same time carry on a war with her rebellious Colonies. 
 
 On board the Eanger, small as was the force under 
 his command, but with limited sailing orders, Jones re- 
 solved to prove to France and the Congress that had 
 honored him with its confidence that his knowledge of 
 warfare, even though he had not been trained in ships 
 of war, was equal to twice his force in British arms. 
 No enemy of Great Britain, sailing in an armed ship, 
 knew the condition of her fortifications and defenses 
 better than Paul Jones. He had sailed from nearly 
 every port of consequence in England, and now that he 
 had joined the fortunes of the Colonies and was com- 
 missioned to harass the enemy in European waters, it 
 was not surprising that the presence of a Yankee fleet 
 
74 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 commanded by Paul Jones was spreading alarm 
 throughout the coast cities. 
 
 The war between France and Great Britain had not 
 yet been declared, though they were in a state of un- 
 derstood if not avowed hostility. The instructions as 
 to his conduct while in European waters is best ex- 
 pressed in the following brief letter received by Jones 
 about the time he set sail for France in the Eanger : 
 
 m MAEINE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Philadelphia^ September 6, 1777. 
 Paul Jones, Esquire: 
 
 SiK — As soon as these instructions get to hand, you 
 are to make immediate application to the proper per- 
 sons to get your vessel victualed and fitted for sea with 
 all expedition. When this is done proceed on a voyage 
 to some convenient port in France. On your arrival 
 there apply to the agent, if any, in or near said port 
 for such supplies as you may stand in need of. You 
 are at the same time to give notice by letter to the 
 Honorable Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur 
 Lee, Esquires, or any of them, at Paris, of your arrival, 
 requesting their instructions as to your further destina- 
 tion, which instructions you are to obey as far as it shall 
 be in your power. 
 
 You are to take particular notice that while on the 
 coast of France or in a French port you are, as much 
 as you conveniently can, to keep your guns covered and 
 concealed, and to make as little warlike appearance as 
 possible. Wishing you, etc. 
 
 Upon his arrival at Nantes, France, Jones hastened 
 
Goes to Europe. 75 
 
 to Paris to meet the Commissioners. Leaving the 
 Kanger to be put in repair, as it was considerably dam- 
 aged in his transatlantic voyage, Jones gave instruc- 
 tions to his officers and crew to remain at Nantes until 
 his return, which he thought would be within a fort- 
 night. He fully expected to obtain command of the 
 large ship (Indian) then building at Amsterdam, and 
 therefore did not give definite instructions as to the 
 manner in which the Kanger was to be overhauled and 
 made ready to meet the British men-of-war. The ves- 
 sel then building had been christened the Indian, and 
 was to be the property of the United States as soon as 
 completed, but the Commissioners thought fit to pre- 
 sent it to the King of France, who in turn would use 
 it to harass their common enemy — England. When 
 Jones learned of the intention of the Commissioners he 
 was greatly disappointed and did not hesitate to ex- 
 press his disgust to both Franklin and the Congress, 
 and made it the subject of a lengthy argument for 
 obtaining at least an equivalent command. 
 
 The purpose of the Commissioners in summoning 
 Captain Jones to Paris was to avail themselves of his 
 thorough knowledge of the English coast. This, to- 
 gether with his nautical experience, gained in seven- 
 teen years' sailing into or out of English ports, includ- 
 ing a year of successful naval engagements on the coast 
 of North America, rendered his services of exceeding 
 value to the Commissioners. 
 
 Then again, a powerful maritime force under Count 
 d'Estaing was forming, and it was at first desired to 
 have Jones work in conjunction with d'Estaing in a 
 
76 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 united attack upon the British. A treaty between 
 France and America had been concluded, and many of 
 the former^s ablest soldiers, statesmen and men of let- 
 ters were casting their fortunes with the young Re- 
 public, then scarcely two years old. 
 
 The bold and sagacious campaign planned against 
 Admiral and Lord Howe, which, if it could have been 
 carried into effect, would in all probability have speed- 
 ily ended the war; but delays to which armaments are 
 subject have often proved disastrous in naval as well 
 as in land engagements, and tliis affair between Paul 
 Jones and Count d'Estaing on one side and the Howes 
 on the other was no exception. Jones, however, claimed 
 the fullest measure for planning this fruitless cam- 
 paign in America, for in a letter to the French Minis- 
 ter of Marine, M. de Sartin, he says: "Had Count 
 d'Estaing arrived in the Delaware a few days sooner 
 he might have made a most glorious and easy conquest. 
 Many successful projects may be adopted from the 
 hints which I had the honor to draw up; and if I can 
 still furnish more, or execute any of those already 
 furnished, so as to distress and humble the common 
 enemy, it will afford me the truest pleasure." 
 
 It does not appear in any chronicle or memoir that 
 Captain Jones accompanied d'Estaing to America, as 
 some biographers assert, but, on the contrary, his jour- 
 nal shows that he must have lingered between Paris, 
 L'Orient, Nantes and Passy during most of the winter 
 of '77 and '78. Subsequent events proved that d'Es- 
 taing's failure to engage Admiral Howe and prevent 
 his escape from the Delaware was due chiefly to his in- 
 
Goes to Europe. 77 
 
 ability to cross the Atlantic in the time necessary to 
 catch Howe below Philadelphia. While the Commis- 
 sioners keenly felt the ill success of the little squadron, 
 they did not overlook the possibility of a defeat when 
 they remembered that Admiral Howe's fleet consisted 
 of more than thirty ships of war, while d'Estaing had 
 not one-fourth the number of men or vessels, and after 
 a sea voyage of 3,000 miles he found his vessels badly 
 in need of repair and reprovisioning. But the subse- 
 quent efforts of d'Estaing, in conjunction with his 
 countryman — Rochambeau — before Charleston, where 
 the brave Pulaski and Sergeant Jasper fell, proved his 
 qualifications to command a fleet in the service of the 
 Colonies, as well as his loyalty to Washington and the 
 Congress. 
 
 But to return to Jones: On the 16th of January, 
 1778, he received his orders from the Commissioners, 
 which were as follows : 
 
 Paris, January 16, 1778. 
 Captain Jones: 
 
 Sir — As it is not in our power to procure you such 
 a ship as you expected, we advise you, after equipping 
 the Ranger in the best possible manner for the cruise 
 you propose, that you proceed with her in the man- 
 ner you shall judge best for distressing the enemies of 
 the United States, by sea or otherwise, consistent with 
 the laws of war and the terms of your commission. 
 
 (Directions here follow for sending prizes taken on 
 the coasts of France and Spain into Bilboa or Coronge, 
 unless the danger was too great, in which case they 
 were to be sent to L' Orient or Bordeaux.) 
 
78 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 If you make an attempt on the coast of Great Britain 
 we advise you not to return immediately into the ports 
 of France, unless forced by stress of weather, or the 
 pursuit of the enemy; and in such case you can make 
 the proper representation to the officers of the port and 
 acquaint us with your situation. We rely on your 
 ability as well as your zeal to serve the United States, 
 and therefore do not give you particular instructions 
 as to your operations. We must caution you against 
 giving any cause of complaint to the subjects of France 
 or Spain, or of other neutral powers; and recommend 
 it to you to show theni every proper mark of respect 
 and real civility which may be in your power. 
 
 These orders were such as proved the most agree- 
 able to him; unlimited orders and a separate com- 
 mand were what he desired most and was all that he 
 asked. The granting of his request, even to the min- 
 utest detail, naturally pleased him, for it implied full 
 confidence in his zeal and ability. The only caution 
 he received was not to return immediately to the ports 
 of France after making an attack on the coast of 
 Great Britain, for the French court wished to delay 
 open hostilities a little longer, when it would be in a 
 position to defend any stand the King might take in 
 aiding or abetting the Americans. 
 
 The Eanger being in readiness before the Commis- 
 sioners had completed negotiations in the purchase and 
 transfer of a suitable command for Jones, the latter 
 left immediately for Nantes, where arrangements had 
 been completed for provisioning the ship for a three 
 months' cruise. As soon as everything was in readi- 
 
 %* 
 
Goes to Europe. 79 
 
 ness the Ranger weighed anchor for L' Orient, touching 
 at Quiberon, two French ports in the Department of 
 Morbihan and Province of Brittany. Here he dis- 
 played considerable professional etiquette, characteris- 
 tic of his firmness, in compelling a French Admiral to 
 salute the American flag, the first it ever received, for 
 up to this time no warship had ever met the flag in 
 American waters, and since the Ranger was the first 
 vessel flying the Stars and Stripes to visit European 
 waters, it follows that the honor of being the first for- 
 eign representative to recognize the flag of freedom is 
 accorded to Monsieur La Motte Picquet, commander 
 of a French squadron stationed at Nantes. The second 
 recognition also came from a French Admiral — Count 
 d'Orvilliers, commander-in-chief of the fleet lying at 
 Brest. In this connection it should be remembered that 
 Paul Jones was the first to hoist the flags of America, 
 "The Rattlesnake," "The Pine Tree" and "The Stars 
 and Stripes," on the waters of two continents — first 
 on the Delaware, second before Portsmouth, and now 
 in the harbor of Nantes, France. We can readily see, 
 therefore, the reason for his insistence on the emblem 
 of his country being saluted, even by an admiral com- 
 manding a fleet of vessels belonging to a friendly 
 power. 
 
 At first Admiral Picquet refused to respond to the 
 salute that came from the Ranger, and from whose 
 niizzen-gaff the Stars and Stripes floated proudly on 
 the breezes, but by dexterous maneuvers Jones finally 
 succeeded in getting the full recognition that he felt 
 that he, hissiupL^nd his country deserved. The following 
 
80 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 letter, addressed to William Carmicliael, Esquire, the 
 French Minister at Madrid, fully explains Captain 
 Jones' feelings upon this matter, containing, as it does, 
 a good example of the determination of the founder 
 of our navy to leave behind him a record on which 
 future generations might look with pride and satis* 
 faction : 
 
 Brest, February 14, 1778. 
 
 Dear Sir — I am extremely sorry to give you fresh 
 trouble, but I think the Admiral's answer of yesterday 
 requires explanation. The haughty English return gun 
 for gun to foreign officers of equal rank, and two less 
 only to captains by flag officers. It is true, my com- 
 mand at present is not important, yet, as senior Ameri- 
 can officer at present in Europe, it is my duty to claim 
 an equal return of respect to the flag of the United 
 States that would be shown to any other flag what- 
 ever. 
 
 I therefore take the liberty of inclosing an appoint- 
 ment, perhaps as respectable as any which the French 
 Admiral can produce, besides which I have others in 
 my possession. 
 
 If, however, he persists in refusing to return an equal 
 salute, I will accept of two guns less, as I have not the 
 rank of Admiral. 
 
 It is my opinion that he would return four less to 
 a privateer or a merchant ship, therefore, as I have 
 been honored oftener than once with a chief command 
 of ships of war, I cannot in honor accept of the same 
 terms of respect. 
 
Goes to Euro^De. 81 
 
 You will singularly oblige me by waiting upon the 
 Admiral, and I ardently hope you will succeed in the 
 application, else I shall be under a necessity of de- 
 parting wdthout coming into the bay. I have the honor 
 to be yours, etc., John Paul Joxes. 
 
 K. B. — Though thirteen guns is our greatest salute 
 in America, yet if the French Admiral should prefer 
 a greater number he has his choice, on condition. 
 
 Captain Jones was naturally very proud of having 
 obtained triumphant recognition of the iimerican flag. 
 In a letter to the American Marine Committee Jones 
 relates in detail the circumstances attending the first 
 salute the Stars and Stripes ever received. "I am 
 happy," he says, "in having it in my power to con- 
 gratulate you on my having seen the American flag 
 recognized in the fullest and completest manner by 
 the flag of France." 
 
 On the 10th of April Captain Jones sailed from 
 Brest in the Kanger for the purpose of firing the ship- 
 ping along the English coast, capturing all manner of 
 sailing craft and manning the largest to join his ex- 
 pedition and sinking the smaller. It seemed, however, 
 as though his purpose was to be balked by continuous 
 gales, for day after day the Eanger battled against 
 equinoctial storms that piled the waves mountain high, 
 until it seemed as though the staunch bark could never 
 outride the shifting seas. At times the vessel was bal- 
 anced on the very pinnacle of a mountain wave, and 
 the next moment it would sink between great green 
 walls of water with tumultuous roaring of the heavy 
 seas about her. At last, after days of battling with 
 
 J 
 
82 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 the elements, the storm abated. Immediately Captain 
 Jones gave orders to put the ship in fighting order, as 
 the storms had driven them almost within sight of the 
 English coast. That night they took a brigantine be- 
 tween the Isle of Sicily and Cape Clear, which had on 
 board a cargo of flaxseed, bound from Ostend to Bel- 
 fast. After sinking the brig and impressing her crew, 
 the Kanger proceeded northward into St. George's 
 Channel. On the 17th Captain Jones captured the 
 ship Lord Chatham, from London with a cargo of por- 
 ter and a variety of merchandise for Dublin and Cork 
 merchants. This vessel being of equal capacity with 
 the Eanger, Jones manned her by dividing his crew 
 equally between the two ships and impressing about 
 half of his prisoners to make up the ship's complement, 
 while the rest were kept in confinement. 
 
 On the 19th he destroyed a Scotch coasting schooner 
 off the Mull of Galloway, about three leagues from his 
 native Arbigland. When he set out from France he 
 was bent on destroying the shipping and all craft lying 
 in the harbor of Whitehaven, where but eighteen years 
 before he had gone, at the age of twelve years, as an 
 apprentice to Mr. Younger, the largest ship-owner on 
 the Solway. But Mr. Younger having failed in busi- 
 ness, and dying the year before, Jones felt no delicacy 
 in attempting the complete destruction of the city and 
 its shipping — in fact, everything that would perish be- 
 fore the torch. Continuing his destructive cruise 
 around the Isle of Man and before Carrickfergus, in 
 the north of Ireland, he destroyed more than a dozen 
 small craft and a richly laden brig near the Kock of 
 
Goes to Europe. 83 
 
 Ailsa. By the 21st he found himself within sight of 
 Whitehaven, the scene of his apprenticeship, where, as 
 a youth, he had secretly resolved to do exactly what 
 he now was ahout to attempt. The Irish sea is quite 
 narrow at this point; a commanding view revealed to 
 Jones the coasts of England, Ireland and Scotland, and 
 the records in his journal show that on the 22d the 
 three kingdoms were covered with snow as far as the 
 eye could see, while the Isle of Man, lying between, 
 looked like a huge frosted cake, anchored midway in a 
 sea of rare beauty, rich with the memory of many a 
 sea ballad of feudal days. 
 
 Without stopping to consider the risk he was taking, 
 for he knew every inch of the territory on both sides 
 of the Solway, he gave orders to transfer all prisoners 
 to the Lord Chatham, which was to lie out in the har- 
 bor to await the return of the Ranger. In his journal 
 Jones writes that he had no trouble in effecting a land- 
 ing, no one suspecting that the strange looking craft 
 approaching was a Yankee warship, for it was an en- 
 tirely new experience for any English port to be vis- 
 ited by a warship belonging to a foreign power. For 
 many centuries no nation had had the temerity to 
 fight England on her own soil or in ships of war in 
 adjacent waters. England's navy was thought to be 
 invincible and her coasts impregnable to the puny arm- 
 ament possessed by any foreign foe. All England re- 
 posed in the assurance that she was safe at home, even 
 if her arms were not always victorious abroad. 
 
 Jones' presence, therefore, or that of any other Brit- 
 ish foeman, was wholly unlooked for, and no precau- 
 
84 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 tion had been taken to protect life and property at home 
 while her troops and ships of war were in America on 
 a mission of plunder and murder, applying the torch 
 where starvation and slaughter had left the dwellings 
 tenantless. Before the sentinels on shore were aware 
 of what was happening they were prisoners, securely 
 locked in the guard-house of the old fortress at White- 
 haven. Without a moment's delay all the cannon were 
 spiked, and Jones, accompanied by Lieutenant Green, 
 ran to the southern fort, a quarter of a mile distant 
 from where they landed, and spiked the remaining 
 cannon. When they returned to the place of landing 
 Jones was surprised to find that his orders to fire the 
 shipping had not been complied with. This task had 
 been delegated to a Mr. Hill and Lieutenant Wallings- 
 ford, who had returned to the Ranger as soon as Jones 
 started for the lower fort. 
 
 Jones was naturally very much chagrined at this 
 failure to have had his orders complied with, but, not 
 wishing to have his long cherished plans end in failure, 
 almost single-handed he proceeded to fire a large ves- 
 sel lying beside the fort. He procured a barrel of tar 
 and poured it down the hatchway and over the decks, 
 applying the torch at the same time. A strong wind 
 was blowing landward, and he had strong hopes that 
 the elements would assist him in spreading alarm and 
 destruction in all the shipping along the Solway. He 
 then stationed himself, with a pistol in each hand, so 
 as to prevent the fire from being extinguished by the 
 enraged citizens, and when the fire had gained great 
 headway he returned in an open boat to the Ranger to 
 
 
Goes to Europe. 85 
 
 wsLtch the work of destruction beyond the range of mus- 
 ketry from the shore. 
 
 Speaking of the attempt to destroy the city of White- 
 haven and her shipping, Jones says in his journal: 
 "Had it been possible to have landed a few hours 
 sooner success would have been complete; not a single 
 ship out of more than two hundred could possibly have 
 escaped. What was done, however, is sufficient to show 
 that not all their boasted navy can protect their own 
 coasts, and that the scenes of distress which they have 
 occasioned in America may soon be brought home to 
 their own doors. One of my people (David Smith) 
 was missing, and must, I fear, have fallen into the 
 enemy's hands after our departure. I was pleased that 
 in this business we neither killed nor wounded. I 
 brought off three prisoners as a sample." 
 
 At about noon, April 23, the Ranger landed at St. 
 Mary's Isle, on the south coast of Scotland. A small 
 boat with twelve men, including Captain Jones, put off 
 from the Eanger to effect the capture of Lord Selkirk, 
 who was much in favor with the King. Jones reasoned 
 that the King would give every American prisoner then 
 in English prisons in exchange for Lord Selkirk, so 
 valuable were his services held as a member of Parlia- 
 ment. We can imagine Jones' disappointment when 
 a thorough search of the island estate failed to find its 
 proprietor. Although cautioned by Jones not to dis- 
 turb the estate or any other member of Selkirk's house- 
 hold, the men could not resist the temptation to carry 
 off a few trophies in the shape of valuable family plate. 
 Captain Jones remained near the boat and did not go 
 
86 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 with the men to search for Lord Selkirk, and his letter 
 to Lady Selkirk shows that while he had no hand in 
 the plunder, he was not unaware that his orders had 
 been disobeyed, and that much valuable property was 
 carried away in the Eanger, of which he was Captain. 
 It is concerning this descent upon St. Mary's Isle that 
 brought forth the following famous letter to the Coun- 
 tess of Selkirk: 
 
 Eanger, Brest, 8th May, 1778. 
 
 Madame — It cannot be too much lamented that, in 
 the profession of arms, the officer of fine feelings and 
 real sensibility should be under the necessity of wink- 
 ing at any action of persons under his command which 
 his heart cannot approve; but the reflection is doubly 
 severe where he finds himself obliged, in appearance, 
 to countenance such acts by his authority. 
 
 The hard case was mine, when, on the 23d of April 
 last, I landed on St. Mary's Isle. Knowing Lord Sel- 
 kirk's interest with the King, and esteeming, as I do, 
 his private character, I wished to make him the happy 
 instrument of alleviating the horrors of hopeless cap- 
 tivity, when the brave are overpowered and made pris- 
 oners of war. 
 
 It was, perhaps, fortunate for you, madame, that he 
 was from home, for it was my intention to have taken 
 him, until, through his means, a general and fair ex- 
 change of prisoners, as well in Europe as in America, 
 had been effected. When I was informed by some men 
 whom I met at the landing that his Lordship was ab- 
 sent, I walked back to my boat, determined to leave the 
 island. * * * 
 
Goes to Europe. 87 
 
 Though I have drawn my sword in the present gen- 
 erous struggle for the rights of men, yet I am not in 
 arms as an American, nor am I in pursuit of riches. 
 My fortune is liberal enough, having no wife nor fam- 
 ily, and having lived long enough to know that riches 
 cannot insure happiness, I am content. I profess my- 
 self a citizen of the world, totally unfettered by the lit- 
 tle, mean distinctions of climate or of country, which 
 diminish benevolence of the heart and set bounds to 
 philanthropy. Before this war began I had at an early 
 time of life withdrawn from the sea-service in favor 
 of "calm contemplation and poetic ease.^^ I have sac- 
 rificed not onl}^ my favorite scheme of life, but the 
 softer affections of the heart, and I am ready to sacri- 
 fice my life also with cheerfulness, if that forfeiture 
 could restore peace and good will among mankind. 
 
 ^s the feelings of your gentle bosom cannot but be 
 congenial with mine, let me entreat you, madame, to 
 use your persuasive art with your husband to endeavor 
 to stop this cruel and destructive war, in which Britain 
 can never succeed. 
 
 Heaven can never countenance the barbarous and 
 unmanly practice of the Britons in America, which 
 savages would blush at, and which, if not discontinued, 
 will soon be retaliated on Britain by a justly enraged 
 people. Should you fail in this (for I am persuaded 
 that you will attempt it, and who can resist the power 
 of such an advocate?), your endeavors to effect a gen- 
 eral exchange of prisoners will be an act of humanity 
 which will afford you golden feelings on a deathbed. 
 I hope this cruel contest will soon be closed, but 
 
88 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 should it be continued, I wage no war with the fair. I 
 acknowledge their force and bend before it with sub- 
 mission. Let not, therefore, the amiable Countess of 
 Selkirk regard me as an enemy; I am ambitious of her 
 esteem and friendship, and would do anything, con* 
 sistent with my duty, to merit it. 
 
 The honor of a line from your hand in answer to 
 this will lay me under a singular obligation; and if I 
 can render you any acceptable service in France or else- 
 where, I hope you see into my character so far as to 
 command me without the least grain of reserve. 
 
 I wish to know exactly the behavior of my people, as 
 I am determined to punish them if they exceeded their 
 liberty. I have the honor to be, with much esteem and 
 with profound respect, madame, your pbedient and 
 humble servant, John Paul Jones. 
 
 To the Countess of Selkirk, St. Mary's Isle. 
 
 On the morning of the 24th the Ranger and the 
 British ship-of-war Drake engaged in a terrific battle 
 off Carrickfergus, Ireland. When the Drake came out 
 from shore she was accompanied by five small vessels 
 full of people, who were led by curiosity to see an en- 
 gagement, and, as they thought, the capture of some 
 North Sea robber. But when they saw the Drake at 
 the Ranger's stern they hastened to places of safety. 
 As soon as the former recognized her antagonist as a 
 ship-of-war belonging to the American Navy she hoisted 
 the English colors, and at the same moment Jones or- 
 dered up the Stars and Stripes. Running close to the 
 Banger, the deck officer called for the name of the 
 
 %♦ 
 
Goes to Europe. 89 
 
 "stranger/^ to which Jones replied through the master: 
 "This is the American Continental ship Eanger. We 
 are waiting for yon — come ont V The action was hot, 
 close and obstinate, and lasted just one hour and four 
 minutes, when the Drake struck her colors, but not un- 
 til her rigging had been completely carried away and 
 her crew disabled. Captain Jones lost but three killed 
 and three wounded, the former being Lieutenant \Yal- 
 lingsford, John Dougall and Nathaniel Wills. The 
 British lost in killed and wounded forty-two men, in- 
 cluding her captain and first lieutenant. 
 
 The Eanger was badly damaged in its engagement 
 with the Drake, but not enough to require overhauling. 
 The distance to the nearest friendly port was too great, 
 and Jones was unwilling to return to France until he 
 had accomplished a more signal victory than the cap- 
 ture of one small vessel, which he was compelled to 
 carry in tow. Eepairs were hastily made on board, 
 while the Eanger was prowling around looking for 
 trouble from any source, such as sinking merchantmen, 
 overhauling brigs, burning shipping and engaging 
 ships-of-war belonging to the enemy, nothing being 
 deemed too hazardous for Jones to attempt. 
 
 The number of prisoners confined in the hold of the 
 little fleet of three vessels — the Eanger, the Lord Chat- 
 ham and the Drake — already exceeded the number com- 
 prising the Eanger's original crew. Jones was naturally 
 very much concerned in the safe delivery of these pris- 
 oners in France, for he realized that the hundred or 
 two prisoners he had meant the release of an equal 
 number of Americans undergoing inhuman treatment 
 
90 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 in English prisons, guarded by such keepers as Cun- 
 ningham, the notorious British provost-marshal, whose 
 fiendish treatment of Nathan Hale and other prisoners 
 in New York and Philadelphia finally brought him to 
 the gallows. 
 
 After cruising for several days in the vicinity of the 
 Isle of Man, Jones decided to return to Brest to dis- 
 pose of his prisoners and the two prize ships, the Drake 
 and the Lord Chatham. Instead of returning as he 
 had come, by way of St. George's Channel and the Irish 
 Sea, he went north to Belfast and Carrickfergus, round- 
 ed the northern end of Ireland and down the west 
 coast. At Belfast some Irish prisoners taken from 
 a brig captured near the Eock of Ailse April 25 
 were, on the morning of the 21st, released, being sent 
 ashore in a good boat and supplied with sufficient money 
 to carry them to their homes near Dublin. After leav- 
 ing Belfast the Eanger met with but one encounter of 
 any importance, for the route led far out into the 
 Atlantic, until they came in sight of Cape Clear, when 
 they steered straight for the coast of France. Twenty- 
 eight days after leaving Brest the Eanger returned 
 with 176 prisoners and two magnificent prizes. Jones' 
 loss consisted of three killed, three wounded and one 
 (Green) left behind at Whitehaven, who afterward 
 proved to be a spy and a deserter. In addition to the 
 prisoners and prizes the cannon and ammunition were 
 sufficient to equip a small ship, which, together with 
 provisions captured from some dozen or more brigs, 
 encouraged Jones to make a second attempt on White- 
 haven, or, perhaps, a descent on Leith, Cardiff or even 
 
Goes to Europe. 91 
 
 Liverpool, if Franklin's judgment was not against fur- 
 ther attempts of this kind. 
 
 England was now on the very eve of declaring war 
 against France. The plenipotentiaries of the United 
 States had been publicly received at Versailles during 
 Jones' cruise along the English coast. The treaty be- 
 tween France and America had just been signed. The 
 French Ambassador at London had been ordered to 
 leave, and by the decisive engagement between the Are- 
 thusa and La Belle Poule the first blow between Eng- 
 land and France had been struck. The most active 
 preparations were going on throughout the whole of the 
 three kingdoms. All winter and spring, in anticipa- 
 tion of a war with France, volunteer corps, defensible 
 bands and regiments had been organizing, and the navy 
 hastily augmented, until several hundred vessels were 
 in a fairly seaworthy condition. 
 
 The first leisure Captain Jones had upon reaching 
 Brest was occupied in writing to the Countess of Sel- 
 kirk. This letter concerning the descent of the Ranger 
 upon St. Mary's Isle, when the estate was plundered, 
 and much valuable plate and some provisions were car- 
 ried off, has been made the subject of much comment, 
 and shows the romantic side of the life of Paul Jones. 
 It represents the character of the writer in a new and 
 certainly not unpleasant light. Not all of the letter 
 has been given, but enough, however, to show the ad- 
 mirable character of Jones, even if the style or the ap- 
 propriateness be questioned. Had the same generous 
 spirit of hostility been displayed throughout Great 
 Britain and the Colonies, how much misery, wantonly 
 
92 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 inflicted, might have been averted ! How much of that 
 bitterness of feeling engendered between these coun- 
 tries, having in common so many powerful bonds of al- 
 liance, might have been prevented ! 
 
 How often, it may be asked, does the romance of real 
 life exist till the age of thirty? In this historic letter 
 to the Countess of Selkirk, awakened and softened by 
 the scenes of his boyhood, under circumstances so ex- 
 traordinary, he was less at home in addressing high- 
 born dames than in drawing up memorials to Congress. 
 Dr. Franklin, to whom the epistle was inclosed, says 
 in a note to Jones : "It is a gallant letter, which 
 must give her Ladyship a high and just opinion of your 
 generosity and nobleness of mind." Lord Selkirk wrote 
 a letter in reply to that addressed by Captain Jones to 
 the Countess, intimating that he would accept the re- 
 turn of his plate if made by order of Congress, but 
 would not if it came only through individual generosity. 
 But, owing to Jones' absence in America, this letter 
 did not reach him until 1784, or more than four years 
 after it was mailed from Dumfries, Scotland. In the 
 meantime the plate had been repurchased by Jones and 
 lodged with Gourlade & Moylan, bankers, at Paris, 
 where it was held subject to the order of Lord Selkirk. 
 
 In a letter "To Monsieur Le Chevalier Paul Jones," 
 at Paris, dated London, August 4, 1789, Lord Selkirk 
 not only exonerates Jones from all responsibility in the 
 loss of his plate, but took the trouble to cause adver- 
 tisements to be published in all of the leading papers 
 in England and Scotland that Jones was in no way 
 blameworthy or censurable, and that everything that 
 
Goes to Europe. 93 
 
 was done at his estate was done with the consent of his 
 own servants. He closes his testimony to Jones by sub- 
 scribing himself, "I am, sir, your most humble servant, 
 Selkirk." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN COMMAND OF THE BON HOMME RICHARD. 
 
 Shortly after Captain Jones reached Brest he re- 
 ceived a letter from Franklin congratulating him on his 
 late successes along the English and Scottish coasts, 
 and in the same letter he proposed another expedition. 
 '^The Jersey privateers," he said, "do us a great deal 
 of mischief by intercepting our supplies. It has been 
 mentioned to me that your small vessel, commanded by 
 so brave an officer, might render great service by fol- 
 lowing them where greater ships dare not venture, or 
 being accompanied and supported by some frigates 
 from Brest, at a proper distance, might draw them out 
 and take them. I wish you to consider this, as it 
 comes from high authority.'^ 
 
 In replying to Franklin's letter Captain Jones could 
 not be expected to refrain altogether from comment- 
 ing on the use to which he and his vessel were to be 
 put. A decoy of the French frigate, with no prospect 
 of a separate command, did not appeal strongly to 
 Jones' sense of honor. "Nothing could give me more 
 pleasure," writes Jones in reply, "than to render essen- 
 tial service to America in any way you may find expe- 
 dient. I demand nothing, and though I know it was 
 the intention of Congress to give me that ship that is 
 
 D4 
 
 • I 
 
In Command of the Bon Homme. 95 
 
 now building at Amsterdam, I am now ready to go 
 wherever the service calls me. If two or three fast- 
 sailing ships could be gotten together, there is a 
 great choice of private enterprises that I can name, 
 some of which might effectually succeed, and would be 
 far more for the interest and honor of America than 
 cruising with twice the force. It appears to me to 
 be the province of our infant navy to surprise and 
 spread alarms with fast-sailing ships. When we grow 
 stronger we can meet their (the British) fleets and 
 dispute with them the sovereignty of the ocean." 
 
 The following letter from Franklin, written as a 
 private epistle, offered such dazzling prospects that the 
 plans suggested by Captain Jones were for the time 
 being forgotten. Captain Jones was a man of quick 
 impulse, and though he acted on first impressions he 
 seldom suffered any costly reverses. What at first prom- 
 ised much often proved a source of trouble and vexa- 
 tion, and nowhere has it appeared more than when he 
 was given command of the Epervier: 
 
 (Private.) 
 Captain John Paul Jones: 
 
 Dear Sir — I have the pleasure of informing you 
 that it is proposed to give you the command of the 
 great ship we have built at Amsterdam. By what you 
 wrote us formerly, I have ventured to say in your be- 
 half that this proposition would be agreeable to you. 
 You will immediately let me know your resolution, 
 which, you may be more clear in taking, I must in- 
 form you of some circumstances. She is at present the 
 
96 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame, 
 
 property of the King, but as there is no war yet de- 
 clared, you will have the commission and flag of the 
 States and act under their orders and laws. The Prince 
 of Nassau will make the cruise with you. She is to be 
 brought here under French cover as a French mer- 
 chantman, to be equipped and manned in France. We 
 hope to exchange your prisoners for as many American 
 sailors, but if that fails, you have your present crew, 
 to be made up here with other nations and French. 
 The other Commissioners are not acquainted with this 
 proposition as yet, and you see by the nature of it that 
 it is necessary to be kept a secret here, for fear of dif- 
 ficulties in Holland and interception. You will there- 
 fore direct your letter to me alone. It being desired 
 that the affair should rest between you and me, per- 
 haps it may be best for you to take a trip up here to 
 consult matters, if in general you approve the idea. I 
 was much pleased with reading your journal, which 
 we received yesterday. 
 
 I am ever, dear sir, your affectionate friend and 
 humble servant, B. Franklin. 
 
 The correspondence between Jones and Franklin 
 showed an intimate friendship, and must have reslilted 
 from the latter's confidence in Jones' seamanship and 
 his faith in his display of patriotism. The frequency 
 v/ith which Franklin wrote Jones in private^ offering 
 plans for various expeditions along the English coast, is 
 evidence that the latter's mission to Europe was deemed 
 by the Commissioners of supreme importance, if not 
 positively essential to the success of the Colonies. In 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
In Command of tlie Bon Homme. 97 
 
 the receipt of this last letter from Franklin Jones must 
 have been exceedingly gratified, for it conveyed to him 
 the information that his long-cherished ambition for 
 "a separate command with unlimited orders" had at 
 last been granted, and he believed the summit of his 
 naval career and the climax of the war would be 
 reached when, in his new command, he met the British 
 fleets, no matter what might be their strength. 
 
 On the 6th of February, 1778, the treaty of com- 
 merce and defensible alliance which ultimately secured 
 the independence of the United States was signed in 
 Paris, and a few days thereafter Franklin was ap- 
 pointed Ambassador to France. Within a few weeks 
 the British Minister to France was recalled, which was. 
 understood to be a declaration of war. As the guardian 
 of American interests in Europe, Franklin^s appoint- 
 ment must have pleased Captain Jones greatly, for no 
 man in Europe, save Silas Deane and Henry Lee, pos- 
 sessed his confidence m.ore than Paul Jones. For more 
 than a year Deane and Lee had met daily with Franklin 
 to devise means of procuring aid, financial as well as 
 in transporting men and equipments across the Atlan- 
 tic to reinforce the Colonists, struggling desperately 
 for their rights as men and immunity from unjust 
 laws. In their daily associations the three men formed 
 a friendship that lasted until each went to his grave. 
 
 In a note to the French Minister of Marine, M. de 
 Sartin, who had placed Jones in favor with the King, 
 he says : "I am bound in honor to communicate faith- 
 fully to Congress the generous offer which the King 
 now makes, of lending the Epervier, in the meantime 
 
98 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to be employed under my command and under the flag 
 of America. I have now under my command a ship 
 bound to America. On my arrival there, from the for- 
 mer confidence of Congress, I have reason to expect an 
 immediate removal into one of their best ships. I have 
 reason to expect also the chief command of the first 
 squadron destined for an expedition, having in my pos- 
 session several similar appointments, and when Con- 
 gress sees fit to appoint admirals, I have assurance 
 that my name will not be forgot. But as I prefer a 
 solid to a shining reputation, a useful to a splendid 
 command, I hold myself ready, with the approbation 
 of the Commissioners, to be governed by you in any 
 measures that may tend to distress and humble the 
 common enemy." 
 
 It must be admitted that in all his public career Cap- 
 tain Jones never lacked the courage to express his con- 
 victions, whether in defense of his own course or the 
 apparent incompetency of others. Whether he sought 
 to forward his own interests or those of the Colonies 
 in his frequent reference to rebuffs and neglect, we 
 should be charitable in our estimate of the man, for 
 his subsequent acts proved his unbounded loyalty to 
 the States of America and its flag, on which the sun 
 never sets. 
 
 The prospect of immediate active service and with a 
 much larger force than he had ever commanded ap- 
 peared very encouraging in July, but toward the end 
 of August his hopes again began to fade, and he cast 
 about to ascertain the cause of this unmerited neglect. 
 September came, and with it redoubled effort on the 
 
In Command of tlie Bon Homme. 99 
 
 part of the English to suppress the growing sentiment 
 in France, not only for giving aid to the Americans, but 
 also to check the spirit of invasion which threatened to 
 assume such proportions as to force her to fortify not 
 only her coast cities, but the interior towns as well. 
 
 France was little better prepared for war with Eng- 
 land than were the Colonies, and the few seaworthy 
 vessels comprising the French navy were commanded 
 by French officers and manned by Frenchmen, even to 
 the last of the boatswains. There seemed to be no dis- 
 position on the part of the ministry to provide for Cap- 
 tain Jones or anyone else not already employed in the 
 service of the King. While Jones would spurn an offer 
 to command a ship from whose mast he would be com- 
 pelled to fly the flag of France, he likewise would re- 
 fuse a command where the Congress of the United 
 States was not the sole arbiter of his conduct, and to 
 whom alone he would be responsible. While his sea- 
 manship and extraordinary courage was everywhere 
 recognized, the King was obliged to provide commands 
 for his own officers, many of whom were then in com- 
 parative idleness. Though the large vessel nearing 
 completion at Amsterdam was primarily intended for 
 America, for reasons known only to Franklin and the 
 ministry, its construction was delayed by orders re- 
 ceived from the King's Minister of Marine, M. de 
 Sartin. 
 
 On the 13th of September Captain Jones again wrote 
 
 de Sartin a lengthy letter, in which he deplored the 
 
 Minister's lack of faith, and, pointing out at great 
 
 length the many discourtesies and neglect that had been 
 
 -LofC. 
 
100 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 shown him during his enforced idleness from May till 
 September. He took the precaution to show the letter 
 to the Due de Eochef oucault, after which he forwarded 
 it to Franklin, with the request to hand it to the Min- 
 ister. To Franklin, Jones inclosed the following note, 
 in v/hich he asks him to intercede in his behalf and 
 secure, if possible, som^e explanation for the humiliat- 
 ing attitude in which he was placed before his crew: 
 "It is vain," he writes, "for the Minister to pretend 
 that he has not ships to bestow. I know the contrary. 
 He has bestowed the Eenommee and others here since 
 my return to Brest, and there are yet several new ships 
 unbestowed at St. Malo and elsewhere. I know, too, 
 that unless the States of Holland oppose it the Indian 
 can be got afloat with a tenth part of the difficulty that 
 has been represented. If I was worth his notice at the 
 beginning, I am not less so now. After all, you have 
 desired me to have patience, and I promise you that I 
 will wait your kind ad\dce and take no ship without 
 your approbation. If it was consistent and conven- 
 ient for you to see M. de Sartin I shoul(J hope that 
 such an explanation would be the consequence as might 
 remove every cause of uneasiness." 
 
 Day after day Jones continued to write Franklin, 
 urging his intervention and suggesting many vessels 
 that might be given him to command. Gradually, as 
 his hopes decreased, Jones lowered his demands and 
 spoke less freely concerning his plans of harassing the 
 enemy. Many letters, however, passed between him and 
 de Sartin, and as often did he write the Due de Roche- 
 foucault and M. Le Eoy de Chaumont, the latter being 
 
In Command of the Bon Homme. 101 
 
 a former member of the French Cabinet. In a letter 
 to M. Le Roy he says: "I have already lost near five 
 months of my time^, the best season of the year, and 
 such opportunities of serving my country and acquiring 
 honor as I cannot again expect this war, while I have 
 been thus shamefully entrapped in inaction, my duty 
 and sensibility cannot brook this unworthy situation." 
 After another anxious period of suspense Jones, worn 
 out with waiting, "half killed," as he strongly expressed 
 himself, addressed a long letter to the King. The de- 
 livery of this letter he intrusted to the Duchess de 
 Chartres, and with a personal appeal to the Due de la 
 Eochefoucault to be present to interpret his meaning 
 should the King not be able to understand the spirit of 
 his appeal. The letter was first sent to Franklin for 
 his perusal, after which it was his wish, he said, that it 
 be handed to the Duchess for delivery : 
 
 LETTER TO THE KING. 
 
 Brest, October 19^, 1778. 
 Sire: 
 
 After my return to Brest in the American ship of 
 war the Eanger, from the Irish Channel, his Excel- 
 lency Dr. Franklin informed me by letter, dated June 
 1, that M. de Sartin, having a high opinion of my 
 conduct and bravery, had determined, with your 
 Majesty's consent and approbation, to give me the com- 
 mand of the ship of war the Indian, which was built 
 at Amsterdam for America, but afterwards, for politi- 
 cal reasons, made the property of France. 
 
102 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 I was to act with unlimited orders under the com- 
 mission and flag of America, and the Prince de Nas- 
 sau proposed to accompany me on the ocean. 
 
 I was deeply penetrated with the sense of the honor 
 done me by this generous proposition, as well as of the 
 favor your Majesty intended thereby to confer on 
 America. And I accepted the offer with the greater 
 pleasure, as the Congress had sent me to Europe in the 
 Eanger, to command the Indian, before the ownership 
 of that vessel was changed. 
 
 The minister desired to see me at Versailles to settle 
 future plans of operation, and I attended him for that 
 purpose. I was told that the Indian was at the Texel 
 completely armed and fitted for sea; but the Prince de 
 Nassau was sent express to Holland, and returned with 
 a very different account. The ship was at Amsterdam 
 and could not be got afloat or armed before the Sep- 
 tember equinox. The American plenipotentiaries pro- 
 posed that I should return to America, and as I have 
 repeatedly been appointed to the chief command of an 
 American squadron to execute secret enterprises, it was 
 not doubted but that Congress would again show me 
 a preference. M. de Sartin, however, thought proper 
 to prevent my departure by writing to the plenipoten- 
 tiaries (without my knowledge), requesting that I 
 might be permitted to remain in Europe, and that the 
 Eanger might be sent back to America under another 
 commander, he having special services which he wished 
 me to execute. This request they readily granted, and 
 I was flattered by the prospect of being enabled to tes- 
 tify, by my services, my gratitude to your Majesty, as 
 
In Command of tlie Bon Homme. 103 
 
 the first prince who has so generously acknowledged 
 our independence. 
 
 There was an interval of more than three months be- 
 fore the Indian could be gotten afloat. To employ that 
 period usefully, when your Majesty's fleet was ordered 
 to sail from Brest, I proposed to the Minister to em- 
 bark in it as a volunteer, in pursuit of marine knowl- 
 edge. He objected to this; at the same time approved 
 of a variety of hints for private enterprises which I 
 had drawn up for his consideration. Two gentlemen 
 were appointed to settle with me the plans that were 
 to be adopted, who gave me the assurance that three of 
 the best frigates in France, with two tenders, and a 
 number of troops, should be immediately put under my 
 command, to pursue such of my own projects as I 
 thought proper; but this fell to nothing, when I be- 
 lieved that your Majesty's signature only was wanting. 
 
 Another armament, composed of cutters and small 
 vessels, at L' Orient, was proposed to be put under my 
 command, to alarm the coast of England and check 
 the Jersey privateers, but, happily for me, this also 
 failed, and I was saved from ruin and dishonor, as I 
 now find that all the vessels sailed slow, and their 
 united force is very insignificant. The Minister then 
 thought fit that I should return to Brest to command 
 the Lively and join some frigates on an expedition from 
 St. Malo to the North Sea. I returned in haste for 
 that purpose, and found that the Lively had been be- 
 stowed at Brest before the Minister had mentioned that 
 ship to me at Versailles. This was, however, another 
 fortunate disappointment, as the Lively proves, both 
 
104 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 in sailing and equipment, nmcli inferior to the Eanger ; 
 but, more especially, if it be true, as I have since un- 
 derstood, that the Minister intended to give the chief 
 command of the expedition to a lieutenant, which would 
 have occasioned a very disagreeable misunderstanding, 
 for, as an officer of the first rank in the American 
 marine, who has ever been honored with the favor and 
 friendship of Congress, I can receive orders from no 
 inferior officer whatever. My plan was the destruction 
 of the English Baltic fleet, of great consequence to the 
 enemy's marine, and then only protected by a single 
 frigate ! I would have held myself responsible for its 
 success had I commanded the expedition. 
 
 M. de Sartin afterwards sent orders to Count 
 D'Orvilliers to receive me on board the fleet, agreeably 
 to my former proposal; but the order did not arrive 
 until after the departure of the fleet the last time from 
 Brest, nor was I made acquainted with the circum- 
 stances before the fleet returned here. 
 
 Thus have I been chained down to shameful inac- 
 tivity for nearly five months. I have lost the best sea- 
 son of the year, and such opportunities of serving my 
 country and acquiring honor as I cannot again expect 
 this war; and, to my infinite mortification, having no 
 command, I am considered everywhere an officer cast 
 off and in disgrace for secret reasons. 
 
 I have written respectful letters to the Minister, none 
 of which he has condescended to answer ; I have written 
 to the Prince de Nassau with as little effect; and I do 
 not understand that any apology has been made to the 
 great and venerable Dr. Franklin, whom the Minister 
 
In Command of tlie Bon Homme. 105 
 
 has made the instrument of bringing me into such un- 
 merited trouble. 
 
 Having written to Congress to reserve no command 
 for me in America, my sensibility is the more affected 
 by this unworthy situation in the sight of your Majes- 
 ty's fleet. I, however, make no remark on the treat- 
 ment I have received. 
 
 Although I wish not to become my own panegyrist, I 
 must beg your Majesty's permission to observe that I 
 am not an adventurer in search of fortune, of which, 
 thank God, I have a sufficiency. 
 
 When the American banner was first displayed, I 
 drew my sword in support of the violated dignity and 
 rights of human nature, and both honor and duty 
 prompt me steadfastly to continue the righteous pur- 
 suit, and to sacrifice to it, not only my private enjoy- 
 ments, but even life, if necessary. I must acknowledge 
 that the generous praise which I have received from 
 Congress and others exceeds the merit of my past serv- 
 ices; therefore I the more ardently wish for future op- 
 portunities of testifying my gratitude by my activity. 
 
 As your Majesty, by espousing the cause of America, 
 hath become the protector of the rights of human na- 
 ture, I am persuaded that you will not disregard my 
 situation, nor suffer me to remain any longer in this 
 insupportable disgrace. 
 
 I am, with perfect gratitude and profound respect. 
 Sire, your Majesty's very obliged, very obedient and 
 very humble servant, 
 
 J. Paul Jones. 
 
106 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 There is no satisfactory evidence that the letter was 
 ever presented to the King. No allusion whatever 
 is made to the impression it made on him in his 
 journal or correspondence, and the early biographers 
 of Captain Jones declare that if the letter was deliv- 
 ered it was in opposition to Franklin's wishes, and it is 
 certain that Jones did nothing contrary to Franklin's 
 judgment for fear of jeopardizing the good opinion the 
 latter had for him. For this reason it is commonly 
 believed that the letter was returned to the Duchess and 
 by her destroyed. 
 
 Mr. Temple Franklin, the grandson of Benjamin 
 Franklin and secretary of the Commissioners to France, 
 fully sympathized with his compatriot in arms, as did 
 the Commissioners, but diplomacy demanded silence on 
 their part, while all the appointments in the navy were 
 being given to French officers. 
 
 On the 22d of October young Franklin wrote Jones 
 at length, setting forth the reasons why the Commis- 
 sioners did not intercede in his behalf, and counseled 
 patience, as his grandfather had done on many previous 
 occasions. The letter was not sent until the 24th. On 
 that date Franklin concluded his letter with a post- 
 script, in which he says: "Since writing the above I 
 have received yours of the 19th (the letter to the King). 
 I would willingly do everything you there desire of me, 
 but it is my grandfather's opinion that there will be no 
 occasion to send those letters; and I imagine they were 
 written before you heard of the Minister's final deter- 
 mination. If, however, you still think they ought to be 
 Bent, you have only to order it." Doubtless the time 
 
In Command of the Bon Homme. 107 
 
 intervening between the writing of the letter and the 
 postscript was spent in correspondence or in consulta- 
 tion with de Sartin, and the mailing of the letter was 
 delayed by Franklin in order to ascertain the Minister's 
 intentions with respect to Jones. Fortunately, how- 
 ever, the appointment had been made several days be- 
 fore, but the commission had not reached Jones at the 
 time he sent the letter to Franklin intended for the 
 King. 
 
 In a letter to Chaumont, dated November 30, a 
 month after his appointment, in speaking of de Sar- 
 tin, Jones says: "My best respects and most grate- 
 ful thanks await the Minister for the very honorable 
 thing said of me to the Due de la Eochefoucault. It 
 shall be my ambition, when he gives me opportunity, to 
 merit his favor and affection.'' Had Jones then known 
 of the disappointments yet in store for him he would 
 not have been so hasty in expressing his gratitude to 
 the Minister for the prospects of an immediate com- 
 mand, but to follow the long train of vexatious delays 
 and intentional slights and petty disappointm.ents that 
 this courageous man was yet to encounter before he was 
 again in active service would only prolong the reader's, 
 suspense in following the career of this heroic charac- 
 ter. Several times during the ten months of his en- 
 forced idleness at Brest he was offered the command 
 of privateers, but as often did he decline, for the com- 
 mission he held from Congress was that of a captaincy 
 in the American Navy, and his sensibility would not 
 permit him to associate the command of a squadron 
 flying the American colors with that of privateering 
 
108 elohn Paul Joues of Naval Fame. 
 
 in French vessels responsible only to the King. It 
 must not be forgotten that Jones had received nothing 
 for his services since entering the navy, and it is well 
 known that had he followed the King's wishes in pri- 
 vateering against the English he would have been able 
 in a short time to have retired with an ample fortune. 
 
 In one of his letters to de Sartin he says in refer- 
 ence to his entering the privateer service : "Were I in 
 pursuit of profit I would accept it without hesitation, 
 but I am under such obligations to Congress that I 
 cannot think myself my own master, and as a servant 
 of the Imperial Republic of America, honored with the 
 public approbation for my past services, I cannot, from 
 my own authority or inclination, serve either myself or 
 even my best friends, in any private line whatever." 
 
 Thus the winter of ^78 passed, and aside from the 
 trip to Paris, Versailles and Passy, Captain Jones em- 
 ployed his time in correspondence and in making such 
 entries in his journal as he wished to submit to the 
 Congress upon his return to America. He did not, how- 
 ever, lose faith in Franklin, but he was beginning to 
 chafe under his long enforced idleness, when he knew 
 there was so much to be done if the Colonies were ever 
 to be free. 
 
 At last the day came when a command was offered 
 him that his judgment approved^ and he chose the Due 
 de Duras, lying at L'Orient, in preference to the Mar- 
 shal de Broglio, then at Passy, for he was unable to 
 man the latter vessel, owing to the loss of all but three 
 of his men, who left the service during his long idle- 
 ness at Brest. Captain Jones obtained permission to 
 
In Command of the Bon Homme. 109 
 
 change the name of the Due de Duras to ^Toor Rich- 
 ard/' or, translated into French, *^'Bon Homme Rich- 
 ard/' in compliment to a saying of Franklin : "If you 
 would have your business done faithfully and expedi- 
 tiously, come yourself; if not, send some one." 
 
 Jones was not long in collecting a crew; the three 
 men at Brest were ordered to L' Orient where, with 
 their assistance, Jones succeeded in enlisting as motley 
 a crowd as ever sailed before the mast. Few had ever 
 been on board a ship of war, and those who had were in 
 the most part undisciplined and spoke only their native 
 tongue. Every nation in Europe, and not a few from 
 all other continents and Islands of the Seas, was repre- 
 sented on the muster roll of the Bon Homme Richard. 
 There were Irish, Portuguese, Swedes, Norwegians, 
 Scotch, Italians, French, Germans, English, Spaniards, 
 Malays, Turks, Americans, Mexicans an.d one lone 
 negro from Cuba on board the ship that was destined 
 to win for her commander eternal fame and the distinc- 
 tion of being the founder of the American navy. The 
 confusion of tongues added to the many discomfitures 
 that yet confronted Jones, but in order to lessen the 
 possibility of an outbreak among the crew he enlisted 
 135 French marines to help him maintain order. It is 
 singular that no mutiny occurred on this floating babel 
 and before the vessel had gotten well under way Cap- 
 tain Jones had this rabble of about 250 men under com- 
 plete subjection. 
 
 About this time the Alliance arrived at L'Orient 
 from America with a fairly efficient crew of American, 
 French, Canadian, and a number of impressed British 
 

 110 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 seamen. The ship sailed from Boston early in January, 
 1779, and had on board the distinguished General, Mar- 
 quis de LaFayette, who was returning to France after 
 an absence in America of nearly a year. Learning of 
 the formation of a large and formidable squadron to 
 be commanded by Captain Jones, LaFayette expressed 
 a desire to accompany the expedition. Jones was 
 therefore summoned to court, where it was arranged 
 to have LaFayette command a body of about 700 troops 
 to be selected by the King. There were several small 
 vessels lying in the harbor at L' Orient which were hasti- 
 ly put in readiness for immediate service. This little 
 squadron was to be composed of the Pallas, the brig 
 Vengeance, and the cutter Serf, besides the ships Al- 
 liance and Bon Homme Kichard. The first three men- 
 tioned were designated as "the troop ships," for they 
 were to carry the King's seven hundred troops under 
 command of General LaFayette. 
 
 Altogether the armada was to be a formidable one, 
 and its mission so all-important, and yet so hastily con- 
 ceived, that secrecy was deemed of the utmost import- 
 ance ; where there were so many contrary forces at work 
 the destination of the squadron soon became known all 
 over France, and in consequence was shortly afterward 
 abandoned "for political and military reasons" as 
 ascribed by LaFayette; it is believed, however, that the 
 expedition was dropped because the French ministry 
 became infatuated with the idea of invading England, 
 which was against the judgment of both Jones and La- 
 Fayette, whose ideas were to harass the merchant 
 
In Command of the Bon Homme. Ill 
 
 marine on the high seas and to destroy the shipping of 
 the coast cities of England. 
 
 While the expedition, as proposed by the ministry 
 and approved by the Commissioners, was temporarily 
 abandoned, yet Jones did not lose sight of the chief 
 purpose of the greater work of spreading alarm 
 throughout England and destroying all manner of craft 
 belonging to the enemy. Until some of his plans could 
 be perfected, the Bon Homme Eichard was sent to con- 
 voy troops, stores and merchandise for Bordeaux along 
 the Bay of Biscay. Captain Jones performed this 
 trifling service within a fortnight, after which he 
 cruised about with little aim or result for some days. 
 Jones' greatest fear during his absence was the separa- 
 tion of the fleet he had collected at L'Orient. He 
 begged Franklin to aid him in holding the squadron 
 together until he returned from his cruise in the Bay of 
 Biscay. He was fully determined to mal^ another at- 
 tempt on Whitehaven, Leith, or other coast cities, first 
 exacting ransomx from the municipalities in order to 
 enable him to equip and augment "the most formidable 
 naval force in the world." He would have under his 
 command, he figured, a fleet sufficiently large to enforce 
 his demands, and if not complied with he could bom- 
 bard the city with the hundred or more cannon on the 
 vessels comprising his squadron. 
 
 On the night of June 20, while the fleet lay off 
 Eochefort, shortly after leaving L'Orient on a short 
 cruise in the English Channel, the Alliance, manned 
 almost wholly by American seamen, but commanded by 
 Captain Landais, ran foul of the Bon Homme Eichard. 
 
112 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Both vessels were so badly damaged in the collision that 
 Captain Jones found it necessary to take them into the 
 Roads of Groix for refitting. Landais was a very 
 erratic Frenchman, and insanely jealous of Captain 
 Jones' growing fame as a naval commander, and from 
 subsequent events it was plainly evident that the col- 
 lision was not by accident, but a deliberate plan on the 
 part of Landais to have reflections cast on Jones' sea- 
 manship in order that he might become his successor 
 in command of the European squadron. 
 
 Jones was very much aggrieved at this stupidness of 
 Landais : he had chafed under the enforced idleness of 
 half a year spent at Brest and Passy and later at 
 L' Orient, and now he found himself with about 1,000 
 men passing six weeks in idleness at Groix while the 
 Alliance and Bon Homme Richard were both under- 
 going extensive repairs. Shortly after giving full di- 
 rections as to the repairs and alterations necessary, 
 Jones informed Franklin of the accident to the vessels 
 in his command, not forgetting to place the responsi- 
 bility for the accident where it belonged. A few days 
 thereafter Jones received a note from Franklin in 
 which, however, no reference was made to the accident 
 which was the chief burden of Jones' letter. It should 
 be remembered that it was the carrying out of the pro- 
 visions contained in Franklin's letter that brought 
 about the famous engagement between the Bon Homme 
 Richard and the Serapis, and gave to the American 
 navy a name and reputation that for more than a cen- 
 tury and a quarter has had no peer. Franklin's letter 
 is as follows : 
 
lu Command of tlie Bon Homme. 113 
 
 Passy, June 30, 1779. 
 Captain John Paul Jones: 
 
 Dear Sir — Being arrived at Groix, you are to make 
 the best of your way with the vessels under your com- 
 mand, to the west of Ireland and establish your cruise 
 on the Orcades, the Cape of Dernens and the Dogger 
 Bank, in order to take the enemy's property in those 
 seas. 
 
 The prizes you may make send to Dunkirk, Ostend or 
 Bergen, in Norway, according to your proximity to 
 either of those ports. Address them to the persons M. 
 de Chaumont shall indicate to you. 
 
 About the 15th of August, when you will have suffi- 
 ciently cruised in these seas, you are to make route for 
 the Texel, where you will meet my further orders. 
 
 If, by any personal accident, you should be rendered 
 unable to execute these instructions, the officer of your 
 squadron next in rank is to endeavor to put them in 
 execution. 
 
 With best wishes for your prosperity, I am, ever, dear 
 sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant. 
 
 B. Franklin. 
 The Honorable Captain Jones: 
 
 N. B. — If it should fall- in your way, remember that 
 the Hudson's Bay ships are very valuable. B. F. 
 
 At the time Jones wrote Franklin informing him of 
 the disabling of both the Bon Homme Richard and the 
 Alliance, he took occasion to again refer to the ship 
 then building at Amsterdam. "If the court," wrote 
 Jones, "is yet disposed to give me the ship which they 
 
114 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 at first offered, I think it possible in the present situa- 
 tion of my affairs to make a useful and honorable cruise 
 that way, with the force now under my command, and 
 afterwards to bring that ship out with the crew I now 
 have." 
 
 Franklin replied to this : "I have no other orders to 
 give; for as the court is at the chief expense, I think 
 they have the best right to direct. I observe what you 
 write about a change of the destination; but when a 
 thing has been once considered and determined on in 
 council, they do not care to resume the consideration of 
 it, having much business on hand, and there is not now 
 time to obtain a reconsideration." Franklin hinted, 
 however, that the intention of ordering the cruise to 
 finish at the Texel was with a view of getting out the 
 Indian; but this he said should be kept a secret. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OPERATIONS ON THE BRITISH COAST. 
 
 At daybreak on the 14th of August, 1779, the little 
 squadron comprising the five vessels, mentioned in the 
 enterprise fitted out at L' Orient, but now increased to 
 seven vessels by the addition of the Monsieur and the 
 Grandville, weighed anchor in the harbor of Groix. 
 The addition of the last two, each with their 40 and 14 
 guns respectively, gave the squadron of seven vessels a 
 total of 194 guns. The Bon Homme Richard had been 
 remanned with about 90 American seamen who had 
 been brought to France from England and exchanged 
 for a like number of British prisoners captured by 
 Jones off Carrickfergus and Whitehaven. The seven 
 vessels that now comprised the fleet under command 
 of Captain Jones was a most formidable one, "a force," 
 said Jones, "which might have effected great service 
 and done infinite injury to the enemy, had there been 
 secrecy and due subordination ; but unfortunately there 
 was neither." 
 
 From the middle of August till the middle of Sep- 
 tember this small fleet cruised in the English and St. 
 George's Channels, the Irish and North Seas. The 
 weather continued stormy from the 1st to the 13th of 
 September, and Jones kept the fleet well within sight 
 
 115 
 
116 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 of the coasts of Scotland and Ireland where they coidd 
 seek shelter within an hour should the stress of weather 
 require it. Before the middle of September the little 
 squadron had been reduced more than one half in num- 
 ber; only the Bon Homme Richard, the Pallas and the 
 Vengeance continued under the command of Captain 
 Jones. Landais succeeded in inducing the Captains of 
 the Monsieur the Grandville and the Serf to join the 
 Alliance in a separate cruise; but this wholesale deser- 
 tion did not dishearten Jones; on the contrary it gave 
 him renewed courage, and redoubled his ambition to per- 
 form greater and more signal service than he had yet 
 performed in behalf of the Colonies. He did not aban- 
 don the hope of accomplishing some marked service 
 in British waters; his reputation was at stake, and his 
 promise to the Marine Committee, to whom he held 
 himself in honor bound, to give a good account of him- 
 self and that of his ship in European waters, was never 
 lost sight of. He never forgot his obligations to the Con- 
 gress, whose good opinion he valued and whose confi- 
 dence he possessed to a surprising degree. He thought 
 of Franklin the embodiment of honor, truth and noble- 
 ness of character; he thought of Deane and Lee who 
 were giving Franklin substantial assistance, thereby en- 
 abling him to pursue his telling operations against the 
 common enemy. His conscience was not troubled, nor 
 his hopes blasted when he saw his once formidable 
 squadron reduced to three vessels whose combined arm- 
 ament was thought no match for the least in the im- 
 perial navy. 
 
 Instead of being disappointed, Captain Jones really 
 
Operations on the Britisli Coast. 117 
 
 felt relieved ; a burden seemed lifted from his shoulders 
 when he saw the Alliance, with her traitorous Com- 
 mander and her mutinous crew, disappearing in the 
 distance, closely followed bj the selfish little French 
 privateers that had all along been a source of annoyance 
 and constant anxiety to the independent and ambitious 
 Commander of the Bon Homme Eichard. It should be 
 stated that Captain Jones, with but very slight assist- 
 ance from the Commander of the Alliance, had, a day 
 or two before, captured a valuable prize-ship, the Union, 
 mounting twenty-two guns, and loaded with sails, rig- 
 ging, anchors, cables and other essential articles for the 
 navy Great Britain was building on the St. Lawrence. 
 Captain Jones had, however,, taken the precaution to 
 transfer all the stores to the Bon Homme Richard, not 
 wishing to trust Landais with both the prize and her 
 equipment. It was later discovered that the ^^mad 
 Frenchman," as Landais was everywhere known, had 
 carried off his prize together with a smaller one left in 
 his care wliile the Bon Homme Richard had gone in 
 pursuit of a Letter of Marque from Liverpool to Jamai- 
 ca, a ship carrying 20 guns and a valuable cargo, for 
 West Indian merchants. Landais steered straight for 
 Bergen, Norway, where Franklin had instructed Jones 
 to dispose of any prizes he might have taken when 
 near that port. As soon as Landais reached Bergen he 
 turned these two valuable prizes, worth about $150,000, 
 over to the British Ambassador in consideration of the 
 latter's promised effort to secure for him (Landais) an 
 admiralty in the British navy. It is needless to add 
 that nothing cam^e of this effort of Landais to break 
 
118 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 into the navy of Great Britain, for his despicable con- 
 duct and character were too well understood by the 
 British Admiralty to thus jeopardize the safety of either 
 the men or the ships of the Imperial navy. 
 
 After the separation of the fleet, Captain Jones en- 
 tered the North Sea and steered in a southerly direction 
 along the coast of Scotland. On the 15th of September 
 the three vessels appeared in the Firth of Forth just 
 off from the town of Leith which was the seaport of 
 Edinburgh, scarcely more than a mile distant. Had 
 Jones been in reality, as he was in name, the com- 
 mander of the squadron, a dash would have been made 
 on the town and Captain Jones' plan of securing a 
 handsome ransom succeeded; but either from fear or 
 obstinacy, the Captains of the Vengeance and Pallas 
 refused to obey the commands that came from the Bon 
 Homme Richard. Thus Jones was left with but a sin- 
 gle vessel out of seven that had sailed from Brest a 
 month before; he was determined, however, to accom- 
 plish some good before going to the Texel where he 
 had been directed by Franklin to proceed after com- 
 pleting his cruise on the British coasts. 
 
 When Jones found that he must attack the city with 
 but a single ship, he lost no time in perfecting his plans. 
 Half a hundred troops were to be landed under the 
 command of Lieutenant-Colonel De Chamillard. The 
 ships could be plainly seen from Edinburgh sailing up 
 the Leith Roads, and though their character could not 
 be distinguished, still the inhabitants were aware of 
 Jones' presence in the East coast of Scotland, and some 
 preparation had been made hurriedly to receive him. 
 
Operations on the Britisli Coast. 119 
 
 Batteries were hastily erected near the shore and arms 
 were sent from the castle at Edinburgh. 
 
 It is related that the boldness of Paul Jones so far 
 blinded some of the spectators that on the 17th, a boat 
 with five men came off from the coast of Fife to solicit 
 from the commander of the incoming ships some powder 
 and shot in the name of a great landed proprietor, who 
 wished "to have the means of defending himself from 
 the expected visit of the vile pirate, Paul Jones." Tra- 
 dition in that part of Scotland still has it that some 
 powder was sent with a great show of politeness, but 
 the request for shot, however, was not complied with 
 for very obvious reasons. 
 
 After landing the troops Colonel De Chamillard was 
 instructed as to the method to pursue in presenting the 
 summons -to the Mayor of Leith. The demands were 
 prepared by Jones in his customary polite style of ad- 
 dressing even the enemy whom he was about to at- 
 tack: 
 
 The Honorable J. Paul Jones, Commander-in-chief of 
 the American Squadron now in Europe, etc., to the 
 Worshipful, the Provost of Leith, or, in his absence, 
 to the Chief Magistrate who is now actually Provost 
 and in authority there. 
 
 Sir — The British Marine force that has been sta- 
 tioned here for the protection of your city and com- 
 merce, being now taken by the American arms under 
 my command, I have the honour to send you this sum- 
 mons by my officer, Lieutenant-Colonel De Chamillard, 
 who commands the vanguard of my troops. I do not 
 
120 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 wish to distress the poor inhabitants; my intention is 
 only to demand your contribution toward the reim- 
 bursement wliich Britain owes the much-injured citi- 
 zens of the United States, — for savages would blush at 
 the unmanly violation and rapacity that has marked the 
 tracks of British tyranny in America, from which nei- 
 ther virgin innocence nor helpless age has been a plea of 
 protection or pity. 
 
 Leith and its port now lies at our mercy ; and did not 
 our humanity stay the hand of just retaliation, I 
 should, without advertisement, lay it in ashes. Before 
 I proceed to that stern duty as an officer, my duty as a 
 m.an induces me to propose to you, by means of a rea- 
 sonable ransom, to prevent such a scene of horror and 
 distress. For this reason, I have authorized Colonel 
 De Chamillard, to conclude and agree with you on the 
 terms of ransom, allowing you exactly half an hour's 
 reflection before you finally accept or reject the terms 
 which he shall propose (£200,000). If you accept the 
 terms offered within the time limited, you may rest as- 
 sured that no further debarkation of the vanguard will 
 immediately follow, and that the property of the citi- 
 zens shall remain unmolested. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with sentiments of due re- 
 spect, sir, your very obedient and very humble servant. 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 On board the American ship-of-war the Bon Homme 
 Eichard, at anchor in the Road of Leith, September the 
 17th, 1779, 
 
 In the journal kept by Captain Jones appears a copy 
 
Operations on the Britisli Coast. 121 
 
 of the above summons, and appended thereto is the 
 following postscript written presumedly the following 
 day: 
 
 N. B. — "The sudden and violent storm which arose at 
 the moment when the squadron was abreast Keith 
 (Inch Keith) Island which forms the entrance to the 
 Road of Leith, rendered impracticable the execution of 
 the foregoing project." The gale was so severe and 
 arose so suddenly that one of the prizes was lost and 
 the crew only saved with difficulty, while the three ships 
 were all more or less wrecked by the wind. 
 
 The day selected for the descent on Leith was a 
 bright Sunday morning, a little past the middle of Sep- 
 tember. A gentle sea breeze carried the three vessels 
 and prize along the smooth surface of the Firth toward 
 the Leith Roads. Many of the inhabitants of Kirkaldy, 
 a thriving town just a few miles below Leith on the 
 coast of Fife were at church, and seeing the approach 
 of the strange looking ships which they knew must be 
 those belonging to the "bold pirate Paul Jones," they 
 deserted the edifice and assembled on the beach. The 
 pastor, a Rev. Mr. Shirra, led the congregation down 
 to the shore where he offered the following very re- 
 markable prayer : "Now, dear Lord, dinna ye think it a 
 shame for ye to send this vile pirate to rob our folk o' 
 Kirkaldy? Ye ken that they are puir enow already, 
 and hae naething to spare. The way the wind blaus, 
 he'll be here in a jiffy, and wha kens what he may do ? 
 He's nae too good for ony thing. Mickles the mischief 
 he has done already. He'll burn their hooses, take their 
 
122 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 very claes, and strip them to the very sark. And woes 
 me, wha kens but that the bluidy villain might tak' 
 their lives ! The puir weemin are most frightened out 
 of their wits, and the bairns screeching after them. I 
 canna think of it ! I canna think of it ! I hae long 
 been a faithful servant to ye, Lord. But gin ye dinna 
 turn the wind about and blow the scoundrel out of our 
 gate, I'll nae stir a foot, but will just sit here till the 
 tide comes. Sae tak' your will o't." 
 
 Never was a prayer more promptly answered, was the 
 popular belief along the rocky shores of Cheviot and 
 Fife. "I prayed, but the Lord sent the wind," was the 
 good old man's answer when in after years he would be 
 asked about the appearance of Paul Jones, o3 Leith 
 Eoads ; the sudden change of the wind was all that pre- 
 vented Jones from carrying out his plan of ransom on 
 the city of Leith, but he had no design on Kirkaldy. As 
 the ships were headed directly for the shore where the 
 little congregation was assembled they had good cause 
 to become frightened as the vessels bore down upon 
 them. A stiff breeze from the land, however, arrested 
 the progress of the fleet, and as the breeze grew apace it 
 became a gale, and for some hours threatened not only 
 all craft on the bay, but everything on land, as well. 
 Several vessels anchored but a short distance from the 
 shore sunk in the heavy seas, but the fleet that caused 
 so much anxiety was driven far out to sea, and left the 
 frightened inhabitants still in doubt as to the real in- 
 tentions of the "bold pirate." 
 
 Before retiring altogether from the east coast of 
 Britain, Jones could not resist the temptation of mak- 
 
Operations on the Britisli Coast. 123 
 
 ing some demonstration notwithstanding the remon- 
 strance that came from the Captains of the Pallas and 
 Vengeance. Turning his attention to the coasters and 
 colliers in the Firth not more than a league from Leith. 
 Jones effected the capture of fourteen and destroyed 
 nine others. All Edinburgh was aroused, and in a 
 very short time the abortive attack was known all over 
 the three kingdoms. The London, Tj]dinburgh and Cork 
 papers of September 12th, 13th, 14th, 18th and 24th 
 contained long accounts of "the famous Paul Jones and 
 his depredations on inhabitants of Scotland and Eng- 
 land.'^ 
 
 Had Jones been successful in his demands on the au- 
 thorities of Leith, he would have undoubtedly repeated 
 the performance at Hull and Newcastle, but having suf- 
 fered the humiliation of witnessing the failure of one of 
 his long conceived plans even after approaching within 
 pistol shot of the town he had hoped to capture, he now 
 turned his attention to the unprotected merchantmen. 
 
 It was Paul Jones' misfortune in almost every im- 
 portant crisis of his life, to be thwarted by base designs 
 of ignoble rivals, or left single handed to carry out 
 plans conceived in expectation of substantial support 
 by officers under his command. Disobedience and in- 
 subordination seemed to prevail in almost every enter- 
 prise conceived by him. In no other service than that 
 of America, a land still struggling for a doubtful ex- 
 istence as an independent state, and without either the 
 power or the means to enforce obedience, would such 
 insubordination as displayed on vessels commanded by 
 Paul Jones have been tolerated. The conduct of the 
 
124 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 agents of the French court was not above censure. If 
 it did not actually authorize it, it certainly did not dis- 
 courage mutiny on board vessels commanded by Jones. 
 After his arrival at the Texel, Jones gave ample proof 
 which showed that the conduct of the erratic Landais, 
 in refusing to support him in his memorable descent 
 on Whitehaven and the abortive attempt on Leith, not 
 only met the approval of the agents of the French 
 Court, but had actually been sanctioned by them. 
 
 Jones complained bitterly to Franklin of the treat- 
 ment he had received from the French agents, as well 
 as the absence of substantial support from the com- 
 manders of the six other vessels that had sailed from 
 L- Orient and Brest under his command. Franklin 
 expected great things from this formidable little squad- 
 ron of seven vessels of varied capacities and armaments 
 aggregating nearly 200 guns, and it was with consider- 
 able humility, though not without a loud condemnation 
 of the conduct of his six subordinate officers, and the 
 agents who had authorized the expedition under French 
 Commission, that Jones made his report to the Commis- 
 sioners. The report showed little good accomplished 
 beyond spreading alarm and terror throughout Eng- 
 land, Ireland and Scotland, and while this was a part of 
 Jones' original plan in the formation of a European 
 squadron, still, the capturing of prizes and their crews, 
 the securing of ransom or the destruction of shipping 
 was more to the liking of both Jones and Franklin, for 
 it would not only add to the resources of the Colonies, 
 but would necessitate the recall of a part of the English 
 
Operations on tlie Britisli Coast. 125 
 
 fleet then in American waters, which was giving Ro- 
 chambeau, d'Estaing and Washington considerable an- 
 noyance. 
 
 Jones' greatest ambition was to collect in one mighty 
 squadron every available vessel that could be purchased 
 in Europe ; with such a fleet, strengthened by all vessels 
 captured from the enemy which could be used as troop 
 ships or as auxiliary cruisers, his squadron would be 
 most formidable. To do this, however, would require 
 a vast sum of money, and the most expeditious as well 
 as the most satisfactory way to procure this much- 
 needed substance, Jones reasoned, was to seize men of 
 influence, men in favor with the King, who would sur- 
 render any number of American prisoners, whom. Jones 
 would in turn use to man his great fleet. This was 
 Jones' purpose when he made the descent on St. Mary's 
 Isle, the home of Lord Selkirk. 
 
 Jones' ambition was certainly commendable, but too 
 chimerical for realization where he had neither sup- 
 port nor means to put in operation the plans that would 
 result in effecting even the formation of the nucleus of 
 a great navy. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CAPTURE OF THE SERAPIS. 
 
 The engagement between the Bon Homme Richard, 
 commanded by John Paul Jones, and the Serapis under 
 Commodore Richard Pearson, is regarded as the most 
 desperately fought battle in naval warfare. For a 
 close and deadly hand to hand sea-combat, history, be- 
 fore and since the days of Paul Jones, records no paral- 
 lel. The encounter took place in the North Sea just off 
 the east coast of York (England), early in the evening 
 of September 23rd, 1779. 
 
 When he set out from France, first in the Ranger, but 
 afterward in the Bon Homme Richard, Jones' chief 
 object was to fire the shipping and spread alarm in the 
 coast cities, with the capture of prizes as an incidental 
 diversion. During his first cruise, made memorable by 
 his victory over the Drake, he discovered the unpro- 
 tected merchantmen returning from the Colonies in 
 America, Australia, India and the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany's ships, easy prey — their resistance amounting to 
 little more than a skirmish. His threats to lay the 
 coast cities in ashes had resulted in his obtaining nei- 
 ther ransom nor the satisfaction of witnessing a con- 
 flagration which He believed would be only a just re- 
 taliation for the wanton destruction of property in 
 
 126 
 
The Capture of the Serapis. 127 
 
 America at the hands of the British soldiery under the 
 Howes and other servants in the employ of England's 
 tyrannical King. 
 
 In all of his enterprises, Jones had been fairly suc- 
 cessful save the securing of ransom, but he had yet to 
 meet in open conflict an armed British man-of-war of 
 equal or superior strength to his own. It is true the 
 Drake was an armed ship of war and had but two less 
 guns than the Eanger, but it must be remembered that 
 no attempt had ever before been made by an armed 
 ship of war to boldly enter English waters, and the 
 crew of the Drake had little conception of the strength 
 of the Bon Homme Eichard's armament or the deter- 
 mined spirit of her Yankee commander; consequently 
 they were taken unawares when they found themselves 
 facing a formidable battleship with thirty or more guns 
 belching forth shot and shell, and though they respond- 
 ed bravely for more than an hour they surrendered only 
 when their ammunition was entirely exhausted. 
 
 It was Jones^ desire to "go in harm's way," and as 
 he proceeded southward along the English coast he 
 grew bolder, and remembering his comparatively easy 
 victory over the Drake he believed his vessel able to cope 
 with the greatest in the boasted navy of Great Britain. 
 At any rate he proposed to continue his cruise south- 
 ward to the coast of Holland, as directed by Franklin, 
 which would take him within sight of England's great 
 fortresses and through waters thickly dotted with all 
 manner of British craft. This was just the opportun- 
 ity Jones desired most, for after the desertion of the 
 treacherous Landais, the commander of the Bon Horn- 
 
128 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 me Richard was constantly on the alert to take a few 
 prizes before proceeding to the Texel. 
 
 The Bon Homme Eichard was kept at all times in 
 trim, fighting order, but during the two or three days 
 following the Leith incident some repairs and altera- 
 tions both in the rigging and on deck were found neces- 
 sary, owing to the havoc done by the storm off Leith. 
 In anticipation of an early engagement, Captain Jones 
 directed that the decks be kept clear, while the men put 
 in all their spare time repairing and sharpening the 
 several hundred cutlasses, cleaning and priming their 
 pistols and loading the 40 odd regular and improvised 
 cannon with grape shot, and hanging lanterns about 
 the decks to be lighted at a signal for action. The arm- 
 ament had been considerably augmented by the addition 
 of everything portable from the Union before that luck- 
 less prize was turned over to Landais. After taking 
 every precaution and completing all arrangements for 
 immediate action, Captain Jones determined to engage 
 and overhaul every vessel he met. With this purpose 
 in view the canvas was spread and the vessel, accom- 
 panied by the Vengeance and Pallas, steered in a south- 
 erly direction to intercept the fleet of North Sea ships 
 bound from London and Newcastle, as well as ports on 
 the Channel to the Baltic. 
 
 Captain Jones had good cause to believe that the re- 
 port of his exploits, during the past month or two, had 
 spread far and wide especially throughout the British 
 Isles. His presence in English waters was known to 
 every sea captain and merchant having business on the 
 seas. Maritime commerce suffered greatly, because the 
 
The Capture of tlie Serapis. 129 
 
 owners of sailing ships would not risk meeting the 
 "bold pirate, Paul Jones/' and whenever a vessel bound 
 for a distant port was ready for sailing, the Captain 
 signaled a man-of-war to conduct the vessel far on its 
 way, or if no armed cruiser was at hand, a half dozen 
 or more merchantmen formed a fleet each carrying an 
 extra crew trained to the use of small arms and cannon. 
 Every precaution was taken to avoid meeting the Yan- 
 kee cruiser but one fleet of merchantmen seeing the 
 Bon Homme Eichard steering toward it, ran into the 
 Humber River, closely pursued by the Bon Homme 
 Richard and the Pallas. The merchantmen made their 
 escape into shallow water where Jones dared not ven- 
 ture owing to the fortifications on both sides and on the 
 smaller island at the mouth of the Humber. 
 
 In his Journal, Jones says : "On the 31st we saw two 
 sails off Flamborough Head; the Pallas chased in the 
 northeast quarter, while the Bon Homme Richard fol- 
 lowed by the Vengeance, chased in the southwest. The 
 one I pursued, a brigantine collier in ballast, belonged 
 to Scarborough, was soon taken and sunk immediately 
 afterward, as a fleet appeared to the southward. This 
 was so late in the day, that I could not come up with 
 the fleet before night ; at length, however, I got so near 
 one of them as to force her to run ashore between Flam- 
 borough Head and the Spurn. Soon afterward I took 
 another, a brigantine from Holland, belonging to Sun- 
 derland, and at daylight the next morning, seeing a 
 fleet steering toward me from the spurn, I imagined 
 them to be a convoy bound from London for Leith, 
 which had been for some time expected. One of them 
 
130 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 had a pendant hoisted, and appeared to be a ship of 
 force. They had not, however, courage to come on, but 
 kept back, all except the one which seemed to be armed, 
 and that one, also, kept to windward, very near the 
 land, and the edge of dangerous shoals, where I could 
 not with safety approach. In the night we saw and 
 chased two ships until three o'clock in the morning, 
 when, being at a very small distance from them, I made 
 the private signal of reconnoissance which I had given 
 to each Captain before I sailed from Groix. One half 
 of the answer only was returned." In this position both 
 sides lay till daylight, when Captain Jones discovered 
 that he had been following the Alliance, which had re- 
 turned to the fleet during the night of the 22nd. 
 
 On the morning of the 23rd, Jones speaks of sighting 
 a fleet of 41 vessels off Flamborough Head, and bearing 
 in a northeasterly direction. He gave orders for a 
 general chase by hoisting the proper signal, and headed 
 the Bon Homme Eichard in the direction of the mer- 
 chantmen. When the fleet discovered Jones bearing 
 down on them, they all crowded together and made for 
 the shore. The two ships of war that protected the 
 fleet remained behind as if intending to give battle. 
 Captain Jones could see by the use of a field glass that 
 preparations were being made on board the larger ship 
 to attack the vessels when they got within reach. The 
 Bon Homme Eichard now spread all sail possible, and 
 with the signal flying for the line of battle, to which 
 the Alliance, still commanded by the treacherous Lan- 
 dais, gave no attention. Eager as he was for an en- 
 gagement, Jones could not reach the commodore's ship 
 
Tlie Capture of the Seraj)is. 131 
 
 until seven o^clock in the evening, owing to contrary 
 winds. 
 
 Captain Jones had now come to the supreme moment 
 of his life. He stood upon the threshold of not only 
 his greatest battle and victory, but the most memorable 
 one in naval history, Schley, at Santiago, and Dewey, 
 at Manila, not excepted. Many attempts have been 
 made to tell the story of the meeting of the Serapis and 
 the Bon Homme Eichard, but no writer has ever, or 
 could be expected to improve on an account written by 
 an eye witness, and more especially if that person had 
 been the chief participant in that historic episode. 
 
 Immediately upon his reaching the Texel, Paul Jones 
 transmitted to Franklin and afterward to the Congress, 
 the following account of the Serapis incident. Before 
 entering upon the details of the battle as given by 
 Jones, let us see what was happening on board the Bon 
 Homme Eichard as the vessels were drawing near each 
 other in battle array. Orders had been given to light 
 the lanterns on the upper decks only; the men had 
 buckled on their cutlasses and each a brace of pistols; 
 the cooks and stewards were busy scattering sawdust 
 and ashes over the decks to catch the blood and thus 
 prevent the men from slipping; the powder cans and 
 cannon were stripped, fires were extinguished, and 
 soon all was in readiness to meet and battle with a foe 
 vastly superior in number and equipment. These prep- 
 arations were witnessed by thousands of spectators on 
 the York heights, who had gathered in expectation of 
 witnessing the capture of the "notorious pirate, Paul 
 Jones," by the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. 
 
132 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 It was about seven o'clock in the evening of this 
 beautiful September day, 1779, that the Stars and 
 Stripes, floating over the Bon Homme Kichard flaunted 
 defiance to the Union Jack that waved from the mast 
 of the Serapis. A full harvest moon, rich in its au- 
 tumnal mellowness, was just rising over a peaceful sea. 
 The restless waves that had wrought such havoc to the 
 little squadron the week before, had sunk to rest, as if 
 anticipating the impending tragedy whose victims 
 would find a shifting sepulchre within its dark, un- 
 fathomed depths. Quiet reigned over sea and land as 
 the lull which precedes the storm. Not a sound was 
 heard, not a ripple broke the awful stillness; the men 
 were not at prayers, though doubtless many a silent pe- 
 tition went up to heaven asking the God of battles to 
 crown their deeds that day with victory. 
 
 ^'WJidt Ship Is Tliatr came the hoarse cry from the 
 ship flying the Commodore's pendant and the British 
 flag. There was a moment of awful suspense plainly 
 observed by the crews on either vessel. Again the death- 
 like stillness was broken by a second demand from the 
 British Commodore, which v/as instantly answered by 
 a broadside of ten guns from the Bon Homme Eichard. 
 Tranquillity no longer reigned on ship board or the 
 waters on which they rested. Before the smoke had 
 time to envelop the fleets the sight that met the gaze of 
 the men on the Bon Homme Richard is beyond the 
 power of words to describe. Through timbers and 
 planks, over decks and in the rigging, blood, flesh and 
 bone were strewn in one conglomerate mass; the sea, 
 'round about, was like a pool where driftwood swirls in 
 
The Capture of tlie Serapis. 133 
 
 the eddying tide of turbulent waters. Awful as was 
 the scene of carnage that the full moon reflected back 
 to the actors on the Bon Homme Eichard, it was as 
 nothing to the scene that was yet to be enacted; the 
 sight was pleasant to that which met the gaze of the 
 boarders when Jones lashed his ship to the Serapis and 
 the hand to hand combat with cutlass, pistol and hand- 
 grenade began for the mastery of sea supremacy. 
 
 The account of this memorable engagement is best 
 described in the language of Jones himself, who says: 
 "The battle thus begun, was continued with unremit- 
 ting fury. Every method was practiced on both sides 
 to gain advantage and rake each other, and I must con- 
 fess that the enemy's ship, being much more manage- 
 able than the Bon Homme Eichard, gained thereby sev- 
 eral times an advantageous situation, in spite of my 
 best endeavors to prevent it. As I had to deal with an 
 enemy of greatly superior force, I was under the neces- 
 sity of closing with him, to prevent the advantage which 
 he had over me in point of manoeuver. It was my in- 
 tention to lay the Bon Homme Eichard athwart the 
 enemy's bow; but as that operation required great dex- 
 terity in the management of both sails and helm, and 
 some of our braces being shot away, it did not exactly 
 succeed to my wish. The enemy's bow-sprit, however, 
 came over the Bon Homme Eichard's after deck by the 
 mizzen-mast, and I made both ships fast together in 
 that situation, which by the action of the wind on the 
 enemy's sails, forced her stern close to the Bon Homme 
 Eichard's bow, so that the ships lay square alongside 
 of each other, the yards being all entangled, and the 
 
134 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 cannon of each ship touching the opponent's. When 
 this position took place, it was eight o'clock, previous 
 to which the Bon Homme Eichard had received sundry 
 18 pound shots below the water, and leaked very much. 
 My battery of 12 pounders, on which I had placed my 
 chief dependence, being commanded by Lieutenant 
 Dale and Colonel Weibert, and manned principally with 
 American seamen and French volunteers, was entirely 
 silenced and abandoned. As to the six old 18 pounders 
 that formed the battery of the lower gun deck, they did 
 no service whatever, except firing eight shot in all. Two 
 out of three of them burst at the first fire, and killed 
 almost all the men who were stationed to manage them. 
 I had only two pieces of cannon (9 pounders) on the 
 quarter deck, that were not silenced, and not one of 
 the heavier cannon was fired during the rest of the 
 action. The purser, Mr. Mease, who commanded the 
 guns on the quarter-deck, being dangerously wounded 
 in the head, I was obliged to fill his place, and with 
 great difficulty rallied a few men, and shifted over one 
 of the lee quarter-deck guns, so that we afterward 
 played three pieces of nine pounders upon the enemy. 
 I directed the fire of one of the three cannon against 
 the main-mast, with double-headed shot, while the other 
 two were exceedingly well served with grape and can- 
 nister shot, to silence the enemy's musketry and clear 
 the decks, which was at last effected. The enemy was, 
 as I have since understood, on the instant of calling for 
 quarter, when the cowardice or treachery of three of my 
 under-officers induced them to signal the enemy. The 
 English Commodore asked me if I demanded- quarter, 
 
Tlie Capture of the Serapis. 135 
 
 and when I answered him in the most determined nega- 
 tive that I had not yet begun to fight, they renewed the 
 battle with double fury. They were unable to stand 
 the deck ; but the fire of the cannon, especially the lower 
 battery, which was entirely formed of 10 pounders, was 
 incessant; both ships were set on fire in various places, 
 and the scene was dreadful beyond the reach of lan- 
 guage. 
 
 To account for the timidity of my three under offi- 
 cers, I mean the gunner, the carpenter and the master- 
 at-arms, I must observe, that the two first were slightly 
 wounded, and, as the ship had received various shot, 
 under water, and one of the pumps being shot away, 
 the carpenter expressed his fears that she would sink, 
 and the other two concluded that she was sinking, 
 which occasioned the gunner to run aft without my 
 knowledge to strike the colors. Fortunately for me, a 
 cannon ball had done that before, by carrying away the 
 ensign-staff; he was therefore reduced to the necessity 
 of sinking, as he supposed, or of calling for quarter, 
 and he preferred the latter. 
 
 All this time the Bon Homme Richard has sustained 
 the action alone, and the enemy, though much superior 
 in force, would have been very glad to have got clear, 
 as appears by their own acknowledgments, and by 
 their having let go an anchor the instant that I laid on 
 board, by which means they would have escaped, had I 
 not made them fast to the Bon Homme Richard. 
 
 At last, at half-past nine o'clock, the Alliance ap- 
 peared, and I now thought the battle at an end, but to 
 my utter astonishment, he discharged a broadside full 
 
136 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 into the stern of the Bon Homme Richard. We called 
 to him for God's sake to forbear firing into the Bon 
 Homme Richard; yet they passed along the ofi-side of 
 the ship, and continued firing. There was no possibil- 
 ity of his mistaking the enemy's ships for the Bon 
 Homme Richard, there being the most essential differ- 
 ence in their appearance and construction. Besides, it 
 was then full moonlight, and the sides of the Bon 
 Homme Richard were all black, while the sides of the 
 prize (Serapis) were all yellow. Yet, for the greater 
 security, I showed the signal of our reconnoissance, by 
 putting out three lanterns, one at the head, another at 
 the stern, and the third in the middle, in a horizontal 
 line. Every tongue cried that he was firing into the 
 wrong ship, but nothing availed; he passed round, fir- 
 ing into the Bon Homme Richard's head, stern and 
 broadside, and by one of his volleys killed several of my 
 best men, and mortally wounding a good officer on the 
 forecastle. My situation was really deplorable. The 
 Bon Homme Richard received various shot under 
 water from the Alliance ; the leak gained on the pumps, 
 and the fire increased much on board both ships. Some 
 officers persuaded me to strike, of whose courage and 
 good sense I entertained a high opinion. My treacher- 
 ous master-at-arms let loose all my prisoners without 
 my knowledge, and my prospects became gloomy, in- 
 deed. I would not, however, give up the point. The 
 enemy's main-mast began to shake and their firing de- 
 creased fast; ours rather increased, and the British 
 colors were struck at half an hour past ten o'clock. 
 This prize proved to be the British ship of war, the 
 
The Capture of the Serapis. 137 
 
 Serapis, a new ship of forty-four guns, built on the 
 most approved construction, with two complete batter- 
 ies, one of them of eighteen pounders, and commanded 
 by the brave Commodore Eichard' Pearson. I had yet 
 two enemies to encounter, far more formidable than the 
 Britons, — I mean fire and water. The Serapis was at- 
 tacked only by the first, but the Bon Homme Eichard 
 was assailed by both ; there was five feet of water in the 
 hold, and though it was moderate from the explosion of 
 so much gunpowder, yet the three pumps that remained 
 could with difficulty only keep the water from gaining. 
 It was 10 o'clock the next day, (September 24th) be- 
 fore the fire was entirely extinguished in both vessels. 
 With respect to the situation of the Bon Homme Eich- 
 ard, the rudder was cut entirely off, the stern frames 
 and transoms were almost entirely cut away, and the 
 timbers by the lower deck, especially from the main- 
 mast toward the stern, being greatly decayed with age, 
 were mangled beyond my power of description to relate, 
 and a person must have been an eye witness to form a 
 just idea of the tremendous scene of carnage, wreck and 
 ruin, which everywhere appeared." 
 
 Such is the account of the great sea fight related by 
 its chief actor, and the first of a long line of naval 
 heroes who have added luster to American arms and 
 placed this nation in the vanguard of States. 
 
 It must be noticed that while Captain Jones was en- 
 gaging the Serapis, the Countess of Scarborough, that 
 had come out with the Serapis to meet the Bon Homme 
 Eichard had struck its colors to the Pallas. Though 
 the commencement was simultaneous, the Scarborough 
 
138 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 surrendered early in the engagement while the Serapis 
 desperately held out until nearly every man was either 
 killed or disabled. Dr. Eidpath says that out of 375 
 men engaged on the Bon Homme Eichard, 300 were 
 either killed or wounded, but Jones nowhere relates 
 even approximately the mortality on board his ship at 
 the close of this most remarkable fight. Other narra- 
 tives say that the dead and mortally wounded on both 
 ships were by direction of Captain Jones thrown over- 
 board, and the decks scrubbed, holystoned and sprinkled 
 with hot vinegar and salt to take away the odor from 
 the blood-soaked decks and lower rigging. In the hand 
 to hand engagement which lasted but a few moments be- 
 fore the British struck their colors, the men fought like 
 demons ;the cockpits andhatchways on bothships looked 
 like butchers' shambles — the decks strewn with frag- 
 ments of human remains and the timbers and planks 
 bespattered with flesh, blood and fragments of bone, 
 bore evidence of the night's awful carnage. On the Bon 
 Homme Eichard the sawdust and ashes had caught 
 most of the blood, but in the light of the full autumn 
 moon, rivulets of blood could be plainly seen streaming 
 ,down the yellow painted sides of the Serapis. What k "^ 
 sight awaited the vision of the living when the moon\ 
 and the stars paled before the great luminary day ! The \ 
 rivulets of. blood trickling down the sides of the ship, ' 
 must have looked more like huge lacerations, by the 
 early dawn, than the vital fluid of butchered men. What 
 a feast there must have been in those dark cavernous 
 fish-inhabited recesses a hundred feet below, before that' 
 gallant craft, the Bon Homme Eichard sank into its 
 
The Capture of tlie Serapis. 139 
 
 watery tomb — a derelict — to wander at will without 
 fear of wind or rock or war's remorseless strife ! 
 
 When we remember that the Bon Homme Eichard 
 was an old French ship much the worse from many 
 years' service, and having just passed through one of the 
 most terrific equinoctial storms that ever visited the 
 North Atlantic; when we recall the collision with the '^■ 
 Alliance, and the blunder of its cowardly commander 
 (Landais) in firing into the Bon Homme Richard; 
 when we consider that the latter vessel was manned 
 chiefly with recruits from every State in Europe, half 
 of whom were unable to understand the simplest com- 
 mand in English; and again when we reflect that the 
 Bon Homme Richard and its gallant commander was 
 three thousand miles from home and under the very 
 shadow of the enemy's fortresses protected by the 
 most powerful vessels in the world ; when we remember, 
 too, that the charge against Paul Jones was that of 
 piracy, and that if captured the vengeance of an en- 
 raged king and parliament would fall upon him in re- 
 taliation for his depredations on the coasts of England 
 and Scotland, we can begin to realize the audacity, the 
 utter fearlessness of this bold defender of the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Again, the Serapis was the largest, newest and most 
 thoroughly equipped man-of-war in the boasted navy of 
 Great Britain, save the Dunkirk, which was then in 
 American waters under the command of Admiral Rich- 
 ard Howe. Every man on the Serapis was thoroughly 
 qualified and perfectly familiar with the duties expect- 
 ed of him while the commander could exact and secure 
 
140 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 strict obedience to his orders; mutiny and disobedience 
 in the English nav}^ not infrequently sent men to the 
 yard arm or the penal colonies. 
 
 With thousands of spectators on shore watching in 
 terrified suspense the outcome of the combat, the com- 
 mander of the Serapis was spurred on by a good pros- 
 pect of victory over his most dreaded foe, the terror of 
 the seas. We cannot help admiring the ambition and 
 bravery of the English commander, which even Paul 
 Jones admired, but something more than these two very 
 essential qualifications was necessary to win victories 
 over men so imbued with the principles of liberty that 
 they courted death rather than submit to tyranny. The 
 British were wrong, and victory seldom perches on the 
 banner of the oppressor when the life of an oppressed 
 people is in jeopardy. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ORDERED TO LEAVE AMSTERDAM. 
 
 No man wlio has achieved fame came by it through 
 accident. In the world of successful men there is no 
 such thing as luck. The possession of great wealth is 
 not fame; if it came through inheritance, it is more 
 often a curse sent in disguise, and the curse rests equal- 
 ly upon the ancestor who unwisely bestows, as upon him 
 who unwittingly receives. 
 
 The reason why there are so few successful men is 
 because the great mass of humanity waits for riches or 
 fame to be thrust upon them. When a man discovers 
 that it is only in fairy books that wealth and greatness 
 come without labor, the sooner he will take off his 
 coat and go to work. Some men discover this fact 
 quite early in life, and lay their plans preparatory for 
 the summons that is to bear them on to victory. Others 
 waste their strength and years in a vain endeavor to 
 build up a showy exterior, while the inner self is false 
 and rotten. In after years they waken from a self-in- 
 duced hypnosis to find how true is the adage : 
 
 "There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 That taken at the flood leads on to fortune." 
 
 They find, too, that the flood passed their way, but they 
 were off chasing the shadows of hope — the illusions that 
 
 141 
 
142 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 vanish when, sick at heart, they lay down the burdens 
 of life. 
 
 Paul Jones was a man of deeds, of quick impulse, and, 
 above all, a man of enterprise. He believed with Poor 
 Eichard, that if you wanted anything done, the best way 
 is to do it yourself. Youth sometimes lacks judgment 
 and discretion, but seldom enterprise and ambition. It is 
 only the lack of talent or the capacity to use what 
 measure God has given us to execute deeds, that in the 
 judgment of men, some are called great. 
 
 Though Jones had failed in his cherished plans to 
 capture any considerable number of merchantmen; 
 though he had not been successful in securing ransom 
 from the wealthy cities by the sea, still the spectacle of 
 an audacious Yankee brig and crew sailing the British 
 main, spreading terror everywhere, and causing all mer- 
 chantmen and coaling ships to proceed cautiously under 
 convoy of two or more ships of war until far away 
 from the English coasts, was a sad blow to the boasted 
 navy of Great Britain. After the Drake and Serapis 
 incidents, the burning of vessels in the harbor of White- 
 haven, and the attempted descent on Leith, the mari- 
 time power of England seemed to be waning. That it 
 existed chiefly in point of numerical strength rather 
 than efficiency and boldness to meet and battle with the 
 fleets of the world, there was no longer any doubt in the 
 mind of Captain Jones. 
 
 "Looked at in the calm light of history, the achieve- 
 ments of Paul Jones do not appear,'^ says Abbott, "so 
 very remarkable. It is none the less true, however, that 
 they have never been paralleled." Before the days of 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 143 
 
 Paul Jones, no hostile vessel had ever swept the English 
 Channel and Irish Sea clear of British merchantmen, 
 and since the days of Paul Jones the exploit has never 
 been repeated, save by the little American brig Argus, 
 in the war of 1812. But never before nor since has the 
 spectacle of a British ship in an English port, blazing 
 with fire applied by the torch of an enemy, been seen, 
 and no other man than Paul Jones has, for several cen- 
 turies, led an invading force down the level highways, 
 and across the green fields of England. 
 
 The Serapis had been completely dismantled in the 
 engagement with the Bon Homme Eichard, and it was 
 necessary to put into the nearest friendly port for re- 
 pairs. Dunkirk, a French port at the lower end of the 
 Straits of Dover, and but a league or so from the Bel- 
 gium frontier, was one of the three cities Franklin, in 
 his letter to Jones, under date of June 30th, 1779, des- 
 ignated as a suitable port to dispose of such prizes as 
 he might take in his cruise, but as Dunkirk had not the 
 facilities for refitting a man-of-war, Jones decided to 
 sail for Amsterdam by the way of the Texel, where the 
 Indian, a vessel that had long been promised him by 
 the Congress, was building. He accordingly gave in- 
 structions for his little fleet to make for the Texel, 
 where he arrived on the afternoon of October 3rd, 1779, 
 with all the prisoners (504) that he had taken in the 
 surrender of the Serapis and sundry other British craft, 
 including the Countess of Scarborough. 
 
 Captain Jones expected to return to France with an 
 array of prizes that, in themselves, would make a for- 
 midable navy when properly equipped ; he also expected 
 
144 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to return with sufficient ransom, exacted from the 
 municipalities along the coast, to satisfy the require- 
 ments of the Commissioners at Paris and the Marine 
 Committee who had sent him on his eventful cruise. 
 He was returning now without ransom, and with but 
 two prizes, both of which were very much in need of 
 repair after the recent engagement in which they sur- 
 rendered when in an almost sinking condition. He 
 was returning, too, with less than half of the fleet that 
 gave so much promise when it left Brest a month be- 
 fore. The Bon Homme Eichard had gone to its grave 
 in the North Sea, but not until it had achieved for its 
 commander an imperishable fame; and those little 
 French privateers had also gone, no one knows where, 
 for they never returned to France. The two wrecked 
 prize ships and the Alliance, the Pallas and the Ven- 
 geance were all that was left of the fleet that had cost 
 Franklin and his associates hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars and many laborious months of toil. 
 
 The inexcusable blunder of the stupid Landais in fir- 
 ing into the Bon Homme Richard when that vessel and 
 the Serapis were lashed together and the crews fighting 
 a deadly hand-to-hand conflict, was the accredited cause 
 of the final destruction of the Bon Homme Richard, 
 which sank a few hours after Captain Jones had trans- 
 ferred his crew and prisoners to the Serapis. This ves- 
 sel suffered more above the water's edge, from fire and 
 shot, than the Bon Homme Richard, but the hull of the 
 latter had been pierced by more than a dozen 12-pound 
 balls from the Alliance, which was given by Jones as the 
 direct cause of its sinking. 
 
 •• 
 
 AA 
 
— _ Route of Ranger 
 .^ Route of Bon Homme Richard 
 o-o Route of Alliance 
 ~^»>OUTF OF 8EftAP!S 
 
 SCALE OF MILES 
 
 AUG. 31 
 
 
 Map showing the cruises of the Ranker, The Bon Homme Richard, the Al- 
 liance and the S^rapis in English waters. After the destruction of the Ron 
 Homme Richard in its memorable enijagement with the Serapis, September 
 23, 1779. the latter became Jones' flag ship, and accompanied by the Alli- 
 ance, with the prize Countess of Scarborough in tow headed for the Texel. 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 145 
 
 As soon as Captain Jones reached Amsterdam, 
 whither he had gone from the Texel, he sent Franklin 
 an account of the engagement with the Serapis and 
 Countess of Scarborough, a summary of which is given 
 in the preceding chapter. In replying, Franklin con- 
 gratulated Captain Jones on his splendid victory, say- 
 ing : "For some days after the arrival of your express, 
 scarcely anything was talked of at Paris and Versailles, 
 but your cool conduct and persevering bravery during 
 that terrible conflict. You may believe that the im- 
 pression on my mind was not less strong than that of 
 others — but I do not choose to say in a letter to your- 
 self all I think on such an occasion.'' In the same 
 lengthy letter Franklin severely criticised the conduct 
 of Landais, whom Minister de Sartin, as well as the 
 French court, would hold responsible for the loss of the 
 Bon Homme Eichard, together with the lives of some 
 twelve or fifteen American and French marines killed 
 by the crew of the Alliance during the engagement with 
 the Serapis. 
 
 Eeferring to Landais in a subsequent letter to Cap- 
 tain Jones, Franklin says : "I have accordingly written 
 him, that he is charged with disobedience of orders in 
 the cruise, and neglect of his duty in the engagement; 
 that a court-martial being at this time inconvenient, if 
 not impracticable, I would give him an earlier oppor- 
 tunity of offering what he has to say in his justification, 
 and for that purpose direct him to render himself, im- 
 mediately here, bringing with him such papers or testi- 
 monies as he may think useful in his defense. I know 
 not whether he will obey my orders, nor what the min- 
 
146 John Paul Joues of Naval Fame. 
 
 istry would do with him if he comes ; but I suspect that 
 they may, by some of their concise operations, save the 
 trouble of a court-martial. It will, however, be well 
 for you to furnish me with what you may judge proper 
 to support the charges against him, that I may be able 
 to give a just and clear account to Congress. In the 
 meantime it will be necessary, if he should refuse to 
 come, that you should put him under arrest, and in that 
 case, as well as if he comes, that you should either ap- 
 point some person to the command, or take it upon 
 yourself ; for I know of no person to recommend to you 
 as fit for that station. 
 
 "I am uneasy about your prisoners, (504 in number) 
 — I wish they were safe in France. You will then have 
 completed the glorious work of giving liberty to all the 
 Americans that have so long languished for it in Brit- 
 ish prisons.'^ 
 
 From this it appears that on the two cruises made by 
 Captain Jones in the Ranger and the Bon Homme 
 Richard along the coasts of England, Ireland and Scot- 
 land, in search of prizes, he took enough prisoners to 
 effect the exchange of every American carried in captiv- 
 ity to England. For this alone Paul Jones should be 
 held in grateful remembrance, for when we recall the 
 brutal treatment many of our unfortunate soldiers re- 
 ceived at the hands of such fiends as Cunningham, the 
 notorious Provost at Philadelphia and New York, into 
 whose hands Nathan Hale was consigned to await exe- 
 cution, we cannot but rejoice that the number of pris- 
 oners carried to England in the holds of cattle ships 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 147 
 
 and slavers, did not exceed the number of English 
 taken by Paul Jones. 
 
 It was fortunate that America found sympathizers on 
 the other side of the Atlantic, for in addition to the 
 substantial aid she received in the vray of ships, men, 
 munitions and money, the harbors of France at all 
 times, and Spain and Holland conditionally, were open 
 to vessels carrying the flag of America. France was in 
 an open state of war with England, growing out of 
 her alliance with the Colonies, but Holland claimed 
 neutrality, though it was from Amsterdam that France 
 obtained most of her maritime stores. Holland was ill- 
 prepared for war, but could not ignore the peremptory 
 demands of Sir Joseph York, the British Ambassador, 
 at The Hague, that "the captured frigates should be 
 stopped at the Texel — the frigates taken by one Paul 
 Jones, a subject of the King of Great Britain, who, ac- 
 cording to treaties and the laws of war falls under the 
 class of rebels and pirates." 
 
 The little Dutch provinces were placed in a perplex- 
 ing attitude. They did not wish to offend the young 
 Trans-Atlantic republic struggling for an independent 
 existence, nor yet did they wish to alienate the close 
 bonds of friendship existing between them and France, 
 so a vacillating policy was adopted — temporizing, as it 
 were, with great dexterity; but the demand of Sir 
 Joseph York was of such a firm nature that the Dutch 
 authorities compelled Captain Jones to forthwith put 
 to sea. They not only declined to pass on the validity 
 of captures in the open seas of vessels not belonging 
 to their own subjects, but they forbade the ships to be 
 
148 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 furnished with naval or warlike stores, save such as 
 were absolutely necessary to carry them to the first 
 foreign port. 
 
 It is plain why Franklin wished Jones to proceed to 
 the Texel after a cruise in British waters; the Indian, 
 built presumably for France, but which in reality was 
 intended for the colonies, was riding at anchor in the 
 harbor at Amsterdam. It was to be completed about 
 August 15th, at which time Franklin had directed 
 Jones to proceed to Holland and await further orders, 
 evidently to be prepared to take the ship out at once. 
 
 Zuider Zee is an arm of the North Sea, about thirty 
 miles in width and sixty in length. The Texel is an 
 island lying just without the entrance to the Zee, and 
 for more than a thousand years has offered protection 
 to vessels of all nations seeking shelter in time of 
 storms. Armed ships of war, with or without prizes, 
 were not permitted by the Dutch government to stop 
 here or dispose of goods or prizes taken in times of 
 war, but were compelled to put to sea or seek shelter 
 on some other coast. This being an established law 
 and recognized by the nations bordering on the North 
 Sea, no exception could be made in the case of Paul 
 Jones, and though Holland did not conceal her sym- 
 pathy for the oppressed Colonies in America, the de- 
 termined spirit of the British Ambassador would not 
 permit Jones to remain in neutral territory. As it 
 was, all England was alarmed at the frequent depre- 
 dations made by the bold Yankee, and the mysterious 
 movements of the Bon Homme Eichard, Pallas, Ven- 
 geance and the Alliance were giving the King and 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 149 
 
 Parliament no end of anxiety. They remembered the 
 engagement with the Drake and the Union, two armed 
 ships of war, and the numberless craft belonging to 
 the merchant marine that had been sunk or carried 
 off as prizes; but the capture of the Serapis and the 
 Countess of Scarborough had thrown the three king- 
 doms of Great Britain into a panic bordering on frenzy. 
 When the news of the surrender of the Serapis reached 
 London, a dozen of the largest warships started in 
 pursuit. They learned of the direction taken by Jones 
 from incoming merchantmen who had sighted the Yan- 
 kee fleet bearing in a southeasterly direction. Surmis- 
 ing that the enemy had gone to Holland, the British 
 fleet steered for the Texel, which they reached within 
 a week after the capture of the Serapis. They found 
 Jones resting quietly in the shelter of a small cove or 
 inlet on the south end of the island. Captain Jones 
 knew that when news of the battle reached London 
 redoubled efforts would be made to capture him and 
 reclaim the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough; so 
 preparations had been made to give the enemy a warm 
 reception. 
 
 When Jones saw that he would have to fight six 
 vessels instead of one, and not wishing to depend on 
 the other ships of his fleet for support or assistance, 
 and still further remembering that the 504 prisoners 
 he then had meant the liberation of just that number 
 of Americans whose re-enlistment under his command 
 would go a long way toward equipping his proposed 
 squadron, he decided to make his escape and proceed to 
 Amsterdam. Once there he would gain time by enter- 
 
150 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ing into diplomatic correspondence with Franklin, 
 Eobert Morris, the French Ambassador at The Hague, 
 and many others, including M. Dumas, the newly ap- 
 pointed agent of American affairs at Amsterdam. He 
 would also be in a position to demand of Franklin the 
 Indian, the ship that had long been promised him, 
 both by Congress and the Commissioners at Paris. 
 
 The British Ambassador was at first mild in his 
 demands on the Dutch government for the dismissal 
 of Jones from the Texel, but now that the "bold Yan- 
 kee pirate" had actually entered the harbor of Amster- 
 dam, where he had established a temporary hospital, his 
 ano^er and threats knew no bounds. Unless Jones sur- 
 rendered the two captured British ships of war, or an 
 effort was made by the Dutch government to force 
 Jones to leave Holland, he would urge his government 
 to declare the sheltering of Jones an unfriendly act and 
 a violation of treaty alliances, which would be equiva- 
 lent to a declaration of war. Sir Joseph York knew of 
 the presence of a powerful British fleet watching the 
 movements of Jones and if he could, by threats, prevail 
 upon the Dutch authorities to drive him from Amster- 
 dam, the fleet without the Texel would have little 
 trouble in effecting his capture. 
 
 Jones was beginning to realize his desperate condi- 
 tion, but in order to gain time, and when opportunity 
 offered, make his escape, he wrote the French Ambassa- 
 dor at The Hague as follows : 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 151 
 
 On hoard the Bon Homme Richard's prize the ship of 
 war Serapis, at the Texel, November J^th 1779. 
 
 My Lord — This morning the commandant of the 
 Eoad sent me word to come and speak to him on board 
 his ship. He had before him on the table a letter which 
 he said was from the Prince of Orange. He questioned 
 me very closely whether I had a French commission, 
 and if I had he insisted upon seeing it. I told him 
 that my French commission not having been found 
 among my papers since the loss of the Bon Homme 
 Richard, I feared it had gone to the bottom in that 
 ship ; but that, if it was really lost, it would be an easy 
 matter to procure a duplicate of it from France. The 
 Commandant appeared to be very uneasy and anxious 
 for my departure. I have told him that as there are 
 eight of the enemy's ships laying in wait for me at 
 the south entrance, and four more at the north entrance 
 of the port, I was unable to fight more than three times 
 my force, but that he might rest assured of my inten- 
 tion to depart with the utmost expedition whenever I 
 found a possibility to go clear. > 
 
 I should be very happy, my lord, if I could tell you 
 of my being ready. I should have departed long ago 
 if I had met with common assistance, but for a fort- 
 night past I have every day expected the necessary 
 supply of water from Amsterdam in cisterns and I am 
 last night informed that it cannot be had without I 
 send up water casks. The provisions, too, that was 
 ordered the day I returned to Amsterdam from The 
 Hague is not yet sent down; and the spars that have 
 been sent from Amsterdam are spoiled in the making. 
 
152 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 None of the iron work that was ordered for the Serapis 
 is yet completed. 
 
 Thus you see, my lord, that my prospects are far 
 from pleasing. I have few men, and they are dis- 
 contented. If you can authorize me to promise them, 
 at all hazards, that their property in the prizes shall 
 be made good, and that they shall receive the necessary 
 clothing and bedding, etc., or money to buy them, I 
 believe I shall soon be able to bring them again into a 
 good humor. In the meantime I will send a vessel 
 or two out to reconnioter the offing and to bring me 
 word. Whatever may be the consequences of my having 
 put into this harbor I must observe that it was done 
 contrary to my opinion, and I consented to it only 
 because the majority of my colleagues were earnest for 
 it. I am, yours, etc., John Paul Jones. 
 
 After spending almost three months in correspond- 
 ence, mostly of a semi-diplomatic nature, but all of 
 more or less complaining character with the evident 
 purpose of gaining time, hoping that the ship Indian 
 would be completed and made ready for sea, Jones 
 decided to attempt an escape to some less hostile port, 
 there to await the completion of the vessel so long 
 promised him. His presence longer might not only 
 result in an open conflict between England and Hol- 
 land, but it was daily rendering his escape more diffi- 
 cult. In addition to the dozen armed ships of war 
 lying in wait at the Texel, a merchant marine of nearly 
 half a hundred vessels had congregated at the entrance 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 153 
 
 to the Zuider Zee ready to give the alarm when the 
 Yankee fleet made its appearance. 
 
 Jones had not been wholly inactive during his stay 
 at Amsterdam. He had refitted and reprovisioned all 
 of his vessels for a month's cruise, though his destina- 
 tion upon leaving Amsterdam was Brest, scarcely three 
 days' sail barring accidents, incidents and inclement 
 weather. The Pallas, having returned from a short 
 reconnoitre with reports that the south pass was free 
 of armed ships with only two or three small sail guard- 
 ing the exit, Jones made haste to depart. Leaving 
 Amsterdam on Christmas night, when the entire popu- 
 lace was at church or gathered around the yule log or 
 the Christmas green, Jones set out for the Texel, which 
 he reached during the night of December 26th. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 27th a small coasting 
 sloop sounded the alarm of escape and started in pur- 
 suit, but a shot from the Alliance, now commanded by 
 Jones, sent that sail and its crew to the bottom. The 
 alarm had reached the other vessels that were guarding 
 the lower coast and they joined in the chase. Jones, 
 not caring to be intercepted by more than one ship of 
 war, did not remain behind to effect any captures, but 
 as quickly as a vessel manifested its intentions of fol- 
 lowing the Alliance, Jones would drop anchor and 
 await its approach, and when within speaking distance 
 a well directed shot usually ended the cruise of some 
 brave but unwise officer of his Majesty's service. More 
 than a dozen haughty little craft, some from curiosity, 
 others to give battle, but all with the evident intent of 
 delaying Jones until the armed ships could come up, 
 
154 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ventured too near, with the result that none of them 
 returned to relate their experience with the Yankee 
 fleet. 
 
 Long before sunset the little squadron had gained 
 the open sea, leaving the pursuers far in the rear. 
 When the crews on board the twelve warships learned 
 of the escape of their prey that had been locked in the 
 harbor at Amsterdam for three months, they declared 
 that Jones was in league with satan, and when they 
 found that more than a dozen sail with their crews had 
 been destroyed, their fears were intensified ten-fold. 
 No attempt was made to follow the Alliance, or the 
 Serapis, late of the British navy but now "the terror 
 of the sea and manned by demons flying the black flag.^' 
 
 When Jones left Amsterdam he changed flagships; 
 the Alliance, while no larger, was better equipped than 
 the Serapis, and possessed greater speed, which was 
 the one thing that Jones desired most in a ship of war. 
 While he wanted to go in harm's way, he also wished 
 to get out of harm's way when outnumbered or when 
 a superior force was sent against him. On the evening 
 of the 27th Captain Jones wrote M. Dumas at Amster- 
 dam, as follows: 
 
 Alliance at Sea, 27th December, 1779. 
 Hon. M. Dumas: 
 
 I am here, my dear sir, having successfully evaded 
 the enemy without the Texel. There is a good north 
 by east wind and I am flying my best American colors. 
 So far you have your wish. What may be the event 
 
Ordered to Leave Amsterdam. 155 
 
 of this critical moment I know not ; I am not, however, 
 without good hopes. * * * 
 
 In his journal prepared for Louis XVI, Captain 
 Jones says he passed along the Flemish banks and 
 getting the windward side of the British fleet of obser- 
 vation in the North Sea, passed through the Straits of 
 Dover, in full view of the enemy's fleets on the Dover 
 coasts. The following day Jones ran the Alliance past 
 the Isle of Wight in sight of many British ships at 
 Spithead, and within the next two days got safely 
 through the channel, having passed to the windward of 
 several large British cruisers. He steered to the south- 
 ward, cruising for some days without incident off Cape 
 Finisterre. On the 16th of January, 1780, a heavy 
 gale blew from the west, and lest it drive the ships on 
 the rocks, and knowing his safety in entering a Spanish 
 port, he sought anchorage in the harbor of Corogne. Here 
 he was kindly received; his fame and daring had pre- 
 ceded him even to this remote peninsula in the South. 
 On the 10th of February, after an uneventful cruise at 
 sea, he arrived at Groix, having no other prizes than 
 the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough, together 
 with his 504 prisoners. 
 
 His loss had been heavy — not a third of the men that 
 sailed from Brest the preceding August returned with 
 him in February. Besides the loss of the Bon Homme 
 Eichard, estimates place the number of men lost on 
 that ship during its remarkable engagement with the 
 Serapis at 300 out of 375, but that doubtless includes 
 the sick and wounded left in hospitals at Amsterdam. 
 From Groix the fleet sailed for L' Orient, where Cap- 
 
156 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 tain Jones lost no time in having the Alliance refitted; 
 the French ministry had demurred in incurring fur- 
 ther expense on account of Paul Jones and the Amer- 
 ican ship, but having met and overcome vastly greater 
 obstacles, so small a matter was scarcely taken notice 
 of. Even Franklin showed his penuriousness and un- 
 concern for the valiant services Jones had rendered the 
 Colonies, by exclaiming : "The whole expense will fall 
 upon me, and I am ill provided to bear it, having so 
 many expected calls upon me from all quarters, I there- 
 fore beg that you would have mercy on me, put me to 
 as little charge as possible and take nothing you can 
 possibly do without. As to sheathing with copper, it is 
 totally out of the question." 
 
 All necessary repairs were made, however, and by 
 the 26th of April the Alliance was pronounced by Jones 
 to be one of the most complete frigates in France. 
 Neither in his correspondence nor his journal does 
 he speak of the expense or who paid for its refitting, 
 but it is not at all unlikely that the cost of refitting the 
 Alliance fell on Franklin and the French ministry. 
 Paul Jones never begrudged nor even considered the 
 item of expense when necessity -demanded it, and on 
 this occasion his liberality of spirit outran the frugal 
 genius of Franklin, and the illiberal jealousy of the 
 corrupt ministry at Passy. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 PAUL JONES IN FRANCE — SAILS FOR AMERICA. 
 
 Leaving the Alliance and its crew at L'Orient, Cap- 
 tain Jones hastened to Versailles to quiet the talk about 
 the division of honors in the recent engagements be- 
 tween the Eanger and the Drake and the Bon Homme 
 Richard and the Serapis. Upon his return to France, 
 Landais began to circulate false rumors concerning 
 Jones' character and the part he took in the long cruise 
 in English waters. The reader has been made ac- 
 quainted with the cowardly, traitorous and extremely 
 selfish character of Landais, which in contrast to the 
 bold, unselfish and magnanimous spirit of Paul Jones 
 makes the capacity of the two men all the more con- 
 spicuous. Words are inadequate to express the con- 
 tempt in which the former's name was held by Frank- 
 lin, Deane and the Marine Committee, as well as Wash- 
 ington and the Congress. 
 
 Landais was not content in his efforts to detract from 
 Jones' well earned reputation, but he set up a claim for 
 a share of the prize money not only for the Serapis, 
 the Countess of Scarborough, the Drake and several 
 merchantmen, captured during the recent cruise, but 
 also for the prizes he himself disposed of in Norway. 
 About the only means Captain Jones had to meet his 
 incidental expenses was from the sale of stores taken 
 
 157 
 
158 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 from merchantmen and ships that he captured at the 
 cost of life and danger of total annihilation or capture ; 
 it was the latter he stood most in fear of, for it would 
 have meant an ignominous death on the gallows; shot 
 and shell had no terrors for him. The prizes them- 
 selves, that would have afforded him a goodly sum with 
 which to carry on his operations in British waters, were 
 either surreptitiously stolen by Landais, whom Jones 
 would have been justified in sending to the yardarm, or 
 else they were confiscated by the Ministry to further 
 the ambition of men little more worthy than Landais to 
 defend the Declaration of American Independence. 
 
 If Paul Jones was ever to realize his ambition to 
 command a formidable European squadron flying the 
 American colors, one thing was certain, and that was 
 that he should have been given unlimited orders with 
 authority to enlist and punish for disobedience every 
 man who was to serve under him, and the right to dis- 
 pose of his prizes wherever and at such times as he saw 
 fit. But this was so long denied him, that when it did 
 come, the enemy, realizing the hopelessness of its cause, 
 was offering terms of peace that would permit an early 
 and honorable termination of hostilities. 
 
 Although Jones keenly felt the attempt to rob him of 
 his well earned glory, he lost no time in placing himself 
 in a favorable light before the Ministry and American 
 Commissioners, a majority of whom believed in his in- 
 tegrity as well as seamanship. In his absence Landais 
 prevailed upon the crew of the Alliance, most of whom 
 had served under him, to rebel against the authority of 
 Jones and to demand their share of the prize money. 
 
 
Sails for America. 159 
 
 Upon his arrival at Versailles Jones found it neces- 
 sary to submit his demands for his and his men's share 
 of the prize money, first to the Minister of Marine, who 
 in turn was to lay the claim before the proper tribunal. 
 The Minister, M. de Sartin, had just gone to Paris, to 
 which place Jones hastened with all possible speed. 
 Arriving at Paris Captain Jones found his name on all 
 tongues, and his exploits the one topic of general con- 
 versation. On the boulevards, in the cafes, clubs and 
 public houses — wherever men and women congregated, 
 the story of the terrific sea-battle between the Bon 
 Homme Richard and the Serapis, was discussed with as 
 much enthusiasm as was the Battle of Manila Bay 
 when news of that glorious victory reached America. 
 The stories, depicting Paul Jones in piratical garb, 
 flying the black flag from the masts of a ship painted 
 within and without with tar, had without reason or 
 justice made his name synonymous with that of the 
 famous Captain Kidd, a fellow countryman of his, as 
 well as many noted pirates then infesting the Mediter- 
 ranean, Gulf of Mexico and West Indian waters. 
 
 After submitting his claims, together with some mat- 
 ters of importance pertaining to future operations that 
 properly came before the Ministry, such as making 
 known his desire to take yet another vessel beside the 
 Alliance back to America, Jones set out on a tour of the 
 chief cities of France as the nation's honored guest. 
 Wherever he went, even to the remote towns and vil- 
 lages of the Kingdom, "he received the most flattering 
 applause and public approbation.'' Both the great and 
 
160 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 learned sought his acquaintance in audience as well as 
 in private life and honored him with particular marks 
 of friendship. At Court he was received with a kind- 
 ness which could only have arisen from a fixed esteem 
 and a well earned reputation. He was everywhere 
 toasted and honored ; Court dignitaries, their wives and 
 eminent personages in all walks of life, vied in their 
 attentions. The King, Louis XVI, ever loyal to the 
 Colonies, presented him with a gold sword, and permis- 
 sion was requested and granted by the American Con- 
 gress to invest him with the Military Order of Merit, 
 an honor which had never before been conferred on any 
 one who had not actually borne arms under the Com- 
 mission of France. All these honors were proudly re- 
 ceived and did equal honor to the royal donor and the 
 individual distinguished by his favor. 
 
 The French Ministry, King and populace, were in 
 the proper mood to bestow whatever favors Jones might 
 ask, and as might be expected, his request was for an- 
 other vessel to accompany the Alliance, which was 
 about to sail for America ; so the Ariel was ordered put 
 into commission to be placed '^under command of Ad- 
 miral Chevelier John Paul Jones of the American and 
 French navy.^' While basking in the sunshine of royal 
 favor, caressed by courtiers and smiled upon by the 
 fair, everything on board the Alliance — Jones' proper 
 scene of action — was going to destruction. Imagine 
 his dismay when he returned to L' Orient to find that 
 the wretched and traitorous Landais had departed with 
 his newly refitted ship, the Alliance ! 
 
 Inquiry elicited the fact that the mutiny originated 
 
Sails for America. 161 
 
 with Arthur Lee, who had been sent to France by the 
 Congress to co-operate with Benjamin Franklin and 
 Silas Deane, Commissioners on behalf of the United 
 States. Though Lee rendered valuable service to the 
 Colonies, while a Commissioner to France, Spain and 
 Prussia, and in the Continental Congress, yet he was 
 insanely jealous of Franklin, and the favors the laLter 
 received, not only from Congress, but from almost every 
 Court and Court dignitary in Europe. This only 
 aroused Lee's anger the more, but whenever he saw an 
 opportunity to humiliate and annoy Franklin or to 
 show his animosity toward his old colleagues in Europe, 
 he never lost an opportunity. 
 
 There was no doubt in the minds of Franklin and 
 Deane, or even de Sartin and others connected with 
 the French Ministry, that the sudden departure of the 
 Alliance with Landais in command had its inception 
 in the mind of Lee, for inquiry instituted immediately 
 upon the arrival of the Alliance at- Boston, showed that 
 not only had Lee gone to America on the Alliance, but 
 that he and Landais had been much together at L' Ori- 
 ent during the absence of Captain Jones in Paris. The 
 investigation into the conduct of Landais, both in the 
 Serapis affair and the unexpected appearance of the 
 Alliance in American waters without any communica- 
 tion from Captain Jones, resulted in Landais' peremp- 
 tory dismissal from the service of the United States. 
 Court martial proceedings were begun within a fort- 
 night after his arrival in America, but from the defiant 
 attitude assumed by Landais and his persistent attempt 
 to blacken the character and to cast reflections on Cap- 
 
162 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 tain Jones^ integrity and loyalty to the Colonies, who 
 was everywhere heralded as "a hero of imperishable 
 fame/' he was declared to be mentally unbalanced and 
 wholly irresponsible. Out of charity for the man, and 
 the good feeling existing between France and America, 
 immediate dismissal with a scathing denunciation by 
 the presiding officer at the trial, was deemed a suffi- 
 cient punishment. 
 
 Here, even at this early day, we see manifested to a 
 marked degree the spirit of liberality on the part of the 
 judiciary, approved by the legislative and executive 
 branches of our government, that is manifestly Ameri- 
 can in its conception. The effect of this decision, which 
 was the first judicial act of the navy department, has 
 left an abiding influence upon the life, character and 
 the institutions of the American people. It is there- 
 fore all the more galling that so brave and generous a 
 man as Winfield Scott Schley, the hero of Santiago, 
 should have been humiliated by the findings of a court 
 of naval inquiry when the facts justified a far different 
 result. 
 
 Franklin was not unaware of the discontent exist- 
 ing on board the Alliance, for in a note to Captain 
 Jones received after the departure of that vessel, Frank- 
 lin says : "Saturday morning, I received a letter signed 
 by about 115 of the sailors of the Alliance, declaring 
 that they would not raise the anchor, nor depart from 
 L'Orient, till they had six months' wages paid them, 
 and the utmost farthing of their prize-money, includ- 
 ing the ships sent into Norway, and until their legal 
 Captain, P. Landais, was restored to them. This mu- 
 
Sails for America. 163 
 
 tiny has undoubtedly been excited by that Captain; 
 probably by making them believe that satisfaction has 
 been received for those Norway prizes delivered up to 
 the English/' 
 
 It will be noticed that in Franklin's communication, 
 he does not even mention Lee, whom he undoubtedly 
 knew had been staying at L' Orient during the entire 
 absence of Captain Jones in his triumphant tour of 
 France. On more than one occasion Franklin had been 
 an unwilling listener to Lee's unjust condemnation of 
 the action of Jones in reporting Landais' conduct 
 which Lee did not consider mutinous, but simply his 
 right to act independently of Jones whenever he 
 thought the judgment of Landais justified such ac- 
 tion. The subsequent conduct of both Jones and Lan- 
 dais showed the short-sightedness of Arthur Lee, and 
 adds yet another proof of the world's correct estimate 
 of that far-seeing, wise, prudent, just, cautious, yet 
 withal, frugal man — Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 France was now in the midst of her war with Eng- 
 land. Fearing the return of Captain Jones with gov- 
 ernment aid to restrain the sailors on the Alliance from 
 carrying out the threat they made in their petition to 
 Franklin, and in addition, anticipating an early visit 
 of British war-ships to the harbor of L'Orient, Landais 
 ordered the anchor raised, and on the morning of June 
 30th, the Alliance set sail for America, having on board 
 Arthur Lee, one of the three commissioners from the 
 United States to the Court of France. 
 
 Captain Jones, learning of the dissatisfaction exist- 
 ing on board the Alliance, made desperate efforts to 
 
164 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 reach L'Orient in order to restore confidence, as well as 
 to reassure the crew that they would be paid every dol- 
 lar that was due them in salary, as well as their share 
 of the prize money. Owing to a series of unavoidable 
 delays by boat and stage, with a still more vexatious 
 delay of 54 hours at Versailles, on account of diplo- 
 matic complications arising through the investigation 
 of the British Consul, Jones did not arrive at Brest, 
 to which point he learned the Alliance had set sail, 
 until the morning of the 2nd of July, too late to over- 
 take Landais and his motley crew, who had decamped 
 the night before. 
 
 Captain Jones could do nothing but return to Paris 
 to consult Franklin about another command, and to 
 complete arrangements for equipping, manning and pro- 
 visioning the Ariel, which was presented to him by the 
 Ministry through de Sartin, Late in November, Mr. 
 Temple Franklin, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, 
 and Secretary of the Commission at Paris, received the 
 following note from a Doctor Cooper, of Boston, a 
 friend of Franklin's and an influential citizen in Amer- 
 ica, bearing the date of September 8th, 1783: "The 
 Alliance arrived here some weeks ago, with Dr. Lee, 
 who is still in town. This vessel appears to me to have 
 left France in an unjustifiable manner, though I cannot 
 yet tell the particular circumstances. Landais did not 
 hold his command through the voyage, which was either 
 relinquished by him or wrested from him. All the 
 passengers, as well as officers and sailors, are highly 
 incensed against him, and Dr. Lee as much as any one. 
 A court of inquiry is now sitting upon this matter, in 
 
Sails for America. 165 
 
 which the Doctor has given a full evidence against the 
 Captain, which represents him as insane." 
 
 As has been noted, the French Court had presented 
 Captain Jones with the ship Ariel, which, with the 
 Alliance, was to carry him in triumph to America, so 
 that he might receive the plaudits of a grateful people 
 who then, as now, have never ceased to honor the name 
 of the founder of the American navy. 
 
 Both Franklin and Jones had grave fears on account 
 of the distressed condition of Washington's army, and 
 though Jones had endeavored to secure a larger vessel 
 than the Ariel so as to enable him to carry greater re- 
 inforcements to the Americans, yet his thoughts were 
 so strongly fixed on giving immediate aid to Washing- 
 ton that he made haste to depart at once. 
 
 Before her war with France, England had sent all 
 her ships to America save a few of inferior force, which 
 were kept in English waters to protect the merchant 
 marine. Having succeeded in drawing England and 
 France into war, Jones realized that it would be neces- 
 sary for Parliament to recall at least half her ships 
 under the command of Admiral Howe, and in so doing 
 his place was then in iVmerica where, by quick decisive 
 action, the war could be brought to an early and glori- 
 ous termination. He therefore made haste to depart. 
 
 The voyage in the Ariel was begun on the 8th of Oc- 
 tober, but when about twelve hours out from Brest, 
 where the vessel touched before beginning her trans- 
 Atlantic voyage, a tremendous gale arose which con- 
 tinued with unabated fury for many days. After bat- 
 tling with the elements until the ship was in an almost 
 
166 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 sinking condition, Captain Jones decided to return to 
 L'Orient, where he arrived October 13th. Upon reach- 
 ing port it was found necessary to dispose of the stores 
 and unship all arms and ammunition, for it would 
 likely be some weeks before the necessary repairs could 
 be made and then fresh provisions and powder would be 
 required before the ship was again ready for its long 
 voyage to America, which it was hoped would be more 
 successful than the previous attempt. 
 
 Franklin had remonstrated with Jones when the ex- 
 pense of refitting the Alliance came before the Com- 
 mission, but, the latter heeded not the frugal Franklin's 
 council, and had the Alliance equipped with the best 
 that money could procure, and had the bills sent to 
 him and the French court for payment. After the loss 
 of the Alliance through the treachery of Landais, the 
 Ministry immediately presented Captain Jones with the 
 Ariel, which had been repaired during his sojourn at 
 Paris two weeks before; but now that the latter had 
 returned in a dilapidated condition caused by the viol- 
 ence of the elements, the Ministry, though more espe- 
 cially Franklin, begrudged the necessary funds to place 
 the vessel again in sea-worthy condition. Though con- 
 senting to the refitting, Franklin could not resist an- 
 other attempt to berate Captain Jones for the enormous 
 expense to which he had been put in supplying new 
 European outfits when Washington and his army in 
 America were in sore straits for even food and cloth- 
 ing, not to mention arms and ammunition. 
 
 "I suppose," writes Franklin, "you thought it for the 
 good of the service, as you say you did, to order that 
 
Sails for America, 167 
 
 great quantity of medicine for your seventy-four gun 
 ship, yet after what I had written you of my difficulties, 
 it still seems to me that you ought not to have done it 
 without informing me and obtaining my consent ; and I 
 have only to be thankful that you did not order all the 
 stores, sails and rigging, anchors, powder, etc., con- 
 templated. I think you must be sensible, on reflec- 
 tion, that with regard to me it was wrong, and that it 
 ought not to be expected from me to be always ready 
 and able to pay the demands that every officer in the 
 service may saddle me with. This affair, however, is 
 done with, and I shall say and think no more about it." 
 Paul Jones had expected to return to America in 
 the Alliance, but as it has been noted, he was prevented 
 from doing so by Landais, who anticipated him in go- 
 ing to America himself in the Alliance. It was ex- 
 pected that the latter vessel would be ready for the voy- 
 age by the 1st of June, and Captain Jones was endeav- 
 oring to complete his mission, that of securing prize 
 money and back pay for his men, together with an ad- 
 ditional ship or two, in time to sail for America at the 
 appointed time. While at Versailles Minister de Sar- 
 tin, by order of the King, handed Captain Jones the 
 following letter addressed to Mr. Hantenydon, Presi- 
 dent of the Congress of the United States, to be pres- 
 ented upon Captain Jones' arrival in America: 
 
 "Versailles, 29th May, 1780. 
 "Commodore Paul Jones, after having given to all 
 Europe and, above all, to the enemies of France and of 
 the United States, high proof of his valor and of his 
 
168 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 talents, is about to return to America, to give an ac- 
 count to the Congress of the success of his military 
 operations. I am aware, Sir, that the reputation he 
 has so justly acquired will go before him, and that the 
 history of his campaigns will be sufficient to prove to 
 his countrymen that his abilities are equal to his cour- 
 age; but the King has thought it right to join to the 
 public voice his approbation and his bounty. He has 
 charged me expressly to make known to you how much 
 he is satisfied with the services of the Commodore, per- 
 suaded that Congress will do him like justice. 
 
 "His Majesty gives him a pledge of his esteem in 
 bestowing on him the gift of a sword, which could not 
 be placed in better hands, and now offers to Congress 
 to decorate this brave officer with the cross of the order 
 of Military Merit. His Majesty thinks that these pe- 
 culiar distinctions, associating together in the same 
 honors the subject of two countries united by similar 
 interests^ may be regarded as another tie between them, 
 and excite them to emulation in the common cause. 
 
 "If having approved the conduct of the Commodore, 
 it is judged fit to interest him with any new expedition 
 in Europe, his Majesty will see him return with pleas- 
 ure ; and he presumes Congress will refuse nothing that 
 may be deemed necessary to promote the success of his 
 enterprises. My personal esteem for the Commodore 
 induces me to recommend him in a particular manner 
 to you, Sir; and I venture to hope that, in the recep- 
 tion which he may receive from Congress, he will per- 
 ceive the fruits of the sentiments with which he has 
 inspired me. 
 
Sails for America. 169 
 
 "I have the honor to be your humble and very obedi- 
 ent servant, etc., etc. de Sartin." 
 
 Though this letter was written in May and after two 
 ineffectual attempts to reach America, it was not until 
 the 18th of December that Captain Jones addressed his 
 farewell letters to Franklin, de Sartin and a number 
 of distinguished court ladies and other dignitaries 
 whom he had met on his triumphant tour through 
 France and during his brief stay in Paris. Captain 
 Jones did not overlook inditing a last farewell to the 
 King who had come to look upon him as the greatest 
 commander and naval hero of all time. 
 
 Paul Jones was now at the height of his fame. His 
 name and deeds were known in every hamlet through- 
 out Europe and America. Having accomplished about 
 all that he had set out to do — that of spreading alarm 
 throughout England, destroying her commerce and 
 proving that her famed maritime strength was an idle 
 boast — he was now ready to return to America and re- 
 ceive the thanks of the Congress that had sent him on 
 his glorious mission and the plaudits of his country- 
 men, who gave assurances that next only to Washington 
 was his name honored among his four million countrymen 
 in America. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PAUL JONES IN AMERICA — THE BIRTH OF A NATION. 
 
 Events in America were following each other in rapid 
 succession. The dastardly attempt of Benedict Arn- 
 old to deliver the American army over to Howe had 
 been foiled and Andre had just been hanged for his 
 connection in the affair; the battle of the Cowpens had 
 been fought and won by the Americans. These, and 
 the numerous expeditions fitted out in Europe for the 
 defense of the Colonies gave renewed courage to the 
 patriots, which only added to the troubles of the Brit- 
 ish, thereby rend^ering hopeless their attempt to retain 
 possession of the Colonies. La Fayette had returned 
 to America after securing valuable aid in France; 
 G'reene, Washington, Tartleton, Gates, Morgan, de 
 Kalb, de Grasse, Pulaski, Rochambeau and others, were 
 harassing the enemy on all sides, by land and by sea. 
 Turn whichever way they would, Cornwallis and Clin- 
 ton met with determined resistance and with increas- 
 ing certainty of defeat. Gradually their armies were 
 dwindling to small proportions until it became neces- 
 sary for each to reinforce the other when occasion de- 
 manded, thus keeping their forces continually on the 
 move. 
 
 On the 18th of February, in the midst of general re« 
 
 170 
 
The Birth of a Nation. 171 
 
 joicing over the great victory at the Cowpens, came 
 the glad tidings that Commodore John Paul Jones 
 had reached Philadelphia. The arch enemy of Great 
 Britain — the most dreaded foe she had ever known, had 
 returned to America and at a most critical time for her. 
 Already there was a rift in the clouds that had hung 
 like a pall over the country for seven long years — ^the 
 sunlight of peace was breaking through, and there was 
 universal rejoicing over the prospect of an early termi- 
 nation of hostilities. 
 
 When Howe learned of the arrival of Commodore 
 Jones, he lost no time in calling in his patrol ships for 
 fear of their meeting the "bold buccaneer." From the 
 beginning of the war Lord Howe had little or no navy 
 to contend with in America. The hundred or more 
 ships under the command of his brother Admiral Rich- 
 ard Howe patrolled the coast in order to prevent, if pos- 
 sible, the landing of reinforcements from France and 
 Spain, and to act in conjunction with the land forces 
 in an attack upon the coast cities. Numerous as were 
 the British ships and active as they were supposed to be 
 it was a v/eekly occurrence for vessels to arrive or de- 
 part for Europe by the southern route. LaFayette 
 had made three passages and Paul Jones had met with 
 little resistance in reaching Philadelphia; d'Estaing, 
 Kochambeau and de Grasse had found no difficulty in 
 forming squadrons in France and landing troops picked 
 up at Brest, Passy, Bordeaux, Paris and Marseilles for 
 the defense of the Colonies, where they rendered valua- 
 ble aid in co-operating with the troops under Washing- 
 ton. 
 
172 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Though his hopes were centered on reaching America 
 at the earliest possible moment, Jones could not resist 
 the temptation of keeping an eye open for straggling 
 British ships with the hope that he might enter port 
 with a string of trophies following in his wake, like 
 the ancient mariners returning to the shores of the 
 Aegean with an hundred triremes and as many gal- 
 leys, to prove the valor of their arms. Though his 
 voyage was fruitless, so far as prizes were concerned, 
 yet it was not without incident. The Ariel encountered 
 heavy seas during most of the voyage and had several 
 small engagements with sailing craft, but of those cap- 
 tured none were worth the trouble of bringing into 
 port. The crews were taken prisoners, however, while 
 the small crafts were sent to the bottom after every- 
 thing of value had been transferred to the flagship. 
 
 On the evening of the 1st of February, in latitude 
 26 degrees north, in the same longitude as the Barba- 
 does, and not more than twenty leagues to the north- 
 ward, Jones records meeting with a remarkably fast 
 sailing and heavily armed frigate belonging to the Brit- 
 ish ; he endeavored to avoid an action, and as the night 
 approached, he hoped to succeed, notwithstanding her 
 superior sailing abilities. He was, however, mistaken, 
 for the next morning the ships were at a less distance 
 apart than they had been the evening before, although 
 during the night the officers of the watch had informed 
 Jones that the enemy continued out of sight. An ac- 
 tion now became unavoidable, and we can be sure that 
 the Ariel was not unprepared. She at once assumed 
 the aggressive. Everything was thrown overboad that 
 
The Birtli of a Nation, 173 
 
 interfered with the action and safety of the crew and 
 ship. Captain Jones took particular care, by manage- 
 ment of sail and helm, to prevent the enemy from dis- 
 covering the force of the Ariel, and worked her so well 
 as not to reveal any warlike appearance. 
 
 In the afternoon, and about two hours before sun-set 
 the Ariel now and then fired a light ^^stern-chaser" at 
 the enemy from the quarter-deck and continued to crowd 
 sail as if trying to escape. This had the desired effect, 
 and the enemy pursued with greater eagerness. Jones 
 did not permit the ship to come within pistol shot until 
 the approach of night, when, having well examined his 
 force, he shortened sail, to allow the enemy to overtake 
 him. When the two ships came within hailing distance 
 of each other they both hoisted English colors. The 
 person whose duty it was to hoist the pendant on board 
 the Ariel had not taken care to make the other end of 
 the halliards fast, so as to be able to haul it down 
 again to change colors. This prevented Jones from 
 effecting the manoeuvre he had intended and forced him 
 to let the enemy approach on the leeward side of the 
 Ariel, where a battery ready for action could be plainly 
 seen by the enemy. An interview now took place be- 
 tween the two commanders which lasted nearly an hour, 
 during which time Captain Jones learned the exact 
 situation of affairs in America. The Captain of the 
 enemy's ship gave his name as John Pindar. His ship, 
 he said, had been commanded by a Mr. Peck of Boston, 
 built at Newberryport, owned by a Mr. Tracy of that 
 place, commanded by Captain Hopkins, the son of the 
 late Commodore Hopkins, and had been refitted at New 
 
174 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 York, and named the Triumph, by Admiral Rodney. 
 
 Captain Jones ordered Captain Pindar to let down 
 a boat and come aboard the Ariel and show his com- 
 mission, to prove whether or not he really did belong 
 to the English navy. To this order Pindar made a 
 number of excuses chief of which was that Captain 
 Jones had not told him who he was, and that for all he 
 knew he might be falling into the hands of "the pirate 
 Paul Jones or some other traitor in the service of the 
 rebels," and then again he gave as a further excuse 
 that his small boat was unseaworthy and that there was 
 great danger of being swamped in the heavy sea that 
 was beating against his ship. Captain Jones repeated 
 his command and told him not to delay another mo- 
 ment but to lower his boat at once. Captain Pindar 
 positively refused to comply with the request, and said 
 that he would answer for twenty guns, and that himself 
 and every one of his men had declared themselves 
 Englishmen and given satisfactory evidence in proof of 
 their assertions. Jones replied that he would give him 
 just five minutes to lower his boat. The time having 
 elapsed with no apparent disposition on the part of Cap- 
 tain Pindar to comply with Jones' request, the Ariel 
 backed a little and to one side and then ran close un- 
 der the stern of the enemy's vessel, pulled down the 
 English colors and hoisted the Stars and Stripes, and 
 being within short pistol shot immediately began a ter- 
 rific bombardment. 
 
 It was half past seven in the evening, which seemed 
 to be Captain Jones' favorite time for springing sur- 
 prises on his antagonists. The engagement was brief but 
 
Tlie Birtli of a Nation. 175 
 
 made a brilliant spectacle while it lasted. The enemy 
 made a feeble resistance for about ten minutes and 
 then ran up the white flag. The Captain begged for 
 quarter, saying that half of his men were killed. When 
 the Ariel's fire ceased, the crew, as usual after a victory, 
 gave cries of joy, to "show themselves Englishmen." 
 The enemy filled their sails and got clear of the Ariel 
 before the cries of joy on the latter ship had ended. 
 Jones suspecting the design of the enemy, immediately 
 set every sail to prevent their escape; but having the 
 advantage in sailing, the Triumph soon got beyond gun- 
 shot of the Ariel. 
 
 This account is taken partially from Jones' Journal, 
 and partially from a copy of a Philadelphia paper bear- 
 ing the date of February 20th, 1781. To the above ac- 
 count Jones adds : "The English Captain may prop- 
 erly be called a knave, because, after he surrendered his 
 ship, begged for and obtained quarter, he basely ran. 
 away, contrary to the laws of naval war and the practice 
 of civilized nations. A conspiracy was discovered 
 among the English part of the Ariel's crew immedi- 
 ately after sailing from France. During the voyage 
 every officer, and even the passengers, had been con- 
 stantly armed and kept a regular watch, besides a con- 
 stant guard with fixed bayonets. After the action with 
 the Triumph the plot was so far discovered, that it was 
 necessary to confine twenty of the ring-leaders in irons." 
 
 Without further incident or delay the Ariel, proceed- 
 ing on its voyage, reached Philadelphia shortly after 
 sunrise on the 18th of February, 1781, having been ab- 
 sent from America just three years, three months and 
 
176 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 eighteen days. In this brief lapse of time Paul Jones 
 rose from poverty and obscurity to a place in history 
 which age cannot efface; his fame seems to grow 
 brighter as time goes on; while historians seem never 
 to weary in recounting his glorious exploits in defense 
 of the rights of man as against the divine rights of 
 kings. 
 
 A Board of Admiralty had been for some time or- 
 ganized, and on this Board devolved the duty of in- 
 quiry, while Congress almost simultaneously took up 
 the Landais-Jones controversy. Forty-seven questions 
 were asked of Jones, to all of which he was required to 
 give answers in writing. He lost no time in complying 
 with this order, and we may be sure that his answers 
 to the official interrogatories were on all points ample, 
 for it appears, they were satisfactory. The report of the 
 Board to Congress through the Marine Committee, so 
 far from being condemnatory, was highly flattering. 
 Another report of the same Board will show the exact 
 estimate placed upon his courage and integrity; it is 
 as follows: 
 
 "Admiralty Office, June 16th, 1781. 
 "The Board, to whom was referred the letters and 
 other papers relative to the conduct of John Paul Jones, 
 Esquire, beg leave to report, that they have carefully 
 perused said letters and papers, wherein they find fa- 
 vorable mention is made of his abilities as an officer by 
 the Duke de Vauguyon, M. de Sartin and Dr. Frank- 
 lin; and this is also corroborated by that valor and in- 
 trepidity with which he engaged his Britannic Majesty's 
 
MARQUIS OF LAFAYETTE. 
 
The Birtli of a Nation. 177 
 
 ship, the Serapis, of forty-four cannon, twelve and 
 eighteen pounders, who, after a severe contest for sev- 
 eral hours, surrendered to his superior valor, thereby 
 acquiring honor to himself and dignity to the Ameri- 
 can flag. 
 
 "The Board therefore humbly conceive that an hon- 
 orable testimony should be given to Captain John 
 Paul Jones, commander of the Bon Homme Eichard, 
 his officers and crew, for their many singular services 
 in annoying the enemy on the British coasts, and par- 
 ticularly for their spirited behavior in an engagement 
 with his Britannic Majesty's ship of war, the Serapis, 
 on the 23rd of September, 1779, and obliging her to 
 surrender to the American flag/' 
 
 Another report from the same Committee, sent to 
 Congress a week later speaks of the services of Captain 
 Jones as follows: 
 
 "With regard to Captain Jones, the Board beg leave 
 to report, that the views of the Marine Committee in 
 sending Captain Jones in the Eanger to France, were, 
 that he might take the command of the Indian, a ship 
 that was building at Amsterdam on a new construction, 
 under a contract made by the Commissioners of these 
 States at Paris, and with her, in concert with the 
 Eanger, annoy the coasts and trade of Great Britain. 
 When he arrived at Nantes, the Commissioners sent 
 for him to Paris. After remaining there some time, 
 he was informed that they had assigned their property 
 in the ship Indian to the King of France. Captain 
 Jones returned to Nantes, plans and undertakes a se- 
 cret expedition in the Eanger." 
 
178 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 The report enters into a lengthy account of the va- 
 rious services rendered by Jones while in Europe, and 
 closes by saying: "Ever since Captain Jones first be- 
 came an officer in the navy of these States, he hath 
 shown an unremitting attention in planning and exe- 
 cuting enterprises calculated to promote the essential 
 interests of our glorious country. That in Europe, 
 although in his expedition through the Irish Channel 
 in the Kanger, he did not fully accomplish his purpose, 
 yet he made the enemy feel that it is in the power of a 
 small squadron, under a brave and enterprising com- 
 mander, to retaliate the conflagration of our defense- 
 less towns. That returning from Europe he brought 
 with him the esteem of the greatest and best friends 
 of America; and hath received from the illustrious 
 monarch of France that reward of warlike virtue which 
 his subjects receive by a long series of faithful service 
 or uncommon merit. 
 
 "The Board is of the opinion that the conduct of 
 Paul Jones merits particular attention, and some dis- 
 tinguished mark of approbation from the United States 
 in Congress assembled." The following resolution nat- 
 urally pleased Jones very much, for he often referred to 
 it in after years as "a tribute worthy of any man's 
 talents :" 
 
 "By the United States In Congress Assembled, 
 "Saturday, April 14th, 1781. 
 
 "On the report of a committee consisting of Mr. Var- 
 num, Mr. Houston, and Mr. Mathews, to which was re- 
 ferred on motion of Mr. Varnum : 
 
The Birth of a Nation. 179 
 
 "The United States, in Congress assembled, having 
 taken into consideration the report of the Board of 
 Admiralty of the 28th March last, respecting the con- 
 duct of John Paul Jones, Esq., Captain in the navy, do 
 
 ^'Resolve, That the thanks of the United States in 
 Congress assembled be given Captain John Paul Jones, 
 for the zeal, prudence, and intrepidity with which he 
 hath supported the honor of the American flag, for 
 his bold and successful enterprise to redeem from cap- 
 tivity the citizens of these States who had fallen under 
 the power of the enemy, and in general for the good 
 conduct and eminent services by which he has added 
 a luster to his character and the American arms. 
 
 "That the thanks of the United States in Congress 
 assembled be also given to the officers and men who 
 have faithfully served under him from time to time, 
 for their steady affection to the cause of their coun- 
 try, and the bravery and perseverance they have mani- 
 fested therein.'' 
 
 "Headquarters, New Windsor, 15th May, 1781. 
 "To John Paul Jones, Esq. 
 
 ".Sir — My partial acquaintance with either our naval 
 or commercial affairs makes it altogether impossible for 
 me to account for the unfortunate delay of those ar- 
 ticles of military stores and clothing which have been 
 so long provided in France. 
 
 "Had I had any particular reason to have suspected 
 you of being accessory to that delay, which I assure 
 you has not been the case, my suspicions would have 
 been renioved by the very full and satisfactory answers 
 
180 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 which you have, to the best of my knowledge, made to 
 the questions proposed to you by the Board of Ad- 
 miralty, and upon which that Board has, in its Eeport 
 to Congress, testified the high sense which they enter- 
 tain of your merits and services. 
 
 "Whether our naval affairs have in general been well 
 or ill conducted would be presumptuous in me to de- 
 termine. Instances of bravery and good conduct in 
 several of our officers have not, however, been wanting. 
 Delicacy forbids me to mention that particular one 
 which has attracted the admiration of all the world, 
 and which has influenced the most illustrious monarch 
 to confer a mark of his favor which can only be ob- 
 tained by a long and honorable service, or by the 
 performance of some brilliant action. 
 
 "That you may long enjoy the reputation you have so 
 justly acquired is the sincere wish of. Sir, 
 
 "Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "George Washington." 
 
 Thus we see with what ease the Board of Admiralty, 
 sitting as an investigating Committee, completed its 
 task and passed commendatory rather than condemna- 
 tory judgment upon the conduct of Paul Jones, during 
 the three and one-fourth years he was in command of 
 American vessels in European waters. 
 
 While the investigation was in progress Arthur Lee, 
 who had aided Landais in his desertion of Jones and 
 encouraged his mutinous conduct during the Drake and 
 Serapis incidents, lost no opportunity to declare his be- 
 lief in Jones' integrity and loyalty. Landais had been 
 
The Birth of a Nation. 181 
 
 dismissed from the service of the United States with 
 a severe reprimand and doubtless Lee realized that fu- 
 ture favors at the hands of his countrymen could only- 
 come by publicly declaring his belief in Jones, and thus 
 be on the popular side of a very unpleasant and unfor- 
 tunate incident in the closing scene of the nation^s long 
 struggle for freedom. 
 
 Within a fortnight after a public declaration of 
 Jones^ honorable conduct in all his public career he 
 was appointed by a unanimous vote of Congress to the 
 command of the America, a magnificent vessel then 
 building at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In order to 
 superintend the final construction and properly equip 
 the ship that was presented to him as a partial recog- 
 nition of his services in behalf of the Colonies, Jones 
 proceeded to Portsmouth where he remained some time. 
 During the days of his comparative idleness he found 
 time to carry on an extensive correspondence with those 
 with whom he was more or less intimately associated 
 both in Europe and America. In addition to this de- 
 lightful recreation, he also found time to mature and 
 arrange his ideas on the reorganization of the American 
 navy. On the latter subject, the language used by 
 Jones himself is the best evidence of his extensive 
 nautical skill to plan and execute; it is therefore only 
 fair to permit Jones to state in his own way his opin- 
 ion concerning the needs of the infant Republic : 
 
 He says: "The beginning of our navy, as navies 
 now rank, was so singularly small, that I am of the 
 opinion it has no precedent in history. Was it a proof 
 of madness in the first corps of sea-officers to have, at 
 
182 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 so critical a period, launched out on the ocean with only 
 two armed merchant ships, two armed brigantines, and 
 one armed sloop, to make war against such a power as 
 Great Britain? To be diffident is not always a proof 
 of ignorance. I had sailed before this revolution in 
 armed ships and frigates, yet, when I came to try my 
 skill, I am not ashamed to own I did not find myself 
 perfect in the duties of a first-lieutenant. If midnight 
 study, and the instruction of the greatest and most 
 learned sea-officers, can have given me advantages, I 
 am not without them. I confess, however, I have yet to 
 learn ; it is the work of many years' study and experi- 
 ence to acquire the high degree of science necessary for 
 a great sea-officer. Cruising after merchant ships, the 
 service in which our frigates have generally been em- 
 ployed, affords, I may say, no part of the knowledge 
 necessary for conducting fleets and their operations. 
 There is now, perhaps, as much difference between a 
 battle between two ships, and an engagement between 
 two fleets, as there is between a duel and a ranged bat- 
 tle between two armies. The English, who boast so 
 much of their navy, never fought a ranged battle on 
 the ocean before the war that is now ended. The bat- 
 tle off Ushant was, on their part, like their former 
 ones, irregular; and Admiral Kippell could^ only 
 justify himself by the example of Hawke in our re- 
 membrance, and of Eussell in the last century. From 
 that moment the English were forced to study and to 
 imitate the French in their evolutions. They never 
 gained any advantage when they had to do with equal 
 force, and the unfortunate defeat of Count de Grasse 
 
The Birtli of a Nation. 183 
 
 was owing more to the unfavorable circumstances of the 
 wind coming ahead from points at the beginning of the 
 battle, which put his fleet into the order of echiquier 
 when it was too late to tack, and of calm and currents 
 afterwards, which brought on an entire disorder, than 
 to the admiralship, or even the vast superiority of Eod- 
 ney, who had forty sail of the line against thirty, and 
 five three deckers against one. By the account of some 
 of the French officers, Rodney might as well have been 
 asleep, not having made a signal during the battle, so 
 that every Captain did as he pleased. 
 
 "The English are very deficient in signals as well as 
 in naval tactic. This I know, having in my possession 
 their present fighting and sailing instructions, which 
 comprehend all their signals and evolutions. Lord 
 Howe has, indeed, made some improvements by bor- 
 rowing from the French. But Kempenfelt, who seemed 
 to have been a more promising officer, had made a still 
 greater improvement by the same means. It was 
 said of Kempenfelt, when he was drowned in 
 the Royal George, that England had lost her 
 Du Pavillion. That great man, the Chevalier Du 
 Pavillion, commanded the Triumphant and was 
 killed in the last battle of Count de Grasse. France 
 lost in him one of the greatest naval tacticians, and a 
 man who had, besides, the honor (in 1773) to invent 
 the new system of naval signal, by which sixteen hun- 
 dred orders, questions, answers, and informations, can, 
 without confusion or misconstruction, and with the 
 greatest celerity, be communicated through a great 
 fleet. It was his fixed opinion that a smaller number 
 
184 Jotn Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 of signals would be insufficient. A captain of the line 
 at this day must be a tactician. A captain of a cruis- 
 ing frigate may make ship without ever having heard 
 of naval tactics. Until I arrived in France and be- 
 came acquainted with that great tactician Count D'Or- 
 villiers, and his judicious assistant, the Chevalier du 
 Pavillion, who, each of them, honored me with in- 
 structions respecting the science of governing the opera- 
 tions of a fleet, I confess I was not sensible how ignor- 
 ant I had been before that time of naval tactics. 
 
 "From the observations I have made and what I have 
 read, it is my opinion, that in a navy there ought to be 
 at least as many grades below a captain of the line as 
 there are below a colonel of a regiment. Even the 
 navy of France is deficient in subaltern grades, and has 
 paid dearly for that error in its constitution, joined to 
 another of equal magnitude, which authorizes ensigns 
 of the navy to take charge of watch on board ships of 
 the line. One instance may be sufficient to show this. 
 The Zele in the night between the 11th and 12th of 
 April, 1782, ran on board the Ville de Paris, which ac- 
 cident was the principal cause of the unfortunate bat- 
 tle that ensued next day between Count de Grasse and 
 Admiral Eodney. That accident in all probability 
 would not have happened had the deck of the Zele been 
 at the time commanded by a steady experienced lieu- 
 tenant of the line instead of a young ensign. The 
 charge of the deck of a ship of the line should, in my 
 judgment, never be intrusted to an officer under twen- 
 ty-five years of age. At that time of life he may be 
 supposed to have served nine or ten years — a term not 
 
The Birth of a Nation. 185 
 
 more than sufficient to have furnished him with the 
 necessary knowledge for so great a charge. It is easy 
 to conceive that the minds of officers must become un- 
 easy, when they are continued too long in any one 
 grade, which must happen (if regard be paid to the 
 good of the service) where there are no more subaltern 
 grades than midshipman and lieutenant. Would it not 
 be wiser to raise young men by smaller steps, and to 
 increase the number ? 
 
 "I have many things to offer respecting the forma- 
 tion of our navy. We are a young people, and need 
 not be ashamed to ask advice from nations older and 
 more experienced in marine affairs than ourselves. 
 This, I conceive, might be done in a manner that would 
 be received as a compliment by several, or perhaps all 
 the marine powers of Europe, and at the same time 
 would enable us to collect such helps as would be of 
 vast use when we come to form a constitution for the 
 creation and government of our marine, the establish- 
 ment and police of our dockyards, academies, hospitals, 
 etc., and the general police of our seamen throughout 
 the continent. These conditions induced me, on my 
 return from the fleet of his excellency the Marquis de 
 Yandreuil, to propose to you to lay my ideas on the 
 subject before Congress, and to propose sending a 
 proper person to Europe in a handsome frigate, to dis- 
 play our flag in the ports of different marine powers, 
 to offer them the free use of our ports, and propose to 
 them commercial advantages, etc., and then to ask 
 permission to visit their marine arsenals, to be informed 
 how they are furnished both with men, provision, ma- 
 
186 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 terials and war-like stores, — by what police and officers 
 they are governed, how and from what resources they 
 are fed, clothed and paid, etc., and the general police 
 of their seaman and academies, hospitals, etc. If you 
 still object to my project on account of the expense of 
 sending a frigate to Europe, and keeping her there till 
 the business can be effected, I think it may be done, 
 though perhaps not with the same dignity, without a 
 frigate. My plan for forming a proper corps of sea- 
 officers is, by teaching them the naval tactics in a fleet 
 of evolution. To lessen the expense as much as possi- 
 ble, I would compose that fleet of frigates instead of 
 ships of the line; on board of each I would have a 
 little academy, where the officers should be taught the 
 principles of mathematics and mechanics, when off 
 duty. When in port, the young officers should be 
 obliged to attend the academies established at each 
 dock-yard, where they should be taught the principles 
 of every art and science that is necessary to form the 
 character of a great sea officer. And every commis- 
 sioned officer of the navy should have free access and be 
 entitled to receive instruction gratis at those acade- 
 mies. 
 
 "All this would be attended with no very great ex- 
 pense, and the public advantage resulting from it would 
 be immense. I am sensible it cannot be immediately 
 adopted, and that we must first look about for ways and 
 means; but the sooner it is adopted the better. We 
 cannot, like the ancients, build a fleet in a month, and 
 wo ought to take example from what has lately befallen 
 Holland. In time of peace it is necessary to prepare, 
 
The Birtli of a IS'ation. 187 
 
 and be always prepared, for war by sea. I have had 
 the honor to be presented with copies of the signals, 
 tactics and police, that have been adopted under the 
 different admirals of France and Spain during the 
 war, and have in my last campaign seen them put in 
 practice. While I was at Brest, as well as while I was 
 inspecting the building of the America, as I had fur- 
 nished myself with good authors, I applied much of my 
 leisure time to the study of naval architecture and 
 other matters that relate to the establishment and 
 police of dock-yards, etc. I, however, feel myself 
 bound to say again, I have yet much need to be in- 
 structed.'' 
 
 Just as Captain Jones was about to assume command 
 of the America, now almost completed, the French ship 
 Magnifique, a powerful seventy-four gun ship belong- 
 ing to the French government, met with an accident, 
 the result of mismanagement, in Boston harbor, and to 
 keep France in good humor and to retain her as an ally. 
 Congress saw proper to present the ship America to his 
 Majesty the King of France, just as it had done the 
 Indian, built at Amsterdam. France was sorely in need 
 of ships to defend her own coast cities against the Brit- 
 ish, and this act of liberality on the part of Congress 
 was received everywhere with demonstrations of hearty 
 approval. We can well imagine the disappointment 
 this must have occasioned in the breast of Paul Jones, 
 who was anticipating an early return to active service 
 when the decision of Congress and the Marine Com- 
 mittee reached him at Portsmouth; but with the spirit 
 of a true patriot he submitted to the action of his supe- 
 
188 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 riors without a m-armur. His disappointment at not 
 being placed in command of the Indian after receiving 
 the assurance of not only Franklin and the Marine 
 Com^mittee, but Congress as well, had in a measure pre- 
 pared him for any contingency that could possibly 
 arise. Jones was in a measure pacified by the receipt 
 of many letters from eminent personages connected 
 with the government in various capacities, such for 
 example as Robert Morris, LaFayette, Washington, 
 John Adams, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin and many 
 others in high authority. Adams, in a letter to Paul 
 Jones from The Hague dated Aug. 12, 1782, says: 
 "If I could see a prospect of having half-dozen line-of- 
 battleships under the American flag, commanded by 
 Commodore Paul Jones, engaged with an equal British 
 force, I apprehend the event would be so glorious for 
 the United States, and lay so sure a foundation for 
 their prosperity, that it would be a rich compensation 
 for a continuance of the war." 
 
 Robert Morris, in acknowledging a letter from Paul 
 Jones says : "I have received your letter of the 22nd of 
 last month. The sentiments contained in it will always 
 reflect the highest honor upon your character. They 
 have made so strong an impression upon my mind that 
 I immediately transmitted an extract of your letter to 
 Congress. I doubt not but that they will view it in 
 the same manner that I have done." 
 
 "Your coming to the army I had the honor to com- 
 mand," says La Fayette, "would have been considered 
 as a very flattering compliment to me who love you and 
 know your worth. I am impatient to hear you are 
 
Tlie Birth of a Nation. 189 
 
 ready to sail, and I am of opinion we ought to unite 
 under you every continental ship we can muster, with 
 such a body of well-appointed marines as might cut a 
 good figure ashore; and then give you plenty of provi- 
 sion and carte hlanche. I am sorry I cannot see you. 
 1 also had many things to tell you; you know my af- 
 fectionate sentiments for you, so that I need not a-dd 
 anything on that subject." 
 
 In order to pacify his feelings, Congress acceded 
 to the request of Captain Jones to go on board the 
 French fleet, then cruising in American waters. He 
 gave as his reason for wishing to pay a visit to the 
 French fleet and especially to Marquis de Vaudreuil, 
 that it was for improvement in his profession and to 
 return in a measure the many courtesies extended to 
 him by the Chevalier Luzerne and the Marquis de Vau- 
 dreuil while in Europe. His request was granted in 
 the following resolution: 
 
 By the United States in Congress Assembled: 
 
 ^'Wednesday, December 4, 1782. 
 ''Resolved, That the agent of marine be informed 
 that Congress, having a high sense of the merit and 
 services of Captain John Paul Jones, and being dis- 
 posed to favor the zeal manifested by him to acquire 
 improvement in the line of his profession, do grant the 
 permission which he requests, and that the said agent 
 be instructed to recommend him accordingly to the 
 countenance of his Excellency the Marquis de Vau- 
 dreuil.'^ 
 
190 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Within a fortnight, Captain Jones had the pleasure 
 of being once more on board a ship of war, but this 
 time under the flag of France. No sooner had he be- 
 come settled in his new position than peace came to the 
 Colonies. Cornwallis had surrendered his sword to 
 Washington, and the revolt of the Colonies against the 
 parent country was brought to a glorious and suc- 
 cessful ending at Yorktown, Va., on the 19th of Octo- 
 ber, 1781, and shortly thereafter the last ship flying the 
 British flag took its leave from our shores. 
 
 Thus ended the long and embittered strife between a 
 sturdy race of pioneers and a mother country possessing 
 few of the natural instincts of a parent toward its off- 
 spring. Instead of a patrimony that is usually be- 
 stowed upon a child that goes forth to battle with life's 
 currents, this despotic, this tyrannical parent sought to 
 exact tribute from her justly rebellious children who 
 had ceased to acknowledge filial "protection.'' Admit- 
 ting the right of a parent to expect some consideration 
 from her offspring, yet when that parent, by reason of 
 strength, sought to coerce her children who were strug- 
 gling for their rights amidst the dangers and privations 
 of the wilderness, even now in the light of a century of 
 national independence, we cannot but hold them guilt- 
 less of ingratitude. 
 
 Thus crowned with a victory, the memory of which 
 still nettles the mother country, the thirteen Colonies 
 sprang upon the arena of nations full formed and 
 wrung from friend and foe the highest meed bestowed 
 upon a youthful state. 
 
 The birth of a nation under auspices so favorable is 
 
The Birth of a ISTation. 191 
 
 a spectacle as sublime as it is wonderful. The history 
 of the past affords no instance of equal grandeur with 
 the founding of the United States upon principles so 
 broad^ so magnanimous, and at so fearful a sacrifice, 
 as to rival the grandest conception ever entered by 
 Plato of his ideal Republic. A government so benefi- 
 cent in all of its relations and purposes could never have 
 had its inception in minds of ordinary mould. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAUL JONES LEAVES AMERICA — ENTERS THE RUSSIAN 
 NAVY. 
 
 That impatience of inactivity, which appears to have 
 been an inherent quality in the ever active mind of 
 Paul Jones, and which seemed never to have rested 
 when there was an opportunity for employment, now 
 induced him to solicit from Congress an appointment 
 in Europe. There were still large sums of money due 
 him and the men who aided in the capture of the 
 Union, the Drake, the Countess of Scarborough, the Sera- 
 pis, and numerous other vessels of various capacities 
 that were then rotting in the ports of France, Spain, 
 Denmark, Norway, Holland and the United States. 
 Many attempts were made by Jones during the stormy 
 days of the Eevolution to collect the ships in foreign 
 waters into one vast fleet, but failing in this he next 
 endeavored to obtain a cash consideration from the 
 governm^ents who held them, because they were an- 
 chored in harbors of neutral powers and the belliger- 
 ents had been warned not to seek shelter in harbors 
 closed against warring nations. Now that the war was 
 over and the American Colonies were free and inde- 
 pendent, Jones felt that an appointment from Congress, 
 authorizing him to collect this prize money could not 
 
 192 
 
 1 
 
Enters tlie Eussian Navy. 193 
 
 fail to impress the powers with the importance of 
 speedy action, and more especially when it became 
 known that he would be assisted by the most eminent 
 personages in France, among whom was the King and 
 his Minister of Marine, M. de Sartin. Pursuant to a 
 resolution of Congress, passed November 1st, 1783, 
 Captain Jones was appointed "Agent for all the prizes 
 taken in Europe/' 
 
 Immediately after receiving this appointment he 
 proceeded to Paris, where he was warmly received by 
 his friend Franklin, who was still in charge of Ameri- 
 can interests in Europe, as Minister Plenipotentiary 
 and Envoy Extraordinary. Captain Jones found social 
 affairs the absorbing occupation in Paris and other 
 French cities, and in renewing his former acquaint- 
 ances in <30urt circles and fashionable society, he feit 
 that it would very materially aid him in his mis- 
 sion. 
 
 During the succeeding three or four years Jones be- 
 came interested in a number of commercial enterprises, 
 among which was the projection of a large fur trading 
 company operating in British North America, Japan 
 and the east coast of Asia. The expeditions were un- 
 der the immediate charge of John Ledyard, who was 
 associated with Jones in more than one ill-conceived 
 enterprise. Like many other attempts of Captain 
 Jones to improve his pecuniary interests this, his latest 
 venture, proved equally as disastrous as other enter- 
 prises conceived by this brave and enterprising man. 
 
 During his long stay in Paris he was shown many 
 favors and received additional honors and recognition 
 
194 Joliu Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 for his services in the cause of liberty. In acknowledg- 
 ment of these courtesies, Jones caused his Journal, a 
 record of his exploits and details of his connection with 
 the American Navy, to be published, which together 
 with his bust, which he had cast, he gave gratuitously 
 to his most intimate acquaintances, including the King, 
 de Sartin, d'Estaing, and LaFayette. 
 
 He was also successful in witnessing the settlement 
 of the prize claims due him from the French Admir- 
 alty, but his reason for not proceeding to Denmark and 
 Bergen, in Norway, is best expressed in the following 
 letter to John Jay, written upon his return to America, 
 in July, 1787: 
 
 To His Excellency John Jay, Esq., Minister of Foreign 
 
 Affairs: 
 
 New York, July 8th, 1787. 
 
 Sir — The application I made for a compensation for 
 our prizes through the Danish Minister in London not 
 having succeeded, it was determined between Mr. Jef- 
 ferson and myself, that the proper method to obtain 
 satisfaction was for me to go in person to the Court of 
 Copenhagen. It was necessary for me to see the Baron 
 de Blome before I could leave France on that business, 
 and he being absent on a tour in Switzerland, did not 
 return to Paris till the beginning of last winter. I left 
 Paris in the spring, and went as far as Brussels on my 
 way to Copenhagen, when an unforeseen circumstance 
 in my private affairs rendered it indispensable for me 
 to turn about and cross the ocean. My private business 
 here being already finished, I shall in a few days re- 
 
Enters the Russian Navy. 195 
 
 embark for Europe, in order to proceed to the Court of 
 Denmark. It is my intention to go by the way of Paris, 
 in order to obtain a letter to the French Minister at 
 Copenhagen, from the Count de Montmorin, as the one 
 I obtained is from the Count de Vergennes. 
 
 It would be highly flattering to me if I could carry 
 a letter with me from Congress to his Most Christian 
 Majesty, thanking him for the squadron he did us the 
 honor to support under our flag. And on this occa- 
 sion, sir, permit me, with becoming diffidence, to recall 
 the attention of my sovereign to the letter of recom- 
 mendation I brought with me from the Court of 
 France, dated 30th of May, 1780. It would be pleas- 
 ing to me if that letter should be found to merit a 
 place on the Journals of Congress. Permit me also to 
 entreat that Congress will be pleased to read the letter 
 I received from the Minister of Marine, when his Maj- 
 esty designed to bestow on me a golden-hilted sword, 
 emblematical of the happy alliance, — an honor which 
 his Majesty never conferred on any other foreign officer. 
 I owed the high favor I enjoyed at the Court of 
 France in a great degree to the favorable testimony 
 of my conduct, which had been communicated by his 
 Majesty's ambassador, under whose eye I acted in the 
 most critical situation in the Texel, as well as to the 
 public opinion of Europe. And the letter with which 
 I was honored by the Prime Minister of France, when 
 I was about to return to America, is a clear proof that 
 we might have drawn still greater advantages from the 
 generous disposition of our ally, if our marine had not 
 been lost whilst I was, under perplexing circumstances, 
 
196 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 detained in Europe, after I had given the Count de 
 Maurepas my plan for forming a combined squadron of 
 ten or twelve sail of frigates, supported by the Ameri- 
 can, with a detachment of French troops on board; the 
 whole at the expense of his Majesty. 
 
 It is certain that I am much flattered by receiving 
 a gold sword from the most illustrious monarch now liv- 
 ing ; but I had refused to accept his commission on two 
 occasions before that time, when some firmness was 
 necessary to resist the temptation. He was not my 
 sovereign; I served the cause of freedom, and honors 
 from my sovereign would be more pleasing. Since the 
 year 1775, when I displayed the American flag for the 
 first time with my own hands, I have been constantly 
 devoted to the interests of America. Foreigners have, 
 perhaps, given me too much credit, and this may have 
 raised my ideas of my services above their real value; 
 but my zeal can never be over-rated. 
 
 I should act inconsistently if I omitted to mention 
 the dreadful situation of our unhappy fellow-citizens 
 in slavery at Algiers. Their almost hopeless fate is a 
 deep reflection on our national character in Europe. 
 I beg leave to influence the humanity of Congress in 
 their behalf, and to propose that some expedient may 
 be adopted for their redemption. A fund might be 
 raised for that purpose by a duty of a shilling per 
 month from seaman's wages throughout the continent, 
 and I am persuaded that no difficulty would be made to 
 that requisition. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and hum- 
 ble servant, John Paul Jones. 
 
Enters tlie Russian Navy. 197 
 
 Although the Board of Treasury did not approve of 
 the method of raising funds to defend the honor and 
 dignity of the nation as suggested by Captain Jones, 
 yet the Congress manifested its approval of his conduct 
 and activity in promoting the interests of America by a 
 unanimous resolution "that a gold medal should be 
 struck, and presented to the Chevalier John Paul 
 Jones, in commemoration of the valor and brilliant 
 services of that officer while in command of a squadron 
 of French and American ships, under the flag and com- 
 mission of the States of America/* 
 
 This was immediately followed by a letter of thanks 
 to the King of France, dated New York, Oct. 16, 1787, 
 expressing deep gratitude for his great solicitude for 
 the welfare of America and his deep sense of personal 
 regard for Captain Jones. "Permit us," concludes the 
 letter, "to repeat to your Majesty, our sincere assur- 
 ances, that the various and important benefits for which 
 we are indebted to your friendship will never cease to 
 interest us in whatever may concern the happiness of 
 your Majesty, your family, and j^our people. We pray 
 God to keep you, our great and beloved friend, under 
 His holy protection." 
 
 This letter was addressed "To His Most Christian 
 Majesty, Louis, King of France and Navarre," and 
 was handed to Jones to present to the King in person. 
 The following day being Thursday, Captain Jones bid 
 farewell to his many friends who had assembled to bid 
 him a safe voyage, little thinking that he would never 
 return to the shores of America, the land he loved so 
 
198 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 much, and for which he sacrificed the best years of his 
 life. 
 
 Dr. Franklin had resigned his commission to France, 
 owing to extreme age and failing health, and had been 
 succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. On arriving at Paris, 
 Captain Jones lost no time in presenting his compli- 
 ments to Mr. Jefferson, whom he had met on many oc- 
 casions in Paris as well as in Philadelphia and New 
 York. The Russian ambassador at Paris, M. de Simo- 
 lin, whose apartments joined those of the American Em- 
 bassy, had long admired the dashing and brilliant per- 
 sonality of the Chevalier Paul Jones; he proposed that 
 the latter enter the Russian navy then assembling on 
 the Black Sea in anticipation of an attack upon Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 There is no evidence to show that the Court of Rus- 
 sia or the Empress had ever thought of Jones as a naval 
 commander for employment in her Black Sea squadron, 
 or that Jones had ever considered service in any capac- 
 ity after the American revolution was brought to a 
 glorious ending. Seeing an opportunity for active em- 
 ployment again, however, Jones hastened to assure the 
 Russian ambassador at Paris of his desire to enter the 
 service of Catherine, Empress of all the Russias, but 
 that he must first proceed to London and from there to 
 Copenhagen and Bergen to settle the affair of prize 
 money still pending in the courts of these capitals. 
 
 His stay in the Danish capital was both pleasant and 
 of long duration. Through the instrumentality of the 
 Russian ambassador at Copenhagen, Baron Krudner, 
 and on presentation of letters from M. de Simolin, Mr. 
 
 A'-i 
 
Enters the Russian Navy. 199 
 
 Jefferson and others at Paris, The Hague and London, 
 Jones was as graciously received by the King and Eoyal 
 family of Denmark as he had been in other capitals of 
 Europe. In his Journal he speaks very flatteringly of 
 the receptions tendered him by every member of the 
 royal family and one in particular, at which he was the 
 guest of honor and at which upwards of one hundred 
 ministers of state, foreign ambassadors, court dignita- 
 ries and the Royal Family were present. 
 
 Even while courting these royal favors, he was se- 
 cretly planning his entrance into the Eussian navy. 
 Baron Krudner had opened the way for direct commu- 
 nication with the Empress, which Jones made haste to 
 avail himself of. 
 
 Owing to his ability to complete the treaty of com- 
 merce pending between Denmark and the United 
 States, and to effect a settlement with regard to the 
 long unsettled prize money, Jones was chafing under 
 enforced restraint. He had formally tendered his 
 services to M. de Simolin for immediate employment 
 in the Eussian navy, and the same having been ac- 
 cepted by the Empress his patience was daily becoming 
 exhausted. The following letter from the empress 
 showed Jones the only way out of his perplexing diffi- 
 culty, and he was not long in reaching a conclusion as 
 to his future plans : 
 
 John Paul Jones, Esquire, in care Baron Krudner, 
 
 Copenhagen: 
 
 Sir — A courier from Paris has just brought from 
 my Envoy in France, M. de Simolin, the enclosed letter 
 
200 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to Count Besborodko. As I believe that this letter may 
 help to confirm to you what I have already told you 
 verbally, I have sent it, and beg you to return it, as I 
 have not even made a copy so anxious am I that you 
 should see it. I hope that it will efface all doubts from 
 your mind, and prove to you that you are to be con- 
 nected only with those who are most favorably disposed 
 towards you. I have no doubt but that on your side 
 you will fully justify the opinion which we have 
 formed of you, and apply yourself with zeal to support 
 the reputation and the name you have acquired for 
 valor and skill on the element in which you are to 
 serve. 
 
 Adieu. 
 I wish you happiness and health. 
 
 Catherine. 
 
 The letter referred to by the Empress was from M. 
 de Simolin to Count de Besborodko, and appears in full 
 in the Journal kept by Jones in the chapter devoted to 
 "Correspondence pertaining to M. de Simolin and the 
 navy of her Imperial Highness, Catherine of Eussia." 
 It is in brief as follows : 
 
 The letter with which your Excellency favored me 
 on the 16th of February, was delivered by M. Polir- 
 anoff. By it I was informed of the resolution of her 
 Imperial Majesty on the subject of the engagement 
 with the Chevalier Paul Jones ; and the same day Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel de Baner, who was dispatched from St. 
 Elizabeth, by Prince Potemkin on the 9th of March, 
 brought me two letters^ the subject of one of which was 
 
Enters tlie Russian Navy. 201 
 
 the said Chevalier Jones, whom he requested me to in- 
 duce to repair to his headquarters as quickly as pos- 
 sible, that he might employ his talents at the opening 
 of the campaign; and assure him that in entering the 
 service, he (Potemkin) would do all that depended on 
 him to make his situation pleasant and advantageous 
 and certainly procure for him occasions in which he 
 might display his skill and valor. 
 
 Captain Jones was not long in effecting a settlement 
 with the Danish Government concerning the prize 
 money, nor was he long in concluding an advantageous 
 treaty of commerce between Denmark and the United 
 States which is substantially in effect today. 
 
 About the middle of April Jones received a long let- 
 ter from Baron Krudner, written shortly after the lat- 
 ter's return from St. Petersburg, expressing the highest 
 satisfaction in being permitted to carry the commission 
 from his Sovereign "to the famous Paul Jones." The 
 following is but an extract of the Baron's letter, but it 
 denotes a foregone conclusion that the invitation to 
 accept a command in the Eussian navy, gave Jones 
 what he desired most — ^%n active command with pros- 
 pects of immediate service.'* 
 
 "I am much disappointed," writes the Baron, '^at not 
 meeting you at Court, as I had promised myself, but a 
 slight indisposition prevented me from going abroad; 
 besides I have been agreeably occupied in writing let- 
 ters. My Sovereign learned with pleasure the acquisi- 
 tion which she has made in your great talents. I have 
 her commands for your acceptance of the grade of Cap- 
 tain Commandant, with the rank of Major General, 
 
202 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 in her service, and that you should proceed as soon as 
 your affairs permit; the intention of her Imperial Maj- 
 esty being to give you a command in the Black Sea 
 and under the orders of Prince Potemkin, from the 
 opening of the campaign. The immortal glory by 
 which you have illustrated your name cannot make you 
 indifferent to the fresh laurels you must gather in the 
 new career which opens to you. I have the honor 
 of being on this occasion the interpreter of those senti- 
 ments of esteem with which for a long period your bril- 
 liant exploits have inspired her Imperial Majesty. Un- 
 der a Sovereign so magnanimous^ in pursuing glory, 
 you need not doubt of the most distinguished rewards 
 and that every advantage of fortune will await you." 
 
 Jones sought the office and rank of Eear-Admiral in 
 the Russian navy, but not being assured that his request 
 would be granted, doubtless because he had not held a 
 similar rank in the navy of the United States, he wrote 
 Mr. Jefferson : "If Congress should think I deserve the 
 promotion tliat was proposed when I was in America 
 and should condescend to confer on me the grade of 
 Hear- Admiral, from the day I took the Serapis (Sep- 
 tember 23rd, 1779, exactly nine years before) I am 
 persuaded it would be very agreeable to the Empress, 
 who now deigns to offer me an equal rank in her serv- 
 ice, although I never had the honor to draw my sword 
 in her cause, nor to do any other act that could merit 
 her Imperial benevolence. The rank I mention of the 
 approbation of that honorable body (Congress), would 
 be extremely flattering to me in the career I am now to 
 pursue and would stimulate all my ambition to acquire 
 
Enters tlie Eiissian Navy. 203 
 
 the necessary talents to merit that and even greater 
 favors at a future day. I pray you, sir, to explain the 
 circumstances to the United States in Congress. I ask 
 for nothing and beg leave to be understood only as hav- 
 ing hinted what is natural to conceive : That the mark 
 of approbation I mention could not fail to be infinitely 
 serviceable to my views and success in the country 
 where I am going.^' 
 
 About this time Jones received from the King of 
 Denmark a "patent" or a life annuity amounting to 
 1,500 Danish crowns, "for," the pension read, "the re- 
 spect you (Jones) had shown to the Danish flag while 
 cruising in the North Seas." For some years after the 
 awarding of this unsolicited pension, Jones neither ac- 
 cepted of its provisions nor made known the existence 
 of such a grant to his countrymen in America, and had 
 his afl:airs prospered after his entrance into the Russian 
 navy no one would have been aware of this generous 
 bequest on the part of the Danish Monarch or its re- 
 fusal by the proud Yankee Commander. However, by 
 the advice of certain distinguished American friends of 
 Jones' to whom he made known the existence of this 
 pension, he was persuaded to accept a small portion of 
 the fund that had assumed large proportions since it 
 was granted. 
 
 In the preliminary chapter of this work it was pro- 
 posed to tell the story of Paul Jones so far as he helped 
 to liberate the Colonies from British tyranny. Hav- 
 ing concluded this much in the life-story of the founder 
 of the American navy, the reader will not be wearied 
 by a lengthy recital of uninteresting details of an un- 
 
204 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 eventful campaign on the Black Sea and adjacent 
 waters between the allied forces of Eussia and Poland 
 on the one hand and those of the Porte on the other. 
 To the reader, however, who wishes to follow the career 
 of our hero in all of his various campaigns and exploits 
 during the succeeding years of his activity, it will be 
 necessary to procure a copy of the "Journal of the Cam- 
 paign of the Liman in 1788, drawn up by Rear- Ad- 
 miral Jones for the perusal of her Imperial Majesty of 
 all the Russias." Parts of this voluminous diary have 
 been published in every work purporting to be a Life 
 of Chevalier John Paul Jones, but believing a history 
 of this period of his intensely active career has little 
 interest to the average American, it has not been 
 thought necessary to recount it here. 
 
 As has been noted, his connection with the Russian 
 navy was not without its pains and its penalties. No- 
 where in public life do petty jealousies exist to a 
 greater extent than in the army and navy, and with 
 Jones the Russian service was no exception. In placing 
 him in command of the Wolodimer with the rank of 
 Rear-Admiral, not only were all the under officers of- 
 fended by being superseded by a foreigner, but the few 
 who outranked Jones refused to confer with him when 
 united action was desired because of the apparent slight 
 shown their fellow officers. Again, the campaign 
 against the Turks was drawing to a close — the siege oi 
 Sebastopol had been raised, and not only Cherson, but 
 the Crimea had been saved to Russia through the indi- 
 vidual ef oris of Paul Jones, These combined causes 
 
Enters tlie Russian N'avy. 205 
 
 rendered Jones unpopular with every officer beneath the 
 rank of Admiral. 
 
 On the question of employing foreign officers, as well 
 as to justify his conduct while in the service of Cather- 
 ine, we will conclude his connection with the Russian 
 navy by quoting from the Journal of the Liman : 
 
 It is said that Russia has no longer need of foreign 
 naval officers. No one is more desirous than myself 
 that this may be so, for I cannot be jealous of any one, 
 and I must ever desire the prosperity of a country I 
 have served. I may, however, be allowed to notice, that 
 this opinion is not of very ancient date. If this had 
 been believed before the last campaign, why were my 
 services so anxiously sought after? It assuredly could 
 not have been in compliment to me, nor in order after- 
 wards to make use of me in promoting certain political 
 designs. I have frequently heard, that, since the war 
 broke out with Sweden, measures have been taken to 
 induce Rear-Admiral Kinsbergen to quit Holland, and 
 re-enter the service of Russia. His countrymen allege 
 that he had been offered the rank of vice-admiral, the 
 Order of Alexander Nevsky, and a fixed revenue of 
 20,000 roubles a year; and that he had refused all these 
 advantages, as he had lately married a wife with a for- 
 tune which enabled him to live in independence in his 
 own country. 
 
 It is known that the King of Sweden made advan- 
 tageous offers to Admiral Curtis, of the English navy, 
 to induce him to take command of the fleet against 
 Russia; and that this officer declined them, not wish- 
 ing to hazard his professional reputation in command 
 
206 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 of a fleet which was not in so good a condition as that 
 of England. 
 
 The Empress will do me the justice to remember 
 that when I entered her service I did not say one word 
 regarding my personal interests. I have a soul too 
 noble for that; and if my heart had not been devoted 
 to her Majesty, I would never have drawn my sword in 
 her cause. I have now nothing for it but, like Admiral 
 Kinsbergen, to marry a rich wife ; but I have sufficient 
 to support me wherever I choose, and I have seen 
 enough of the world to be a philosopher. When I ar- 
 rived at the Black Sea, if reasons much stronger than 
 those which withheld Admiral Curtis had not influ- 
 enced my mind and heart, which were devoted to the 
 Empress, I would never have hoisted my flag on board 
 the Wolodimer. I would have refused the poor com- 
 mand offered me, and which was not worthy of me. I 
 have never puffed of my own action nor given any 
 piece to the press containing my own panegyric. 
 
 I respect the names of Kinsbergen and Curtis, but 
 the first duty of a gentleman is to respect his own char- 
 acter; and I believe, without vanity, that the name of 
 Paul Jones is of as much value as theirs. It is thirty 
 years since I entered the navy, and I have had for 
 friends and instructors a d'Orvilliers and a Du Pavil- 
 ion. Unfortunately, Prince Potemkin never gave him- 
 self the trouble to know me. 
 
 I had the happiness to be loved by my officers and 
 men, because I treated them justly, and set them a 
 good example in fight. After I ceased to command, 
 though the campaign only lasted a few days, the sea- 
 
Enters tlie Russian Navy. 207 
 
 men soon found the difference. They said they had 
 lost their father; they were immediately served with 
 bad provisions. 
 
 I have already noticed that Prince Potemkin had 
 promised, in presence of Admiral Mordwinoff, to ad- 
 vance the officers under my command, and to restore 
 to them the seniority they had lost by the promotion of 
 ilie officers of the flotilla ; but I have learned with much 
 pain that he had not kept his word, and that in conse- 
 quence my officers, to the number of fifty, have de- 
 manded their dismission. Not one of them offered to 
 resign while I held command. Admiral Woinowitch 
 having represented to Prince Potemkin that without 
 these officers the fleet was useless, he was compelled to 
 advance them all. I have been told that they were not 
 yet satisfied, as they were not restored to their seniority, 
 and that they proposed to quit the service at the end of 
 the year. I hope justice will be done them, for they are 
 brave men. For myself I have been marked out from 
 every other officer that served in the Liman; I alone 
 have obtained no promotion, though I commanded and 
 was alone responsible ! I may be told that I ought to be 
 satisfied with having received the rank of Eear- Admiral 
 on entering the service. I reply, that I could not have 
 been offered an inferior grade. One officer may deserve 
 as much in a day as another in a lifetime, and every 
 officer ought to be advanced according to his merits. I 
 was not favored in rank on entering the Eussian serv- 
 ice. I had a full right to obtain that which I accepted. 
 A man, only twenty-four years of age, has since been 
 received into the service with the rank of major-gen- 
 
208 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 eral. I wish to say nothing against this officer; it is 
 not always years that give skill, much less genius, but 
 he must do a great deal before he has my experience. 
 
 It is painful for the honor of human nature to re- 
 flect on how many malevolent and deceitful persons 
 surround the great, and particularly crowned heads. I 
 speak from my own unhappy experience. Some per- 
 sons had the malice to make Prince Potemkin believe 
 that I made unhandsome strictures on his military con- 
 duct, and ridiculed his manner of conducting the siege 
 of Oczahow. I have heard a great deal said on this 
 subject, and I am aware that it excited considerable 
 discontent in the army. I was told, during my illness 
 at Cherson, that a thousand of his officers had demand- 
 ed their dismission; but I defy any one to say to my 
 face that I ever allowed myself to criticise his opera- 
 tions. I have been strongly attached to him, of which 
 I have given proofs during my command, and even 
 after he unjustly superseded me. There is evidence of 
 this in my letter of the 7th of November, at a time 
 when I certainly had reason to complain of his con- 
 duct. 
 
 I have been deeply injured by those secret machina- 
 tions in the opinion of the Empress. My enemies have 
 had the wickedness to make her believe that I was a 
 cruel and brutal man; and that I had, during the 
 American war, even killed my own nephew ! 
 
 It is well known that from motives of revenge, the 
 English have invented and propagated a thousand fic- 
 tions and atrocities to stain, wound and injure the cele- 
 brated men who effected the American revolution: — a 
 
w 
 
Enters the Russian Kavy. 209 
 
 Washington and a Franklin, two of the most illustrious 
 and virtuous men that have ever adorned humanity, 
 have not been spared b}^ these calumniators. Are they 
 now the less respected on this account by their fellow- 
 citizens? On the contrary, they are universally re- 
 vered, even in Europe, as the fathers of their country, 
 and as examples of all that is great and noble in the 
 human character. 
 
 In civil wars it is not v/onderful that opposite fac- 
 tions should mutually endeavor to make it be believed 
 that each is in the right; and it is obvious that the 
 party most in the wrong will always be the most calum- 
 nious. If there had really been anything against my 
 character, the English would not have failed to fur- 
 nish convincing proofs of it. I was known, with very 
 slender means, to have given more alarm to their three 
 kingdoms during the war than any other individual 
 had done. 
 
 I have heard that at the period of my entering the 
 Eussian service, the English in St. Petersburg cried out 
 against me, and asserted that I had been a contraband 
 trader. All the world knows that men of this descrip- 
 tion are actuated entirely by avarice; and every one 
 to whom I have the honor to be known is aware that 
 I am one of the least selfish of mankind. This is known 
 to the whole American people. I have given proofs of 
 it not easily shown, of which I possess very flattering 
 testimonies. In a letter written on the 29th November, 
 1782, to Congress, by Mr. Morris, minister of the mar- 
 ine and finance departments, after having made my 
 eulogium with the warmth of a true patriot, who thor- 
 
210 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 oughly knew me, he says, that '^I had certainly merited 
 the favor of Congress by services and sacrifices tlie 
 most signal.' Men do not change their characters in 
 these respects. 
 
 If my heart had bled for the Americans, — above all, 
 .for those shut np as victims in English prisons by an 
 act of Parliament as sanguinary as unjust, — if I have 
 exposed my health and my life to the greatest dan- 
 gers, — if I had sacrificed my personal tranquillity and 
 my domestic happiness, with a portion of my fortune 
 and my blood, to set at liberty these virtuous and inno- 
 cent men, — have I not given proofs sufficiently striking 
 that I have a heart the most tender, a soul the most 
 elevated ? I have done more than all this. So far from 
 being harsh and cruel, nature has given me the mildest 
 disposition. I was formed for love and friendship, and 
 not to be a seaman or a soldier, to which I have sacri- 
 ficed my natural inclination. 
 
 As an officer I love good discipline, which I con- 
 sider indispensable to the success of operations, particu- 
 larly at sea, where men are brought into such close con- 
 tact. In the English navy it is known that captains of 
 ships are often tyrants, who order the lash for the poor 
 seamen very frequently for nothing. In the American 
 navy we have almost the same regulations; but I look 
 on my crew as my children, and I have always found 
 means to manage them without flogging. 
 
 I never had a nephew, nor any other relation, under 
 my command. Happily these facts are known in 
 America, where cruel calumnies are not believed. I 
 have one dear nephew who is still too young for service. 
 
Enters tlie Eussian Navy. 211 
 
 but who now pursues his studies. Since I came to 
 Russia I have intended him for the Imperial Marine. 
 Instead of imbruing my hands in his blood he will be 
 cherished as my son. 
 
 In short, my conduct has obtained for me the re- 
 turns most grateful to my heart. I have had the hap- 
 piness to give universal satisfaction to two great and 
 enlightened nations which I have served. Of this I 
 have received singular proofs. I am the only man in 
 the world that possesses a sword given by the King of 
 France. It is to me a glorious distinction to wear it; 
 and above all, to have received it as a proof of the par- 
 ticular esteem of a monarch so august, — a monarch who 
 has declared himself the Protector of the rights of the 
 human race, and who adds to this glorious title that of 
 citizen ! I have indelible proofs of the high consider- 
 ation of the United States ; but v/hat completes my hap- 
 piness is the esteem and friendship of the most virtu- 
 ous of men, v/hose fame v/ill be immortal; and that a 
 Washington, a Franklin, a D'Estaing, a LaFayette, 
 think the bust of Paul Jones v/orthy of being placed 
 side by side with their own. 
 
 Since I am found too frank and too sincere to make 
 my way at the Court of Russia without creating power- 
 ful enemies, I have philosophy enough to withdraw in- 
 to the peaceful bosom of friendship ; but, as I love vir- 
 tue better than reward, and as my greatest ambition is 
 to preserve, even in the shades of retreat, the precious 
 favor of the empress, I may tell her Majesty, that, 
 even in the midst of my persecutions, my mind was 
 occupied by plans for the essential advancement of her 
 
212 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 service, of which I gave some idea to her minister in 
 June last (1789.) I have not entered into details, for 
 there are politicians who before now have robbed me 
 of my military plans. I have other projects in view 
 from which the flag of Eussia might derive new luster, 
 and which would cause but little expense to her Majesty 
 at the outset, and perhaps nothing in the end, if I had 
 the direction; for I would be able to make war support 
 war. Whatever be the issue, I have the satisfaction of 
 having done my duty in Russia, and that without any 
 views of self-interest. It is affirmed, that, in general, 
 strangers who come to Russia are adventurers in search 
 of fortune, not liaving the means of living in their own 
 country. I cannot say as to this; but I at least hope 
 that the Empress will not class me with those. 
 
 Briefly, I am satisfied with myself; and I have the 
 happiness to know, that, though my enemies may not 
 be converted into friends, my name will nevertheless 
 be alwaj^s respected by worthy men who know me; and 
 it is to me a satisfaction and a signal triumph at the 
 moment of my leaving Russia, that the public, and even 
 the English in St. Petersburg, with whom I had no 
 connection, have now changed their sentiments in re- 
 gard to me, give me their esteem, and regret my de- 
 parture. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAUL JONES IN PARIS. 
 
 The I]nipress had granted Admiral Jones a two years' 
 leave of absence with pay belonging to his military 
 rank, which was named at 1,800 roubles, or about 
 $900 per year. This, in addition to the pension 
 granted by the Danish government, should have placed 
 him in affluent circumstances, as incomes went in those 
 days. 
 
 The reader has been spared both the time and the 
 mortification of reading the charges preferred against 
 the character of Paul Jones, which found credence 
 with the Empress who had temporarily dismissed him 
 from her service upon hearing these charges preferred, 
 and commanded him not to appear again at court. 
 Through his friend, Count de Segur, who had volun- 
 tarily procured sufficient evidence to brand the authors 
 of the plot to vilify his character as infamous adven- 
 turers and political enemies, Jones was recalled by the 
 Empress, but only for a brief time. 
 
 Shortly after his recall to St. Petersburg, he wrote 
 Mr. Jefferson, then a member of Washington's Cab- 
 inet: "I can only inform you that I returned here by 
 special desire of the Empress, but I know not as yet 
 how or where I am to be employed for the next eam- 
 
 213 
 
214 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 paign. I mentioned in my last, as my opinion, that if 
 tlie new government of America determines to chastise 
 the Algerines, I think it now a favorable moment to 
 conclude a treaty with Eussia. The Turks and Algeri- 
 ans were combined against us on the Black Sea. The 
 United States could grant leave for Eussia to enlist 
 American seamen and, making a common cause with 
 Eussia in the Mediterranean, might at the peace obtain 
 a free navigation from and to the Black Sea. Such a 
 connection might lead to various advantages in the 
 commerce between the two nations." 
 
 It is not known whether Mr. Jefferson replied to Ad- 
 miral Jones in reference to the misconduct of the Alge- 
 rians, but it is certain that nothing was done for some 
 years looking to an ending of the piratical depredations 
 on the part of Tripoli, Algiers, Morocco and other states 
 along the Mediterranean. 
 
 Early in September, 1788, Jones left St. Petersburg 
 for Warsaw, but with France ultimately as his objective 
 point. Before his departure from the Eussian capital 
 he was admitted to the presence of the Empress, who 
 permitted him to kiss her hand, a custom accorded 
 all, however, who are admitted to the presence of 
 royalty. She had previously decorated him with the 
 insignia of the order of St. Anne, and now took occa- 
 sion to compliment him upon his meritorious conduct 
 while in her service during the campaign of 1788. 
 
 Jones did not remain long in Poland, as private 
 affairs in France and England required his immediate 
 presence there. During his stay in Warsaw he re- 
 newed his former acquaintance with the Polish patriot. 
 
In Paris. 215 
 
 General Thaddeus Kosciusko, who lived "in proud in- 
 dependence, superior to fortune and to king." Several 
 interesting letters passed between these two defenders 
 of American liberty, one in particular from Kosciusko, 
 long delayed in transit, in which the patriot asks the 
 name of the American Minister at Paris and many 
 other questions relating to political affairs concerning 
 America. A reply dated at Amsterdam, March 16th, 
 1790, answered fully all these questions, at the same 
 time reiterating his desire to re-enter the service of the 
 Empress at the end of his two years' leave. To this de- 
 lusive hope he clung to the very close of his intensely 
 active life. 
 
 While in Holland, Jones found ample leisure to carry 
 on an extensive correspondence with friends in Amer- 
 ica, France, Eussia and N'orway, and to strive to re- 
 establish himself in the good opinion of many acquaint- 
 ances in St. Petersburg. He had not forgotten the uni- 
 versal regard the American people had for him, nor the 
 confidence and esteem in which he was held by Wash- 
 ington, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Morris, Eoss, St. 
 Clair and others then enjoying peace and a full meas- 
 ure of prosperity in the land they helped to deliver 
 from British tyranny. 
 
 During the winter of 1789 and 1790, innumerable 
 letters bearing the postmarks Amsterdam and The 
 Hague, found their way to all countries where the Ad- 
 miral had even temporarily lived. Those pertaining 
 to America, and directed to those personages whose 
 names are dear to the hearts of all who reverence the 
 flag and cherish the cause that made possible the im- 
 
216 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 mortal Declaration of Independence, and the adoption 
 of the Constitution, are of especial importance, and 
 merit a place in this brief sketch: 
 
 Amsterdam^ December 20, 1789. 
 To General George Washington, President of the States 
 
 of America: 
 
 Sir — I avail myself of the departure of the Phila- 
 delphia packet. Captain Earle, to transmit to your Ex- 
 cellency a letter I received for you on leaving Russia 
 in August last, from my friend, the Count de Segur, 
 Minister of France at St. Petersburg. That gentle- 
 man and myself have frequently conversed on subjects 
 that regard America; and the most pleasing reflection 
 of all has been the happy establishment of the new con- 
 stitution, and that you are so deservedly placed at the 
 head of the government by the unanimous voice of 
 America. Your name alone, sir, has established in 
 Europe a confidence that was for some time before 
 entirely wanting in American concerns; and I am 
 assured that the happy effects of your administration 
 are still more sensibly felt throughout the United 
 States. This is more glorious for you than all the 
 laurels that your sword so nobly won in support of the 
 rights of human nature. In war, your fame is im- 
 mortal as the hero of Liberty! In peace, you are her 
 patron, and the firmest supporter of her rights ! Your 
 greatest admirers, and even your best friends, have now 
 but one wish left for you, — that you may long enjoy 
 health and your present happiness. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson can inform you respecting my mission 
 
In Paris. 217 
 
 to the Court of Denmark. I was received and treated 
 there with marked politeness; and if the fine words I 
 received are true, the business will soon be settled. I 
 own, however, that I should have stronger hopes if 
 America had created a respectable marine; for that ar- 
 gument would give weight to every transaction with 
 Europe. I acquitted myself of the commission with 
 which you honored me when last in America, by deliv- 
 ering your letters with my own hands at Paris to the 
 persons to whom they were addressed. 
 
 He also wrote Franklin and Mr, Eoss. Both of these 
 letters have interest : 
 
 Amstebdam, December 27, 1789. 
 To John Ross, Esquire, Philadelphia: 
 
 Dear Sir — I beg leave to refer you to Doctor Frank- 
 lin or to General St. Clair for an explanation of my 
 reasons for having left Russia. I have by this oppor- 
 tunity sent to those gentlemen testimonies in French 
 that cannot fail to justify me in the eyes of my friends 
 in America. 
 
 You have no doubt been informed, perhaps by Mr. 
 Parish, of the unhandsome conduct of Le Conteulex 
 and Company with regard to the letter of credit you 
 gave me on them when I was last in America, for six 
 thousand livres. As I was landed in England instead 
 of France, I went to London to make an arrangement 
 with Dr. Bancroft for supplying the expense of my 
 mission to Denmark. He promised to place funds for 
 my use at Amsterdam. I went to Paris .and took a 
 letter of credit from La Conteulex on Amsterdam by 
 
218 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 way of precaution. On my arrival at Amsterdam I 
 found that Bancroft had not kept his word, nor even 
 wrote me a line. I then depended on the credit that 
 Le Conteulex had, without the least difficulty, given me 
 in an open letter; but his correspondent informed me 
 he had received orders to pay me nothing till more 
 explicit and satisfactory accounts should be received 
 from you. I had then no funds in my hands, and if I 
 had not the fortune to be immediately relieved from a 
 quarter on which I had no claim, I should have found 
 myself in great distress. 
 
 I should be glad to know the state of the bank, etc., 
 though I at present want no remittance. My address 
 is, under cover, to Messrs. N. and J. Yan-Stophorst 
 and Hubbard, Amsterdam. Present my respectful com- 
 pliments to Mrs. Eoss and the young ladies. I may 
 perhaps return to America in the latter end of the 
 summer, and in that case I shall wish to purchase a 
 little farm, where I may live in peace. I am always 
 affectionately yours, 
 
 John Paul Jones. 
 
 N. B. — I presume you have received my bust, as 
 Mr. Jefferson has forwarded it for you. 
 
 Amsterdam^ December 27, 1789. 
 To His Excellency B. Franklin, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: — The enclosed documents from my friend, 
 the Count de Segur, Minister Plenipotentiary of France 
 at St. Petersburg, will explain to you in some degree 
 my reasons for leaving Russia, and the danger to which 
 I was exposed by the dark intrigues and mean subter- 
 
In Paris. 219 
 
 fuges of Asiatic jealousy and malice. Your former 
 friendship for me, which I remember with particular 
 satisfaction, and have ever been ambitious to merit, will, 
 I am sure, be exerted in the kind use you will make of 
 the three pieces I now send you, for my Justification 
 in the eyes of my friends in America, whose good opin- 
 ion is dearer to me than anything else. I wrote to the 
 Empress from Warsaw in the beginning of October, 
 with a copy of my Journal, which will show Her 
 Majesty how much she has been deceived by the account 
 she had of our maritime operations last campaign. I 
 can easily prove to the world that I have been treated 
 unjustly; but I intend to remain silent at least till I 
 know the fate of my Journal. 
 
 I shall remain in Europe till after the opening of 
 the next campaign, and perhaps longer, before I return 
 to America. From the troubles in Brabant, and the 
 measures now pursued by the King of Prussia, etc., I 
 presume that peace is yet a distant object, and that the 
 Baltic will witness warmer work than it has yet done. 
 On the death of Admiral Greig, I was last year called 
 from the Black Sea by the Empress to command a 
 squadron in the Baltic. This set the invention of all 
 my enemies and rivals at work, and the event has proved 
 that the Empress cannot always do as she pleases. If 
 you do me the favor to write to me, my address is, 
 under cover, to Messieurs N. and J. Van Stophorst 
 and Hubbard at Amsterdam. 
 
 I am, with sincere affection, dear sir, your most 
 obedient and humble servant, 
 
 John Paul Jones. 
 
220 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 N. B. — It is this day ten years since I left the Texel 
 in the Alliance. 
 
 Paris, December 7, 1791. 
 To the Marquis de La Fayette. 
 
 Dear General: — My ill health for some time past 
 has jirevented me from the pleasure of paying you my 
 personal respects, but I hope shortly to indulge myself 
 with that satisfaction. 
 
 I hope you approve of the quality of the fur-linings 
 I brought from Eussia for the King and yourself. I 
 flatter myself that His Majesty will accept from your 
 hand that little mark of the sincere attachment I feel 
 for his person, and be assured that I shall be always 
 ready to draw the sword with which he honored 
 me for the service of the virtuous and illustrious 
 ^^protector of the rights of human nature." 
 
 When my health shall be re-established, M. Simo- 
 lin will do me the honor to present me to His Majesty 
 as a Eussian Admiral. Afterwards it will be my duty, 
 as an American officer, to wait on His Majesty with 
 the letter which I am directed to present to him from 
 the United States. 
 
 I am, dear General, with sincere friendship, your 
 affectionate and most humble servant, 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 During the rest of that year, all of the following, 
 and until quite late in the spring of 1792, Jones passed 
 the time looking after matters of personal concern in 
 London, Paris, Amsterdam and The Hague. He found 
 
In Paris. 221 
 
 life in the gay capital of France much to his liking, and 
 aside from brief journeys abroad, the whole of the two 
 years since leaving St. Petersburg was passed in Paris. 
 His chief occupation seems to have been that of letter 
 writing, with occasional entries in his Journal, prin- 
 cipally concerning his health, which was far from 
 good. 
 
 His last appeal to the Empress for reinstatement in 
 the Eussian navy was made on the second anniversary 
 of the date appearing on his "Leave of Absence." No 
 mention in this part of his Journal is made of an 
 acknowledgment from the Empress, and it is therefore 
 evident that no attention was paid to its receipt. She 
 afterwards wrote Baron Grimm at Paris, that there 
 was a prospect for an early termination of the war 
 with the Turks, and that should something then unfore- 
 seen arise that required his services she would make 
 known her wishes respecting Paul Jones through the 
 Baron. 
 
 Jones' final letter to the Empress, though not a 
 lengthy epistle, was written with much care and with 
 due regard for his patron's exalted station, as inferred 
 from the length of time that elapsed between the be- 
 ginning and the conclusion. It is as follows : 
 
 Paris, 1792. 
 
 25th Feb., 
 8th March, 
 To Her Imperial Majesty of All the Russias, 
 Catherine II., St. Petersburg. 
 Madam: — If I could imagine that the letter which 
 
222 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 I had the honor to write to your Majesty from War- 
 saw, the 25th September, 1789, had come to hand, it 
 would be without doubt indiscreet in me to beg you 
 to cast your eyes on the documents enclosed, which 
 accuse no person, and the only intent of which is to 
 let you see that in the important campaign of the 
 Liman, the part which I played was not either that of 
 a zero or of a harlequin, who required to be made a 
 colonel at the tail of his regiment. I have in my hands 
 the means to prove, incontestably, that I directed . all 
 the useful operations against the Captain, Pacha. The 
 task which was given to me at this critical conjunction 
 was very difficult. I was obliged to sacrifice my own 
 opinion and risk my military reputation for the bene- 
 fit of your empire. But I hope you will be satisfied 
 with the manner in which I conducted myself, and also 
 of the subsequent arrangements, of which I am per- 
 suaded you have not been acquainted until this moment. 
 The gracious counsel which your Majesty has often 
 done me the honor to repeat to me before my depart- 
 ure for the Black Sea, and in the letter which you 
 deigned to write to me afterwards, has been the rule of 
 my conduct, and the faithful attachment with which 
 you had inspired me for your person, was the only 
 reason which hindered me from requesting my dismissal 
 when I wrote to you from Warsaw; for I confess that 
 I was extremely afflicted, and even offended, at having 
 received a parole for two years in time of war — a parole 
 which it has never entered into mind to wish for, and 
 still less to ask, and of which I have not profited to go 
 to America, or even to Denmark, where I had important 
 
In Paris. 223 
 
 business, for I had always hoped to be "iisefully employed 
 in your service, before the expiration of this parole, 
 which has done me so much injury, and although in 
 public I would not have failed to have spoken to you 
 at the last audience Vv^hicli you granted me, yet 
 I was unfortunately led to believe the repeated prom- 
 ises made me, that I should have a private audience in 
 order to lay before you my military projects, and to 
 speak of them in detail. 
 
 I hope that the brilliant success with which Provi- 
 dence has blessed your arms will enable you to grant 
 peace to your enemies without shedding more of human 
 blood, but in a contrary case your Majesty can be well 
 instructed from my project, No. 12, of the last year. 
 
 As I have my enemies, and as the term of my parole 
 is about to expire, I await the orders of your Majesty, 
 and should be flattered, if it is your pleasure for me 
 to come and render you an account in person. Mr. 
 
 , who has the goodness to charge himself with 
 
 this packet, which I have addressed to him, sealed with 
 my arms, will also undertake to forward me your orders ; 
 I therefore pray you to withdraw me as soon as possible 
 from the cruel uncertainty in which I am placed. 
 Should you deign. Madam, to inform me that you are 
 pleased with the services which I have had the happi- 
 ness to render you, I will console myself for the mis- 
 fortunes which I have suffered, as I drew my sword 
 for you from personal attachment and ambition, but 
 not for interest. My fortune, as you know, is not very 
 considerable, but as I am philosopher enough to con- 
 fine myself to my means, I shall be always rich. ^' 
 
224 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 I have the honor to be^, Madam, Of your Imperial 
 Majesty, the most faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
•'OHN ADAMS. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DEATH OF JOHN PAUL JONES. 
 
 The most authentic information concerning the move- 
 ments of Admiral Jones is obtained from his very com- 
 plete Journal and yet more voluminous correspondence. 
 It is from these two sources that we know for a cer- 
 tainty that he was never recalled by the Empress, who 
 had taken this unscrupulous means of terminating his 
 connection with the nav}^ He was given no further 
 opportunity to disprove the charges made against his 
 character as a man, though his standing as a soldier 
 and defender of the rights of man stood unimpeached. 
 While it is thought the Empress was fully convinced 
 of his innocence, still public sentiment, and the power- 
 ful influence of British residents in St. Petersburg 
 made his re-employment in the Russian service imprac- 
 ticable. 
 
 The Empress had acted against the advice of many 
 of her ministers and political advisers and in defiance 
 of the threats of the British Ambassador at St. Peters- 
 burg in employing Jones in any capacity when his name 
 was suggested for the service by de Simolin, Besborodko 
 and others high in authority; but at the outbreak of 
 disturbances along the Black Sea, the Empress was 
 anxious to obtain the services of the best naval com- 
 manders from the navies of the world, and no name 
 
 225 
 
226 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 reflected greater giory among the friends of liberty and 
 human rights, or created greater consternation among 
 his enemies, than that of John Paul Jones. Besides 
 it was known that he was friendly disposed toward 
 Turkey through a close friendship which existed be- 
 tween himself and Captain Pacha of the Sultan's Im- 
 perial guards, and being of a roving disposition and 
 likely to seek employment in the service of the Sultan, 
 Catherine waived all opposition and gladly tendered him 
 an Admiralty in her service. 
 
 While in Paris during the winter of 1787 and 1788, 
 Admiral Jones formed the acquaintance of the Turk- 
 ish Ambassador and Captain Pacha, and it was through 
 Mr. Jefferson that Jones entered the service of Russia 
 instead of proceeding to Constantinople with his friend 
 Captain Pacha. Even while in the service of Eussia, 
 we find Jones adopting the Turkish mode of dress, 
 reclining while partaking of his meals, and other cus- 
 toms peculiar to the followers of Mahomet. In a let- 
 ter to Baron de la Houze, the French Minister at Den- 
 mark, Jones writes concerning Captain Pacha: "I 
 have much to tell you respecting the ^moustaches of the 
 good Captain Pacha;' he is a very brave man and the 
 public have been much deceived as to our affairs with 
 him." 
 
 The two years' leave of absence was given Captain 
 Jones with the hope and full expectation that before 
 its termination, all differences between Russia and Tur- 
 key would be at an end and his services no longer re- 
 quired. Baron Grimm was to be the interpreter of her 
 Majesty's wishes concerning the re-employment of 
 
Death of John Paul Jones. 227 
 
 Admiral Jones, but the distance between Paris and St. 
 Petersburg being great, the mode of travel in those 
 days tedious and seldom without incident, all tending 
 to cause delays, Jones decided to make a last personal 
 appeal to the Empress, and for that purpose hastened 
 to St. Petersburg by the way of Berlin and the Baltic. 
 
 His leave of absence had expired less than a fort- 
 night when he reached the Russian Capital, and when 
 the Empress learned of his presence and the purpose 
 of his mission, she positively refused him an audience, 
 hinting at the same time that his presence in St. Peters- 
 burg was obnoxious to British, Turkish, and other for- 
 eign potentates temporarily sojourning in Russia. 
 
 We can imagine with what disappointment, what 
 heartburnings, this brave man, now broken in health 
 and spirit, turned his face again toward Paris, which 
 was to witness the final scene of his struggle against 
 unsurmountable difficulties and powerful enemies, all 
 working for his undoing. Why he did not come to 
 America and spend the remainder of his days in retire- 
 ment among the people who loved him for his worth is 
 explained only on the grounds of his intensely active 
 nature — a longing for a return to sea service. His fre- 
 quent visits to Paris, each of long duration, showed his 
 preference for kingly favor while basking in the sun- 
 shine of the gaities of the French capital. 
 
 The closing chapter of this intensely active life is 
 briefly told. While some of the numerous biographers 
 dilate upon the domestic side of his life, so little ma- 
 terial is furnished in his voluminous papers and jour- 
 nals concerning the affairs of heart that the author is 
 
228 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 inclined to pass this phase of the life-history of this 
 truly wonderful man as too trivial to merit more than 
 a passing notice. 
 
 The correspondence between him and his many fair 
 admirers yet preserved by his descendants in Scotland, 
 amounts to little more than the exchanges of kindnesses 
 and civilities. 
 
 Being early separated from his relatives through a 
 fondness for the sea, and afterward by the adoption of 
 war as his "sole occupation and method of delight/' he 
 never had time to cultivate the art of domestic felicity. 
 Few of his letters contain any observations on men or 
 manners, or even the expression of an opinion not 
 strictly professional. The few of his strictly confiden- 
 tial letters which exist, do, however unfold his char- 
 acter in a very amiable way, especially those written to 
 Lady Selkirk, whom he never met, and to the mysteri- 
 ous Delia, and one or two other brilliant women whom 
 the Admiral met during his triumphant tour through 
 France just after the memorable battle between the 
 Bon Homme Kichard and the Serapis, and at a time 
 when the name of Paul Jones was on everybody's 
 tongue. 
 
 It is said that shortly after entering the American 
 navy, in 1776, Captain Jones fell desperately in love 
 with a lady then living at Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
 shire. Their affection was mutual, but circumstances 
 intervened which prevented their union. It was then 
 that Jones resolved never to marry, and circumstances 
 ever afterward favored the resolution he made at this 
 time. During the stormy days of the Eevolution there 
 
Deatli of John Paul Jones. 229 
 
 were few men in the colonies who paused long enough 
 to consider the problem of marriage, not knowing the 
 fate in store for them or their posterity. Domestic 
 enjoyment was deferred until peace and complete inde- 
 pendence had been secured. 
 
 The last letter of importance known to have been 
 written by Jones is dated March 28, 1792, and is ad- 
 dressed to the Minister of Marine at Paris. Only a 
 part of the letter has been preserved, but enough is here 
 given to set forth the character and deplorable conduct 
 of those to whom the defenders of national honor 
 looked for substantial aid in times of war. 
 
 ■ Paris, March, 28, 1792. 
 To the Minister of French Marine. 
 
 Sir: — In the beginning of the administration of 
 your predecessor, I informed him, that this govern- 
 ment, not having paid the salary due to a part of the 
 crew of the Bon Homme Richard at the time when 
 they were discharged from the service, they had been 
 paid on their arrival at Boston, and having myself been 
 sent back here after the war, under a special commis- 
 sion from the United States, to settle the claims of my 
 crew, I presented a memorial, reclaiming that part of 
 the salary that had never been reimbursed. The Min- 
 ister held me in suspense for about five months, and 
 then, to my great surprise, instead of satisfying my 
 just demand, he addressed me in a very uncivil letter, 
 treating me as I conceive, like a school-boy, and per- 
 mitting himself to cast unjust and uncivil reflections 
 on my past conduct. My health did not permit me to 
 
230 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 answer immediately, but I had prepared a letter, and 
 was just going to send it, when I learned that he had 
 resigned his place as the Minister of Marine, and that 
 you were named as his successor. 
 
 I request the favor. Sir, that you may read his letter 
 and my answer; after which I persuade myself you will 
 do justice to my first demand, which is merely official. 
 As to my personal pretentions, I never should have set 
 up a claim on that score under circumstances less effect- 
 ing to my sensibility. Of this I need offer no other 
 proof than my silence in that respect for twelve years 
 past. My losses and unavoidable expenses during my 
 long connection with this nation amount to a large sum, 
 and have greatly lessened my fortune. 
 
 The letter is too lengthy for reproduction here, and 
 is, in brief, a summary of events fully set forth in this 
 book from the hour of his taking command of the Ran- 
 ger. He concludes by saying: "Permit me, by way 
 of comparison, just to mention the treatment the French 
 officers received who served in the American army. The 
 war had been carried on for several years by the Ameri- 
 cans alone, and there is no instance where the United 
 States invited a French officer to enter into their serv- 
 ice. Such as presented themselves and were accepted, 
 have all of them bettered their situation by that connec- 
 tion. At the end of the war they received a gratifica- 
 tion of five years' pay, the Order of Cincinnatus, and 
 a lot of land, and they now enjoy grades far superior 
 to what they could have attained under other circum- 
 stances. If we except the Marquis de La Fayette, none 
 of them were rich when they went to America. They 
 
Death of John Paul Jones. 231 
 
 are all now in easy circumstances. In short, they have 
 been treated much better than the Americans them- 
 selves, who served from the beginning to the end of 
 the Revolution." 
 
 At about the time Jones was preparing this lengthy 
 letter to the Minister of Marine, which also was in- 
 tended for the perusal of the King in the pages of his 
 journal. Congress, at the direction of Jefferson, and 
 doubtless approved by Washington, Franklin, Deane 
 and others high in official life in the young Republic, 
 had appointed Jones Consul to Algiers. By the time 
 the commission reached Paris, however, Jones was too 
 wasted with disease to fully appreciate the tardy recog- 
 nition on the part of the country he served so faith- 
 fully. His health was rapidly failing; he was no 
 longer able to leave his bed, and though his illness only 
 lasted a month or so, the end came on the evening of 
 the 18th of July, 1792. His remains were interred 
 privately in an old churchyard in the suburbs of Paris 
 and until quite recently the exact location was un- 
 known, but efforts on the part of a number of Ameri- 
 can residents in Paris revealed the grave and steps 
 were taken to remove the remains to America; but so 
 far without success owing to opposition on the part 
 of the French authorities. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTEK. 
 
 No public man of modern times has been the object 
 of greater persecution and vilification of character than 
 Paul Jones, and almost without reason, too. 
 
 His youth was passed in the company of seafaring 
 men. Being early apprenticed to that profession which 
 carried with it adventure and hardships on sea and 
 land he never knew the pleasures of boyhood. From 
 such a childhood and its environs, from a position as an 
 apprentice to mate on slaving ships, where polite society 
 and the softening influence of women and men of refine- 
 ment are unknown, was a natural sequence; our only 
 wonder is that more crimes were not laid at his door, 
 or that his ambition to carve for himself a destiny that 
 should increase in glory as generations pass, was ever 
 realized. 
 
 The charge of murder was disproved by trial in Lon- 
 don before a British jury. Smuggling was scarcely 
 considered a crime, though the nations of the world 
 discountenanced it because it did not yield that rev- 
 enue necessary to support a corrupt court or an extrava- 
 gant Congress. Jones did not believe in tribute-tariff, 
 duties, or by whatever name one chooses to call it, and 
 in this respect he does not stand alone even among the 
 
 332 
 
 • «> 
 
Estimates of His Character. 233 
 
 men of affairs to-day. Nor was he guilty of piracy 
 or buccaneering, for all of his operations in British 
 waters were carried on with the full knowledge and 
 consent of Benjamin Franklin and the Congress in 
 whose service he was employed; besides he carried the 
 American flag, which was displayed whenever occasion 
 or necessity required it. He may have been, and doubt- 
 less was, a rebel, but were not Washington, Jefferson, 
 Franklin, Deane, Lee, and the signers of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence so considered? Had there 
 been more such rebels as Jones and his compatriots 
 Ethan Allen, Paul Kevere, Nathan Hale, Richard Mont- 
 gomery, it would not have taken seven years to con- 
 vince George the Third that Pitt was right when he 
 said: "You cannot conquer America." 
 
 The charge that Jones had grossly violated a young 
 girl after he had attained renown in the Russian ser- 
 vice, was shown to be the work of a notorious adven- 
 turess employed by British subjects living in St. Peters- 
 burg for the purpose of bringing him into disfavor with 
 Catherine and court circles of the Russian capital. The 
 charge, though proven false, forever kept him from 
 court favors, and although Catherine held him guiltless, 
 she nevertheless refused him further patronage or favor. 
 
 So, all the way through the category of crimes that 
 have been associated with the glorious name of John 
 Paul Jones. Time has proven him one of the mightiest 
 and most unselfish of men who ever drew a sword in 
 defense of the ''violated rights of man," and we, in 
 
234 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 America, are prone to hold him guiltless, even had 
 the whole world condemned him as a traitor and a rebel, 
 a pirate, a libertine — yea, a murderer. 
 
 Few knew him intimately, but those who did were 
 of one opinion — that he was an honorable and emi- 
 nently just man. His professional talents and personal 
 appearance have been less the topics of abuse than his 
 .manners and moral character, though the latter was 
 always a matter of controversy. In manners especially, 
 he has been frequently described in old English books 
 as stiff, conceited and finical, and by the rural press 
 of Great Britain as brutal, quarrelsome and arrogant 
 toward his professional inferiors. 
 
 Born of obscure parentage, growing to manhood amid 
 scenes that tend to degrade rather than lift man above 
 the mass of humanity — that of a seafaring man en- 
 gaged in the abominable slave trade — we may readily 
 believe that Jones entered into social life with much to 
 contend with. He had reached manhood and had 
 earned world-wide and lasting fame before he sought 
 intercourse with polite society. At Lyons, Versailles 
 and Paris he entered freely into the gayeties of court 
 life, and was warmly admitted into royal favors at Co- 
 penhagen, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg. Could this 
 have been possible had not his personal appearance and 
 manners been above reproach; or would rudeness, bru- 
 tality and arrogance in a foreigner have been tolerated 
 at court whence examples for subjects to follow emanate? 
 
 Many letters from ladies of the French court and 
 others in high social life, not alone in Paris, Lyons and 
 
Estimates of His Character. 235 
 
 Versailles, but in London, Copenhagen, New York, 
 Philadelphia and St. Petersburg, and preserved among 
 his personal effects in the possession of his relatives in 
 Dumfries, prove the enviable position he held in the so- 
 ciety of ladies, which should seem to be quite conclu- 
 sive as to the propriety of his manners. 
 
 In addition to his well-kept Journal and voluminous 
 correspondence, Jones wrote many very admirable 
 verses, but as these were written hurriedly, without due 
 regard to versification, and when he was in a different 
 mood than when we find him addressing Congress or 
 preparing his Journal for the perusal of the King, we 
 are constrained to say we admire his prose the most 
 and have left the poetic side of his nature for other 
 biographers to dilate upon.. 
 
 During the two or three years that Jones spent at the 
 home of his elder brother William, near the Rappahan- 
 nock, he devoted his entire time to the study of naviga- 
 tion and languages; so we should not be surprised at 
 the excellence of his compositions and his aspirations 
 to know more of the manners and customs of the people 
 whose language — French — ^was the prevailing tongue 
 in court circles. It is said that a minister, in reading 
 the dispatches of Lord Collingwood, who went to sea 
 at twelve years of age, used to ask, "Where has Colling- 
 wood got his style ? He writes better than any of us." 
 Collingwood, like Jones, was a man of studious hab- 
 its and seldom lost an opportunity of improving his sit- 
 uation, especially his mental faculties and social nature. 
 
 Jones was attentive* to his crews, and generous and 
 liberal in all pecuniary transactions of a private na- 
 
236 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ture, though his Journal and correspondence show that 
 he was commendably tenacious of his pecuniary claims 
 on states and public bodies. The most part of his re- 
 tirement was spent in pressing his prize claims against 
 half the nations of Europe. As to discipline, Jones 
 was rigid and strict in its administration. In person 
 he appears to have been not only very impatient but so 
 devoid of all self-control as to be unfit for any regularly 
 organized service, had there been any, though admir- 
 ably adapted to the singular crisis which he occasioned 
 by independent action. Hence his desire for ^'a sep- 
 arate command with unlimited orders.'' Without 
 these he was not happy, and in his connection with the 
 Eussian navy his relations with Prince Potemkin were 
 severely strained, which doubtless was the cause of his 
 dismissal from the service. 
 
 Boasting has appeared as an inherent quality in most 
 great naval commanders; Drake, Eodney, Nelson, Far- 
 ragut were all in one sense arrant braggarts; the un- 
 fortunate controversy over the Santiago incident where 
 "there was glory enough for all" adds yet another name 
 to the above list of brave though selfish men of action. 
 A man has every right to bring forward his services 
 when those who should remember appear disposed to 
 forget them, and Paul Jones was no exception, for he 
 never lacked courage to express his own convictions 
 and put himself in the best possible light. 
 
 But Jones found his lot all the harder, for he was 
 the first commander, the founder of a navy, and because 
 of its disorganized condition, he could not enforce the 
 obedience of those who commanded under his orders, 
 
Estimates of His Character. 237 
 
 as in the case of Landais, who secretly aided, even co- 
 operated with the commander of the Serapis in its 
 memorable battle with the Bon Homme Richard, and 
 who finally incited the crew of the Alliance to mutiny, 
 and finally set sail for America without the permission 
 or knowledge of Jones. 
 
 It is a less amiable trait in the character of Paul 
 Jones, said one chronicler, that we find him very fre- 
 quently quarreling with rival and associate command- 
 ers, and never once bestowing hearty, cordial praise on 
 any one of them. His avoidance of fame, like the same 
 vice of a more sordid kind, continues this same writer, 
 not only gave him the insatiable desire of accumulation, 
 but tempted him, if not to defraud, at least to trench 
 on the rights of others; and his hostility, though open, 
 was often far from generous; yet with all this, his 
 squabbles were wholly professional. In private life 
 there appears to have been no reason to fasten on him 
 the odious imputation of being quarrelsome, which 
 some few have attempted. He was fonder, says one 
 writer, not of glory alone, but of its trappings and dec- 
 orations, than quite became the champion of a republic 
 and the pupil of Benjamin Franklin. He may, how- 
 ever, have considered these symbols as the seals with 
 which fame ratifies her bonds and chose Paris, France, 
 rather than Republican America to be the scene of his 
 declining years. 
 
 Everywhere in England we occasionally hear Jones 
 spoken of as a pirate and a traitor; even his moral 
 character in that country has ofttimes been made the 
 subject of abuse and gross misrepresentation. If this 
 
238 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 has been done by Englishmen from a mistaken love of 
 their country, they dishonor their country and them- 
 selves by a continuance of this illtimed abuse. How- 
 ever, sentiment is changing in England with regard to 
 the character of Jones. The application of the terms 
 pirate and rebel is now used only by those who still be- 
 wail the loss of the colonies. An adventurer in search 
 of glory and the fortunes of war, seems to be the pres- 
 ent estimate placed upon the character of Paul Jones 
 in most parts of the British Isles, while in America, 
 his name knows no superior in naval marine, and is 
 held second only to that of the father of his country in 
 saving our fair land from British aggression and per- 
 petual dependency. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE — WILL. 
 
 In the existing uncertainty as to his future after 
 leaving the Russian service, Jones' mind must have 
 been much disturbed. A being so active, having scarce- 
 ly ever considered retirement from active sea service, 
 must have chafed under enforced idleness. At Paris 
 and Amsterdam he was busily employed in correspond- 
 ing not only with his immediate acquaintances but 
 with eminent personages in the various countries where 
 service or duty had called him. The following letters 
 have especial interest and are therefore included in 
 this narrative: 
 
 The following letter to John Parish, Esq., merchant, 
 of Hamburg, is dated December 29, 1789: My 
 departure from Copenhagen was so sudden, that I 
 omitted writing to you, intending to have done it from 
 St. Petersburg. There I found myself in such a round 
 of feasting and business till the moment of my depart- 
 ure for the Black Sea, that I again postponed it. Had 
 I written you after my arrival at Cherson, I have every 
 reason to think my letters would have been inter- 
 cepted; but notwithstanding my past silence, I can 
 truly assure you, that I have constantly entertained 
 the most perfect and grateful sense of your friendly 
 and polite behavior to me at Hamburg and Copen- 
 
 239 
 
240 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 hagen. I will now thankfully pay to your order the 
 cost of the smoked beef you were so obliging as to send 
 to my friend, Mr. Jefferson, at my request. The kind 
 interest you have taken in my concerns, and the great 
 desire to cultivate your esteem and friendship, are my 
 present inducements for troubling you with the enclosed 
 packet for the Chevalier Bourgoing, (the French resi- 
 dent at Hamburg,) which I send under a flying seal 
 for your perusal, praying you to shut the exterior cover 
 before you deliver it. I shall make no comments on 
 the documents I send for the Baron de la Houze, but 
 let the simple truth speak for herself. I shall show 
 you, when we meet, things that will surprise you, for 
 you can scarcely have an idea how much our operations 
 have been misrepresented. 
 
 As I am for the present the master of my time, I 
 shall perhaps make you a visit in the spring, and pay 
 my court to some of your kind, rich, old ladies. To 
 be serious, I must stay in Europe till it is seen what 
 changes the present politics will produce, and till I can 
 hear from America; and if you think I can pass my 
 time quietly, agreeably, and at a small expense at 
 Hamburg, I should prefer it to the fluctuating pros- 
 pects of other places. 
 
 In the letter referred to in the foregoing, inclosing 
 copies of the letters of Count Segur for the perusal of 
 Baron de la Houze, who had shown Jones many atten- 
 tions at Copenhagen, he complains that his correspond- 
 ence had miscarried or been intercepted. Of many 
 letters which he had written to Mr. Jefferson, but one 
 had been received, and this by messenger. Mr. Jefferson 
 
JOBN JAY. 
 
Correspondence — Will. 241 
 
 had returned to America, and been appointed secretary 
 of state. He had obtained no definitive answer in 
 relation to the claim on Denmark. As a Russian 
 officer, says Jones, I do not pretend to interfere in 
 this matter; but as the subjects of France have an 
 interest in it, you will undoubtedly find it expedient 
 to confer further with the Count de Bernstorf on the 
 subject. The only substantial difficulty which he 
 suggested to me in conversation was, that the new 
 constitution of the United States was not yet in force. 
 But this objection no longer exists. 
 
 The Baron in his reply from Copenhagen, on the 
 ninth of February following, said: 
 
 It is but a few days since I received, with the letter 
 with which you have honored me of the 29th Decem- 
 ber, the copies of that of the Count de Segur, which you 
 have been pleased to communicate to me, and which 
 were accompanied by the article inserted on your 
 account in the Gazette of France, and which I had 
 read. This article has been repeated in many foreign 
 gazettes, has entirely destroyed all the venomous effects 
 which calumny had employed to tarnish the distin- 
 guished reputation which you have acquired by your 
 talents and valor. In consequence, public opinion 
 still continues to render you injustice, and the most 
 noble revenge you can take on your enemies is to gather 
 fresh laurels. The celebrated Athenian general, Them- 
 istocles, has said: ''I do not envy the situation of 
 the man who is not envied." 
 
 He also informed Jones that the situation of the 
 claim was as he had left it, he not having been clothed 
 
242 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 with plenary powers. The Danish minister had taken 
 the ground that Paris ought to have been the seat of 
 the negotiations. 
 
 To Baron Krudner, who was still the Russian envoy 
 at Copenhagen, Jones wrote on the same occasion, 
 referring to the letters he had enclosed for Baron de la 
 Houze. He said: Notwithstanding the unjust treat- 
 ment I received in Russia, the warm attachment with 
 which the empress inspired me at the beginning, still 
 remains rooted in my heart. You know, Sir, that her 
 imperial majesty thought my sword an object worthy 
 of her attention, sought it with the most flattering eager- 
 ness, and treated me the first time I was at her court 
 with unexampled distinction. That sword has been 
 successfully and frequently drawn on critical occa- 
 sions, to render the most essential services to her 
 empire, and to cover her flag with fresh laurels. For 
 this I have greatly exposed my reputation, and entirely 
 sacrificed my military pride. Yet I have seen the 
 credit of my services bestowed on others, and I am 
 the only officer who made the campaign of the Liman 
 without being advanced. In a letter I wrote the 
 empress, the 17th of May last, I mentioned that her 
 majesty would soon receive a direct proof from Amer- 
 ica of the unanimous approbation with which I am 
 honored by the United States. I alluded to the gold 
 medal which I am to receive, and respecting which 
 you have in your hands a copy of the unanimous act 
 of Congress. That medal is now elegantly executed, 
 and is ready for me at Paris. The United States have 
 ordered a copy of my medal to be presented to every 
 
Correspondence — Will. 243 
 
 sovereign in Europe, Great Britain excepted. When 
 we meet, I shall produce clear proof of all I have said 
 respecting Russia. The only promise I asked from the 
 empress at the beginning, and, indeed, the only condi- 
 tion I made with her majesty, was, that ^^she should not 
 condemn me without having heard me." I need make 
 no remark to a man of your clear understanding. 
 You advised me to write to the empress by the post. 
 I wrote several letters while in the department of the 
 Black Sea to my friend Mr. Jefferson, at Paris, con- 
 taining no detail of our operations, yet they were all 
 intercepted. I have, I think, reason to apprehend that 
 there will be no peace this winter, and that the Baltic 
 will witness warmer work than it has yet done. 
 
 You remember that Count B (Bernstorf) 
 
 showed you a paper which he sent, to be delivered to 
 me by the Danish minister at St. Petersburg. I re- 
 ceived that paper without any alteration whatever, 
 either in the 'date,^ or otherwise. If I understand you 
 right, it was intended that 'a year's payment. would be 
 made in advance/ but I have not since heard a word 
 in that respect. I wish to be informed how the pay- 
 ment is intended to be made. It cannot surely be in 
 Danish bank-paper. You will do me a great favor 
 if you can obtain an explicit answer, and it would be 
 much more agreeable if the payment could be made 
 here, instead of being made at any other place. I 
 have not yet mentioned this affair to any person 
 whatever, except yourself. You are no stranger to 
 my sentiments. You know the present happy state 
 of America. That nation will soon create a respecta- 
 
244 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 ble marine. It is now a year since I gave a plan to the 
 court of St. Petersburg, for forming a political and 
 commercial connection with the United States. The 
 empress approved this much, and there was question 
 of sending me to America in consequence. But a great 
 man told me, 'que cela enrageroit les Anglais d'avan- 
 tage contre la Russie, et qu'il falloit auparavant faire 
 la paix avec les Turcs.' Accept my warm congratula- 
 tions on the well-merited advancement you have re- 
 ceived in the order of St. Wolodimer. I hear that 
 your lady is at Paris. I beg you to assure her of my 
 great respect, etc., etc. 
 
 The pension would no doubt have been convenient at 
 this time, for Jones had been merely paid by the Russian 
 government, as has been mentioned, at the rate of 1800 
 roubles per annum, and his expenses had more than 
 exhausted the advances made by that government, 
 while he found it difficult to realize money from 
 private resources. Baron Krudner's reply, on the 6th 
 of February following, is brief, and may, therefore, be 
 as well inserted. ''It is with lively sensibility that I 
 have received the mark of remembrance with which 
 your excellency was pleased to honor me, under date 
 of the 29th December; and the hope it holds forth, that 
 I may probably see you in the course of the spring, 
 
 adds to my satisfaction. I have spoken to CountB 
 
 touching your business. He told me that everything 
 was at your own disposition; that you had only to 
 send a brief receipt, or an order to receive the money, 
 to any person here, and payment would be made; but 
 that it was imposible it should be in other money than 
 
Correspondence — Will. 245 
 
 in that of the country. You have witnessed, Sir, the 
 efforts I have made in this business, and that everything 
 would have been arranged agreeably to your own de- 
 sire, if success had oorresponded to the warmth of my 
 intentions. They intrench themselves behind the 
 impossibility of making an exception to, and breach of, 
 a rule generally established. Accept my sincere com- 
 pliments on the flattering mark of esteem and distinc- 
 tion the United States of America have bestowed 
 upon you. They have anticipated history. It is yet 
 doubtful whether we shall have peace this year; in all 
 events I flatter myself, as a good Russian, that your 
 arm is always reserved for us." 
 
 Jones went to England, as has been mentioned, to 
 make his arrangements with Dr. Bancroft, and returned 
 to Paris the same spring. He had been expected in 
 that city early in the winter, as appears by a letter to 
 him from Mr. Short, United States consul at the court 
 of France, to whom he had written in relation to the 
 medal, and, as it would seem, to the feasibility of hav- 
 ing a series struck, commemorating his victories. It 
 also appears by this letter, that M. Grand, Jones' 
 banker in Paris, had no money belonging to him in his 
 hands at this time; which corroborates the belief that 
 Jones visited England from necessity. 
 
 The first letter from Paris, among his papers, is to 
 M. Genet, who remained at the Russian court, after 
 Count Segur had left it. It is dated June 1st. As I 
 arrived here, he says, only a few days ago, from 
 Holland and England, I have not yet had the pleasure 
 of seeing your sister. I hope to have the honor very so- ):i 
 
246 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 and will deliver to her my bust, as a mark of my per- 
 sonal regard towards your father and yourself. M. de 
 Simolin does me the honor to forward this letter to you. 
 I have shown him proof that, if I have not sought to 
 avenge myself of the unjust and cruel treatment I met 
 with in Russia, my forbearance has been only the 
 result of my delicate attachment towards the empress. 
 You will oblige me by inquiring at the cabinet, and 
 demanding the appointments due to me for the current 
 year, which will end the 1st of July, agreeably to the 
 promise of the empress, communicated to me by the 
 Counts de Bruce and Besborodko. I wish to have 
 that money immediately transmitted to me. 
 
 On the 24th of July, in this year 1790, Jones thought 
 proper to address a letter to Potemkin. The admirers 
 of his courage and independence of character, will 
 regret that he should have done so, unless business or 
 etiquette required it. But it must be recollected, that 
 this was the only useful avenue through which he 
 could approach the throne of the Czarina; that he 
 was wearied with his inert and unpleasant position, 
 and that his habit of persevering, by letter writing, to 
 enforce the accomplishment of his objects, from those 
 in power, by dint of importunity, was constitutional 
 and inveterate. 
 
 Paris, 24th July, 1790. 
 
 My Lord : — I do not think it becomes me to let pass 
 the occasion of the return of your aid-de-camp, to con- 
 gratulate you on the brilliant success of your operations 
 since I had the honor to serve under your orders, and 
 to express to you, in all the sincerity of my heart, the 
 
Correspondence — Will. 247 
 
 regret I feel in not being fortunate enough to con- 
 tribute thereto. After the campaign of the Liman, when 
 I had leave, according to the special desire of her im- 
 rial majesty, to return to the department of the north- 
 ern seas, your highness did me the favor to grant me a 
 letter of recommendation to the empress, and to speak 
 to me these words: '^Rely upon my attachment. I 
 am disposed to grant you the most solid proofs of my 
 friendship for the present and for the future." Do 
 you recollect them? This disclosure was too flattering 
 for me to forget it, and I hope you will permit me to 
 remind you of it. Circumstances and the high rank 
 of my enemies have deprived me of the benefits which 
 I had dared to hope from the esteem which you had 
 expressed for me, and which I had endeavored to 
 merit by my services. You know the disagreeable 
 situation in which I was placed; but if, as I dared to 
 believe, I have preserved your good opinion, I may 
 still hope to see it followed by advantages, which it 
 will be my glory to owe to you. M. de Simolin can 
 testify to you, that my attachment to Russia, and to 
 the great princess who is its sovereign, has always been 
 constant and durable; I attended to my duties, and 
 not to my fortune. I have been wrong, and I avow 
 it with a frankness which carries with it its own 
 excuse: 1st, That I did not request of you a carte- 
 blanche, and the absolute command of all the forces 
 of the Liman. 2d, To have written to your high- 
 ness under feelings highly excited, on the 25th 
 October, (N. S.) 1788. These are my faults. If my 
 enemies have wished to impute others to me, I swear 
 
248 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 before God that they are a calumny. It only rests 
 with me, my lord, to unmask the villiany of my ene- 
 mies, by publishing my journal of the operations of 
 the campaign of the Liman, with the proofs, clear as 
 the day, and which I have in my hands. It only rests 
 with me to prove that I directed, under your orders, 
 all the useful operations against captain Pacha; 
 that it was I who beat him on the 7th of June ; that it 
 was I and the brave men I commanded who conquered 
 him on the 17th June, and who chased into the sands 
 two of his largest galleys, before our flotilla was ready 
 to fire a single shot, and during the time a very con- 
 siderable part of the force of the enemy remained at 
 anchor immediately in rear of my squadron; that it 
 was I who gave to General Suvorroff (he had the noble- 
 ness to declare it at court before me, and to the most 
 respectable witnesses) the first project to establish the 
 battery and breastworks on the isthmus of Kinbourn, 
 and which were of such great utility on the night of the 
 17th — 18th of June; that it was I, in person, who towed, 
 with my sloops and other vessels, the batteries which 
 were nearest to the place, the 1st July, and who took 
 the Turkish galleys by boarding, very much in advance 
 of our line, whilst some gentlemen, who have been too 
 highly rewarded in consequence of it, were content to 
 remain in the rear of the struggles of our line, if I may 
 be allowed to use the expression, sheltered from danger. 
 You have seen, yourself, my lord, that I never valued 
 my person on any occasion where I had the good for- 
 tune to act under your eye. The whole of Europe 
 acknowledges my veracity, and grants me some mili- 
 
Correspondence — Will. 249 
 
 tary talents, which it would give me pleasure to employ 
 in the service of Russia, under your orders. 
 
 The time will arrive, my lord, when you will know the 
 the exact truth of what I have told you. Time is a 
 sovereign master. It will teach you to appreciate the 
 man, who, loaded with your benefits, departed from 
 the court of Russia with a memorial prepared by other 
 hands and the enemies of your glory, and of which 
 memorial he made no use, because your brilliant suc- 
 cess at the taking of Oczakow, which he learned on 
 his arrival in White Russia, gave the lie to all the hor- 
 rors which had been brought forward to enrage the 
 empress against you. You know it was the echo of 
 another intriguer at the court of Vienna. In fine, time 
 will teach you, my lord, that I am neither a mounte- 
 bank nor a swindler, but a man true and loyal. I rely 
 upon the attachment and friendship which you prom- 
 ised me. I rely on it, because I feel myself worthy 
 of it. I reclaim your promise, because you are just, and 
 I know you are a lover of truth. I commanded, and 
 was the only responsible person in the campaign of the 
 Liman, the others being only of inferior rank, or simple 
 volunteers; and I am, however, the only one who has 
 not been promoted or rewarded. I am extremely 
 thankful for the order of St. Anne which you procured 
 for me, according to your letter of thanks, for my conduct 
 in the affair of the 7th of June, which was not decisive. 
 The 17th of June I gained over captain Pacha a com- 
 plete victory which saved Cherson and Kinbourn, the 
 terror of which caused the enemy to lose nine vessels 
 of war in their precipitate flight on the following night, 
 
250 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 under the cannon of the battery and breastwork which 
 I had caused to be erected in the isthmus of Kinbourn. 
 On this occasion I had the honor again to receive a 
 letter of thanks; but my enemies and rivals have found 
 means to abuse your confidence, since they have been 
 exclusively rewarded. They merited rather to have 
 been punished for having burnt nine armed prizes, with 
 their crews, which were absolutely in our power, hav- 
 ing previously ran aground under our guns. 
 
 I have been informed that, according to the institu- 
 tion of the order of St. George, I have the right to 
 claim its decorations in the second class for the victory 
 of the 17th of June, but I rely upon your justice and 
 generosity. I regret that a secret project, which I ad- 
 dressed to the Count de Besborodko the 6th of June of 
 the last year, has not been adopted. I communicated 
 this project to the Baron de Beichler, who has promised 
 me to speak to you of it. I was detained in St. Peters- 
 burg until the end of August, in order to hinder me, 
 as I have heard, from proceeding into the service of 
 Sweden. My poor enemies, how I pity them! But for 
 this circumstance my intention was to have presented 
 myself at your head-quarters, in the hope to be of 
 some utility; and the Baron de Beichler, in departing 
 from St. Petersburg in order to join you, promised 
 me to assure you of my devotion for the service of 
 your department, and that I should hold myself ready 
 to return to you the instant I was called. My conduct 
 has not since changed, although I hold in my hand 
 a parole for two years, and I regard eighteen months 
 of this parole, in a time of v/ar, more as a punishment 
 
I 
 
 Correspondence — Will. 251 
 
 than as a favor. I hope that your highness will suc- 
 ceed in concluding peace this year with the Turks ; but, 
 in a contrary case, if it should please you to recall me 
 to take command of the fleet in the ensuing campaign, 
 I would ask permission to bring with me the French 
 officer concerning whom I spoke to you, with one or 
 two others, who are good tacticians, and who have 
 some knowledge of war. On my return here I received 
 a gold medal, granted me by the unanimous voice of 
 Congress, at the moment I received a parole from this 
 honorable body. The United States have decreed 
 me this honor, in order to perpetuate the remembrance 
 of the services which I rendered to America eight years 
 previous, and have ordered a copy to be presented to 
 all the sovereigns and all tlie academies of Europe, 
 with the exception of Great Britain. There is reason 
 to believe that your highness will be numbered among 
 the sovereigns of Europe, in consequence of- the treaty 
 of peace which you are about to conclude with the 
 Turks ; but in any case, if a copy of my medal will be 
 acceptable to you as a mark of my attachment for 
 your person, it will do me an honor to offer it to you. 
 
 Indisposition gaining upon Jones' health daily to 
 which he refers in several of his letters. This probably 
 interrupted his active correspondence during this year 
 and the record of his engagements, occupations, and 
 thoughts, are few. The following, written on hearing 
 of a family dissension, is the only other letter of interest 
 found among his papers written in 1790: 
 
 Paris, December 27, 1790. 
 
 I duly received, my dear Mrs. Taylor, your letter of 
 
252 Jolm Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 the 16th August, but ever since that time I have been 
 unable to answer it, not having been capable to go out 
 of my chamber, and having been for the most part 
 obliged to keep my bed. I have now no doubt but 
 that I am in a fair way of a perfect recovery, though 
 it will require time and patience. 
 
 I shall not conceal from you that your family dis- 
 cord aggravates infinitely all my pains. My grief is 
 inexpressible, that two sisters, whose happiness is 
 so interesting to me, do not live together in that mutual 
 tenderness and affection which would do so much honor 
 to themselves and to the memory of their worthy rela- 
 tions. Permit me to recommend to your serious study 
 and application Pope's Universal Prayer. You will 
 find more morality in that little piece, than in many 
 volumes that have been written by great divines — 
 
 ^ Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 
 To hide the fault I see; 
 That mercy I to others show, 
 
 Such mercy show to me! ' 
 
 This is not the language of a weak superstitious 
 mind, but the spontaneous offspring of true religion, 
 springing from a heart sincerely inspired by charity, and 
 deeply impressed with a sense of the calamities and 
 frailties of human nature. If the sphere in which 
 Providence has placed us as members of society re- 
 quires the exercise of brotherly kindness and charity 
 towards our neighbor in general, how much more is 
 this our duty with respect to individuals with whom 
 
Correspondence — Will. 258 
 
 we are connected by the near and tender ties of nature, 
 as well as moral obligation. Every lesser virtue may 
 pass away, but charity comes from Heaven, and is im- 
 mortal. Though I wish to be the instrument of making 
 family peace, which I flatter myself would tend to pro- 
 mote the happiness of you all, yet I by no means de- 
 sire you to do violence to your own feelings, by taking 
 any step that is contrary to your own judgment and 
 inclination. Your reconciliation must come free from 
 your heart, otherwise it will not last, and therefore it 
 will be better not to attempt it. Should a reconcilia- 
 tion take place, I recommend it of all things, that you 
 never mention past grievances, nor show by word, look 
 or action, that you have not forgot them. 
 
 The following correspondence with two ladies whom 
 he numbered among his friends, took place at this time, 
 and diversifies the character of the remaining materi- 
 als for his biography. 
 
 To Mesdames Le Grande and Rinsby, a Trevoux, pres 
 de Lion. 
 
 Paris, February 25, 1791. 
 
 Dear and amiable ladies — Madame Clement has 
 read me part of a letter fromi you, in which you con- 
 clude that I prefer love to friendship, and Paris to 
 Trevoux. As to the first part you may be right, for 
 love frequently communicates divine qualities, and in 
 that light may be considered as the cordial that Provi- 
 dence has bestowed on mortals, to help them to digest 
 the nauseous draught of life. Friendship, they say, 
 
254 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 has more solid qualities than love. This is a question 
 I shall not attempt to resolve; but sad experience 
 generally shows, that where we expect to find a friend, 
 we have only been treacherously deluded by false ap- 
 pearances, and that the goddess herself very seldom 
 confers her charms on any of the human race. As 
 to the second, I am too much a philosopher to prefer 
 noise to tranquillity; if this does not determine the 
 preference between Paris and Trevoux, I will add, 
 that I have had very bad health almost ever since 
 your departure, and that other circumstances have 
 conspired to detain me here, which have nothing to 
 do with either love or friendship. My health is now 
 recovering, and as what is retarded is not always lost, 
 I hope soon to have the happiness of paying you my 
 personal homage, and of renewing the assurance of 
 that undiminished attachment which women of such 
 distinguished worth and talents naturally inspire. I 
 am, etc. 
 
 The answer of the first lady mentioned in the direc- 
 tion of this letter, follows. 
 
 Trevoux, 6th March, 1791. 
 
 Sir — I had given up the hope of receiving any intel- 
 ligence of your excellency, and I acknowledge it cost 
 me much before I could believe that the promise of a 
 great man was no more to be relied on than that of 
 the herd of mankind. The letter with which you have 
 honored me convinces me that my heart knew you bet- 
 ter than my head; for though my reason whispered 
 that you had quite forgotten us, I was unwilling to 
 believe it. 
 
Correspondence — Will. 255 
 
 Madame Wolfe, as well as myself, is much concerned 
 for the bad state of your health. I am sorry that, 
 like myself, your excellency is taught the value of 
 health by sickness. Com.e to us. Sir; if you do not 
 find here the pleasures you enjoy in Paris, you will 
 find a good air, frugal meals, freedom, and hearts that 
 can appreciate you. 
 
 I am concerned to perceive that your excellency 
 is an unbeliever in friendship. Alas, if you want 
 friends, who shall pretend to possess them! I hope 
 you will recover from this error, and be convinced that 
 friendship is something more than a chimera of Plato. 
 
 Do me the favor to acquaint me with the time we 
 may expect the honor of seeing you. I must be absent 
 for some days, and I v/ould not for any thing in the 
 world that I should not be here on your arrival. If 
 I knew the time, I would send my little carriage to 
 meet the stage-coach, as I suppose you will take that 
 conveyance. 
 
 Madame Wolfe expects the moment of your arrival 
 with as much eagerness as myself (she says); but 
 as I best know my own feelings, I am certain I go be- 
 yond her. Of this I am certain, that we shall both 
 count the days till we have the happiness of seeing you. 
 Come quickly then, I pray you. 
 
 To several letters written by him at the close of 
 February, in which he seems to have had a respite 
 from the immediate effects of his malady, it is merely 
 necessary to allude. The United States having named 
 
256 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 a vice-consul for the port of Marseilles, and the appoint- 
 ment of other functionaries for commercial purposes 
 in different European ports being expected, he of- 
 fered to his banker in Paris (M. Grand), his good offices 
 with the United States' secretary of legation, Mr- 
 Short, to procure him such a situation, which he had 
 seemed desirous of obtaining; and to the latter gen- 
 tleman he wrote, recommending M. Neissen, a mer- 
 chant of Amsterdam, and friend of his, to be nomi- 
 nated as consul for that port. He also recommended 
 the appointment of a commercial agent at Elsineur. 
 He says in the conclusion of this letter: I called the 
 other day on M. Dupres, who informed me that Mr. 
 Jefferson had taken from him the dies of my medal, 
 after three examples only had been struck. Pray are 
 the dies in your possession, or are they carried to 
 America? Accept my compliments on your success, 
 and on the credit of your country. But I am still of 
 opinion that a loan may be made, at less than 5 per 
 cent. 
 
 Jones enclosed his vindicatory papers, in relation 
 to the Russian campaign, to the Hon. William Carmi- 
 chael, who was still in a diplomatic capacity at Madrid 
 He says: You will judge how unfortunate I was, in 
 having to do with the greatest knight of industry 
 under the sun: an enemy the more dangerous, as his 
 ignorance, which has since appeared in such glaring 
 colors to all Europe, had put me off my guard. Soon 
 after I left Russia, I sent to the empress my journal 
 of the important campaign I commanded on the 
 Liman, and before Oczakow; but it contained such 
 
Correspondence — Will. 257 
 
 damning proofs against my enemies, that it has un- 
 doubtedly been intercepted. As a sure occasion offers, 
 I shall write again next month; and my letter will 
 contain my resignation, in case I receive no immediate 
 satisfaction. In a postscript he asks: Pray can you 
 inform me whether anything efficacious is in agitation, 
 for the relief of our unhappy countrymen at Algiers? 
 Nothing provokes me so much as the shameful neglect 
 they have so long experienced. 
 
 On the 20th of March following, he addressed Mr. 
 Jefferson at great length, and as the letter has been 
 several times published, and is not essentially necessary 
 to the exposition of his feelings and circumstances, 
 extracts from it will suffice. He informed the secre- 
 tary of state, that he had received no answers to his 
 letters addressed to the high public officers in America, 
 more than a year previous, congratulated him on the 
 acceptance of the high station which he filled and 
 took occasion to make a remark, suggested by the 
 contrast between the lavish amount of European 
 appointments, which he immediately had under his 
 eye, and those dictated by the spirit of republican 
 economy which have, even up to this time, been found 
 sufficient to make a post in the American cabinet an ob- 
 ject of patriotic ambition. He said: It gives me pain 
 that so inadequate a provision has been made, for 
 doing the honors incumbent on the first minister of 
 a nation of such resources as America, and I wish that 
 matter may be soon changed to your satisfaction. 
 Mr. Jefferson argued in favor of no increase of salary. 
 
258 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Jones mentions the documents in his vindication, 
 which he transmitted with his despatch, and inti- 
 mated his presentiment that he should be constrained 
 to withdraw from the Russian service, and publish his 
 journal of the campaign. Referring to the scandal 
 which was made available to drive him from St. Peters- 
 burg, he says: Chevalier Littlepage, now here on 
 his way from Spain to the north, has promised me a 
 letter to you on my subject, which I presume will show 
 the meanness and absurdity of the intrigues that were 
 practiced for my persecution at St. Petersburg. I 
 did not myself comprehend all the blackness of that 
 business before he came here, and related to me the 
 information he received from a gentleman of high rank 
 in the diplomatic department, with whom he travelled 
 in company from Madrid to Paris. That gentleman 
 had long resided as a public character at St. Peters- 
 burg, and was there all the time of the pitiful plot 
 against me, which was conducted by a little-great man 
 behind the curtain. Th^ unequaled reception with 
 which I had, at first, been honored by the empress, 
 had been extremely mortifying and painful to the 
 English at St. Petersburg, and the courtier just 
 mentioned (finding that politics had taken a turn far 
 more alarming than he had expected at the beginning 
 of the war), wishing to sooth the court of London into 
 a pacific humor, found no firststep so expedient as 
 that of sacrificing me! But instead of producing the 
 effect he wished, this base conduct, on which he pre- 
 tended to ground a conciliation, rather widened the 
 political breach, and made him to be despised by the 
 
Correspondence — Will. 259 
 
 English minister, by the English cabinet, and by 
 the gentleman who related the secret to the Chevalier 
 Littlepage. The reader must exercise his own sagac- 
 ity in conjecturing who this little-great man and court- 
 ier was. It is but just to remark, however, that this 
 statement seems to exculpate any English agent from 
 a direct action in the propagation of the infamous slan- 
 der. Jones next informed Mr. Jefferson of the circum- 
 stances under which the patent was given, granting 
 him during life a pension of fifteen hundred crowns 
 from the treasury of Denmark. This patent was 
 dated on the fourth day of December, 1788, the same 
 day on which Count Bernstorf wrote the letter to 
 Jones, which effectually terminated the progress of his 
 negotiations at that time. In Jones^ letter to Mr. 
 Jefferson immediately after, he makes no mention of 
 the particular circumstances and manner in which the 
 propitiatory oblation was made, though he refers to his 
 interview with the prince. In the letter he says: 
 
 The day before I left the court of Copenhagen, the 
 prince royal had desired to speak with me in his apart- 
 ment. His royal highness was extremely polite, and 
 after saying many civil things, remarked, he hoped I 
 was satisfied with the attentions that had been shown 
 to me since my arrival, and that the king would wish 
 to give me some mark of his esteem. 'I have never 
 had the happiness to render any service to his majesty.' 
 'That is nothing; a man like you ought to be excepted 
 from ordinary rules. You could not have shown your- 
 self more delicate as regards our flag, and every person 
 here loves you.' 
 
260 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 I took leave without farther explanation. I have 
 felt myself in an embarrassing situation on account of 
 the king's patent, and I have as yet made no use of it, 
 though three years have nearly elapsed since I received 
 it. I wished to consult you; but when I understood 
 that you would not return to Europe, I consulted Mr. 
 Short and Mr, G. Morris, who both gave me their 
 opinion, that I may with propriety accept the advan- 
 tage offered. I have in consequence determined to 
 draw for the sum due, and I think you will not dis- 
 approve of this step, as it can by no means weaken the 
 claim of the United States, but rather the contrary. 
 
 He informed Mr. Jefferson also, that he had not yet 
 been presented at court, but would be shortly by the 
 Marquis de la Fayette; he spoke of transmitting one 
 of his busts for the state of North Carolina, which had 
 been requested by a member of Congress, and which 
 was to be decorated with the order of St. Anne, in the 
 American uniform, if he should be authorized by the 
 United States to wear that order, which authorization 
 he solicited Mr. Jefferson to obtain for him. Referring 
 to the condition of the American prisoners at Algiers, 
 with whose situation, he said, I continue to be deeply 
 affected; the more so, as I learn from the pirate now 
 here, who took the greatest part of them, that if they 
 are not very soon redeemed, they will be treated with 
 no more lenity than is shown to other slaves. He told 
 this to Mr. Littlepage, who repeated it to me. 
 
 The letter from Mr. Littlepage, which accompanied 
 that cited from, and which is referred to in it, was as 
 follows : 
 
Correspondence — "Will. 261 
 
 You will share my regret in reflecting, that we 
 were the principal means of engaging Admiral Sir John 
 Paul Jones to accept the propositions made to him in 
 1788 by the Russian court. Never were more brilliant 
 prospects held forth to an individual, and never indivi- 
 dual better calculated to attain them. The campaign 
 upon the Liman of 1788, added lustre to the arms of 
 Russia, and ought to have estaMished for ever the repu- 
 tation and fortune of the gallLnt officer to whose con- 
 duct those successes were owing; but unfortunately, 
 in Russia, more perhaps than elsewhere, everything is 
 governed by intrigue. Some political motives, I have 
 reason to think, concurred in depriving Admiral Paul 
 Jones of the fruits of his services ; he was thought to be 
 particularly obnoxious to the English nation, and the 
 idea of paying a servile compliment to a power whose 
 enmity occasions all the present embarrassments of 
 Russia, induced some leading persons to ruin him in the 
 opinion of the empress by an accusation too ridiculous 
 to be mentioned. 
 
 It would be needless to enter into details ; you nave 
 too much confidence in Admiral Paul Jones to doubt 
 the veracity of what he will personally communicate 
 to you, and to which I refer you. 
 
 In June of this year, as appears by the draft of a 
 letter which is preserved, though without particular 
 date or direction, Paul Jones in addition to his ill 
 state of body, and to the irritating state of inaction 
 into which he was thrown, was really vexed by the 
 delay he experienced in receiving the funds belongir;g 
 
262 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to his private exchequer, and which he had a right to 
 look for. 
 
 The last letter preserved, in which he indicates a 
 wish to cling to his Russian engagements, is one to the 
 Baron de Grimm, who was then at Bourbon le Bair, 
 and which is dated July 9th. It was as follows : 
 
 Sir — M. Houdon has sent to your house the bust 
 which you have done me the honor to accept. Made- 
 moiselle Marchais has informed me of all the obliging 
 things you have said regarding my affairs. She has 
 just told me, that the answer of the empress awaits 
 you at Frankfort. As it is my duty to interest myself 
 in objects that may be useful to Russia, I must inform 
 you that I have met with a man here, whom I have 
 known for fifteen years, who has invented a new con- 
 struction of ships of war, which has small resemblance, 
 either externally or internally, to our present war-ships, 
 and which will, he says, possess the following advan- 
 tages over them: 
 
 I. The crew will be better sheltered during an 
 engagement. 
 
 II. The accommodations of the crew will be more 
 spacious; every individual may have a bed or a ham- 
 mock, and there may be as much air as is wished for, 
 night and day, in the places for sleeping. 
 
 III. There will be less smoke during an engage- 
 ment. 
 
 IV. A ship of the new construction, of 54 guns, if 
 well armed and commanded, may face one of the old 
 make of 80 or 90, and need not run away from one of 
 an hundred. 
 
Correspondence — Will. 263 
 
 V. That besides requiring less artillery, the new 
 vessels would cost less in their construction; and dif- 
 ferent sorts of wood, both dear and rare, required for 
 the old vessels, might be dispensed with. 
 
 VI. A new ship, displaying to the eye all the ma- 
 jesty of her appointments, would have a more imposing 
 appearance of power than another; and would never 
 be forced into an engagement, without stupid impru- 
 dence on the part of her commander. 
 
 VII. Vessels of the new construction, would add 
 to many other advantages, that of greater facility in 
 navigation, by sailing a quarter, or 11 degrees and 15 
 minutes, nearer the wind than the old ones, and swerv- 
 ing less from the course. 
 
 It is a long time since, in conjunction with my 
 friend Dr. Franklin, I tried to devise the construction 
 of a ship which could be navigated without ballast, be 
 ready for action at any time, draw less water, and at 
 the same time drive little or not at all to leeward. We 
 always encountered great obstacles. Since the death 
 of that great philosopher, having too much time on 
 my hands, I think I have surmounted the difficulties 
 which baffled our researches. The ship-builder of 
 whom I have spoken, has explained nothing to me in 
 detail, and is altogether ignorant of my ideas on the 
 subject. Being old, he wishes to preserve his inven- 
 tion, and to derive an annuity from it. Nothing can 
 be more just, if on experiment his discovery holds; and 
 as it is a thing which appears to me to deserve the at- 
 tention of the empress, I beg of you to acquaint her 
 majesty of it as soon as possible. This person wishc 1 
 
264 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 to go to England to offer his discovery, where I think 
 it would have been received; but, as I have some in- 
 fluence with him, I have persuaded him to remain here, 
 and wait your reply. If he receive any encourage- 
 ment, he will communicate his ideas more fully to me. 
 But in every case I would dedicate to the empress, 
 without any stipulation, all that my feeble genius has 
 accomplished in naval architecture. I believe I have 
 found out the secret of mounting on a ship of war, with 
 the qualifications I have mentioned above, five bat- 
 teries of whatever calibre is desired. Will not this, 
 presuming it is correct, be of great advantage to the in- 
 fant marine of the Black Sea, and consequently to the 
 prosperity of the Russian empire? 
 
 There is among the loose papers preserved, a letter 
 dated the 16th September, 1791, from a chevalier whose 
 patronymic baffles curiosity, as his hand-writing was 
 fine beyond conception. He informs the rear admiral, 
 that in a conversation he had had with Admiral Digby 
 on the day previous, that officer had expressed an 
 anxious desire to become acquainted with him, and 
 presses Jones to allow him to introduce him, at as early 
 a day as possible, to the admiral's amiable family. 
 This is mentioned as not unimportant in proving, that 
 brave and intelligent Englishmen were not imbued 
 with the vulgar prejudices which seem to have pre- 
 vailed in their country in relation to this adopted son 
 of America. Indeed, there are several others which 
 refute such a supposition, that have not been men- 
 tioned ; among which are two from the Earl of Wemys, 
 
Correspondence — Will. 265 
 
 written in 1785, dated at his residence, the "Chateau 
 de Cotandar," near Neufchatel, which refer to com- 
 munications the earl had had with the Prince of Wirt- 
 emburgh, on subjects in which Jones was interested. 
 He addresses him as ''my dear commodore," and Jones 
 in his replies calls him "my dear lord Wemys." Thes( 
 letters, with several others, have been omitted, because 
 they needed explanations which cannot be furnished. 
 
 In November, Jones wrote Littlepage, who was then 
 at Warsaw, congratulating himself on the (abortive) 
 revolution in Poland, and transmitting a pamphlet 
 published by a friend of his, whose schemes he had 
 mentioned to Baron Grimm, which Jones wished to 
 present to his Polish majesty. He mentions that Ban- 
 croft had paid him half the amount for which he was 
 a creditor, and adds: Before the month of May, I 
 expect also to receive a considerable amount from 
 other sources in Europe; and, in America I have sun- 
 dry tracts of land, and funds both in the bank, and in 
 the public stocks; so that, if I return to that country, 
 I shall have the means of living independent, in a hand- 
 some style. I mention the above circumstances on 
 account of the kind interest you take in all my con- 
 cerns. 
 
 The last letter written this year, which will be in- 
 serted, was addressed to the Marquis de la Fayette, 
 and dated December 7th, 1791. It shows that in the 
 approach of the impending storm, the great revolution 
 in France, his feelings toward the king were still benevo- 
 lent. 
 
266 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 Dear General — My ill health for some time past, 
 has prevented me from the pleasure of paying you my 
 personal respects, but I hope shortly to indulge myself 
 with that satisfaction. 
 
 I hope you approve the quality of the fur-linings I 
 brought from Russia for the king and yourself. I flat- 
 ter myself that his majesty will accept from your hand 
 that little mark of the sincere attachment I feel for his 
 person, and be assured, that I shall be always ready to 
 draw the sword with which he honored me for the 
 service of the virtuous and illustrious ^protector of 
 
 THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 When my health shall be re-established, M. Simolin 
 will do me the honor to present me to his majesty as a 
 Russian admiral. Afterwards it will be my duty, as 
 an American officer, to wait on his majesty with the 
 letter which I am directed to present to him from the 
 United States. 
 
 It is to be presumed that sickness prevented Jones 
 from taking any active part in the discussions and 
 movements which were fast hurrying France into her 
 long agony. From this time the symptoms of Jones 
 grew alarming. He was seized with jaundice, which 
 developed into accute dropsy and he died on the 18th 
 of July as has been previously noticed. The following 
 letters of M. Beaupoil and Colonel Blackden to the 
 sisters of Paul Jones, furnish the best account of his 
 last moments and the manner of his death : 
 
Correspondence — Will. 267 
 
 Letter of M. Beaupoil to either Mrs. Taylor or Mrs. 
 Loudon, sisters of Paul Jones, Esq. Admiral in the 
 Russian service. 
 
 Madam — I am sorry to acquaint you that your 
 brother, Admiral Paul Jones, my friend, paid yesterday 
 the debt we all owe to nature. He has made a will, 
 which is deposited in the hands of Mr. Badineir, notary, 
 St. Servin street, Paris. The will was drawn in Eng- 
 lish, by Mr. Gouverneur Morris, minister of the United 
 States, and translated faithfully by the French notary 
 aforesaid. The admiral leaves his property, real and 
 personal, to his two sisters and their children. They 
 are named in the will as being married, one to William 
 
 Taylor, and the other to Loudon, of Dumfries. 
 
 The executor is Mr. Robert Morris of Philadelphia. If 
 I could be of any service to you in this business, out of 
 the friendship I bore your brother, I would do it with 
 pleasure. I am a Frenchman and an officer. I am 
 sincerely yours, 
 
 "Beaupoil. 
 
 " Paris, July 19, 1792, No. 7, Hotel Anglais, 
 Passage des Petits Peres." 
 
 The English will is signed by Colonels Swan, Black- 
 den, and myself. The schedule of his property lying 
 in Denmark, Russia, France, America, and elsewhere, 
 is signed by Mr. Morris, and deposited by me in his 
 bureau, with the original will. Every thing is sealed 
 up at his lodgings, Tournon street, No. 42, Paris. 
 
 You may depend also on the good services of 
 Colonel Blackden, who was an intimate friend of the 
 
268 Jolin Paul Jones of Naval Fame. 
 
 admiral's. That gentleman is setting out for London, 
 where you may hear of him at No. 18 Great Tichfield 
 Street, London. 
 
 Colonel Blackden to Mrs. Taylor, of Dumfries, eldest 
 sister of Admiral Paul Jones. 
 
 " Great Tichfield Street, London, August 9th. 
 
 Madam — I had the honor of receiving your letter 
 of the 3d instant, and shall answer you most readily. 
 Your brother. Admiral Jones, was not in good health 
 for about a year, but had not been so unwell as to keep 
 house. For two months past he began to lose his appe- 
 tite, to grow yellow, and show signs of the jaundice; for 
 this he took medicine, and seeemed to grow better; but 
 about ten days before his death his legs began to swell, 
 which increased upwards, so that two days before his 
 exit he could not button his waistcoat, and had great 
 difficulty of breathing. 
 
 I visited him every day, and, beginning to be ap- 
 prehensive of his danger, desired him to settle his af- 
 fairs ; but this he put off till the afternoon of his death, 
 when he was prevailed on to send for a notaire, and 
 made his will. Mr. Beaupoil and myself witnessed it at 
 about 8 o'clock in the evening, and left him sitting in a 
 chair. A few minutes after we retired, he walked into 
 his chamber, and laid himself upon his face, on the 
 bed-side, with his feet on the floor; after the queen's 
 physician arrived, they went into the room, and found 
 him in that position, and upon taking him up, they 
 found he had expired. 
 
 His disorder had terminated in dropsy of the breast. 
 His body was put into a leaden coffin on the 20th, that 
 
Correspondence — Will. 269 
 
 in case the United States, whom he had so essentially 
 served, and with so much honor to himself, should 
 claim his remains, they might be more easily removed. 
 This is all. Madam, that I can say concerning his ill- 
 ness and death. 
 
 I most sincerely condole with you. Madam, upon 
 the loss of my dear and respectable friend, for whom I 
 entertained the greatest affection, and as a proof of it, 
 you may command the utmost exertion of my feeble 
 abilities, which shall be rendered with cheerfulness. I 
 have the honor to be, Madam, your most obedient and 
 humble servant, 
 
 S. Blackden. 
 
 It will be seen from these letters, that though suffer- 
 ing severely from bodily affliction, and no doubt equally 
 from mental restlessness and disquietude, Jones did 
 not die without the sympathy and succor of friends, 
 nor in obscurity and actual want, as has been surmised, 
 and indeed stated, in some notices of his life. The 
 credentials of his excellency Gouverneur Morris, as 
 minister plenipotentiary to the court of France, had 
 been forwarded to him from America in the latter end 
 of January preceding, at which time, it is to be inferred 
 from a letter of Mr. Jefferson to him, he was not in 
 Paris. Jones, therefore, could not have had a long ac- 
 quaintance with him, but it is known,that though he was 
 not present at the rear admiral's funeral, the ambas- 
 sador showed him every attention, and it appears from 
 his attest to a schedule, that he was with him on the 
 day before his death. 
 
270 John Paul Jones of Naval Fame, 
 
 He was buried at Paris on the 20th July, and the 
 following funeral discourse was pronounced over his 
 grave by Mr. Marron, a protestant clergyman of Paris: 
 
 [translation.] 
 
 Discourse pronounced by Mr. Marron, officiating 
 Protestant Clergyman, at the funeral of Admiral Paul 
 JoneSy July 20, 1792, in Paris. 
 
 Legislators! citizens! soldiers! friends! brethren! 
 and Frenchmen! we have just returned to the earth 
 the remains of an illustrious stranger, one of the first 
 champions of the liberty of America of that liberty 
 which so gloriously ushered in our own. The Semira- 
 mis of the north had drawn him under her standard, 
 but Paul Jones could not long breathe the pestilential 
 air of despotism; he preferred the sweets of a private 
 life in France, now free to the eclat of titles and of 
 honors, which, from a usurped throne, were lavished 
 upon him by Catharine. The fame of the brave out- 
 lives him; his portion is immortality. What more 
 flattering homage could we pay to the names of Paul 
 Jones, than to swear on his tomb to live or to die free? 
 It is the vow, it is the watch-word of every Frenchman. 
 
 Let never tyrants, nor their satellites pollute this 
 sacred earth! May the ashes of the great man, too 
 soon lost to humanity, and eager to be free, enjoy here 
 an undisturbed repose! Let his example teach pos- 
 terity the efforts which noble souls are capable of 
 making, when stimulated by hatred to oppression. 
 Friends and brethren, a noble emulation brightens in 
 your looks; your time is precious; the country is in 
 
Correspondence — Will. 271 
 
 danger! Who amongst us would not shed the last 
 drop of their blood to save it? Associate yourselves 
 to the glory of Paul Jones, in imitating him in his con- 
 tempt of dangers, in his devotedness to his country in, 
 his noble heroism, which, after having astonished the 
 present age, will continue to be the imperishable object 
 of the veneration of future generations! 
 
I Lives ^f Famous Men | 
 
 % ^ 
 
 ^ In this series of historical and biographical works the pub- 2 
 
 ^ lishers have included only such books as will interest and instruct 2^ 
 
 ^ the youth of both sexes. A copy should be in every public, school m. 
 
 ^ and private library. Special discount made when entire set is ^ 
 
 ^ ordered. They are printed from large, clear type on an excellent j^ 
 
 ^ quality of paper and substantially and attractively bound in vl 
 
 ^ cloth, stamped in inks and gold from original designs. Each ^ 
 
 ^ book is fully illustrated. Price, $1.00 per cooy, postpaid, v^ 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 I LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. J 
 
 ;^ By George Washingrton Parke Custis, the adopted son ^ 
 
 ^ of our first president. Cloth, 664 pages, large, IZmo' ^ 
 
 ^ Price, $1.00. J 
 
 g LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^ 
 
 ^ By Hon. Joseph H. Barrett, ex=meniber of Congress. $ 
 
 g Cloth, 842 pages, large, IZmo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 5 LIFE OF U. S. GRANT. J 
 
 ^ By Hon. B. P. Poore and Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D. D. Cloth, ^ 
 
 ^ 594 pages, large, IZmo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 % LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY. J 
 
 ^ By Murat Halstead, Chauncey M. Depew and John Sher- ^ 
 
 ^ man. Cloth, 450 pages, large, IZmo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 ^ LIFE OF THEODORE R005EVELT. ^ 
 
 ^ By Thomas W. Handford. Cloth, 255 pages, large, 16mo. ^ 
 
 ^ Price, $1.00. J 
 
 J LIFE OF HENRY M. STANLEY. % 
 
 ^ By Prof. A. M. Godbey, A. M. Cloth, 560 pages, large, ^ 
 
 ^ 12mo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 I LIFE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. J 
 
 ^(. By Charles Walter Brown. Cloth, nearly 300 pages, 12mo. J 
 
 5 Price, $1.00. J 
 
 ^ LIFE OF ETHAN ALLEN. ^ 
 
 ^ By Charles Walter Brown. Cloth , nearly 300 pages, 12mo. ^ 
 
 # Price, $1.00. J 
 
 5 LIFE OF W. T. SHERMAN. J 
 
 # By Hon. W. Fletcher Johnson and Gen. O. O. Howard. ^ 
 ^ Cloth, 607 pages, large, 12mo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 I LIFE OF P. T. BARNUM. J 
 
 ^ By Hon. Joel Benton. Cloth, 621 pages, large, 12mo. ^ 
 
 5 Price, $1.00. F s li ^ 
 
 I LIFE OF T. DEWITT TALMAGE. ^ 
 
 ^ By Charles Francis Adams. Cloth, nearly 500 pages. ^ 
 
 J Price, $1.00. J 
 
 $ LIFE OF D. L. MOODY. % 
 
 # By Charles Francis Adams. Cloth, 318 pages, large, ^ 
 ^ 12mo. Price, $1.00. ^ 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 ^ All books sent postpaid to any address in the United States, ^ 
 
 ^ Canada or Mexico, upon receipt of price in currency, stamps, ^ 
 
 ^ postal or express money order. ^ ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 I M. A. T>onobt$0 CSL Co. j 
 
 I 407-429 'DearbornCSr/l "- ^ CHICAGO % 
 
.s O 
 
 '^^^ .i' 
 
.^'•\^ 
 
 
 OQ 
 
 -c;-- .^V 
 
 
 
 ,0o