THE SAILOR WH( 
 ENGLAND FEARED 
 
 
THE SAILOR WHOM 
 ENGLAND FEARED 
 
THE SAILOR WHOM 
 ENGLAND FEARED 
 
 BEING THE STORY OF PAUL JONES, SCOTCH 
 
 NAVAL ADVENTURER AND ADMIRAL IN 
 
 THE AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN 
 
 FLEETS 
 
 BY 
 
 M. MAC DERMOT CRAWFORD 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 THE WIFt: OF LAFAYETTE," ET: . 
 
 DUFFIELD & COMPANY 
 NEW YORK 
 
TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
PREFACE 
 
 AMONG the brilliant adventurers who passed meteor- 
 like across the closing years of the eighteenth century, 
 no name is better known than that of the famous 
 Scotsman John Paul Jones. 
 
 In response to his ardent plea for a sailor s life, 
 he was apprenticed and sent to sea at the age of 
 twelve to seek his fortune. He rose rapidly, unaided 
 by favour or influence, and at nineteen became chief 
 mate of a slaver, at twenty-one captain of a West 
 India trading vessel; then came his experience as 
 a Virginia planter. At twenty-eight he was com 
 missioned lieutenant in the American Continental 
 Navy, at twenty-nine became captain, at thirty-two 
 commodore, " the ocean hero of the Old World and 
 the New," spoiled, adulated, petted by great and 
 small. Special envoy to the French Court at thirty- 
 six; at forty, in commemoration of the victory of the 
 Bonhomme Richard over the Serapis, voted a gold 
 medal by Congress ; and now the thread of life shows 
 its first sign of wearing. ... A vice-admiral in the 
 Navy of the Russian Empress at forty-three, waiting 
 for the last brilliant chapters to be written; at forty- 
 five dead ! 
 
 At heart he was a free-lance, without a country, 
 without family; he had his brief hour, his life was like 
 
 280820 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 " the stuff that dreams are made of." He left no book 
 of his hopes, his secrets, for us to pore over. Self- 
 contained being that he was, we do not know if the 
 mystery of his parentage ever sorrowed him. He 
 asked nothing from the world but fame and glory, and 
 these he may justly claim, for who does not if but in 
 a vague way know the name of that " rebel," 
 "corsair" and " pirate," Paul Jones? 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face page 
 
 PAUL JONES Frontispiece 
 
 (From a miniature painted by the Comtessc de la Vandhal) 
 
 THE HOUSE DESCRIBED AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF PAUL 
 
 JONES 14 
 
 PAUL JONES 84 
 
 (From the original painting on parchment by Notte, in the collection 
 of the author} 
 
 THE DUCHESSE DE CHARTRES 120 
 
 THE FAMOUS TEA-POT (NOW IN THE POSSESSION OF CAPTAIN 
 
 JOHN HOPE, R.N., GREAT-GRANDSON OF LADY SELKIRK) 138 
 
 HELEN, COUNTESS OF SELKIRK 144 
 
 (From an unfinished painting. Reproduced by permission oj Captain 
 John Hope, R.N.) 
 
 FRONTISPIECE FROM A CHAPBOOK IN THE AUTHOR S COLLEC 
 TION; SHOWING "PAUL JONES SHOOTING LIEUTENANT 
 GRUB FOR ENDEAVOURING TO LOWER THE AMERICAN 
 FLAG" 178 
 
 PAUL JONES . . . . . . . . . .210 
 
 (From the terra-cotta bust by Houdori] 
 
 CAPTAIN RICHARD PEARSON 250 
 
 PAUL JONES 284 
 
 (From a wax medallion, made about the time of his death, and now in 
 the author s collection) 
 
 vii 
 
viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To face page 
 
 PAUL JONES . .... 340 
 
 (From a wax medallion sent by Paul Jones to Mrs. Belches in 1786. 
 Reproduced by permission of the Edinburgh Antiquarian Society} 
 
 CATHERINE II 
 
 VIEW OF THE HOUSE OF MME. DE TELUSSON . . .400 
 
 (From a rare print in the authors collection } 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 1747-1773 
 
 FAR more romantic than the swashbucklering 
 adventures of imaginary heroes told by the light pen 
 of fiction is the plain, unvarnished tale of John Paul 
 Jones, who, from a childhood amid the humblest 
 peasant environment, raised himself to world-wide 
 fame; had the distinction of being decorated by 
 empress and king ; became admiral in two navies and 
 the lover of a princess. 
 
 A hint of mystery attends his birth, for it is hard 
 to believe him to have been the son of John Paul, 
 gardener to Mr. Craik of Arbigland, in the parish of 
 Kirkbean, nor is there tangible reason for the assertion 
 that his father was Captain John Maxwell, governor 
 of the Bahamas in 1780, or the Earl of Selkirk. 
 
 The parish birth records do not solve the problem, 
 but rather the contrary, for they record the births of 
 his three sisters and omit any mention of either young 
 John Paul or his elder brother William. Though the 
 registration of births was not compulsory in those 
 days, why should the Pauls have recorded the girls 
 and not the boys? Nor does it seem likely that the 
 
 9 
 
1C PAUL JONES 
 
 gardener s wife could have been absent from the parish 
 on both occasions when the latter were born. 
 
 In accordance with the maxim that " it is better to 
 be the wife of a coal-heaver than the mistress of a 
 prince," early Victorian writers wax indignant at any 
 aspersions cast on the fair fame of the gardener s wife. 
 It never seems to have occurred to them that John Paul 
 was the unwanted child of some amorous dame, who 
 had loved beyond discretion, put to nurse at the 
 gardener s; for Jean Macduff had been lady s-maid to 
 Mrs. Craik, and, it is said, in those halcyon days 
 ladies -maids were discreet sometimes. Who can 
 tell what happened in that tiny thatched cottage in the 
 middle of the eighteenth century? 
 
 John Paul, the gardener s father, kept a public- 
 house, or, as it was called with Scotch niceness, a 
 " mail garden " in Leith. His son showed no aptitude 
 for the business, and we find him some years later as 
 gardener to Mr. Craik, where he remained till his death 
 in 1767. " A gardener was understood to be a person 
 of better education than a common operative mechanic 
 in ordinary handicrafts" at that time, and John Paul 
 laid out the gardens at Arbigland with some taste and 
 skill, combining these duties with the office of bailiff 
 and gamekeeper, which was not unusual on small 
 estates. He was a man respected by those with whom 
 he came in contact, following his unexciting daily 
 round conscientiously, but it is difficult to reconcile his 
 personality with that of the dare-devil fighting sailor, 
 who has, perhaps, gained more renown for his exploits 
 than any hero of ancient or modern times. 
 
PAUL JONES U: 
 
 Soon after entering Mr. Craik s service he married 
 Jean Macduff, the daughter of an Argyll Highlander, 
 an armourer by trade, who, since coming to the Low 
 lands, had turned farmer near New Abbey. These 
 Macduffs are erroneously described as small landed 
 proprietors who had lived in the parish of Kirkbean 
 for an "immemorial period"; but what of this 
 "respectable rural race" before they had tamed their 
 Highland blood to plough and reaping-hook? The 
 name of Macduff invokes brawny Highlanders, flaunt 
 ing tartan, dangling sporran and the clash of two- 
 handed sword on bull s-hide iron-studded shields; 
 hoarse, guttural cries of men who fought for death to 
 their opponent. The name of this " respectable rural 
 race " had figured across the pages of Scotch history 
 from the days of myth and legend; been glorified by 
 the Bard of Avon s pen, and followed the fiery cross 
 o er many a hill and dale. They rallied to royal Stuart 
 in the ill-fated invasion of 45. If Jean Macduff was 
 his mother, it is to her ancestors he owes his good blood. 
 John Paul was born on July 6, 1747, before the echoes 
 of the " pibroch, savage and shrill " had ceased to 
 shriek through the glens of Scotland. His mother 
 of high or low birth, who knows? like all women, 
 loved Bonnie Prince Charlie; and her heart followed 
 him when the men-folk flocked to the standard of 
 their rightful sovereign. John Paul was born while 
 the land was still stirred by a turmoil of loyalty which 
 no rigorous cruelties had ever been able to stamp out. 
 His mother thrilled to the stern memory of a thousand 
 years. Such were the prenatal influences of John 
 
32 PAUL JONES 
 
 Paul, destined to win fame under the name of a chance 
 benefactor. 
 
 Throughout his life he displayed marked High 
 land characteristics, being sensitive as to his honour, 
 quick and fiery ; but not quarrelsome, proud to a fault 
 without being arrogant. If some of his letters, written 
 with perfect confidence in his abilities, are open to 
 criticism, it is admitted that Nelson s epistles do not 
 suffer from undue modesty; that Drake and others, 
 had they not been successful, might have been called 
 braggarts. Glory and ambition gratified were the sole 
 rewards asked by John Paul Jones, who fought for 
 this end, displaying an indifference to monetary com 
 pensation which is generally considered the prerogative 
 of the nobly born. 
 
 William Paul, the eldest son of the gardener and 
 his wife, emigrated to Virginia and died at Fredericks- 
 burg in 1772, leaving a wife and considerable fortune. 
 There were three other children : Elizabeth, the eldest 
 daughter, died unmarried; the second, Janet, married 
 a Mr. Taylor, watchmaker in Dumfries; the third 
 married twice, first Mr. Young, and secondly Mr. 
 Lowden. Her name was Mary Ann. 
 
 There was nothing in all these pleasant, common 
 place people to suggest the buccaneer spirit which 
 caused Paul Jones, years later, to make his famous 
 descent on the Scotch coast, during which the Selkirk 
 plate was seized, and, after endless scandal and corre 
 spondence, returned to the family with ample explana 
 tion on the part of Jones, who bought it back at his 
 own expense from his crew. In all, John Paul and his 
 
PAUL JONES 13 
 
 wife had seven children, if one includes John Paul 
 Jones, who was the fifth. The two born after him 
 died in infancy. 
 
 It is easy to picture the circumstances of his early 
 childhood. The unexciting, steady occupation of the 
 gardener, the busy, toil-worn hands of Jean Paul, 
 whose growing family and household drudgery left 
 her no time except for the most practical of duties. 
 From the early hour when the family porridge was 
 vigorously stirred, to the end of the lingering twilight 
 when her husband came home, the gardener s wife 
 had enough to keep her fingers out of the mischief 
 created by ennui, had she known the meaning of the 
 word. 
 
 The primitive cottage where John Paul spent his 
 childhood fell into ruin some years after his death, 
 in which condition it remained until rebuilt by the 
 generosity of Lieut. Pinkham, U.S.N., in 1831; and 
 it stands at the present time under the shadow of 
 an uncompromising slate roof, in place of the thatch 
 that sheltered the young sailor. The situation was 
 romantically picturesque. Far above the shores 
 of the Solway, with its terrific inrush of tide, Mr. 
 Craik s house occupied a site commanding splendid 
 views of land and sea. At the foot of the promontory 
 ran the river Nith, on the other side the Esk of 
 Lochinvar fame flowed into the Solway. The coast 
 rose sharply, merging into a granite mountain, Criftal 
 by name. To the seaward stretched the shores of 
 Cumberland, with the peaks of Skiddaw, Helvellyn 
 and the Saddleback- The cottage, overgrown with 
 
14 PAUL JONES 
 
 creepers and sheltered by trees and shrubbery, was 
 never free from the sound of moving waters. 
 
 Little John displayed small partiality for the games 
 of his playmates. His passion was to sail a leaf, a bit 
 of wood, anything resembling a boat in the duck- 
 pond, on the horse-trough, on a pool of rain dripping 
 from the roof always to play at the mimic game of 
 ships. On occasions he eluded the family and headed 
 for the seashore. But the tides of the Solway were 
 too dangerous, he was reproved by voice and hand, 
 and sternly forbidden to go there alone. As the 
 time went on, and he grew into a sturdy lad, his 
 chief delight was to sail in the fishermen s boats, as 
 they worked the sea for a living. What he dreamed, 
 what he planned as he watched the far horizon, no 
 one knows, for he was of too little moment for any 
 one to heed him, except when he made himself useful 
 in casting and hauling in the nets, with their glittering, 
 squirming freight. It is difficult to say of what his 
 early education consisted, or if he was idle or industri 
 ous. Of " pot-hooks and hangers" he must have had 
 his share, also the rule of three; and he could read. 
 Excessive education for his class in Scotland of the 
 eighteenth century was not common. He could write, 
 and his letters, at the age of sixteen, well expressed 
 and showing a knowledge of grammar, do not fall into 
 localisms, or the plentiful abbreviations found in the 
 correspondence of the day. 
 
 Like all the children on Mr. Craik s estate, he was 
 kindly treated, and the playmate of the sons of the 
 family. With the democracy of boyhood, they joy- 
 
PAUL JONES 15 
 
 ously climbed everything in the neighbourhood, from 
 trees to the sides of cliffs, where lurked unexplored 
 treasures in the shape of sea-birds eggs. They 
 penetrated caves and caverns under the cliffs with 
 that sublime disregard of tides which is boyhood s 
 happy prerogative. They lingered at the hearths of 
 old Elspeth and Meg Merrilies, drinking in tales of 
 elf and goblin too frightened to go home in the 
 dusk, till the servants of the big house finally hunted 
 up and retrieved them. 
 
 But life was not all play, and he had his tasks, which 
 the thrifty Scotch discipline did not allow to be 
 shirked. From the first, love for the sea was so 
 strongly marked that Mr. Craik listened to his argu 
 ments, and advised Paul to let him follow the only 
 life for which he was fitted. He had no wish for the 
 total destruction of his peaceful garden, which he 
 foresaw, should young John Paul be forced to delve 
 in the earth for a living, as the lad knew not a dock 
 from an oak, and cared less. 
 
 Prompted by a certain self-interest, the good laird 
 did his best to smooth the path of the impetuous boy, 
 and the die was cast. At the age of twelve he was 
 apprenticed to "Mr. Younger, a merchant in the 
 American trade, 55 but remained for some time before 
 sailing at Whitehaven, just across the Firth of Solway, 
 in sight of his home. 
 
 There is a story to the effect that mere chance 
 caused Mr. Younger to take young John Paul in his ser 
 vice. Mr. Younger, one of the most enterprising ship- 
 owning merchants of Whitehaven, was at Arbigland 
 
16 PAUL JONES 
 
 in the summer of 1759, looking for sailors to man 
 one of his ships, ready to sail for the Chesapeake. 
 There was a high wind and tremendous sea, and, 
 attracted by a knot of idlers, he stopped to see what 
 they were looking at. Out, far out, bobbing like a 
 cork, struggled a small boat, striving even to live, 
 much less make headway, on the mountainous waves. 
 Buffeted by a tearing north-easterly gale as she tried 
 to reach a sheltered cove, even the stoutest-hearted 
 fisherman had his " doots " that the little craft could 
 live. Make the shore she did, or there would have 
 been no Paul Jones to give colour to the book of 
 history. The lad at the helm was the future com 
 mander. Intrepidly he clung to the tiller, shouting his 
 orders above the howl of the tempest, his black hair 
 streaming in the wind, his eyes snapping with excite 
 ment, every fibre of him glowing with the fight he 
 waged with the elements. All sense of fear was lack 
 ing in his heart, and he brought the boat to shore after 
 he had been resignedly consigned to the tender care 
 of Davy Jones by the waiting crowd, who clapped the 
 young captain on the back as he hurried home to 
 change his dripping clothes, and, with the cocksure- 
 ness of twelve, planned greater achievements to be 
 carried out when he was " grown up." 
 
 There is not much information to be gleaned about 
 John Paul on his earlier voyages; life before the mast 
 in 1759 wa s a hard routine, not calculated to foster 
 idling or effeminacy, and he began at the foot of the 
 ladder. The merchant ship plying for trade was not 
 fitted with the refinements of a modern hotel ; after a 
 
PAUL JONES 17 
 
 few days out even the captain s table could not boast 
 fresh provisions, and long voyages almost inevitably 
 ended with scurvy among the crew, due to lack of 
 green vegetables and an overdose of brine. Though 
 the menu lacked variety, the same could not be said 
 of the names of the dishes, which were descriptive and 
 picturesque. " Salt Junk and Pork" and " Lobscouse" 
 have a twang of the sea; " Pillaus of Rice" sounds 
 oriental, and "Dog s Body" and "Sea Pies" speak 
 well for the inventive brain of Jack afloat. " Pea 
 coffee " explains itself, but the component parts of 
 " Hurryhush " are not so easily arrived at. 
 
 With our steam and wireless to-day it is hard to 
 realise the complete isolation formerly the seaman s 
 lot. Empires might rise and fall, and Jack be none 
 the wiser until he touched at port, or spoke some 
 swifter craft within hailing distance of the captain s 
 brazen-throated speaking-trumpet. Often becalmed 
 for days at a time, with nothing to break the endless 
 sameness of rolling wave and nebulous horizon, the 
 most trifling incident furnished endless food for con 
 versation. Was it unnatural under these conditions 
 that superstition held the forecastle in its tenacious 
 thrall when the thousands of weird, unnamed sounds, 
 exaggerated by the stillness of a sailing craft, assumed 
 alarming proportions, not to be explained away or 
 scoffed at by a mere landsman ? The incessant moan 
 ing and whistling of wind through the rigging, the 
 unrelieved monotony day after day, were bound to 
 make their impression on the strongest nerves. 
 
 In time of war the constant chance of meeting or 
 
18 PAUL JONES 
 
 being chased by the enemy constituted an ever-present 
 excitement, for privateering played an important part 
 in the life of nations, being a recognised, and often 
 well-requited, form of gambling; and every ship was 
 armed. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that John Paul escaped the 
 rough horse-play so freely indulged in aboard ship; 
 there is no reason to assert that he failed to enter into 
 it with all the hearty enjoyment of the normal boy, for 
 he was not in the least a prig, though he tried to im 
 prove himself by study whenever the chance offered. 
 Used to being at sea from the time he could walk, 
 perhaps he was untroubled by the pangs of sea-sick 
 ness, and the remedy urgently advocated by his 
 messmates 
 
 "Just a wee drap o saut water, 
 And if a piece o fat pork, after, 
 Tied in a string- ye tak and swallow, 
 Ye ll find that mickle change will follow"; 
 
 and did not listen to the suggestion, always gravely 
 offered, that the sufferer should make his will, which 
 did not seem amiss, so awful were the pangs of that 
 first hour when the novice was afraid he would die 
 and the second, when he was afraid he would not ! 
 
 The pranks of old Father Neptune on crossing the 
 equator are well known, but that of sending the green 
 horn on deck 
 
 "As soon as ever it was dark 
 To hear the little dog-fish bark," 
 
 has the charm of novelty, for, while the youth awaited 
 this interesting exhibition of natural history, two of 
 
PAUL JONES 19 
 
 his shipmates, perched in the rigging, drenched him 
 with pails of salt water, jeering at the spluttering 
 victim, who refused to listen to their consolation 
 
 "That the unsavoury stew 
 Was only what the grampus blew." 
 
 Had Polonius been aboard ship he would have 
 recoiled aghast at the total disregard of his much- 
 quoted advice, for borrowing went on at such a pace 
 that the newly-arrived " griffin " disgustedly found his 
 well-furnished kit a hollow mockery and himself shirt 
 less, and obliged to resort to the elementary manner 
 of his comrades 
 
 "And wash his shirt in the pea-soup kid " 
 
 the latter, despite its dark and evil name, being 
 nothing more dreadful than a small wash-tub, which, 
 it is likely, served in its idle hours as an accessory to 
 the batterie de cuisine. The threadbare joke of put 
 ting salt water in the " plum-duff " when the cook was 
 not looking, and rewarding that luckless wight with 
 a lusty whacking from the " Dog s body squeezer " 
 a stick used to stir a mixture of "squeezed pease" 
 known by the illuminating name of " Soldier s Joy " 
 was a source of perennial mirth. The rough pleasantry 
 of applying a hot iron to an undefended portion of 
 a person engaged in performing an elaborate toilet 
 usually resulted in a free fight, lasting until stopped 
 by the appearance of the first "luff." 
 
 If artists and writers of that day are to be relied 
 upon, discipline became much relaxed as soon as 
 the anchor was let go. The captain, relieved of 
 responsibility, had his own affairs to occupy him 
 
 B 2 
 
20 PAUL JONES 
 
 ashore, as did the other officers. The " Little Butter 
 cups" and "Black-eyed Susans" were not shy of 
 swarming over the side as soon as the gangway was 
 lowered, and contemporary prints depict joyous 
 merry-makings, with no puritanical atmosphere to mar 
 the light-hearted eighteenth-century abandon of 
 costume and attitude, in which there is more than a 
 suggestion of revelry, fast and furious. These visiting 
 ladies had a sly habit of concealing skins filled 
 with rum beneath their ample petticoats, and carrying 
 many a drink to their "fancy men"; but this being 
 forbidden, a ship s corporal was told off to search for 
 the contraband. All of which led to much pleasantry 
 in the rollicking days of our forefathers, though one 
 cannot but wonder what effect it had on the morals of 
 the rising generation. 
 
 Undeniably life at sea had a broadening influence, 
 and a sailor returned very much more the man of 
 the world than his stop-at-home brother. He 
 gathered on these voyages a store of extensive and 
 varied information relating to the many feminine types 
 found under tropic as well as northern skies; and 
 having been in localities never before penetrated by 
 the ubiquitous white man, could yarn uncontradicted, 
 unchallenged in his Munchausen-like proclivities. It 
 had its advantages. Nevertheless, there was a rope s- 
 end and tarry smell, a smack o the sea clinging to the 
 sons of Neptune in those days, which, like most things, 
 is fast disappearing. The modern steam-driven craft 
 can never be surrounded by the romance of the full- 
 rigged man-o -war scudding down the Channel before 
 
PAUL JONES 21 
 
 a spanking breeze with her bright work glittering and 
 crew thirsting to man the guns and fire a broadside 
 at the interloping " Frenchie," or who might be the 
 foe of the hour. The only repining heart was that of 
 the midshipmite, parted for the first time from a 
 loving mother, and bravely resisting a desire to yield 
 to that unknown emotion, due to the nervous motions 
 of the good ship, on which at this moment he was, 
 despite the smart new uniform, dubbed by his mates 
 that dreadful thing, a landlubber. 
 
 Paul was an attractive lad, high-spirited, frank, 
 quick to anger at injustice, open and honourable, and 
 keenly eager to master every detail pertaining to the 
 life he had chosen. He devoured what books he 
 could get bearing on naval history, and pored over 
 the lives of the great commanders whom, some day, 
 he hoped to emulate. At the age of twelve he sailed 
 from Whitehaven, watched by the anxious eyes of his 
 sisters. 
 
 The strange destiny which wove his life under the 
 spell of the Three Sisters sent him to America. It was 
 his maiden voyage ; he was a Scotch boy with no experi 
 ence of life, and went there with a mind as wax to 
 receive those impressions which ultimately caused 
 him to play his brilliant part in the world. His ship, 
 the Friendship, Captain Benson, dropped anchor in 
 the Rappahannock, and young Paul made his first 
 acquaintance with the society of the new world as 
 found in Virginia, the home of the revolution. While 
 there he stayed with his brother William, who had 
 been adopted by a gentleman, said to be a connection 
 
22 PAUL JONES 
 
 of his mother, provided he took his name, Jones. This 
 he did, and Mr. Jones offered to buy the younger 
 brother free from his indentures if he would remain 
 with him and become a planter. But the call of the 
 sea was too strong, and John Paul was loyal to the 
 roving life he had chosen. The property left to 
 William was to come to him later, as William died 
 intestate without heirs, and his widow was provided 
 for; so in 1773 Paul inherited the plantation, cattle, 
 buildings, live stock and slaves. There was the simple 
 stipulation that he assumed the name of Jones, which 
 is the reason for this much-discussed action. 
 
 There is not the slightest doubt that Paul was from 
 the first one at heart with the discontented colonists. 
 Why not? They were his countrymen, not aliens, 
 and they were under the rule of a king against whom 
 his people had fought. His sturdy Highland blood 
 and his fighting temperament made him ready, at a 
 word, to throw himself heart and soul into their cause ; 
 but the hour had not struck, and he sailed away, his 
 brain teeming with new ideas. 
 
 His voyages now were mainly to and from the West 
 Indies, and his rise in the merchant service rapid. 
 At the age of sixteen his indentures were returned to 
 him by Mr. Younger on his retirement from business, 
 and young Paul, a lad of sixteen, and his own master, 
 solicited and obtained the appointment of third mate 
 on the King George of Whitehaven, a vessel engaged 
 in the slave trade. 
 
 * The licence to act for himself would have been, 
 to a boy whose purposes of living were not in some 
 
PAUL JONES 23 
 
 measure fixed, and whose will was undecided as to 
 the future, a passport to obscurity, and if not to dis 
 grace. In Paul s case it was sumpta prudenter. He 
 availed himself of it, wisely having confidence in 
 himself." 
 
 After some time aboard the King George, in 1766 
 he went to the brigantine Two Friends of Kingston, 
 Jamaica, as chief mate. Paul was at this moment 
 nineteen years old, and known as a sharp and resource 
 ful seaman, equal to the emergency. He is said to 
 have disliked the slave trade, but from 1766, when he 
 shipped as chief mate on the Two Friends, he must 
 have remained until 1771, according to the following 
 item dated 
 
 " Dantzic, Nov. 1 1. A week ago a meffenger from 
 Peterfburg going through Copenhagen, brought advice 
 that an account had been received at the former place, 
 that a fhip called the Two Brothers [Two Friends? ], 
 Capt. John Paul, laden with wollen and thread goods, 
 had failed from Smyrna, infected with the plague. 
 This advice was immediately notified to all the ports 
 of the Baltic, that they may avoid receiving that fhip, 
 and all the neceffary precautions are taken to keep 
 her off if fhe appears." 
 
 If this is correct, allowing for an error in name, it 
 appears that the Two Friends traded in other than 
 human goods and chattels, and is also interesting, as 
 Paul s relatives declare he " became so disgusted with 
 the business of stealing human beings, that he left 
 
24 PAUL JONES 
 
 the ship on its arrival in the West Indies." This 
 would be three years before the Two Brothers was 
 sighted off Copenhagen. According to their story, 
 after leaving the Two Friends in disgust, he took 
 passage in the brigantine John, of Kirkcudbright, 
 Capt. Macadam, and, both the captain and mate dying 
 of fever, brought the ship home, for which the owners, 
 Currie, Beck & Co., immediately made him master and 
 supercargo. Paul s first seriously unpleasant experi 
 ence happened on one of the early voyages in this 
 ship. 
 
 Of course his good fortune and rapid rise in the 
 world had made enemies for him, and these seized on 
 the story, spread to his detriment, with the greatest 
 avidity, causing him much annoyance and unhappi- 
 ness; for, it must be remembered, in years he was 
 little more than a boy. An insubordinate carpenter 
 named Mungo Maxwell being flogged, as was the 
 custom in the merchant service, complained to the 
 authorities " that his back was sore, and that his feel 
 ings were hurt; both of which representations they 
 seem to have believed, without feeling themselves 
 called upon to heal the one, or soothe the other." The 
 sworn statements of the governor of Tobago are, in 
 themselves, enough to refute the calumny that the 
 man was beaten in such a manner as to cause his death. 
 If this was not enough 
 
 "James Eastment, mariner, and late master of the 
 Barcelona packet, maketh oath, and saith, That 
 Mungo Maxwell, formerly on board the John, Captain 
 
PAUL JONES 25 
 
 Paul master, came in good health on his, the depo 
 nent s, said vessel, then lying in great Rockley Bay, in 
 the Island of Tobago, about the middle of the month 
 of June, in the year one thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy, in the capacity of a carpenter aforesaid; that 
 he acted as such in every respect in perfect health 
 . . . after which he was taken ill of a fever and low- 
 ness of spirits, which continued for four or five days, 
 when he died aboard 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 received any ill usage 
 from the said Captain John Paul, but that he ... 
 verily believes the said Mungo Maxwell s death was 
 occasioned by a fever and lowness of spirits, as afore 
 said, and not by or through any other cause or causes 
 whatsoever." 
 
 This was sworn at the Mansion House, January 
 30, 1773, "before me, James Townsend, Mayor," and 
 duly signed by the master on whose ship Maxwell 
 died, John Eastment. 
 
 Like a snowball this ridiculous story grew, to crop 
 up at intervals during Paul Jones s career; revived in 
 the days when he was rear-admiral in the Russian 
 navy, with Prince Potemkin and Prince de Nassau 
 racing him neck to neck for Imperial favour. This 
 time, however, the supposed victim was a nephew, 
 tortured to death with ingenious cruelty. It would 
 be most interesting, even after so long, to know how 
 such a story was kept alive, and by whom; for why, 
 
26 PAUL JONES 
 
 in those days when flogging was a recognised part of 
 the naval code, did the case stir up such a hornet s 
 nest? Just then John Paul was by no means the con 
 spicuous personality he became later. He was an 
 obscure skipper on a small vessel, so unimportant that 
 it is a wonder the incident ever saw the light of day. 
 Without doubt we must put it to the account of that 
 hardy perennial, the busybody, who flourished as gaily 
 then as now. But it was a dastardly way to try and 
 spoil his career, and worried him greatly, as this letter 
 to his mother shows 
 
 " London^ 2^th September, 1772. 
 
 " MY DEAR MOTHER AND SISTERS, 
 
 : I only arrived here to-night from the 
 Grenadas. I have had but poor health during the 
 voyage; and my success in it not having equalled my 
 first sanguine expectations has added much to the 
 asperity of my misfortunes, and, I am well assured, 
 was the cause of my loss of health. I am now, how 
 ever, better, and I trust Providence will soon put me 
 in a way to get bread, and (which is by far my greatest 
 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. 
 
 " 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 honour, by maliciously 
 
PAUL JONES 27 
 
 loading my fair character with obloquy and vile asper 
 sions. I believe there are few who are hard-hearted 
 enough to think I have not long since given the world 
 every satisfaction in my power, being conscious of my 
 innocence before Heaven, who will one day judge 
 even my judges. I staked my honour, 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 had no foundation for their 
 harsh treatment. I mean to send to Mr. Craik a copy 
 properly proved, as his nice feelings will not perhaps 
 be otherwise satisfied ; in the meantime, if you please, 
 you may show him the enclosed. His ungracious con 
 duct 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 suffered the 
 more on that very account. . . ." 
 
 The " ungracious conduct " of which he accuses 
 Mr. Craik was that gentleman s attitude in the Max- 
 welL case. Although it was cleared up, and Paul 
 proved blameless, and exonerated by Mr. Craik, he 
 never afterwards corresponded with or met him. This 
 was purely the result of circumstances ; indeed, after 
 1771 he never saw his mother and sisters. 
 
 Paul has been accused of smuggling, and some 
 
28 PAUL JONES 
 
 contemporary tales of his exploits teem with thrillingly 
 unreliable details. This accusation was one he always 
 denied hotly, and there is no foundation for the asser 
 tion that the first entry in the customs books of the Isle 
 of Man, after "that nest of smugglers and centre of 
 the contraband trade was sold to the Crown, stands 
 in his name at Douglas." 
 
 But his career in the Merchant Marine was soon to 
 end. In 1772 he obtained command of the Betsy of 
 London, a ship trading with the West Indies. He 
 was successful in saving a considerable sum of money, 
 and, in 1773, went to Virginia to settle his brother s 
 estate. Thus Fate for the time turned John Paul into 
 a Virginia planter, a character about which there 
 clings still a halo of romance, nankeen trousers, lavish 
 hospitality, and a semi-tropical charm difficult to 
 describe. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 1773-1775 
 
 FROM the year 1773, in which John Paul, or as he 
 must now be called, John Paul Jones, came to 
 America to settle his brother s estate, may definitely 
 be dated the beginning of the discontented colonists 
 grievances. With the increase of wealth and power 
 during the last hundred and fifty years came growing 
 intolerance of laws foisted on them by legislators who 
 knew nothing of their conditions, and there was an 
 awakening of that love of independence which had 
 driven so many to the new country. Virginia was 
 rent by two antagonistic political parties : the " Tide 
 water Aristocracy," consisting of planters whose 
 plantations lay along the York and James River, 
 who, by right of prior arrival, ruled arbitrarily in 
 matters social and political, and the Scotch-Irish, 
 who settled the valley of Virginia. These hardy 
 beings pioneered their way up country into the districts 
 belonging to the Rappahannock Indians, on whose 
 lands they unconcernedly established themselves, 
 with the natural consequence of years of Indian 
 warfare in all its cunning and ferocious phases, during 
 which the small farmers and planters were harassed 
 to the verge of distraction. One of the principal 
 grievances the masses registered against the 
 " Oligarchy " as they called the governor and House 
 
30 PAUL JONES 
 
 of Burgesses was the inactivity displayed in taking 
 measures to punish the Indians for their depredations, 
 and it was more than whispered the governor s inaction 
 was due to the very lucrative trade he drove in pelts 
 and furs, which would have been interrupted had he 
 commenced hostilities against his savage merchants. 
 But when troops were wanted by the "Tidewater" 
 faction, they were recruited from the Scotch-Irish, 
 who, though they loved fighting, after a time began 
 to tire of this "more kicks than halfpence" kind of 
 warfare, and protested at all the plums being pounced 
 on by the other party. Like so many colonial posses 
 sions, Virginia suffered from absenteeism, Sir Godfrey 
 Amherst, the governor who controlled her destinies 
 from 1763 till 1768, never even playing the farce of 
 going to his domain. The governors did not interfere 
 with their underlings, provided the perquisites of their 
 office were forthcoming, the king knew less of his 
 colony than the governor, and there was a great deal 
 going on easy to describe in one essentially modern 
 word graft. 
 
 The great wealth of Virginia was in the tobacco- 
 producing lands, which the ignorant colonist ex 
 hausted by planting tobacco year after year in 
 succession, instead of alternating it with maize or 
 corn, and in the end he lost heavily by his thriftless- 
 ness. The best houses were brick and stone, brought 
 from England with the workmen to build and decorate 
 them. All the furnishings came from over the seas, 
 and many a bit of rare silver and family portraits 
 ended their days in this strange new land. There 
 
PAUL JONES 31 
 
 were abrupt contrasts of primitiveness and civilisation 
 afforded by glimpses of those gaudy, cumbersome 
 coaches, creaking and swaying on their leather 
 springs, and filled with gorgeously habited beauty, 
 driving on the rough sandy tracks, called by courtesy 
 roads, of that unexplored country. My lady never 
 took her airings unaccompanied by a train of slaves, 
 and armed white men closed up the rear of the cortege, 
 which finally disappeared, Cinderella-like, in a cloud 
 of dust. 
 
 There remained but few Indians in this part of 
 Virginia, but the Virginia gentleman was never found 
 without his ready pistol, and, on occasions of cere 
 mony, his sword. Those who governed Virginia 
 enjoyed themselves, there is no doubt of that; they 
 were, of course, exiled from home, but in many 
 instances at home they would have been nobodies, 
 and here they were cocks-of-the-walk. Colonial 
 society then, as to-day, boasted many undesirables 
 sent as far from home as possible by their thoughtful 
 relatives, hoping to replenish the family exchequer 
 with the dowry of some fair colonial, who, of course, 
 was awaiting just such a brilliant opportunity! The 
 social lines were drawn with a rigidity allowing no 
 stretch, and what equality there may have been among 
 the first settlers had long ago faded into obscurity 
 so dense that not a tradition remained. There was 
 no common property and no common interest. The 
 wines, sweetmeats and a thousand small refinements 
 came from England or France, as did the red-heeled 
 shoes of my lord and the powder patches and lappets 
 
32 PAUL JONES 
 
 of my lady. How eagerly the belle counted on her 
 taper fingers the days which must elapse before the 
 Nancy and her treasure-trove hove in sight; how 
 fervently she prayed that her new " gownd " would 
 come in time to end for ever the aspirations of her 
 bosom friend and hated rival to outshine her as a 
 woman of fashion. To be sure, Papa "poo-poo d" 
 and " tush-tush d " at the nonsense of girls and their 
 fal-lals, but a sly suggestion that his fine old Madeira, 
 which had already twice doubled the Cape, was in 
 voiced in the same tardy vessel, bestirred Papa to 
 the point of commanding a look-out to be kept for 
 the good ship Nancy, and the instant landing of the 
 goods consigned to his distinguished family. 
 
 The plantation which Jones inherited was not, as 
 counted in tidewater Virginia, large, comprising about 
 " three thousand acres of prime land, bordering for 
 twelve furlongs on the right bank of the Rappa- 
 hannock, running back southward three miles, 1000 
 acres cleared and under plough or grass, 2000 acres 
 strong, first-growth timber, grist mill with flour cloth 
 and fans turned by water power; mansion, overseer s 
 house, negro quarters, stables, tobacco houses, thresh 
 ing-floor, river wharf, one sloop of twenty tons, thirty 
 negroes of all ages (18 adults), 20 horses and colts, 
 80 neat cattle and calves, sundry sheep and swine, 
 and all necessary means of tilling the soil." 
 
 With the property came the legacy of old Duncan 
 Macbean, whom his brother, when serving with the 
 :< Virginia Provincials," saved after Braddock s rout 
 by the French and Indians, brought home and nursed 
 
PAUL JONES 83 
 
 through his wounds, and kept in his service. Duncan 
 was a typical thrifty Scotchman, with a canny eye 
 open in the interests of his master, not having any 
 sympathy with the wasteful fashion in which " sax- 
 pences " went " bang " in this heathenish land. Jones 
 was too good a disciplinarian not to appreciate the 
 trait in another, so Duncan was left supreme in his 
 management, and the plantation waxed fat and throve 
 apace. 
 
 It is not easy to reconcile the varying statements 
 of this part of Paul Jones s life. On the 4th of May, 
 1777, he wrote from Boston to Mr. Stuart Mawey 
 of Tobago 
 
 "After an unprofitable suspense of twenty months 
 (having subsisted on fifty pounds only during that 
 time), when my hopes of relief were entirely cut off, 
 and there remained no possibility of my receiving 
 wherewithal to subsist upon from my effects in your 
 island, or in England, I at last had recourse to 
 strangers for that aid and comfort which was denied 
 me by those friends whom I had intrusted with my 
 all." 
 
 Was Jones, in truth, without money? By his own 
 showing in 1777 he had a considerable sum derived 
 from the plantation, which he constantly drew on to 
 pay the expenses of his crews and maintenance. Or 
 does he refer to the destruction of his property follow 
 ing the bombardment of Norfolk by the Earl of 
 Dunmore, January i, 1776, or to the non-receipt of 
 drafts from his agents in the West Indies; as the 
 declaration of war had made communication by sea 
 
34 PAUL JONES 
 
 precarious and uncertain? Otherwise it is impossible 
 to account for the state of abject poverty in which 
 he was supposed to exist. There was no evidence of 
 this when he was in Virginia, for he entertained his 
 friends on every available opportunity, travelled, 
 moved in the first rank of colonial society, went to 
 Fredericksburg to attend the meetings of the House 
 of Burgesses, and in all ways took a prominent part 
 in the life of the colony, being a great favourite with 
 the ladies, and is accused of evincing a partiality for 
 the society of one Mistress Betty Parke, a relative 
 of the much buckramed, whaleboned lady, who kept 
 the character of the immortal George in such good 
 order. But Jones had other ambitions, and Mistress 
 Betty bestowed her hand and self on some one 
 by the name of Tyler, while her quondam admirer 
 was busy with the rules and regulations of the 
 infant United States Navy and with contemporary 
 politics. 
 
 How natural it would have been could Paul have 
 accepted the windfall fate had sent him, lived the life 
 of a planter, married and disappeared from sight in 
 this pleasant dolce far niente drifting. Slaves antici 
 pated every wish, the planter rode leisurely over his 
 broad acres in the early day, before the sun had 
 become unbearable; if he would fish, there was the 
 river; if he preferred oysters, the most succulent were, 
 in very truth, at his door. The surrounding forests 
 concealed game in profusion, and the low sandy 
 marshes around Urbana abounded in snipe, so " that 
 it would hardly be possible to fire a gun in a horizontal 
 
PAUL JONES 35 
 
 position and not kill many at one shot." There were 
 terrible and frequent devastating fires in the dense 
 forests, caused by the careless settlers burning the 
 brush when clearing land for cultivation. Their 
 practice of cutting great gashes in the pine trees, and 
 placing troughs under them to catch the resinous 
 matter which flowed from the wound, and then aban 
 doning the tree to decay, filled the country with dead 
 wood that caught like tinder at the first opportunity. 
 Deep in the gloom of these forests flowed streams 
 of the coldest clear water, first trickling into tiny 
 pools and lakes, gurgling their way over moss-green 
 stones to end in dashing waterfalls, turning the mills 
 to grind corn and saw wood. 
 
 Would Paul have preferred the life of " calm con 
 templation and poetic ease" to which he alludes in 
 his famous letter to the Countess of Selkirk? Was 
 he in earnest when he wrote, " I have sacrificed, not 
 only my favourite scheme of life, but the softer 
 inclinations of the heart, and the prospect of domestic 
 happiness." Is it, indeed, in this period of his career 
 that we should cherchez la femme ? Many a pair of 
 bright eyes peeped at him from beneath those bonnets 
 which " disfigure the wearer amazingly, being made 
 with a caul fitting close on the back part of the head, 
 and a front stiffened with small pieces of cane, which 
 project nearly two feet from the head in a horizontal 
 direction. To look at a person at one side, it is 
 necessary for a woman wearing a bonnet of this kind 
 to turn her whole body around." 
 
 But the star which dominated Paul s life called 
 
 C 2 
 
36 PAUL JONES 
 
 him to play his part among men, called him to 
 abandon for ever that peace for which in his turbulent 
 destiny there was no place. Unconsciously his was 
 to be the hand to fire a train ending in an explosion 
 heard all over the country. In 1774 Jones, returning 
 from Edmonton, stopped over in Norfolk to visit 
 some friends. Several British ships lay at anchor in 
 the harbour, and the hospitable colonists, wishing to 
 show their loyalty and friendliness to his Majesty s 
 representatives, entertained the officers at a ball. The 
 next day Jones wrote to his constant correspondent, 
 Joseph Hewes 
 
 " The insolence of these young officers, particularly 
 when they had gotten somewhat in their cups, was 
 intolerable, and there could be no doubt that they 
 represented the feeling of their service generally. As 
 you may hear imperfect versions of an affair brought 
 on by the insolence of one of them, I will take the 
 liberty of relating it : in the course of a debate, some 
 what heated, concerning the state of affairs, a lieu 
 tenant of the sloop-of-war, Parker by name, declared 
 that in the case of a revolt or insurrection it would 
 easily be suppressed, if the courage of the Colonial 
 men was on a par with the virtue of the Colonial 
 women ! " 
 
 This was too much for the gallantry of young Jones. 
 " I at once knocked Mr. Parker down," he continued, 
 "whereupon his companions seized him, and all 
 hurried from the scene, going aboard their ship. 
 Expecting naturally that the affair would receive 
 further attention, I requested Mr. Granville Hurst, 
 
PAUL JONES 87 
 
 whom you know, to act for me; suggesting only that 
 a demand for satisfaction should be favourably con 
 sidered, and that he should propose pistols at ten 
 paces; place of meeting Craney Island; time, at the 
 convenience of the other side." 
 
 Mr. Parker seems to have been loath to put himself 
 at the disposition of Jones s notedly unerring pistol; 
 for, to the latter s "infinite surpise, no demand came," 
 and the sloop-of-war departed on the ebb tide, for 
 Charlestown, "without word of any kind." 
 
 Like wildfire the news of the encounter spread, 
 and the colonial papers rang with it. The men 
 flocked about Jones, congratulating him heartily on 
 the stand he had taken, and the women, in whose 
 defence he had spoken with such striking eloquence, 
 did their best to turn his head with the paeans of praise 
 they so unstintedly chanted. Paul found himself the 
 most talked-of man in Virginia, as it was his fate to be 
 at the French Court some years later, for though the 
 relations between England and her colonies had long 
 been strained to the point of breaking, it was the first 
 "actual collision that had occurred on the soil of 
 Virginia." The aggressor wearing his Majesty s 
 uniform, and Paul Jones being a colonist who was 
 respected by all as well as extremely popular, made 
 it impossible to gloss the breach over. Rumour had 
 it that Mr. Parker s brother officers thought him well 
 punished for his insolence, and refused to act for him 
 in the event of a duel, and that he was obliged to 
 resign his commission; but as he is known to have 
 been present at the bombardment of Fort Moultrie 
 
88 PAUL JONES 
 
 by the British squadron some time later, this was 
 perhaps not true. 
 
 Jones was a man of keen political foresight, and 
 saw clearly what the inevitable end must be. During 
 the following spring, that of 1775, after a trip to New 
 York in his sloop with his crew and two favourite 
 slaves, Cato and Scipio, he wrote to Thomas Jefferson 
 on hearing of the battle of Lexington 
 
 " It is, I think, to be taken for granted that there 
 can be no more temporising. I am too recently from 
 the mother country, and my knowledge of the temper 
 of the king, his ministers and their majority in the 
 House of Commons is too fresh to allow me to believe 
 that anything is, or possibly can be, in store except 
 either war to the knife or total submission to complete 
 slavery." 
 
 He advances a most logical theory, unsuggested by 
 his contemporaries 
 
 " I have long known it to be the fixed purpose of 
 the Tory party in England to provoke these colonies 
 to some overt act which would justify martial law, 
 dispersion of the legislative bodies by force of arms, 
 taking away the charters of self-government, and 
 reduction of all the North American colonies to the 
 footing of the West India Islands and Canada that 
 is, to crown colonies under military rule ; or, perhaps, 
 to turn them over to the mercies of a chartered 
 company as in the Hindostan, all of which I have 
 seen. 
 
 " I cannot conceive of submission to complete 
 slavery ; therefore only war is in sight. The Congress, 
 
PAUL JONES 39 
 
 therefore, must soon meet again, and when it meets, 
 it must face the necessity of taking those measures 
 which it did not take last fall in its first session, 
 namely, provision for armament by land and sea. 
 
 " Such being clearly the position of affairs, I beg 
 you to keep my name in your memory when the 
 Congress shall assemble again, and in any provision 
 that may be taken for a naval force, to call upon me 
 in any capacity which your knowledge of my seafaring 
 experience and your opinions of my qualifications 
 may dictate." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 1775-1777 
 
 IT was Fortune s whim to make a pet of Paul Jones. 
 To please him she created opportunities for which 
 others had waited in vain. One morning he received 
 word that two French frigates had dropped anchor 
 in Hampton Roads. With the hospitality of the true 
 sailor, he loaded his sloop with the best the plantation 
 afforded, and set sail to welcome the stranger. The 
 two frigates were under the command of Captain de 
 Kersaint, one of the ablest officers in the French navy, 
 who afterwards became an admiral. The second in 
 command was no less a personage than the Due de 
 Chartres, eldest son of the Due d Orleans, and later 
 Egalite of the Revolution, who had been sent to 
 America on a " Cruise of Instruction," to fit him for 
 the hereditary post of Lord High Admiral of France, 
 in which he was to succeed his father-in-law, the Due 
 de Bourbon Penthievre. The Due de Chartres, born 
 in 1747, the same year as Paul Jones, was a young 
 man of affable disposition and pronounced democratic 
 leanings ; and it was to break up these ideas, and take 
 him beyond the reach of the infamous companions he 
 affected, that he was sent to sea. It neither corrected 
 the one nor the other; for his later exploits in Paris 
 would fill a volume of scandal too racy for print. 
 
 His wife, Marie Adelaide do Bourbon Penthievre, 
 
 40 
 
PAUL JONES 41 
 
 granddaughter of a former high admiral perhaps the 
 most distinguished France has known the Comte de 
 Toulouse, a natural son of Louis XIV and Mme. de 
 Montespan, was known far and wide for her benevo 
 lence and charities. Her well-known admiration for 
 her sailor ancestor, who had distinguished himself 
 when commanding the French fleet in the great battle 
 off Malaga in 1704, made her from the first display a 
 more than common interest in the projects of the 
 fascinating sailor who crossed her path. The charm 
 ing Duchesse de Chartres inherited the wit and beauty 
 of Louis s dashing favourite, but there the resemblance 
 ended, for she was a sweet and virtuous woman. She 
 employed the influence and tact of which she was 
 mistress to help the American cause, giving liberally 
 of her enormous fortune, a generosity always lauded 
 as the kindness of her husband. 
 
 Going aboard the ship, Jones found himself cor 
 dially welcomed, and lost no time putting the cargo 
 of the sloop at the disposal of the French officers. 
 It was to be a strong factor in the cause he cham 
 pioned, that de Chartres took one of his violent fancies 
 to the adventurous Scotchman ; for the latter made no 
 secret that he desired most minute information as to 
 the construction of the frigate La Terpsichore. With 
 royal prerogative the Due furnished him with complete 
 data. He had deck plans and sail plans made by 
 the carpenter. The construction of the hull, batteries, 
 spars and rigging, nothing was too trifling for Jones 
 to note; and it is a fact that the American frigate 
 Alliance, built some time later, followed closely the 
 
42 PAUL JONES 
 
 same general lines and mounted the same battery, 
 twenty-eight long twelve-pounders on the gun deck, 
 and ten long nines above. 
 
 During the interview Kersaint, who was more con 
 servative and had more to lose than his prince, was 
 ill at ease ; for he had received news of the battle of 
 Lexington, and it was French policy to remain neutral. 
 This put him under a certain constraint for the couple 
 of days Jones was their guest. Though the prince was 
 eager to accept the proffered invitation and visit the 
 plantation near Urbana, de Kersaint, as senior officer, 
 was obliged to use his authority and state the case 
 freely, much to the chagrin of de Chartres, who wished 
 to see for himself the much advertised charms of the 
 colonial belles. La Terpsichore weighed anchor and 
 sailed for Corunna, where the senoritas soon consoled 
 the volatile Due. 
 
 It was of inestimable advantage to Jones to have 
 had the opportunity of inspecting at such close range 
 one of the best and most modern ships of the French 
 navy; and a desire to be at sea once more obsessed 
 him to such an extent, that he could hardly wait the 
 slow train leading to the great culmination desired. 
 To be prepared for whatever contingency might arise 
 he arranged his affairs, appointing " the Frazier Bros./ 
 of Port Royal, trustees of his estate, ad interim, so 
 there would be no confusion if his absence was 
 prolonged. 
 
 The Continental Congress met in second session 
 on May 10, 1775. The Provisional Marine or Naval 
 Committee consisted of the chairman, Robert Morris, 
 
PAUL JONES 48 
 
 Philip Livingstone, Benjamin Harrison, John Han 
 cock, Joseph Hewes, and Nicholas Van Dyke, 
 members. On the motion of this Committee, Mr. 
 Hewes authorised the chairman to invite " John Paul 
 Jones, esquire, gent, of Virginia, Master Mariner, to 
 lay before the Committee such information and advice 
 as may seem to him useful in assisting the said Com 
 mittee to discharge its labours." 
 
 It took much discussion, much scratching of quills 
 on stiff paper, to frame the rules and regulations for 
 the new navy. An elementary, plucky little fleet, 
 which dared defy the finest navy in the world, with 
 its reputation of unbroken supremacy over the seas, 
 manned by tried sailors, commanded by the smartest 
 officers afloat. But, after all, the new and the old 
 were of the same blood. There was the same daunt 
 less spirit in the heart of the man who was its founder 
 as led Drake and Ralei-gh on their path over the 
 trackless ocean. 
 
 Then, as now, the pay of officers was unpretentious. 
 On vessels of twenty guns the captain received sixty 
 dollars (12) per calendar month. This was in 1776. 
 The lieutenant thirty dollars (6), and the master the 
 same sum. The mate received three pounds a month, 
 as did the gunner, boatswain, surgeon s mate and 
 captain s clerk. The surgeon got twenty-five dollars 
 (5)> tne chaplain twenty, the cooper, quartermaster, 
 coxswain, armourer, and that most important indi 
 vidual, the cook, received nine dollars (i i6s.) per 
 month. The sail-maker, steward and master-at-arms, 
 ten dollars. The " Yeoman of the powder-room " had 
 
44 PAUL JONES 
 
 nine dollars and a half, and the seaman was last in 
 the scale, at eight. On ships of " ten to twenty guns," 
 the pay ran a little less. 
 
 The uniforms were chiefly red and blue, the 
 captain being gay in " blue cloth with red lappels, 
 slashed cuff, stand-up collor, flat yellow buttons, blue 
 britches, red waistcoat with narrow lace." The 
 lieutenants had "blue britches, and a round cuff, 
 faced," and they lacked the lace which adorned the 
 commanding waistcoat. The masters had no "red 
 lappels " or " stand-up collor," their cuffs were not 
 faced; they had "blue britches and red w r aistcoats," 
 but the midshipmen were most gorgeous in " blue 
 lappelled coat, a round cuff, faced with red, stand-up 
 collor, with red at the button and button hole, blue 
 britches and red waistcoat." 
 
 It seems a strange oversight that with all this 
 minuteness there is no mention made of any sort of 
 hat or cap. It was probably understood that they 
 wore the prevalent black three-cornered hat. The 
 dress of the seamen is not specified, indeed it was not 
 until some years after that a regular dress was adopted 
 for sailors in the English navy, and this, of course, 
 was the model on which the venture of the United 
 States was founded. It is noticeable that there is 
 no mention of gold lace, or any tinsel, even brass 
 buttons; and the choice of side-arms was left entirely 
 to the discretion of the wearer. In the case of the 
 marine officers, the orders are a little more detailed, 
 for they were to wear : " A green coat faced with 
 white, round cuff, slashed sleeves, and pockets, with 
 
PAUL JONES 45 
 
 buttons round the cuff, silver epaulett on the right 
 shoulder, skirts turned back, with buttons to suit the 
 facings." 
 
 " White waistcoat and britches edged with green, 
 black gaiters, green shirts for the men, if they can be 
 procured." This last remark calls to mind the 
 immense difficulty experienced in finding sufficient 
 clothing, much less proper uniforms, for the " Ragged 
 Continentals " who served under Washington s 
 standard. It is quite likely the gallant marines put 
 to sea in shirts of less aesthetic hue than those speci 
 fied if indeed they were blessed with any shirts 
 at all ! 
 
 Unquestionably the colour of their shirts interested 
 the crews much less than the regulations in regard 
 to prize money. On November 15, 1776, Congress 
 "resolved that a bounty of twenty dollars be paid to 
 the commanders, officers and men of such Continental 
 ships or vessels of war as shall make a prize of any 
 British ships or vessels of war, for every cannon 
 mounted on board such a prize at the time of such 
 capture ; and eight dollars per head for every man then 
 on board and belonging to such prize." All of which 
 added zest to the gentle pastime of war. 
 
 In addition to this, General Washington "ap 
 proved " the following distribution of the prize : 
 That the captain or commander should receive six 
 shares, the first lieutenant five, the second lieutenant 
 and the surgeon four, the master three, steward two, 
 mate, gunner, gunner s mate, boatswain and sergeant, 
 one and one-half shares, the private one." The cook 
 
46 PAUL JONES 
 
 was omitted, but undoubtedly ranked with the ordinary 
 seaman when the hour of distribution struck. 
 
 Living must have been extremely cheap, for the 
 commanders of " Continental vessels of ten guns and 
 upwards/ 5 were allowed the extravagant sum of " five 
 and one-third dollars (i is. 6%d.) per week for sub- 
 sistance," while in domestic or foreign ports. At sea, 
 they received "two dollars and two-thirds per week 
 for cabin expenses." The Marine Committee was 
 " empowered to allow such cabin furniture for con 
 tinental vessels of war as they shall judge proper." 
 It cannot even be hinted that the officers were 
 encouraged to live in a wantonly extravagant fashion, 
 or is it possible they should entertain at all, if wines 
 were to figure on the table ? 
 
 What an undertaking, to make a navy out of whole 
 cloth, for, at the outbreak of hostilities, the Continental 
 government owned one water-tight craft ! What a 
 risk, to man those ships, collected haphazard, with 
 sailors from the ends of the earth; officer them with 
 men who accepted the positions from the hope of the 
 prizes they should take ! There was little talk of 
 patriotism, the Continental government had no money 
 to spend and offered nothing in comparison to the 
 chances aboard privateers. 
 
 " It is distressing to the last degree," Jones wrote, 
 "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 ; 
 
PAUL JONES 47 
 
 and while this is the case, unless the private emolu 
 ment of individuals in our navy is made superior to 
 that in privateers, it never can become respectable- 
 it never will become formidable; and without a 
 respectable navy, alas, America ! In the present 
 critical condition of human affairs, wisdom can 
 suggest no more than one infallible expedient enlist 
 the seamen during pleasure, and give them all the 
 prizes. What is the paltry emolument of two-thirds 
 of prizes to the finances of this vast continent? If 
 so poor a resource is essential to its independence, 
 in sober sadness we are involved in a woeful predica 
 ment, and our ruin is fast approaching. 
 
 " The situation of America is new in the annals of 
 mankind : 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/ he continues, 
 pleading the necessities of a liberal policy. 
 
 "If our enemies, with the best established and most 
 formidable navy in the universe, have found it ex 
 pedient to assign all prizes to the captors, how much 
 more is such policy essential to our infant fleet? But 
 I need no argument to convince you of the necessity 
 of making the emoluments of our navy equal, if not 
 superior, to theirs." 
 
 There was good common-sense in this logical 
 appeal which he laid before Congress. He was not 
 actuated by a love of gain; he was in the struggle 
 from motives of sound conviction that it was a 
 righteous cause, and though only a young man of 
 
48 PAUL JONES 
 
 twenty-eight, he was one of the most experienced 
 sailors of his day. " He knew there could be no navy 
 unless it was founded on a proper system of subordina 
 tion," and rigid discipline, which, "however unpleas 
 ant to the turbulent, fierce spirit of republicans, is 
 especially indispensable in the sea service." 
 
 How soundly correct was his judgment is often 
 shown in later life, when the lack of proper subordina 
 tion ruined plans which he had brought to the pitch 
 of perfection to have them fall like card houses at a 
 puff of unexpected wind. 
 
 The creation of a navy in a country where precedent 
 was unknown, with no ancient custom or usage to 
 refer to, was a labour of Hercules. To all intents 
 and purposes an American, the fact remains that Paul 
 was a Scotchman. His enthusiastic soul was wholly 
 for the cause of liberty in his new country, but the 
 men who envied him and wanted his position never 
 let him forget he was an alien. This was, in truth, 
 most absurd, for what were they themselves ? what had 
 they been, until a few months ago? Paul Jones had 
 served under different masters, till he was a far more 
 competent officer than many of those in the estab 
 lished navies of Europe, where influence and patron 
 age often officered vessels with men of long lineage 
 and short experience. Jones differed from many of 
 the patriots, in that he cared nothing for money. He 
 was one of those rare spirits left from the golden age, 
 who infinitely preferred leading a forlorn hope to 
 being paid for the same. He loved fame and rank 
 and glory, but, to the money part, he had a sublime, 
 
PAUL JONES 49 
 
 uri-Scotch lack of appreciation, delightful to the 
 romanticist. He displayed none of the Lowland 
 peasant thrift of his supposed father. On one or two 
 occasions he defrayed the expenses of expeditions out 
 of his own slender resources, when money could not 
 be squeezed out of the prudent gentlemen who 
 fostered the glories of American independence. 
 
 Of course, all these arrangements were not the work 
 of a day, for men weighed carefully the consequences 
 involved by cutting adrift from the home government, 
 unpopular as it was, and, on the other hand, a large 
 percentage of the colonists sided with King George 
 and his ministers. It was on the day of October 10, 
 1776, three months after the Declaration of Independ 
 ence, that Jones received his formal commission of 
 " Captain in the Navy of the United States of North 
 America." 
 
 In the Journal of Congress, December 22, 1775, the 
 name of J ohn Paul Jones heads the list of first lieutenants. 
 This shows the strong political influence against which 
 the Scotchman always had to contend, when a man 
 with more practical experience of seamanship than the 
 "Commander of the Fleet" and all his officers com 
 bined, was relegated to a secondary place at this 
 critical moment in the organisation of the navy. Of 
 course he came from Virginia, and this state being 
 supreme in military matters, had been obliged to yield 
 to the north, which demanded full control of the navy, 
 and many were the acrimonious disputes between 
 Jones s friend Joseph Hewes, and John Adams, who 
 each had his candidates to advance. 
 
50 PAUL JONES 
 
 Lieutenant Jones s first historical action was that of 
 " hoisting the flag of independent America " on board 
 the Alfred "with his own hands, the first time it had 
 ever been displayed/ December 3, 1775. Captain 
 Saltonstall commanded the Alfred, which lay at 
 Philadelphia, but had not arrived to assume his duties, 
 and Jones was ordered by John Hancock and other 
 members of the Congress to break the pennant on 
 board of the Alfred. This was not the well-known 
 stars and stripes, but the " Pine Tree and Rattlesnake 
 Flag," with the motto, " Don t Tread on Me ! " which 
 Jones always hated, and rejoiced when the other one 
 was formally adopted by Congress, by a strange 
 coincidence, on the same day that he was commis 
 sioned captain. The Alfred, on which this ceremony 
 was enacted, was formerly known as the Black Prince, 
 built at Maryport in Cumberland in 1766, for the East 
 India trade, and was undoubtedly the best ship in the 
 newly formed navy. 
 
 The nucleus of that navy for which he worked heart 
 and soul, consisted of the Alfred, Columbia, Andrew, 
 Doria and Cabot. In the latter part of February 
 1776 they put to sea, going to the Cape of Delaware, 
 where they were joined by the Hornet, sloop-of-war, 
 and Wasp, schooner from Maryland. An appropriate 
 couple to sail in company ! 
 
 Sharp north-easterly gales blew the little fleet from 
 its course. On March ist they dropped anchor at 
 Abaco, in the Bahama Islands; the voyage affording 
 no adventure or profit, as they captured only a couple 
 of sloops, for the sake of their pilots. Learning from 
 
PAUL JONES 51 
 
 these men that the fort at New Providence was well 
 supplied with powder and shot, they determined to 
 seize it by landing a force before the inhabitants of 
 the island got wind of their arrival. However, the 
 plan was frustrated, for the fort fired a shot on their 
 approach to the mouth of the harbour, and, though 
 a force of sailors and marines landed, it was met by 
 a messenger, " with the compliments of the governor/ 
 and the news that the western fort was at their dis 
 posal; the powder they found removed, but got 
 some cannon and supplies, carrying off the governor 
 and two gentlemen as prisoners. 
 
 Off Block Island on April 6th the Alfred and Cabot 
 fell in with the British sloop-of-war Glasgow, twenty 
 guns, which they engaged with much damage to the 
 Alfred, the Glasgow showing a clean pair of heels, and 
 the American fleet not attempting to pursue. This 
 was a disgraceful encounter which only Hopkins s 
 political backing pulled him through. The Glasgow 
 was a small sloop-of-war, twenty guns, the Alfred 
 carried twenty-four long nines on the gun deck and 
 six sixes on the quarterdeck, and a crew of two 
 hundred and twenty. All the guns could be worked 
 in fine weather, and during the action the sea was as 
 smooth as a mill-pond. The Cabot was a brigantine 
 armed with fourteen guns and a crew of two hundred. 
 Surely, even with the damage to the Alfred s steering 
 gear, and the sure low aim of the Glasgow s gunners, 
 the day could have been saved from the sheer 
 ignominy that marked it? The commanders of the 
 American ships, and particularly Commander-of-the- 
 
 D 2 
 
52 PAUL JONES 
 
 Fleet Hopkins, senior officer in this fight, were 
 scathingly criticised for not having given chase, and 
 certainly should have taken the British sloop. 
 
 No sooner had the Americans reached port than the 
 storm broke, the public condemning every one, from 
 commander to cook, with lavish impartiality. Hop 
 kins was blamed by the country at large as incom 
 petent, was court-martialled, and nothing but Adams s 
 influence kept him from being dismissed the navy. 
 It is interesting to note that this is what happened to 
 him in similar circumstances a few years later, when 
 there was no Adams to shield him from the conse 
 quences of his incompetence. The enraged colonists, 
 with blissful ignorance of naval regulations, blamed 
 the officers individually, an injustice unendurable to 
 Jones s love of fair play. 
 
 " My feelings as an individual were hurt by the 
 censure that has been indiscriminately thrown out," 
 he wrote. " My station confined me to the Alfred s 
 lower gun deck, where I commanded during the 
 action; yet though the commander s letter, which has 
 been published, says, all the officers in the Alfred 
 behaved well ; still the public blames me, among 
 others, for not taking the enemy. But a little con 
 sideration will place the matter in a true light; for no 
 officer under a superior, who does not stand charged 
 by that superior for cowardice or misconduct, can be 
 blamed on any occasion whatever." He very diplo 
 matically concludes, " I wish a general inquiry might 
 be made respecting the abilities of officers in all 
 stations, and then the country would not be cheated." 
 
PAUL JONES 58 
 
 There were two courts-martial following the 
 Glasgow affair, and as the result of these Captains 
 Hazard and Whipple were dismissed the service, 
 Lieutenant Jones, on May 10, 1776, succeeding 
 Hazard as captain of the Providence. 
 
 The moment had now arrived when the " tide in 
 the affairs of men " carried the adventurous sailor 
 toward those heights to which he so ardently aspired. 
 The command of the Providence was a distinct 
 triumph over those who had barred his advancement, 
 and meant that he was a recognised factor in the 
 cause he so hotly championed. Some of the Alfreds 
 crew followed Jones to the Providence. Among them 
 was a full-blooded Narragansett Indian, from Martha s 
 Vineyard, a whaleman by trade, the first and one of 
 the very few Indians ever in the United States navy. 
 On August 2ist Jones sailed on a six-weeks cruise 
 in the Providence, and this has been called the first 
 cruise of an American man-of-war the first to be 
 noticed by the enemy, and to shed any glory on the 
 flag of the new republic. 
 
 Far beyond the numbing influence of red tape, far 
 beyond the gossip of the stay-at-homes and faint 
 hearted, every inch of canvas swelled by winds that 
 favoured the hopes of that silent, swarthy man, 
 he never let an opportunity escape his alert eye, 
 watchful of the most trifling detail on which, in 
 the hour of action, so much depended. It was 
 a venture worthy of the Vikings and their rude 
 boats, for the seas were full of English frigates, 
 outranking the little vessel in everything but the 
 
54 PAUL JONES 
 
 " alertness of her commander and the courage of her 
 
 crew." 
 
 Sixteen prizes he took, eight were sunk, and the 
 other eight manned and sent home. Twice he was 
 chased, and once nearly captured by the Solebay, 
 twenty-eight guns, which he had chased, mistaking 
 her for a merchantman, only escaping by a manoeuvre 
 "unparalleled in its audacity." It was one of those 
 opportunities which seemed created expressly to aid 
 the Scotchman in his hour of need. He says 
 
 " We should not have escaped, judging by the usual 
 rules of sea manoeuvres, if the frigate, instead of 
 trying to box about as she did in a fresh breeze, which 
 he was standing as close hauled to as his trim would 
 stand, had simply followed my manoeuvre of wearing 
 around under easy helm, trimming his sails as the wind 
 bore. I could not have distanced him so much in the 
 alteration of the course, and he must have come off 
 the wind very nearly with me, and before I could 
 get out of his range. But he put his helm the other 
 way to, luffed into the teeth of a little squall that I 
 saw already catVpawing to the windward when I wore 
 my ship, and so he broke his steering way, got taken 
 aback, and let me have the chance to show him a clean 
 pair of heels on my little sloop s best point of sailing. 
 I do not take to myself all the credit for this, I did 
 the best I could, but, after all," he comments modestly, 
 "there was more luck than sense about it. The fact 
 is, it was one of those singular cases often happening 
 at sea, where the fortune of a lucky sailor beats all 
 kinds of calculation, and where a godd or bad 
 
PAUL JONES 55 
 
 puff of wind foils all kinds of skill one way or the 
 other." 
 
 " Be this as it may, I got off scot free, as you will 
 see by the date of this letter; leaving my big adversary 
 to clear away his sheets and reeve preventers at his 
 leisure ; meantime answering his distant broadsides 
 by now and then a musket shot from my taffrail by 
 way of derision. The old saying that discretion is 
 the better part of valour/ may in this case, I think, 
 be changed to impudence is or may be, sometimes 
 the better part of discretion ! 
 
 Luck, impudence, call it what you will, this remark 
 able cruise served to bring the name of Paul Jones 
 before the eyes of his adopted countrymen, as well 
 as others farther afield. It was his long wished-for 
 opportunity, and he worked indefatigably to improve 
 it. On November 2nd he sailed with the Alfred and 
 Providence, Captain Hacker, for a cruise. Landing 
 at Isle Madame he captured a quantity of arms, 
 replenished his ammunition and burned three vessels 
 belonging to the fishermen at Cape Breton, adding 
 another loaded with salt fish to his fleet. Jones made 
 a dashing landing at Canso, Nova Scotia, capturing 
 the " Tory " flags, destroying the fishing and striking 
 terror as he went. He failed in his intention of rescu 
 ing the Americans, who were working as prisoners in 
 the coal mines, owing to the failure of Captain Hacker 
 to obey orders, which was the cause of so much of 
 Captain Jones s annoyance in his early American 
 experiences. The Alfred brought her cruise to a tri 
 umphant finish, and put into Boston on December 10, 
 
56 PAUL JONES 
 
 with flag snapping in the breeze and every inch of 
 bright work glittering like gold. On his cruise of 
 thirty-three days he had brought in seven prizes. One, 
 the Mellish, armed transport, laden with quarter 
 master s supplies for the British army, and the Bide- 
 ford, with similar cargo for Sir Henry Guy Carleton s 
 forces assemb ing in Canada. These ships, sailing 
 under convoy of the Milford, frigate of thirty-two 
 guns, were separated from their convoy by a terrific 
 gale, and fell an easy prey to the Alfred, though larger 
 and heavier ships in every way. The value of his 
 prizes and the lateness of the season determined Paul 
 Jones to make for port, as he did not wish to take 
 chances of the prizes being recaptured. Events 
 proved his foresight, for, two days later, with the 
 Bideford, Mellish, and two smaller prizes under con 
 voy, they were overhauled by the Milford, in company 
 with a letter-of-marque. They immediately gave 
 chase to the Alfred and her prizes. Instantly Jones 
 signalled his little fleet to crowd on all sail, and make 
 to the south and westward; he dropping to leeward 
 until he could judge the force of the enemy. The 
 Milford was a " dull sailer," and, the one virtue about 
 the Alfred being her good sailing, Jones was able to 
 stay between the Milford and his prizes, though the 
 Milford managed to keep up the chase during the 
 night, recapturing the least valuable of the ships, 
 which, through a sprung foretopmast, had fallen 
 astern. The cruise of a month was considered most 
 successful, and all Boston assembled to greet him. 
 He wrote to Robert Morris, immediately on arriving, 
 
PAUL JONES 57 
 
 the reason of his not fighting the Milford, a larger 
 and better armed ship. " I felt that it would be wrong 
 in such conditions to ask one hundred and fourteen 
 men in a ship of only twenty-four guns to stand along 
 side a thirty-two of regular rate and battery, with 
 surely over two hundred in her complement. I felt 
 that it would be asking too much of the cards, 5 as 
 we say in whist, when we have a poor hand. So I 
 ran, and I am not ashamed to confess it. But I 
 brought my prizes safe in, and I did not submit the 
 poor Alfred and her short crew to the chance of being 
 sunk and butchered by what I considered a foe so 
 superior that battle with him would be hopeless." 
 
 This good reasoning brought its very substantial 
 reward, for, when the Mellistis cargo was broken out, 
 untold treasures appeared, prosaic, but more welcome 
 to the ragged continentals than precious jewels. 
 There were ten thousand complete uniforms, with 
 cloaks, great boots, socks and woollen shirts, intended 
 for Lord Howe s army. Fourteen hundred tents, and 
 seven thousand pairs of blankets, six hundred saddles, 
 with complete cavalry equipment, and one million 
 seven hundred thousand rounds of " fixed ammu 
 nition "as cartridges were then called. A large 
 supply of medical stores, and forty cases of medical 
 instruments, with sundry odds and ends, and forty-six 
 soldiers sent out to join the different regiments. The 
 Bideford was not far behind in value, for she had 
 seventeen hundred fur overcoats, for the use of the 
 British forces in Canada, eleven thousand pairs of 
 blankets, destined for the trcrops and Indians who 
 
58 PAUL JONES 
 
 were fighting with them on the northern frontier of 
 the United States; a thousand " Indian trade smooth 
 bore " guns, with hatchets, flints and knives, for the 
 same red-skinned warriors, and eight light six-pound 
 field-guns and equipage for four-gun batteries of 
 horse artillery. All Sir Guy Carleton s choice wines 
 fell into the hands of his foes, and a fine case of 
 Galway duelling pistols was appropriated by Jones, 
 with a share of the wines. He had no use for the 
 rest of the spoil. 
 
 In a measure he was content, having practically 
 demonstrated his favourite point, that, in time of war, 
 a small fleet, aiming directly at the destruction of 
 commerce, especially the shipping at various ports, 
 can cripple the enemy by interrupting the sinews of 
 war more than can a larger fleet, fighting in the open, 
 where it is impossible to capture more than a given 
 number of merchant ships, with the greater element 
 of chance to aid their escape, and the trouble and care 
 of the prisoners to contend with. 
 
 Jones s plan contemplated destruction, not cap- 
 true; injury to the enemy, not prize-money primarily. 
 The latter he recognised as a necessary concession to 
 the sordid weakness of the mass of mankind; for 
 himself, glory, distinction, was the prime motive 
 self-seeking in him took the shape of loving military 
 success, not money." 
 
 A few weeks later he received the tidings of the 
 total destruction of his plantation, his worldly wealth, 
 swept away in a twinkling. As he said, "It appears 
 that I have no fortune left but my sword, and no 
 
PAUL JONES 59 
 
 prospect except that of getting alongside the enemy." 
 Little as he prized money, this was a serious blow. 
 His plantation had been the source of a good sound 
 revenue. " During the three seasons of my owner 
 ship, 1773-4-5, the net income from the agriculture, 
 trade and milling of the plantation, was nearly 4000 
 guineas in the aggregate over and above all necessary 
 outlays." And that sum was worth quite three times 
 what it is to-day. " Since my coming to Philadelphia, 
 a year ago last June, I have lived on this surplus, 
 having drawn from the public funds only 50 in all 
 that time; and this not for pay or allowances, but to 
 reimburse me for expenses of enlisting seamen. Since 
 July 1775, I have drawn to Philadelphia about 2000 
 guineas in prime bills. Of this 900 guineas remain 
 on balance. This is all I have in the world, except 
 an interest in the firm of Archibald Stuart & Co. of 
 Tobago, which, being under the enemy s control, is 
 of course unavailable. 55 
 
 He was much grieved over the capture of his slaves, 
 "whose existence was a species of grown-up child 
 hood, not slavery. The plantation was to them a 
 home, not a place of bondage . . . now they are 
 carried off to die under the pestilential lash of Jamaica 
 cane fields, and the price of their poor bodies will 
 swell the pockets of English slave traders. For this 
 cruelty to these innocent, harmless people, I hope 
 some time, soon, to exact a reckoning. 55 
 
 Canny old Macbean had escaped in the confusion 
 of Lord Dunmore s raid, and, despite his three score 
 years, joined General Morgan s riflemen, and Jones 
 
60 PAUL JONES 
 
 begs Mr. Hewes to " mention him " to Morgan. Old 
 Duncan, " who always limps a little with an old wound 
 of Braddock s defeat/ was "without rival in the art 
 of deer-stalking in the tidewater country, and a dead 
 shot. He has I presume taken with him the fine 
 Lancaster rifle of my brother. It is the best rifle I 
 know of in Virginia, and if Duncan has it, all is well." 
 He expresses a low opinion of "his lordship s con 
 ception of civilized warfare," which opinion all the 
 tidewater region of Virginia heartily endorsed ; though 
 the burning of Norfolk, for which Dunmore in blamed, 
 was the work of the towspeople themselves, to keep 
 the troops from shelter in the bitter weather. He 
 describes the plantation, after a visit some months 
 later, as " the completest wreck imaginable of every 
 kind of possessions that were on the land, and there 
 fore could not be scuttled and sunk in the sea." 
 
 But in his tempestuous life, where the bitter mingled 
 so with the sweet, there was no time for repining. 
 On his return he learned that a number of unheard-of 
 skippers had been promoted over his head, making 
 him eighteenth instead of sixth captain on the list. 
 Six of these estimable persons were friends of Adams, 
 and hailed from New England, which, Jones remarks, 
 "gives rise to the suspicion in my mind that Mr. 
 Adams has taken advantage of my absence, cruising 
 against the enemy, and thus debarred from watchful 
 ness of the happenings ashore to promote at small cost 
 to himself several more of his respectable skippers of 
 West Indian lumber-droghers at my expense. If their 
 fate shall be like that of his share in the first five 
 
PAUL JONES 61 
 
 captains last year, I can only say that Mr. Adams has 
 properly provided for a greater number of courts- 
 martial than of naval victories ! " 
 
 A nasty stab in the back to one, who, as he says, 
 was at sea, ignorant of what was taking place. He 
 tells Jefferson : " You are aware, honoured sir, that I 
 have no family connection at my back, but rest my 
 case wholly on what I do. As I survey the list of 
 twelve captains who have been newly jumped over 
 me by the act of October loth, I cannot help seeing 
 that all but three are persons of high family connec 
 tion in the bailliwick of Mr. Adams." 
 
 The following month, so great had been the dis 
 satisfaction shown by many members of the Congress, 
 a new list of captains was drawn up with a "re 
 arrangement of linear rank," in which Jones was sixth, 
 or just after Nicholas Biddle. But the "political 
 skippers," as Jones always called them, had influence 
 enough to get this pigeon-holed, and it was heard of 
 no more. 
 
 Almost immediately on returning from this success 
 ful voyage, Jones was surprised and chagrined at the 
 orders he received to turn the Alfred over to Captain 
 Hineman. Jones was ordered to report to Phila 
 delphia, then the capital of the United States, for 
 duty in connection with the Board of Advice to the 
 Marine Committee, remaining there from January till 
 June 1777- He worked with a will to bring order out 
 of the chaos by which he was confronted, succeeding 
 in leaving the stamp of his personality on even so dull 
 a subject as naval regulations. On June I4th, Jones 
 
62 PAUL JONES 
 
 was ordered to Portsmouth to command the Ranger, 
 then building, and from this moment begins the most 
 interesting part of his stormy career, when from a 
 reputation not more than local, he sprang into world 
 wide fame which, with its glamour, remained un- 
 dimmed to the hour of his death. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 1777 
 
 ARE we not inclined, like children, disappointed at 
 beholding king and queen in commonplace, everyday 
 clothes, when fancy adorned them in glittering crown 
 and robes, to picture our heroes as living from cradle 
 to grave in a blaze of glory? As moving through life 
 to soft, musical murmurs of praise, greeting acquaint 
 ances with a politely uplifted halo, in place of the 
 hat of ordinary mortals? When we hear of these 
 fortunate ones, they have reached the pinnacle which 
 they occupy naturally, so that we forget the mighty 
 effort which put them there. 
 
 We read glowing accounts of the battles Nelson 
 won but do not think much about the routine which 
 made his success ; admire Wellington, with the laurels 
 of Waterloo becomingly surmounting that historic nose 
 but forget the obscure youth and hard work which 
 gave him name and fame, great enough to have a 
 boot called after him. We carelessly forget, too, the 
 hundreds of petty, everyday annoyances, the back 
 biting and strife, which the successful must conquer 
 or ignore. In fact, we enjoy effect, without much 
 thought as to the cause. Paul Jones achieved fame, 
 he did not have it thrust upon him. We hear of him 
 as an always successful captain, and, from the time 
 he was allowed to act alone, without senior officer, 
 
 63 
 
64 PAUL JONES 
 
 or cut-and-dried orders, he sprang into renown in a 
 night. He was not a conceited or egotistical man, but 
 he had that fore-sense of what he could do, which 
 never led him into a blunder. His only failures were 
 when he was forced to act in concert with those who 
 had not been put under his absolute command. The. 
 more one analyses Paul Jones and his career, the 
 more remarkable it seems, for he had no one on whom 
 to depend or look to for favour. The influence of 
 the boudoir played little part in his early struggles for 
 recognition. No mysterious relative in slouched hat, 
 with drooping plumes and cloak concealing the lower 
 part of his face, met him neath a blasted oak in the 
 moonlight, pressed purses, heavy with gold, into his 
 surprised hand, and vanished with a hoarse whisper 
 of further benefits to be conferred, if due secrecy 
 were observed. No inopportune old retainer hindered 
 his footsteps, for " the sake of the family." He was 
 singularly free from these romantic encumbrances. 
 By sheer grit and determination he carried himself 
 on, accomplishing, not planning, those deeds which 
 brought him lasting fame. From first to last it was 
 a struggle, unceasing, unending. 
 
 One sometimes wonders how different the history 
 of his period might have been if chance had guided his 
 steps into the navy of his own country, where he could 
 have fought alongside Nelson and Howe, in steady 
 command, sure of promotion and the future, and not 
 had to solicit employment which was his by right of 
 ability. Despite the cant of democracy and merit 
 alone succeeding, the United States navy, like those 
 
PAUL JONES 65 
 
 of older lands, was from the first the toy of 
 favouritism. To this may be attributed its early 
 blunders and failures. The navy was controlled by 
 the gentlemen from Massachusetts, and John Quincy 
 Adams, its virtual dictator, filled the desirable posts 
 with those who had the luck to please him, without 
 the slightest reference to their fitness. Nevertheless, 
 war is no respecter of favouritism, and the dire 
 failures, the blunders of the " Commander-in- 
 Chief " and Captain Dudley Saltonstall, who was also 
 dismissed the service, opened the eyes of Congress 
 to the state of things, and served to place Paul Jones 
 in a position free from "the incubus of imbecile 
 superiors." From that moment, to the end of his 
 eventful career, Paul Jones was always the ranking 
 officer on his station, and never afterward served 
 under the orders of a senior. 
 
 In person, Paul Jones was about middle height, so 
 slender as to be wiry, so lithe as to be compared to 
 a panther; so swift in his movements that he was 
 described as " chain lightning." Swarthy as a 
 Spaniard, with eyes so grey as to be black in moments 
 of excitement, with a well-turned leg and aristocratic 
 hands and feet, and a wonderful voice which could 
 command sharply or melt into the most winning 
 endearments. Nathaniel Fanning, his friend and 
 shipmate, describes him 
 
 " Though of low stature and slender build, the 
 Commodore s neck, arms and shoulders were those 
 of a heavy-set man. His neck was out of proportion 
 to the rest of him. The strength of his arms and 
 
66 PAUL JONES 
 
 shoulders could hardly be believed; and he had equal 
 use of both hands, even to writing with the left as 
 well as the right hand. He was past master in the art 
 of boxing, and though there were many hard nuts to 
 crack in the various crews he commanded, no one 
 ever doubted that the Commodore was the best man 
 aboard. To all this he added a quickness of motion 
 that cannot be described except by saying that he was 
 quicker than chain lightning. When roused, he would 
 strike more blows and do more damage in a second 
 than any other man I ever saw could do in a minute. 
 Even when calm and unruffled, his gait and all of 
 his bodily motions were exactly like those of the 
 panther noiseless, sleek, and the perfection of 
 grace, yet always giving one the idea that it would 
 be well to keep out of reach of his paws and 
 teeth. 
 
 " He always fought as if that was what he was made 
 for, and it was only when most perfectly at peace that 
 he seemed ill at ease, or, at least, restless. 
 
 " He was never petulant toward those subordinate 
 to him. Even in cases of failure to carry out his 
 orders or meet his expectations he would be lenient, 
 patient and forbearing so long as he did not detect 
 or think he detected wilfulness or malice. But if he 
 obtained such an impression, there could be no peace 
 with him. He was not a quarrelsome man, in the 
 sense of proneness to pick quarrels; but he was the 
 easiest person I have ever seen for any fighting man 
 to pick a quarrel with. 
 
 :< In ordinary intercourse, either official or personal, 
 
PAUL JONES 67 
 
 it was a constant delight to be with him, at least for 
 those who by their conduct had gained his esteem; 
 and in his air and manner toward such there was a 
 charm the like of which I have never seen or heard 
 of in any other man." 
 
 Even so stolid a person as the old Quaker, 
 Franklin, felt the extraordinary fascination of the 
 sailor s vivid personality, as is readily shown in the 
 letter which he sent, introducing him to the Comtesse 
 d Houdetot, June 1780 
 
 " No matter what the faults of Commodore Jones 
 may be ... I must confess to your ladyship that 
 when face to face with him, neither man, nor, so far 
 as I can learn, woman, can for a moment resist the 
 strange magnetism of his presence, the indescribable 
 charm of his manner; a commingling of the most 
 perfect self-esteem that I have ever seen in a man; 
 and, above all, the sweetness of his voice and the 
 purity of his language. I offer these thoughts to the 
 gracious consideration of your ladyship, no less as a 
 warning than as a favourable introduction." 
 
 Paul Jones undeniably possessed the powerful 
 charm of an inscrutable personality; none might 
 boast his confidence or read his heart; mystery sur 
 rounded his origin with an impenetrable veil. The 
 fair sex were his slaves, he had only to choose. His 
 tender chivalry towards all women is often mentioned. 
 His discretion in affaires dc cceur was only matched 
 by his popularity and the number of his conquests. 
 Of all this there is no word, no hint in memoir 
 or journal; no yellowing indiscreet letters, lying 
 
68 PAUL JONES 
 
 forgotten in a ponderous coffer heavy with the dust of 
 dead things, betrays the secret kept so well. Intuition 
 whispered that one day the world would wish to know 
 his life, his innermost soul ; to dissect his very heart : 
 and he destroyed all tokens of the women who had 
 loved him. 
 
 To others he was lavish; his own tastes were the 
 most simple; towards his inferiors he behaved with 
 the generosity of a prince; to his sailors he was com 
 mander and friend. He never ordered flogging on 
 any ship he commanded, and is known to have person 
 ally thrown the cat-o -nine-tails overboard. On the 
 occasion, years later, when he allowed the look-outs 
 to be punished for dire carelessness, he it is said 
 ordered that the men should be flogged in their shirts, 
 which made the chastisement a farce. He " talked to 
 the men like a father," or, most terrible punishment 
 devised by human cruelty, stopped their grog for 
 three days, which had a chastening effect. He inter 
 ested the sailors in the smallest details of their work, 
 gave them lessons in rope-splicing, or reproved a 
 young sailor for his " lubberly walk," with a personal 
 demonstration of the correct swagger to be kept in 
 mind by^Jack afloat. Every one of those "gun-deck 
 hearties " knew the Captain was the best man aboard, 
 that his methods were summary and much to the 
 point. 
 
 " I tell you, my men," he said, " once for all, that 
 when I become convinced that a sailor of mine must 
 be killed, I will not leave it to be done by boatswain s 
 mates under slow torture of the lash; but I will do it 
 
PAUL JONES 09 
 
 myself ; and so G d quick that it will make your 
 heads swim ! " 
 
 These pacific and briefly expressed opinions, so 
 casually mentioned by their commander, had the merit 
 of letting those " hard nuts " in the various crews he 
 commanded know just where they stood, should 
 occasion arise. 
 
 From his earliest life at sea he showed distaste for 
 the tavern brawls and rowdy amusements of Jack 
 ashore, preferring the company of the better classes 
 in the ports visited. His spare time was profitably 
 employed in reading such books as he could obtain, 
 and in the study of naval history. Ambition was bred 
 in his bone. Perhaps it was hereditary; an uncon 
 scious desire to take the place in the world that was 
 his rightfully if one disallows the peasant origin. 
 He was a famous shot with the duelling pistol, which, 
 with his delighted readiness to fight, made men wary 
 of treading too heavily on forbidden ground in his 
 presence. 
 
 The more one reads of John Paul Jones, of his 
 ease and perfect sang-froid in the highest society, of 
 his well-turned compliments to royalty, of his never 
 offending the susceptibilities of the French, and, in 
 after years, the Englishmen of rank with whom he 
 formed friendships, the more one is inclined to pause 
 and wonder who his parents really were. It seems in 
 credible, at a time when class distinctions were as 
 rigid as the laws of the Medes and Persians, when 
 education was of the most primitive, that the son of 
 a gardener and a lady s maid could pass the tests to 
 
70 PAUL JONES 
 
 which he was hourly subjected, without once making 
 a faux pas. Though his detractors were many, and 
 he was called a pirate, a privateer, and by other terms 
 of opprobrium, those who knew him intimately, the 
 royalties by whom he was received, the courtiers and 
 men of letters, and all those with whom in his active 
 life he came in daily intercourse, have left no 
 comment but that in the highest degree favourable 
 to him. He was elegant in manner, and during the 
 last years of his life so exquisite in his dress as to 
 be remarked in any assembly. Later portraits of 
 him display a foppish niceness most incompatible 
 with the legendary pirate and buccaneer so greatly 
 feared on the boundless ocean. His life was a 
 romance. He appealed to the strongest primitive 
 passion in man : the love of fighting, which, civilise 
 us as you may, is only dormant, ready to burst forth 
 at the first beat of the drum. We remember him 
 because he fought and loved it, and because he was 
 victorious. He was a living example of the old say 
 ing : " There is nothing so successful as success." If 
 he was the unwanted child of a great family, did 
 his mother follow his meteoric career with pride, or 
 with some regret for the part convention compelled 
 her to play? 
 
 American politics were in a turmoil, there was much 
 "mounting in hot haste" and galloping about the 
 country. From morning till night Paul Jones was 
 hurrying from one point to another, too busy to mind 
 fatigue, too full of enthusiasm to be daunted by the 
 
PAUL JONES 71 
 
 colossal proportions of the task he had undertaken : 
 making a navy without ships, and manning it without 
 sailors. It was on one of these hasty journeys from 
 Philadelphia, while stopping to change horses at 
 Alexandria, that he was wakened out of a day-dream 
 by the unusual sound of the French and German 
 languages, mingled with broken English; and saw a 
 party of gentlemen trying to make their wants under 
 stood to the innkeeper, who spoke no language but 
 his own. 
 
 This was Jones s first meeting with the rattle-pated 
 Lafayette, who had run away from his home and 
 family to put his finger in the pie of American inde 
 pendence. Lafayette spoke a little English, the 
 Baron de Kalb none at all, so Jones, who was one 
 of the four captains in the United States Navy who 
 spoke French, and the only one to do so fluently, 
 stepped into the breach. Lafayette relates the 
 incident. 
 
 " A slender, black-haired, black-eyed, swarthy 
 gentleman in a naval uniform and of most martial 
 and distinguished bearing approached, and said in 
 perfect French 
 
 Pardon, Monsieur ; il me semble que, peut-etre^ 
 je ->eux voits aider. En tel cas^ commandez, s il vous 
 plait: 
 
 " Delighted to hear my mother tongue so unex 
 pectedly and so opportunely spoken, I informed the 
 gentleman who we were, and asked whom I might 
 have the honour to address. To which he replied : 
 f ai Vhonneur d etre Capitame de f re gate de la 
 
72 PAUL JONES 
 
 marine des Etats Unis; ct on m appele Paid Jones, 
 a votre service, Monsieur 
 
 " Profoundly acknowledging his courtesy, I at 
 once turned over to Captain Paul Jones the task of 
 composing our difficulties, and instantly discovered 
 that he was a captain in fact as well as by title. The 
 people there seemed to know him well. He assumed 
 an air of easy, though quite imperious, mastery of the 
 situation, and in a very short time our cavalcade was 
 ready to set out. He had an appointment to dine 
 that evening with friends in Alexandria, but upon 
 invitation to join our party, he hastily sent a messenger 
 to cancel the engagement, by reason of a sudden 
 and unexpected pressure of public duty of grave 
 importance/ and journeyed with us thence to 
 Philadelphia." 
 
 Of course, Lafayette heartily endorsed Jones s pet 
 scheme of cruising in foreign waters, with the object 
 of harassing the enemy s shipping as much as pos 
 sible. The new flag of the United States must be 
 displayed on the high seas and enter the ports of 
 other lands, bringing tangible proofs of its existence 
 to the rulers of the old world, before the new republic 
 could hope to be accepted as an accomplished fact. 
 English shipping must be injured to make other 
 nations aware that a new navy had appeared on the 
 seas of the world. Though the successes of the 
 American ships had been gratifying, their fame was 
 local. Vital as it was to the colonists, their struggle 
 was spoken of contemptuously, and not treated with 
 much seriousness, till the Revolution had gone so far 
 
PAUL JONES 73 
 
 that to kill it was impossible. The comatose, 
 bewigged old gentlemen who had the management of 
 the colonies in their hands, were too much wrapped 
 in the cotton-wool of perfect self-content to pull that 
 wool from over their ears, and listen to what was 
 going on in the outside world. 
 
 It was Lafayette s idea that a squadron of French 
 ships should be fitted out and sail under the commis 
 sion and flag of the United States. This course 
 would embroil England and France, and also provide 
 better ships than the United States could construct 
 or buy. He wrote to Washington that " Captain 
 Jones possesses, far beyond any other officer in your 
 service, that particular aplomb, grace of manner, 
 charm of person and dash of character always required 
 to captivate the French fancy." He declared far and 
 wide that Paul Jones was the only captain in the 
 United States Navy qualified to undertake this 
 mission; that " by his knowledge of the French 
 language he fulfilled the first and greatest pre 
 requisite; because," Lafayette said, "it would be use 
 less and perfectly idle to send a captain over there 
 who would need an interpreter." 
 
 Lafayette had a great deal to say, and was listened 
 to, being the only one of those distinguished volun 
 teers who came with full, and returned with empty, 
 hands. He was a personal friend of Washington, 
 and essayed to sway that stolid gentleman in Paul 
 Jones s favour on every occasion that arose, though 
 not always with success. 
 
 Captain Jones now applied for the Tmmbull, one 
 
74 PAUL JONES 
 
 of the thirteen frigates built by Congress, to run 
 against the spite of Mr. Adams, who intended the 
 ship for Dudley Saltonstall; who, having recovered 
 from the effects of his court-martial, was ready for 
 further service. It is strange that one man should 
 hate another in the petty way Adams hated Paul 
 Jones, to whom he always alluded as a "smooth, 
 plausible and rather capable adventurer, with some 
 smattering of general knowledge and a fair command 
 of French and Spanish, due wholly to his earlier 
 career as an English merchant captain trading to the 
 West India Islands and Spanish Main." Mr. Adams 
 maintained that he was a man of no family connec 
 tion, which, coming from a good republican, in a land 
 where " all men " are declared to have been born 
 " free and equal/ is amusing. As to the motive 
 for the dislike, Jones s correspondent, Mr. Hewes, 
 lets the cat out of the bag. One evening in June 
 1775, Jones was at a party given by Colonel 
 and Mrs. Carroll of Carrollton at their house near 
 the falls of Sghuylkill ; Mr. Adams was also present. 
 " Mr. Adams was nothing if not pedantic. In the 
 course of the entertainment he essayed to relate an 
 anecdote of Fontenelle to a group of young ladies, 
 among whom were Miss Betty Faulkner of Virginia 
 and Miss Josephine Mayrant of South Carolina. Miss 
 Faulkner had been educated in France, and Miss 
 Mayrant belonged to one of the Carolina Huguenot 
 families in which French was retained as the domestic 
 tongue. Mr. Adams related his anecdote of Fon 
 tenelle in French. 
 
PAUL JONES 75 
 
 " When he was gone, Jones, at the request of the 
 young ladies, related the anecdote correctly both as 
 to text and accent. One of the younger ladies then 
 asked Jones what he thought of Mr. Adams s 
 French?" 
 
 Mr. Hewes asserts that Jones was always reckless 
 with his wit, an assertion which is not confirmed by 
 the study of his life, and " more than once in his 
 career sacrificed an interest for the sake of an 
 epigram. On this occasion, not reflecting that such a 
 bon mot would be likely to find repetition in such a 
 social circle as that was, he replied with mock 
 gravity 
 
 : La cause des droits de Vhomme, Mesdemoiselles, 
 est, peut-etre, heureuse en ce que les sentiments 
 politiques de Monsieur Adams ne sont pas a I anglais 
 egalement a son francais; car^ autrement^ il serait 
 facilement le -plus grand Tory du pays. 
 
 A very free translation being, " It is very fortunate, 
 ladies, for the cause of the rights of man, that the 
 political sentiments of Mr. Adams are not so English 
 as his French is; because, if they were, he would 
 easily be the greatest Tory in the country." 
 
 This delicious but ill-judged satire was not slow 
 in reaching the ears of Mr. Adams, and he ever after 
 wards hated Paul Jones with all the sturdy hate of 
 the Puritan nature when its vanity is wounded." 
 
 If Paul Jones has been represented as something 
 of a fire-eater by certain writers, and called quarrel 
 some, the facts must be taken into consideration that 
 from his first service in the United States, until his 
 
76 PAUL JONES 
 
 appointment as rear-admiral in the Russian navy, he 
 experienced enough annoyance and hindrance in 
 everything he undertook to arouse the anger of a much 
 milder man. He loathed deceit, and had a profound 
 contempt for those who would shield their incapacity 
 and blunders behind the back of a political godfather 
 in preference to facing the music. When the incom 
 petent Saltonstall stood in the way of Jones s getting 
 command of the Tmmbull, he threatened to make 
 public the charges which he had long before made 
 against him, of cruelty to his men, and incivility to 
 his officers aboard the Alfred; which, thanks to 
 political influence, had been kept dark. Jones grew 
 tired of so much procrastination, and " rather vigor 
 ously informed Mr. Morris that if he could not 
 secure appropriate action in the regular way, he would 
 conceive it his duty to publish the facts over his own 
 name and on his personal responsibilty; as he believed 
 the public entitled to know what kind of a naval 
 servant they had in Captain Saltonstall." 
 
 This did not meet the views of Mr. Morris, who 
 thought "it would be a sorry spectacle to see naval 
 officers killing each other when there were so many 
 enemies to be accounted for." . . . Jones bluntly told 
 Mr. Morris that he " considered it his duty to rid the 
 navy of Captain Saltonstall, and if he were denied the 
 opportunity of doing it in the regular way, by court- 
 martial, it was quite immaterial to him what other way 
 must be resorted to." Mr. Morris, amazed at this 
 fierce outbreak, inquired if Jones had taken any advice 
 in this most serious affair? Jones answered that he 
 
PAUL JONES 77 
 
 most certainly had taken advice. " Of whom, pray ? " 
 asked Mr. Morris. "Of General Cadwalder and 
 Captain Biddle, sir ! " 
 
 "Bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Morris, "the two 
 fieriest and least tractable men in Pennsylvania. Each 
 the soul of honour and the embodiment of courage, 
 but both wholly lacking in prudence and calm judg 
 ment where any personal issue is concerned. They 
 will always give you advice to fight, which, by the 
 way, you yourself need as little as any man I know. 3 
 
 There was much heated discussion, which ended 
 in Morris commanding Jones, " as he valued his friend 
 ship/ to give him all the papers, and proceed no 
 further in the matter. So Jones, unwillingly, against 
 his judgment, did as his friend ordered; but when, 
 two years later, he heard how Saltonstall had lost a 
 fine new thirty-two gun frigate, the Warren, in 
 Penobscot Bay, under circumstances which all his 
 political friends could not prevent from ending his 
 career, he wrote bitterly to Morris : " I have just 
 learned the miserable fate of the Warren. To some 
 extent I reproach myself. If I had obeyed the 
 dictates of my sense of duty in 1777, instead of yield 
 ing to the persuasions of the peacemaker, our flag 
 might still be flying on the Warren" 
 
 But this is anticipation, and Saltonstall got the 
 Trumbull. Jones appealed to Washington, before 
 whom he laid his case, "with an earnestness which 
 my recent disappointment about the Trumbull may 
 have made somewhat vehement." Lafayette was 
 present at the interview, also the Generals Knox and 
 
78 PAUL JONES 
 
 " Mad Anthony Wayne." Lafayette made no secret 
 of his sympathies ; " but Gen.eral Washington, calm 
 and imperturbable, walked up and down, mostly 
 listening, but now and then asking a question or 
 uttering a syllable of assent. He remained in this 
 mood for some time after I had done. Then, 
 approaching me, he took me by the hand and said : 
 Captain Jones, you have conceived the right project, 
 and you are the right man to execute it. I will at 
 once see members of the Marine Committee and insist 
 that you be forthwith provided with the best means at 
 their disposal." 
 
 Washington did not offer to use his influence to 
 take the Tmmbull from Saltonstall, as it "would 
 cause friction in higher quarters, which he wished to 
 avoid." He was sorry there were not enough frigates 
 for Jones, the sixth captain, to have one. This is an 
 instance where family connection and backing would 
 have decided the matter in the Scotchman s favour. 
 Washington kept his word. Jones was sent to Boston 
 with orders to enlist seamen for his pet project of a 
 European cruise, and take them over on VAmpkitrite, 
 a French merchantman, chartered for the purpose. 
 But the captain objected on the ground that, if caught 
 by the English, his ship would be condemned for 
 violation of neutrality, as England and France were 
 not at war, and so the whole thing fell through, much 
 to Jones s disgust. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 1777 
 
 IN the shipyards of the colonial town of Portsmouth, 
 New Hampshire, with its tales of serving-maid who 
 rose to the estate of governor s wife and lived to walk 
 up the aisle of the church, sumptuously arrayed, with 
 a train of little blackamoor pages carrying prayer- 
 books and reticule on velvet cushions; where stately 
 elms overhung the first brick house built in the new 
 country, that ship which was to become so famous as 
 the Ranger was being laid down. 
 
 She was planned expressly for speed, and she was 
 the first American ship to be coppered, a new idea just 
 beginning to be adopted in the British and French 
 navies. She was six feet longer than any twenty-gun 
 ship-sloop of her day, in all 116 feet, and she was of 
 308 tons. Elijah Hall, her second lieutenant, by trade 
 a shipwright, describes her at length with bewilder 
 ing technicality, being much struck with the fact that 
 " her spars, a set got out of a 4OO-ton Indiaman, were 
 too heavy for a vessel of her class," and had "just 
 stepped" the lower masts, with a view to "cutting 
 them down about four feet in the cups," when Paul 
 Jones appeared on the scene, and, being arbiter in 
 the matter, decided it was a pity to spoil such fine 
 masts, directing Mr. Hall to "fid them about four 
 
 79 
 
80 PAUL JONES 
 
 feet lower than usual in the hounds," which Mr. Hall 
 proceeded to do. This, with the changes Jones made 
 in her guns, putting "fourteen long nines" and four 
 six-pounders, instead of the original twenty six- 
 pounders intended, "raised her centre of weight and 
 increased her top-heaviness," which with the extra 
 ballast necessitated, brought her a foot lower in the 
 water when she was provisioned for the voyage than 
 planned. But she could, "with the wind abaft the 
 beam, or going free, run like a hound," though she 
 was " somewhat crank in windward work. In outward 
 appearance she was a perfect beauty, her sheer being 
 as delicate as the lines of a pretty woman s arm, and 
 as she was rather low in the water for her length, and 
 her masts raked two or three degrees more than any 
 other ship of the day, she was on the whole the 
 sauciest craft afloat." 
 
 When he saw her Captain Jones forgave the loss 
 of the Trumbull; his nautical eye appraised her sail 
 ing worth and picked out her good points, and he 
 worked day and night to get her afloat; reporting to 
 the Marine Committee that she would be ready to sail 
 on October 5. He had the goodwill of the town, 
 there were no obstacles put in his way this time, and 
 interested spectators watched the work being pushed 
 for all it was worth. 
 
 Busy though he was, it must not be supposed Paul 
 Jones neglected the social side of life. Even without 
 his renown, his personal attractions won more than a 
 sigh from the pretty maidens before whom he bowed 
 so deferentially, perhaps flirted with in the jovial 
 
PAUL JONES 81 
 
 manner of most sons of the sea, though he departed 
 heart-whole if not fancy free. 
 
 Portsmouth was in the heart of the revolutionary 
 country, and its daughters emulated the spirit of the 
 " Boston Tea Party," drinking herb tea, rather than 
 pay for the heavily taxed Bohea. Portsmouth had 
 been discovered by a venturesome craft, whose owner 
 braved the turbulent currents of the Piscataqua river 
 in search of sassafras bark, an ingredient greatly 
 appreciated and employed by the seventeenth-century 
 doctors in the nauseous compounds forced upon their 
 patients. Whether the search was successful has little 
 to do with the story, but the fair promise of the shores 
 which lay on either side of the river, with their virgin 
 forests, impressed the captain so favourably that his 
 report to those at home determined a venturesome 
 party to essay the trackless ocean, and, in the spring, 
 or summer, of 1623, David Thompson with a goodly 
 party of settlers from Plymouth in fair Devon, landed 
 at Odiorne s Point, where they built a block-house to 
 protect themselves from the Indians, and settled down 
 to wrest a meagre living from the new land, where 
 even the climate was hostile to those accustomed to 
 the mildness of the south of England. Other settlers 
 followed, and the surrounding country was known by 
 the suggestive name of "Strawberry Bank 5 until 
 1653, when it was incorporated by the Government of 
 Massachusetts under its present name of Portsmouth. 
 
 The settlers were so harassed by the Indians that 
 they tilled the fields with gun slung over shoulder, and 
 planted the maize in rows radiating from their houses 
 
82 PAUL JONES 
 
 so that the redskins would have no cover to creep upon 
 them. The country abounded in stone, hard, flinty 
 granite, scattered over the land as if from a pepper- 
 pot; which, to get rid of, they piled in walls around 
 their meadows as their forefathers had done in the 
 home country. There was constant wrangling between 
 the Anglican settlers and the Puritans, and at times 
 civil strife threatened to rend the colony. Those were 
 days of no religious toleration, and, it must be remem 
 bered, that it was only a few miles to the town of 
 Salem, where witch-burning flourished. 
 
 Despite these bickerings Portsmouth, with its 
 picturesque environment, its many islands and rock- 
 bound coast, became in 1679 the capital of a separate 
 county, known to-day as the State of New Hampshire. 
 The governor of the state lived there, in a charming 
 old house, with lodge gates and lawns sloping to the 
 river; and it all seemed more like a bit of home than 
 something in a new, Indian-troubled country. A few 
 miles from the town he had a country place, deep in 
 the heart of fragrant pine forests, where the hot 
 summer sun never penetrated, though its fiery breath 
 enhanced the sweetness of the aromatic gums with 
 which the trees were laden. 
 
 Though Virginia has ever been the theme of pens, 
 writing of colonial times, the governors of New Hamp 
 shire and Massachusetts held sway in a lordly manner; 
 tricked out themselves and their women-folk with right 
 royal pomp and circumstance, for, it must not be for 
 gotten that they represented their king, equally with 
 their confreres of the South. There were many of 
 
PAUL JONES 83 
 
 Puritanical leanings, outwardly any way, for their 
 Roundhead ancestry accounted for a love of hypocrisy 
 and eagerness to condemn everything they could not 
 understand. The different governors, the Wentworths 
 and the Langdons, were open-handed, high-living 
 gentlemen, a trifle pompous maybe, as suited their rank 
 and station; more than a trifle fond of the fleshpots, 
 particularly of the hospitable and flowing bowl on a 
 winter night. 
 
 There was much trade with the East and West 
 Indies, and the spoils of those voyages still linger in 
 the dim drawing-rooms, like spectres of the past. To 
 this day its owner proudly shows a carpet stained with 
 the contents of a wineglass upset by Lafayette, whose 
 elbow was jostled by a careless one in the assembly 
 as he was " taking wine " at the request of his host. 
 Many famous men had been there. Washington, and 
 Benjamin Franklin, who experimented with his light 
 ning-rod, before he forsook such prosaic work, and 
 went to France to worry himself and every one else, 
 trying to gain favours from those unwilling to grant 
 them. The old fort, William and Mary, was captured 
 at the beginning of the revolution by militia sent from 
 Portsmouth, on the arrival of the news that the ex 
 portation of military stores to America was forbidden ; 
 the tidings being brought by that indefatigable horse 
 man, Paul Revere, who, according to pictorial history, 
 seems to have spent his life as one of the " hatless 
 brigade," galloping about on a horse with a long, 
 flowing tail, shouting disturbing news to his country 
 men. 
 
 F 2 
 
84 PAUL JONES 
 
 As has been seen, Portsmouth was hospitable, and 
 Portsmouth entertained Paul Jones to such a degree 
 that he was forced to write to a friend to send him a 
 particularly smart scarlet coat, which he had not 
 thought to have need of, and some more of a favourite 
 hair powder, unobtainable there, for which " he begged 
 to enclose a guinea." It is to be hoped that the corre 
 spondent dispatched the articles forthwith, for Paul 
 was very much of a dandy and noted for the perfection 
 of his dress, and a powderless beau would have been 
 too tragic to contemplate. 
 
 But it was his fate to be here to-day and there to 
 morrow, and he wasted little time in philandering, how 
 ever bright the eyes. Though he escorted bevies of 
 charming and vivacious damsels and their duennas over 
 the Ranger, and explained the many wonders of the 
 craft, at which they exclaimed, as their sisters of the 
 present day do under similar conditions, his one idea 
 was to get to sea. 
 
 Charming as the tale of silken pennant, broidered 
 by slender fingers for the chosen knight, is the romance 
 clinging to the flag that fluttered gaily on the Ranger 
 when she put to sea, on a mission of which none could 
 foretell the result. Fashioned amid chat and laughter 
 at a " quilting bee," planned and fitted with breathless 
 accuracy, according to sketches made by the hand 
 some captain, whose opinion was awaited on the im 
 portant subject with most flattering attention. 
 Patriotic Mistress Helen Seavey contrived thirteen 
 snowy stars of the " New Constellation " from the 
 dress she had worn to the altar when she wedded a 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 \F I oin the original painting on parchment by Nottc, in the collection of t lie antlwi 
 
PAUL JONES 85 
 
 dashing young officer of the " New Hampshire Line," 
 in May 1777, a few months ago. Wanton destruction, 
 thought Helen s mamma, who had an eye to future 
 utility and younger daughters weddings, and belonged 
 to that generation which looked on the silk and satin 
 "gownds" with more deference than their descend 
 ants. The red stripes came from a court dress, that 
 had curtseyed loyally to its king, alas ! now a fallen 
 idol. 
 
 The patriotic maidens cut and slashed ruthlessly, 
 stitching the starry emblems on the dark blue field. 
 Merry parties were these "quilting bees," ending up 
 with a substantial supper, a country dance, and a sly 
 stroll under the October moon for a few soft words, 
 and a "good-bye to summer." Can we not picture 
 the laughing jests, the high hopes, the aspirations 
 which stirred those feminine bosoms, as they stitched 
 and saw grow under their nimble fingers the flag they 
 were so proud of, which Paul Jones ever called his 
 twin, as his commission was dated on the same day 
 as Congress officially described the flag to be used in 
 place of the old " Rattlesnake " carried in the early 
 days of the Revolution? 
 
 Of those charming and energetic workers, we know 
 the names of but five : Mary Langdon, Helen Seavey, 
 Dorothy Hall, niece of Lieut. Hall of the Ranger, 
 Caroline Chandler, and Augusta Pierce. If the Cap 
 tain had any preference it is not recorded, as he 
 devoted himself to the party en masse, straightening 
 a stripe that tried to turn itself into an arabesque, or 
 giving the final decision as to the placing of the 
 
86 PAUL JONES 
 
 thirteenth star. Every stitch was set with a good wish 
 for his success, and he vowed it brought him luck ! 
 He considered it his personal belonging, a gift of his 
 well-wishers, and took it with him on relinquishing his 
 command of the Ranger in 1778. When he "broke 
 his pennant " on the Bonhomme Richard he flew 
 the flag of the Portsmouth girls, and not yet was its 
 distinguished career over, for it was the first flag of 
 the United States to be saluted by the guns of a 
 foreign naval power. Strange still, it was the " first 
 and the last flag that ever went down, or ever will go 
 down, flying on a ship that conquered and captured 
 the ship that sunk her." 
 
 This was the case, for the Bonhomme Richard 
 forced the Serapis to surrender after a frightful battle, 
 "the like of which has never been seen"; being so 
 riddled that after a few hours she could not be kept 
 afloat, filled and went to the bottom. " The very last 
 vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the Bonhomme 
 Richard was the defiant waving of her unconquered 
 and unstricken flag as she went down." 
 
 In 1781 Jones returned to America, visiting Mr. 
 Ross, where he always stayed in Philadelphia. There 
 he met Miss Langdon, who had been one of the " quilt 
 ing bee," and told her that he had wished, above 
 anything, " to bring that flag back to America, with all 
 its glories, and give it back untarnished into the fair 
 hands that had given it to him nearly four years 
 before." "But, Miss Mary," he said, "I couldn t 
 bear to strip the poor old ship in her last agony, nor 
 could I deny to my dead on her decks, who had given 
 
PAUL JONES 87 
 
 their lives to keep it flying, the glory of taking it with 
 them. 5 
 
 " You did exactly right, Commodore ! " exclaimed 
 Miss Langdon. "That flag is just where we all wish 
 it to be, flying at the bottom of the sea over the only 
 ship that ever sunk in victory. If you had taken it 
 from her and brought it back to us we would hate 
 you ! " 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 1777 
 
 PAUL could not forget that time was flying, and 
 controlled his impatience with difficulty, so keen was 
 his desire to be once more at sea. Every rope, every 
 spar he had inspected, every gun tested, for some of 
 them had been cast in America, which was a new 
 venture, and their worth had yet to be proved. His 
 simple cabin bore traces of the handiwork of his 
 feminine admirers, in those artless trifles which show 
 such good-will and collect so much dust. The wise 
 acres predicted the Ranger couFd not weather the 
 October gales, so top-heavy was she; advised Captain 
 Jones to follow time-honoured precedent and cut 
 down her masts, or Davy Jones s locker would be 
 his portion. But the Captain had never known failure ; 
 he was young, and thirsting for adventure, as were 
 the crew, which he describes as " the best I have ever 
 seen, and I believe the best crew afloat; nearly all 
 are native Americans, and the proportion of able 
 seamen to the total is much beyond the average." 
 
 There was the usual fly in the ointment, for the 
 United States treasury was so poor there was the 
 greatest difficulty in getting materials for sails, and 
 Jones complains of the heavy gales while at anchor. 
 " The ship with difficulty rides it out, with yards and 
 top-masts struck, and whole cable ahead. .When it 
 
PAUL JONES 89 
 
 clears up I expect the wind from the north-west, and 
 shall not fail to embrace it, although I have not now 
 a spare sail, nor materials to make one. Some of 
 those I have are made of hissings. I never had so 
 disagreeable a service to perform as that which I have 
 now accomplished, and of which another will claim 
 the credit as well as the profit. However, in doing 
 my utmost I am sensible that I have done no more 
 than my duty." The deepest lament wrung from the 
 unconquerable captain is, that the " best crew I ever 
 saw" would be limited to the entirely insufficient 
 ration of " only thirty gallons of rum for the voyage." 
 
 A large number of the crew were Portsmouth men, 
 which deepened the interest in the venture, and the 
 fame of Jones promised a rich harvest from the sea 
 if all went well. There had been the usual haggling 
 in Congress about the allotment of the prizes, and a 
 reluctance in complying with the glowing terms 
 offered in the handbills posted about to entice sailors 
 to enlist. As soon as Jones arrived to take over the 
 Ranger, he was confronted with the dissatisfaction of 
 forty-three men, who had been enlisted there, " caught 
 by the misstatements as to ship money and 
 advances," which could not be carried out " under 
 the regulations of Congress." Jones knew that " no 
 such achievements are possible to an unhappy ship 
 with a sullen crew," and instantly set about to right 
 the grievance by addressing a letter to the men 
 through Lieutenant Hall. 
 
 " I would not deceive any man who has entered 
 or may enter to serve under my command. I 
 
90 PAUL JONES 
 
 consider myself as being under a personal obligation 
 to these brave men who have cheerfully enlisted to 
 serve with me, and I accept their act as proof of their 
 good opinion of me, which I so highly value that I can 
 not permit it to be dampened in the least degree by 
 misunderstanding or failure to perform engagements. 
 If necessary, or to whatever extent it may be neces 
 sary, I will personally undertake, after exhausting 
 my proper powers in their behalf under the regula 
 tions, to make good at my own risk any remainder. 
 I wish all my men to be happy and contented. The 
 conditions of the handbills will be strictly complied 
 with." 
 
 To put matters on a satisfactory footing, Jones 
 advanced one hundred and forty-seven guineas out 
 of his own pocket, the repayment of which was 
 delayed until 1782. This represented the difference 
 between the 360 which the men should have received, 
 at the rate of eight pounds apiece for thirty 
 able seamen, and four pounds apiece for thirteen 
 landsmen and boys, and the sum allowed them by 
 Congress. 
 
 Jones impatiently awaited the despatches he was to 
 carry to France, the contents as yet being a dark 
 secret, though Robert Morris hinted their purport to 
 be of immense political significance. The Marine 
 Committee had selected the Ranger for this mission 
 as she was a fast sailer, and their experience of her 
 captain convinced them that if human power could 
 achieve that end, the despatches would be safely 
 delivered at their destination; for the vehement Paul 
 
PAUL JONES 91 
 
 was at last beginning to receive some recognition 
 of his fearlessness and intrepidity from those who 
 controlled the United States Navy. The few trial 
 cruises Jones had made in the Ranger to " shake 
 down his crew, set up his rigging, test the set of his 
 sails, and find out the best trim of his ship " proved 
 so satisfactory that, save for the lack of a good many 
 essentials, the Captain was able to congratulate him 
 self on the shipshapeness of the Ranger and her 
 crew. 
 
 At last the news came that on October 17, 1777, 
 General Bourgoyne s forces had surrendered. With 
 incredible swiftness couriers spread the tidings over 
 the country. " From Stillwater to Portsmouth is over 
 one hundred and forty miles as the crow flies, and a 
 good hundred and seventy by the uncertain roads, 
 and the news reached Portsmouth in thirty hours; 
 brought by one courier, who ate and slept in the 
 saddle, dismounting only to change horses." 
 
 It was not until midnight of the 3ist of October 
 that the official despatches were placed in Paul 
 Jones s hands, and before the dawn the Ranger had 
 dropped downstream, and was clear of the Isle of 
 Shoals, ten miles off the coast, going free, course east 
 by south, half east, wind north-west, blowing fresh, the 
 sea cross and choppy from an old swell of an easterly 
 gale two days before. "I will spread this news in 
 France in thirty days," Jones wrote on the receipt for 
 the despatches, which the messenger took back in the 
 " shore boat," listening enviously to the hearty cheer 
 which rang out on the cold, clear air as the painter was 
 
92 PAUL JONES 
 
 cast off, and the little boat bobbed about in the wake 
 left by the swift-sailing Ranger. 
 
 " During the last two days run I took two prizes 
 bound from Madeira and Malaga respectively, with 
 wines and dried fruit, etc., for London. I sent one to 
 Brest and convoyed the other to Nantes," he informed 
 the Marine Committee, stating at the same time his 
 reason for selecting a northerly course, "which would 
 be free from the enemy s cruisers at this time of year," 
 being aware that the great object of the voyage was 
 to deliver the important news at the earliest moment 
 in France ; not " wishing to be chased out of my 
 course by the enemy s frigates with the necessary 
 accompanying risk of being captured or destroyed." 
 His judgment was not at fault. They met with no 
 hindrance of any sort; no ship being sighted until, 
 two days run west of Ushant, they " spoke a Dutch 
 East Indiaman in the Bay of Biscay. I informed the 
 Dutch captain of the surrender of Bourgoyne, and 
 requested him to repeat the intelligence with my 
 compliments to any British captain he might fall in 
 with," he concludes, with a personal touch enlivening 
 in a dry official despatch. 
 
 Paul Jones left no record except the Ranger s log, 
 but Lieutenant Hall gives details, far from uninter 
 esting, of that " terrific voyage." 
 
 " I had sailed with many captains in all kinds of 
 voyages, but I had never seen a ship crowded as 
 Captain Jones drove the Ranger. . . . Captain Jones 
 held to his northerly course as time was the object, 
 though the wind was adverse, and stuck grimly to his 
 
PAUL JONES 93 
 
 great circle, drawn between 47 and 50 North. As 
 the wind hung all the time between north-north-east 
 and east-north-east with but a few veerings outside 
 those points, it was always forward of the beam on 
 the true course, and often near dead ahead. Imagine, 
 then, the situation of the Ranger s crew, with a top- 
 heavy and crank ship under their feet, and a com 
 mander who day and night insisted on every rag she 
 could stagger under without laying clear down ! 
 
 "As it was, she came close to beam ends more 
 than once, and on one occasion righted only by letting 
 fly sheets cut with hatchets. During all this trying 
 work Captain Jones was his own navigating officer, 
 keeping the deck eighteen or twenty hours out of every 
 twenty-four, often serving extra grog to the men with 
 his own hands, and by his example silencing all dis 
 position to grumble. In the worst of it the watch was 
 lap-watched so that the men would be eight hours 
 on and four off; but no one complained." 
 
 Mr. Hall was right when he says, " It speaks well 
 alike for commander and crew that not a man was 
 punished, or even severely reprimanded, during this 
 terrific voyage. It would, indeed, have kept Satan 
 on the alert to discover those " idle hands " for which 
 he so obligingly finds employment. Hard pressed 
 as the crew were, they had time for an occasional 
 "sing-song," and Midshipman Charley Hill produced 
 a song, on which Jones comments, " that while the text 
 is rude in some parts and the language in one line 
 not quite polite," was a great favourite in the fore 
 castle, and afterwards throughout the Revolutionary 
 
94 PAUL JONES 
 
 Navy. One verse, of which, alas ! we have not the 
 tune, is as follows 
 
 "SONG OF THE RANGER 
 " Carry the News to London 
 
 11 So now we had him hard and fast, 
 Bourgoyne laid down his Arms at Last, 
 And that is why we brave the blast, 
 
 To carry the news to London ! 
 Heigh-ho ! car r y the News ! 
 
 Go ! Carry the News to London. 
 
 Tell old King George he s undone ! 
 Heigh-ho ! car r y the News ! " 
 
 A truly rollicking chorus, startling the fishes from 
 their after-dinner slumbers, as the Ranger cut through 
 the water, bent on her mission, " To Carry the News 
 to London." 
 
 There was only one accident, Solomon Hutchings, 
 who had his leg broken by a " spar getting adrift." 
 There was not a soul on the sick list throughout the 
 voyage, and the Captain concluded his report with the 
 information : " I shall have the honour of calling your 
 attention more particularly to the excellent behaviour 
 of all my officers and men in a later report. For the 
 present suffice to say, that without exception their 
 conduct left nothing to be desired." 
 
 The "terrific voyage" ended when the Ranger 
 dropped anchor in the Loire, below Nantes, at sun 
 set, on the 2nd of December, 1777, and the ambitious 
 Scotchman felt that at last the nebulous dreams of 
 years were about to materialise. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 1777 
 
 DESPITE the storm and stress of his voyage Paul 
 learned, with some chagrin, from Dr. Franklin on his 
 arrival at Paris, December 5th, that the news of Bur- 
 goyne s surrender had been brought by John Loring 
 Austen of Boston, who sailed in a French merchant 
 man from that port early on the morning of Octo 
 ber 30. Though a personal disappointment, it made 
 little difference to Jones, as Austen s despatches were 
 unofficial. The plucky Scotchman had the renown 
 of that " terrific voyage," and brought details of Bur- 
 goyne s surrender, which Austen had no time to learn. 
 
 There was the usual tempest in the tea-pot of those 
 excellent gentlemen, the Commissioners of the United 
 States of America : Arthur Lee, one of the Commis 
 sioners, accusing Dr. Bancroft of using his prior know 
 ledge of the contents of the despatches for stock 
 jobbing transactions in London and Paris, before the 
 news became public. He insinuated this was not 
 unknown to Dr. Franklin himself. This Jones 
 proved, by later investigation, to be untrue, and a plan 
 of Lee s to shatter the friendship existing between 
 the two men. It was Jones s opinion that " there were 
 some deductions as to both the strategical and the 
 domestic political effects of the surrender which our 
 subsequent conversation proved to be more clearly 
 
 95 
 
96 PAUL JONES 
 
 drawn in my mind than in Mr. Austen s. But this 
 was doubtless due to the difference in our experience 
 and training. Among other things it was evident that 
 Mr. Austen did not at the moment quite share my 
 views as to the decisive effect the event must have 
 upon the morale of our people themselves, and the 
 far-reaching elation of spirit it must impart to our 
 armed force by land and sea." 
 
 The charm of Paris more than consoled the adven 
 turous captain for his annoyance. The feeling of 
 being, at last, so near his longed-for goal made hope 
 sing high in his breast, as he gazed out of the window 
 of the house where the American envoys lived, in the 
 Rue Verte, near the Place Beauveau. This hotel 
 they occupied, free of all expense, thanks to the lavish 
 courtesy of M. le Ray de Chaumont, Grand Maitre 
 des Eaux et Forets, and Intendant des Invalides^ 
 who, despite the offices he held under the Crown, 
 belonged to the advanced political party. Although 
 his later behaviour to Paul Jones was the reverse of 
 pleasant, at this period he was extraordinarily gener 
 ous to the Commissioners. For the two years they 
 were engaged in secret negotiations with the Court 
 at Versailles, not only did he provide them with 
 lodging and furniture, free of all cost, but sent large 
 consignments of supplies and sums of money to the 
 United States. When Mr. Adams finally asked him 
 to name a sum for the rent of his house, as it was 
 not "reasonable that the United States should be 
 under so great an obligation to a private gentleman," 
 he replied, that " when he had consecrated his house 
 
PAUL JONES 97 
 
 to Dr. Franklin and his associates, he had made it to 
 be fully understood that he should expect no com 
 pensation, because he perceived that they had need 
 of all their means to send to the succour of their 
 country . . . There was no occasion," he said, " for 
 strangers to be informed of his proceeding. He 
 considered the house had been immortalised by 
 receiving into it Dr. Franklin and his associates." 
 Strange to say, through the vicissitudes of the Revolu 
 tion, with its seizure of all property by the sans-cidottes 
 and the many political regimes France- has passed 
 through, the house stands to-day bearing in large 
 golden letters the legend " Franklin s Hotel," a tribute 
 to the heavy-jawed old Quaker who once lived there. 
 Looking at it from a certain point of view it is a com 
 mentary on the uncertainties of this world, and a 
 monument to Franklin, who enjoyed an unheard of 
 popularity with the volatile French. 
 
 A busy street the Rue Penthievre of to-day, a busy 
 street it was then, under the name of Rue Verte; 
 thronged from morn till night with vendors crying 
 aloud their wares to tempt the passers to buy. For 
 those who required the luxury of a bath there were 
 two men, drawing the ubiquitous charrette, laden with 
 tub and the proper quantity of hot water, who con 
 ducted the same up endless flights of worn, polished 
 stairs, thankfully receiving the small gratuity, which 
 their descendants would now treat with haughty con 
 tempt. Old women lauded their cabbages and more 
 refined delicacies; the trim waiting-maids, who never, 
 no matter how muddy the streets and this was before 
 
98 PAUL JONES 
 
 the days of side-walks seemed to get a spot on their 
 immaculate stockings, tripped mincingly across the 
 worn stones. The cry of the marc hand dhabits was 
 shrill and piercing enough, but when the lusty damsel, 
 who carried a broken cane-seated chair slung across 
 her shoulders in token of her calling, uplifted her 
 voice in a volume of piercing sound, Paul hastily 
 clapped his hands over his ears, lest his head should 
 be split by the noise. A fair, rosy wench she was, and 
 for full five minutes after she had faded into the crowd 
 her weird cry could be heard over the tumult of that 
 busy quarter. 
 
 There was much to amuse the observant stranger 
 the way you could hire umbrellas from an old 
 woman, who had the official concession, and, for a 
 few sous, protect your headgear from the elements; 
 the happy-go-lucky way in which daily intercourse 
 jogged along, the endless conversations required for 
 the slightest purchase; the gaily painted ladies who 
 plied their vocation without undue mystery, when not 
 in fear of the lynx eye of authority. Throngs of 
 midinettes, who swarmed from nowhere, when the 
 magic hour released them, to liven the street with 
 their magpie chatter, their shrill laughter at the 
 badinage of the crowd, their utter absence of self- 
 consciousness, which was refreshing. It was from 
 these, he mused, the du Barri had come, to drag the 
 name of France s king as low as name of king had 
 ever sunk in the history of the world. . . The day was 
 crisp, clear, exhilarating, and yet mild, as sometimes 
 happens in Paris in December, and the chestnut-sellers 
 
PAUL JONES 99 
 
 did a roaring trade as they stood on the corners, cry 
 ing their wares. Strangely unfamiliar was the scene 
 to the man who, for the last few years, had lived the 
 life of a planter, with only occasional visits to towns 
 of the new world, with their glaring crudity and 
 absence of romance. 
 
 There is, and always will be, a certain glamour 
 brought up by the word Paris ; not in the new quar 
 ters, where one hears more English than French, but 
 in the delightful and, alas ! fast disappearing old 
 streets, with their uncomfortable -pave and strange 
 smells ; where big arched gateways afford glimpses of 
 court within court, and the thousands of chimneys 
 send forth slender streams of pungent wood smoke to 
 scent the clear, thin air. 
 
 From the instant of his arrival Paul Jones found 
 the hours too short for all he hoped to do. France 
 was at the dividing ways, pausing, before declaring 
 herself for or against the new republic. The political 
 game had to be played with a masterly hand. The 
 three French parties distrusted themselves and each 
 other, and there were " rifts within the lute." The 
 extreme party, hailing everything republican with wild 
 acclaim, headed by the Due de Chartres, Lafayette, 
 the Prince de Poix, and other headstrong young 
 nobles, arranged the affairs of the nation over their 
 convivial suppers at V E-pec du Bois, and bent on 
 ruining themselves boldly and openly from the first, 
 upheld the revolt of the colonists against their King. 
 The Due de Chartres, Louis XVFs cousin, was the 
 soul of this party, which it is said he upheld from 
 
 G 2 
 
100 PAUL JONES 
 
 motives of policy, as he was in the line of (direct 
 succession to the throne after his father, the Due 
 d Orleans. 
 
 The second party, more hesitating, with the King 
 as leader, hated England and hoped to see her power 
 broken, helping the Americans with this end in view 
 rather than from any love of themselves. Bitter at 
 the defeat of the French in Canada and the loss of 
 French possessions in India, they longed to see a 
 dreaded rival forced from her high estate, no matter 
 by what means. In this party were the younger sons 
 of the nobility, the poor and ambitious officers of the 
 army and navy and a large following from the middle 
 classes who had nothing to lose. There were certain 
 statesmen who agreed with the short-sighted King in 
 encouraging the subjects of another king to revolt, 
 little dreaming that the bitter drama would one day 
 be enacted at home. Vauguyon, Luzerne and Males- 
 herbes were of this party, which included Mirabeau 
 and a host of lesser lights. 
 
 The third party was that of the Queen, poor Marie 
 Antoinette, who is accused of being a scatterbrain and 
 help up as the example of frivolity, when, in truth, 
 she was the only one who possessed enough intuition 
 to see to what all this was leading. The instinct of 
 a long line of kings revolted at the madness of 
 encouraging the masses in the belief that the Divine 
 Right of Kings could be questioned; but she was an 
 unheeded atom in the maelstrom of those who had 
 their own ends to gain. In reality the Queen was 
 simple and democratic, but she was not French, and 
 
PAUL JONES 1.01 
 
 so her views and her warnings went unheeded. In 
 her party were certain factions of the courtiers, the 
 clergy, and the following such classes wielded. 
 
 The arrival of the news of Burgoyne s defeat had a 
 decisive effect on French policy. The party headed 
 by de Chartres and Lafayette could not be restrained, 
 and completely obliterated the more moderate ones of 
 the King and Queen in their enthusiasm. On the 7th 
 of December the despatches were communicated to 
 the Court at Versailles, and on January 17, 1778, the 
 King approved the preliminary articles of the " Treaty 
 of Alliance " with the exception of the clause stipulat 
 ing that France should not undertake the re-conquest 
 of Canada. The irresolute monarch soon gave in to 
 his advisers, and on February 6, 1773^ the treaty was 
 signed at Versailles. There was no more temporising; 
 France was committed to stand by her new ally and 
 abide the result. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1777 
 
 IT seems odd that, save for the fleeting amours of 
 the sailor, there is no woman s name linked with that 
 of the gallant Paul Jones in his early life. Rover 
 as he was, he could have had his choice of the fair in 
 many strange lands, from the prim Puritan, to the 
 more informal, grass petticoated, bead-necklaced, 
 dusky belle of the tropics. Was there some hidden 
 love ? Is it she to whom he alludes in his letter to the 
 Countess of Selkirk as "hopes of a domestic bliss"? 
 All is now so vague that we shall have to be content 
 with the romantic and very intense affair which kept 
 his heart in France until the day of his death. 
 
 Aimee de Telusson, a fit love for this man of 
 mystery and strange fascination, was a king s 
 daughter. Supported by a pension from the Court, 
 and living with her protectress, Madame de Marsan, 
 under the patronage of great ladies, such as the 
 Duchesse de Chartres, the Queen, Madame de Lafa 
 yette and others, she enjoyed a unique position in 
 society. 
 
 Louis XV, of gay memory, had in his service 
 a confidential valet sometimes called by a more 
 classical name le Bel, who, in company with Madame 
 de Pompadour, looked after the well-being of that 
 unique retreat, le pare aux cerfs, and saw that 
 
 102 
 
PAUL JONES 103 
 
 the inmates thereof were, literally, "to the King s 
 taste." Le Bel, one day lounging about the gardens 
 of the Tuileries, ever with an eye on the main chance, 
 saw a most lovely child, about twelve years of age. 
 After some negotiation he bought her from her parents, 
 who were impoverished members of the lesser nobility 
 of Provence, and assumed all the expenses of her 
 education. She was put in the hands of a Madame 
 Bertrand, who taught her the polite accomplishments 
 and what she considered fitting, and the girl passed 
 two years under her influence, growing more beautiful 
 as time went on. When she was fourteen it was 
 arranged that she should be introduced into the 
 palace by the accommodating le Bel, where she at once 
 charmed the critical and jaded taste of the blase King, 
 and, with the connivance of Madame de Pompadour, 
 always obliging in these affairs, was given apartments 
 in the vast palace, where one girl more or less was not 
 hee deH. 
 
 Louis XV, unlike his illustrious grandfather, had 
 a saving and thrifty disposition. His predecessor 
 had legitimised and dowered the large family of natural 
 children of whom he was the reputed father, so they 
 finally became a fearful drain on France, and a scan dal 
 to the Courts of Europe. But this King inherited 
 the thrift of his mother, Adelaide of Savoie, and when 
 such a contretemps happened, gave the lady a speci 
 fied sum of money, a present of jewels, and there the 
 matter en ded. He never saw mother or child again. 
 More often than not, the girls were able to marry very 
 well, for the dowry provided by the King closed the 
 
104 PAUL JONES 
 
 eyes of would-be husbands to early misfortunes. 
 Madame de Pompadour generally manage d these 
 manages dc convcnancc, as she did the fare aux cerfs, 
 and other details of the secret history of the palace. 
 
 A strange connection, that a royal lover, bored with 
 his mistress, yet retreading the familiar way to her 
 apartments from sheer force of habit. The favourite, 
 weary of the monarch, but clinging to her empire, 
 cared so little that she found playthings for him, and 
 by this cunning in providing the toy of an hour, was 
 able to keep her inflexible hand on the reins of power, 
 which she so long and so despotically handled. 
 With her lettres-de-cachet, her court of sycophants, 
 her undisputed power, la Marquise de Pompadour was 
 satisfied. She had never been a woman of amorous 
 temperament, and her confidences about the chocolate 
 are both spicy and edifying. 
 
 Mademoiselle He Tiercelin, upon being taken under 
 the King s protection, was commanded to assume the 
 name of de Bonneval. The King behaved generously 
 to her when her brief reign was over, providing amply 
 for the child, which was born in 1758. Mademoiselle 
 de Bonneval, at the age of fifteen, found herself with 
 a daughter and a personal annuity of twelve thousand 
 livres a year, separate provision being ma de for the 
 child. Shortly after this the Due de Choiseul, for 
 some reason which does not seem very clear, accuses 
 de Tiercelin of being in correspondence with 
 Frederick the Great s Court, and sends him and his 
 daughter to the Bastille. Thanks to her powerful 
 protector, the lady was released immediately. It is 
 
PAUL JONES 105 
 
 not unlikely the pretext of corresponding with 
 Frederick the Great was used as a cloak for de 
 Tiercelin s disappearance, as he was inclined to boast 
 and presume on the fact of being grandfather to the 
 child of a king. The bar-sinister was no drawback 
 in the eyes of the many, and once before for the 
 same reason he had been obliged to retire to the 
 shadows of the Bastille. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour in 1761 arranged a 
 marriage for " Mademoiselle de Bonneval " with an 
 official in the Chancellene de la Marine, a M. de 
 Telluson, widower with two children, and her child 
 was afterwards known by this name. So we come to 
 Aimee de Telusson. 
 
 The girl was well educated, thanks to the provision 
 of the King, constantly under the unsparing eye of 
 the Pompadour, and shared the every-day life of her 
 mother s step-children. Possibly Madame He Pompa 
 dour had her part in life arranged, but that lady s 
 death in 1764 altered the complexion of her future. 
 All went well until she reached the age of sixteen, in 
 1774, when her father, the King, died in circumstances 
 too generally known to need relating. In a moment 
 Aimee was without income of any sort, though her 
 mother s annuity continued. It seems odd that this 
 money, which, like the allowance for her daughter s 
 maintenance and education, was paid out of the 
 King s privy purse, should have been continued by 
 Louis XVI, while Aimee was left penniless. There 
 were ructions of some sort, for Mademoiselle de 
 Telusson instantly left her step-father s house to live 
 
106 PAUL JONES 
 
 with the Marquise de Marsan, who treated her as a 
 daughter. Her education was lavishly completed by 
 the generosity of this good lady, and Aimee s passion 
 for music encouraged in every way. She sang charm 
 ingly and was, later, " spoken of as the most finished 
 performer on the guitar at Court." 
 
 Though without fortune, she did not lack suitors, 
 but, with the indifference of a girl who has never loved, 
 paid little heeH to their wooing. To those who 
 delight in constancy, it may be said that Paul Jones 
 was her first lover, her only love. It was at a ball 
 given by the Duchesse de Chartres in 1778 that Aimee 
 first met the man of whom France was talking. 
 
 Paul, from all accounts, was very much of a ladies 
 man; as keen a pursuer of Venus as in war he was 
 a follower of Mars. He ha d only to pick and choose, 
 and Hanced from flower to flower like the lightest 
 butterfly of fashion. There were adoring dames and 
 damsels rea dy to strew his path with roses and cast 
 themselves under the wheels of the conqueror s chariot 
 at a nod from the head they would fain have weightecl 
 with laurels. But the Captain was wise in his genera 
 tion, and, though he burned his incense at many a 
 shrine, was most circumspect. 
 
 The " dashing Comtesse He la Van dhal " seemed 
 to have no objection to in dulge a little harmless 
 gallantry on the part of the famous American 
 Commodore. She was a clever miniature painter, one 
 of Van der Huyt s pupils, and either she or her master 
 painted the best miniature of the hero which exists. 
 This she gave to Jones, who declared himself so 
 
PAUL JONES 107 
 
 enraptured with the work of art that he was like a 
 "second Narcissus, in love with his own resemblance." 
 He spared no effort to make himself popular, at the 
 same time not completely hiding his -penchant for 
 Mademoiselle de Telusson from eyes that had no 
 other aim in life than to ferret out the secrets of 
 those who surrounded them. From her parentage 
 Aimee de Telusson enjoyed a certain notoriety, 
 making her movements remarked inseparably from 
 the sensation caused by her beauty, which was of a 
 most striking type. Allowing for that difference be 
 tween masculine and feminine good looks, she may 
 be said to have strongly resembled her father, who as 
 a youth was considered the ideal of manly perfection. 
 She was "petite, extremely vivacious, and of most 
 charming temper, and possessed of all the polite 
 accomplishments." Her hair, which fell in rippling 
 masses almost to the ground, was of a " deep auburn, 
 often in a bright light having the hue of red gold." 
 Her eyes " were large, dark and lustrous, and her com 
 plexion the perfection of pink and white, and most 
 important detail in feminine eyes " though in her 
 twenty-sixth year, she passes everywhere for a girl of 
 twenty," the description being written about 1784. 
 Thanks to her lover s interest, she perfected herself 
 in English and also Spanish, singing melting little 
 ballads in the tongue of fair Andalusia, to the soft 
 strum of the guitar, an instrument undeniably invented 
 for the display of her charms. 
 
 There has been much speculation as to the relations 
 of this extraordinary pair; the child of a king and 
 
108 PAUL JONES 
 
 Paul Jones. From what is known of the manners of 
 the late eighteenth century, the tempestuous emotions 
 of a man of his type in the prime of life, and a girl 
 of her ancestry, speculation seems idle. The affair 
 lasted fourteen years, until his death in 1792. It 
 endured through absence, through the miserable farce 
 of his command in the Russian navy, where, for two 
 years, he never received a letter from her or from 
 one of his friends, so determined were his enemies 
 to cut him off from the world. Aware of the espionage 
 to which all correspondence was subjected in France, 
 his epistles are models of discretion. He writes of 
 her frequently in his letters to Jefferson, some ten 
 years later, when the latter was American Minister to 
 France, and Paul in New York. He provided finan 
 cially for her, when by Madame de Marsan s death she 
 was left penniless, and, well aware that the contents 
 of his letter would be back-stairs gossip before it 
 reached the " fair mourner," wrote to console her in 
 the pedantic style then in vogue. 
 
 "New York, September 4, 1787. 
 
 " MY DEAR MADAME, 
 
 " No language can convey to my fair mourner 
 the tender sorrow I feel on her account. The loss 
 of our worthy and noble friend is indeed a fatal 
 stroke ! It is an irreparable misfortune which can 
 only be alleviated by the one reflection that it is the 
 will of God, whose providence I hope may yet have 
 blessings in store for us. The noble Marquise was 
 more than a mother to you. .We have lost her. Let 
 
PAUL JONES 109 
 
 us cherish her memory, and send up grateful thanks 
 to the Almighty that we once had such a friend." 
 
 Through the influence of her friends at Court, it 
 had been arranged some time previously that Made 
 moiselle de Telusson should be received by the King, 
 who, it was hoped in the circumstances, would order 
 some provision to be made for her, and this Jones 
 alludes to, saying 
 
 " I cannot but flatter myself that you have yourself 
 gone to the King in July, as he appointed audience for 
 you. I am sure that your present loss and bereave 
 ment will newly induce him to protect you and render 
 to you justice. He will hear you, I am sure, and you 
 may safely unbosom yourself to him, telling him 
 frankly all your relations, and asking his advice, which 
 cannot but be agreeable to him to give you." 
 
 Is it probable that the suggestion, " tell him all your 
 relations," could point to the fact of a contemplated 
 marriage between the lovers? Or was she to explain 
 to the King the already existing relations? The only- 
 other "relations" Aimee had, were her half-sisters, 
 her step-father and mother, and Jones would not have 
 troubled himself about them. And, again, why did 
 they never marry? Though Mademoiselle de Telus 
 son had no fortune, the Chevalier, as he was then, had 
 means for an establishment, and with his opportunities 
 could have assured his future. 
 
 A streak of jealousy creeps out in the advice, " Tell 
 him " the King "that you must now look to him as 
 your father and protector. If it were necessary, I 
 
110 PAUL JONES 
 
 think that the Comte d Artois, his brother, would on 
 your personal application render you good office by 
 speaking in your favour. I should like it better, how 
 ever, if you do without him." This is rather amusing, 
 as the Comte d Artois was in reality a nephew, a la 
 main gauche, to Aimee. Canny Paul, like the rest of 
 the world, knew the reputation borne by this prince, 
 whose affability towards all charming dames made 
 him as popular among the ladies of the Court as with 
 those of the opera, for whose entertainment he spared 
 no expense in furnishing those wonderful pctites 
 maisons, which scandalous whispers proclaimed more 
 amazing than the glories of the Arabian Nights. 
 
 Paul laments the depression prevailing in the 
 United States in 1787, "where for thirty-six thousand 
 livres of prime securities I am offered fifteen thou 
 sand," declaring himself "puzzled for, and at this 
 moment almost without, money," and, while not 
 " resourceless by any means, cannot realise on my 
 securities quickly without sacrifices / 1 am not willing 
 to make. 
 
 :c I have written to Dr. Bancroft in London, who 
 has in his hands over forty thousand livres for me in 
 ready cash, to assist me in meeting your present needs. 
 When this reaches you, call on M. le Grand, and 
 presenting this as a credential, ask him to hand you 
 4000 livres from my Holland account. He will know 
 what that means. I enclose a bit of paper in cipher 
 with my signature. I need not translate it to you, 
 but it is a form of order for the amount mentioned. 
 
 " I do this and mention these facts with infinite 
 
PAUL JONES 111 
 
 regret, and for no other reason than because it is 
 impossible for me to transmit to you an adequate 
 supply under my present circumstances. 
 
 " This is my fifth letter to you since I left 
 Paris. . . . 
 
 " Finally, my dearest friend, summon all your 
 resolution. Exert yourself and plead your own cause. 
 You cannot fail of success. The justice of your cause 
 and the charm of your entreaties would move a heart 
 of flint ! . . . Present my tender respects to your 
 sister. ... I persuade myself that she will continue 
 her tender care of her sweet little godson and that 
 you will cover him all over with kisses from me. . . ." 
 
 Who was the " sweet little godson " whom the writer 
 wished to have covered with kisses? There was 
 such a holocaust of every kind of record during the 
 Revolution, that what proof there may have been has 
 vanished; we can only surmise. There is the ques 
 tion, if there was a child, why is there not even the 
 briefest mention of him in all the voluminous papers 
 the Chevalier left? 
 
 It is quite probable that the child died from one of 
 the many infantile complaints so little understood 
 then, or, that the papers relating to him, if he was 
 their child, were destroyed by Aimee or perished in 
 the Revolution, which carried everything relating to 
 law and order before its tidal wave, on which, at last, 
 we lose sight of the fair Aimee herself. 
 
 Being always in the glare of publicity, if the child 
 was hers, it is odd that he was not even alluded to 
 by some of the light pens scratching so incessantly. 
 
112 PAUL JONES 
 
 There was little fuss made about a child born in or 
 out of wedlock, for, if all accounts are to be believed, 
 the chubby little cherubs appeared in families with 
 the promiscuousness of rabbits. Mademoiselle de 
 Telusson s step-sister, just mentioned, was some years 
 her senior, and the wife of an officer in the Marine 
 Artillery, the Chevalier de Thouvenot. 
 
 There are constant allusions to Aimee and the 
 Chevalier Jones in the memoirs written around 1787, 
 when he came to France as agent to adjust the un 
 settled prize-money claims. Some say he never lived 
 under the same roof with her, merely cherishing her 
 with his natural tender gallantry towards all women. 
 It is unnecessary to add that this anaemic view of their 
 relations is not the suggestion of their French con 
 temporaries. Like most women of her ardent colour 
 ing, she was not lacking in temperament. She could 
 hate, and she could love. The charm of royal blood 
 was hers, and at times a touch of quick, though un 
 conscious arrogance, which would not have disgraced 
 her father, displayed over some trivial concern, 
 charmed and amused her lover, who in the end she 
 would cajole with an imploring appeal for the opinion 
 of " mon Paul." She was a woman of great intelli 
 gence, and no small aid in guiding her lover through 
 those niceties of French society to which, from her 
 childhood, she had been accustomed, and that Paul 
 never made a faux pas may be owing to this feminine 
 influence. 
 
 She was a remarkable woman, this dainty Aimee, 
 with her rippling "sun-kissed tresses," her enchanting 
 
PAUL JONES 113 
 
 coquetries, and her taper fingers, made to be kissed. 
 Though domineering at times, she idolised Paul. 
 Shortly before his death he settled an annuity on her, 
 giving her a house in the Rue de Provence, a street 
 opened a few years before. Here she lived after his 
 death, attracting a distinguished circle around her, 
 living the life of the world, while her heart was with 
 her dead. 
 
 When in 1799 Capelle published his book on Paul 
 Jones, she aided him with much general information 
 relating to the Russian campaign, including letters 
 from Potemkin, Marshal Suwarrow and the Semiramis 
 of the North, and allowed him to publish a few of 
 her lover s letters to herself. As they invariably 
 began, " My dear Madame," except in one or two, 
 where he called her his " Dear Adele," and were 
 mostly about current affairs, she could have no hesi 
 tancy in letting them be read by the world. Where 
 she was during the height of the Revolution is not 
 known. Perhaps she left France, for, being of royal 
 blood, the mob would not have spared her had its 
 thoughts flown that way. It is unlikely her annuity 
 was derived from French sources, as her lover was a 
 man of much business acumen and probably invested 
 in English or Dutch securities. With the curtailment 
 of Marie Antoinette s retinue, when the Court moved 
 to the Tuileries, Aimee lost her post of reader, which 
 she had filled for some time. From 1792 to 1799 she 
 disappeared, but we find her in the latter year teaching 
 English to the young ladies at Madame de Campan s 
 school. Her lover had insisted that she should perfect 
 
114 PAUL JONES 
 
 herself in his tongue, and, besides teaching her him 
 self, employed Miss Edes-Herbert to give her 
 lessons during the sojourn of that lady in Paris. 
 After this she taught the ladies of Josephine s gaudy 
 mushroom Court, also giving them lectures on the 
 Court of Louis XVI and the American War of 
 
 I775-83- 
 
 Aimee was consulted by Bare-re very frequently, 
 
 when he was editor of Napoleon s official gazette, and 
 translated for him those articles from the English 
 papers which the policy of the First Consul found 
 wise to lay before the French nation. She had the 
 entree of the Imperial Court as she had enjoyed the 
 friendship of those former great ones Napoleon so 
 loved to gather about him, no matter how high the 
 price of their favour. 
 
 " Loose as the morals of the Bourbon Courts were, 
 Aimee de Telusson held her head up as proudly as 
 any woman of less clouded birthright might have done. 
 She was the pet of such women as the Duchesse de 
 Chartres, the Comtesse de Bourbon, the Princesse de 
 Lamballe, the Marquise de Marsan, Madame de 
 Lafayette, and a host of others social leaders like 
 them, and she even enjoyed the sympathy, if not 
 the patronage, of the cold and prudish Marie 
 Antoinette herself. 
 
 " But little knowledge of the real character of Paul 
 Jones, but little insight into the alike fierce an d gentle 
 chivalry that was the inspiration of all his conduct, are 
 needed to perceive that his public attentions to the 
 lovely woman who gave herself to him with a single- 
 
PAUL JONES 115 
 
 ness of devotion seldom seen, would naturally have 
 been of the most discreet character and studiously 
 planned to mask any relation, or semblance of one, 
 equivocal. 
 
 "As for the absence of contemporary animadver 
 sions, we think it may be concisely accounted for by 
 the knowledge, general at the time, of the Commo 
 dore s abrupt and not always altogether harmless 
 methods of adjusting personal affairs, either on his 
 own behalf or on that of those who might claim his 
 protection or enjoy his affection." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 1777-1778 
 
 IT is indisputably to his previous acquaintance with 
 the Due de Chartres that Paul Jones owed his entree 
 and much of his success in French society, for where 
 a prince of the blood leads, others soon follow. The 
 most impartial historian has been unable to find 
 excuses for de Chartres, profligate that he was, spend 
 thrift, and master of vice of every description, whose 
 path was always downward. Even the descendants 
 of those men whom the Regent scathingly called his 
 roues a name of greater contempt and infamy than 
 in our day turned from him with loathing. 
 
 The unnameable orgies of the regence were 
 repeated, with additions undreamed of by the former 
 revellers. The very citizens of Paris shuddered in 
 disgust at the tales which crept out no one knew 7 just 
 how of saturnalia and licence inconceivable. In 
 1783 this prince built for himself, in the lovely Pare 
 Monceau, a pavilion later known as " la folle de 
 Chartres which became a theatre for the enactment 
 of those abominable revels. Another cause of his 
 extreme unpopularity with the citizens was the plan 
 he carried out of disfiguring the Palais Royal with 
 cheap and hideous booths, known as baraqucs. In 
 vain his neighbours protested, for it spoilt their view 
 
 lib 
 
PAUL JONES 117 
 
 of the old garden; but the prospect of the rents he 
 would draw so appealed to Monseigneur that he pro 
 ceeded unmoved. 
 
 The gardens under his rule were constantly being 
 changed and replanted ; he even went to the expense 
 of building an underground circus, which was later 
 destroyed by fire. 
 
 De Chartres was married to Marie Adelaide de 
 Bourbon Penthievre, the richest heiress in France, 
 whose fortune he could not spend fast enough. So 
 terrible were his extravagances that legal steps had 
 to be taken to prevent him ruining her and their 
 family. In 1 790 the Duchesse told Gouverneur Morris, 
 then American Minister, that the Due s treasurer did 
 not pay her regularly every month, and if it con 
 tinued she would separate from her husband. Her 
 father, the Due de Penthievre, tried by every means 
 to bring his son-in-law to reason, and to avoid the 
 open scandal such a separation would cause in 
 consequence of their high rank. It was useless : 
 de Chartres, now Due d Orleans, would listen to no 
 one, and a lawsuit was commenced which lasted till 
 1793. Mme. de Tourzel asserts that his hatred of 
 the Princesse de Lamballe dates from this moment, 
 as he believed her to have been instrumental in bring 
 ing about the separation which deprived him of the 
 control of his wife s purse. 
 
 D Orleans was intensely disliked by the King and 
 Queen, and history accuses him of wasting the 
 Duchesse s money on the leaders of the sans-coluttes 
 and most rabid revolutionaries, by whose help he 
 
118 PAUL JONES 
 
 hoped to bring about the speedy downfall of the royal 
 family. There were persons living at the time who 
 swore to having seen him in disguise at the fall of the 
 Bastille, and at Versailles on the night of October 6th. 
 But on July 12, 1789, when the Prince de Lambesec 
 and his German soldiers charged the mob in the 
 Tuileries Gardens, and the partisans of d Orleans 
 and Necker carried busts of these worthies through 
 the streets, crying, " Vive le Due d? Orleans! Vive 
 Necker! " the Due, though accused of encouraging 
 his followers by his presence, is able to prove an alibi. 
 That beautiful and notorious lady, Grace Dalrymple 
 Elliot, who was the Due s chere amie, begins her 
 interesting memoir 
 
 " In the year 1 789, July 1 2th, which was on a Sunday, 
 I went with the Due d Orleans, Prince Louis d Arem- 
 berg, and others whose names I do not recollect, to 
 fish and dine at the Due s chateau of Raincy, in the 
 forest of Bondy, near Paris." As the party, after a 
 long and, it is to be hoped, happy day in the country, 
 returned to Paris at eleven in the evening, the Due s 
 actions seem satisfactorily accounted for. His con 
 nivance in the fiendish murder of the Princesse de 
 Lamballe is said to be due to the fact that, on her 
 death, the immense fortune of which she was pos 
 sessed reverted to him; and he was dining with his 
 mistress, Mme. de Bouffon, at the Palais Royale, quite 
 undisturbed by the horrors of the September massacres, 
 when the mob stuck the pike bearing the beautiful 
 head up to his window. D Orleans looked calmly out 
 and said, " Oh, it is de Lamhalle s head, I know it 
 
PAUL JONES 119 
 
 by the long hair," and, reseating himself, went com 
 fortably on with his repast. 
 
 The Due was a man who had no sense of shame 
 about anything, and openly gave his mistress, Mme. 
 de Genlis, apartments in the Palais Royal, and 
 appointed her to the post of governess to his children, 
 despite the objections of the Duchesse. To such an 
 extent did the artful lady get her charges under her 
 influence that they refused to leave her and go to their 
 mother, to the untold sorrow of the latter. D Orleans 
 is described as a pleasant companion and master of 
 the art of pleasing when it was to his advantage 
 and it suited him to help the Americans cause, for 
 he had his own chestnuts to pull out of the fire. A 
 man who will foment anarchy and revolution in his 
 own country has very little of the true spirit of 
 patriotism, and this, with the callous way he broke 
 his wife s heart and estranged her children from her, 
 inclines one to believe the many discreditable stories 
 so freely told, and feel more than glad that the fate 
 to which he doomed his unoffending cousin became 
 his, when, amid groans and hisses, " galite" 
 ascended the guillotine. 
 
 In 1778 he had not reached the stage where he was 
 prepared to declare himself so openly, and, though 
 persona non grata at the Court, could and did help 
 Paul Jones to the best of his ability. He also pre 
 sented him to the Duchess, who became a staunch 
 friend, and aided the Americans with large sums of 
 money. 
 
 Paul Jones was unquestionably at this moment the 
 
120 PAUL JONES 
 
 most sought-after man in Paris, and it is amusing to 
 what an extent women of all ranks were attracted by 
 a personality which was an indescribable blending of 
 tamed pirate and man of fashion. They swarmed 
 around him like bees around honey, for his very 
 appearance breathed untold romance as he gazed into 
 those melting blue, brown, or grey eyes, in whose com 
 pany he found himself at the moment, with a fervour 
 that set hearts beating unevenly. Had the success of 
 his mission to France depended solely on the efforts 
 of women, unquestionably he would have accom 
 plished his ends in less time ; as it was he owed more 
 to the kindness of the Duchesse de Chartres than 
 his intense gratitude could ever repay. Interested in 
 such an unusual type of man, the Duchess on all 
 occasions used to treat him with the utmost gracious- 
 ness, and nicknamed him as it was her habit to do 
 with those she liked the " Chevalier sans titre de 
 la me?" 
 
 But it must not be supposed, even with the aid 
 and patronage of this very charming lady, everything 
 went smoothly. To begin with, there was wrangling 
 among the Commissioners from the United States. 
 Dr. Franklin wished to keep Paul Jones in Europe, 
 while Lee, who hated and feared him, was bent on 
 getting him on the other side of the Atlantic at the 
 first opportunity. Silas Deane, the third Commis 
 sioner, was a non-entity, with little voice in the matter. 
 Lee was playing the traitor, and employing "two 
 British spies " as his private secretaries, so that all 
 the intentions of the new republic were at once known 
 
THK DUCHKSSK DE CHARTRKS 
 
PAUL JONES 121 
 
 in London. Lee feared Jones, anH knew how little 
 mercy he could expect from the fiery captain if his 
 treachery was discovered; therefore, the sooner he 
 got Paul out of his way the better. It would be 
 interesting to know why Lee, a man blessed with the 
 world s goods, played this part. It could not be said 
 gain was the motive for his treachery to a cause he 
 championed of his own free will from the first. But 
 he did not wish Jones to remain in Europe. However, 
 Dr. Franklin held the controlling vote; he thundered 
 forth his orders that Paul Jones was to stay in France, 
 and Paul stayed. 
 
 It was the crisis in his life, for had not the good 
 doctor carried his point, Paul most probably would 
 have been relegated to the rank of captain in an infant 
 and unformed navy where, lacking that political influ 
 ence without which little was possible, obscurity might 
 have been his portion instead of the brilliant rank he 
 so deservedly won. 
 
 It was understood that on his arrival in France 
 Jones was to be given command of the Indien, a 
 frigate for which he had prepared the plans in 1775. 
 These the Marine Committee had approved, and 
 Silas Deane contracted for the frigate to be laid down 
 at Amsterdam the following year. As Holland main 
 tained a neutral policy towards the rest of Europe, 
 the frigate was supposedly intended for the East 
 India Company, and built under the supervision of 
 Captain Gillon, he being directed by Charles 
 Frederick Dumas, the secret agent of the United 
 States, through whose bankers all bills were paid. 
 
122 PAUL JONES 
 
 The Indien was frigate built, with an extreme length 
 over all of 154 feet; her complement of officers and 
 men numbered four hundred. " She was forty or 
 fifty per cent, more powerful than any regular frigate 
 then afloat; the equal, in fact, of any forty-four gun 
 ship on the two decks in that period, and little inferior 
 to most ships of fifty guns." 
 
 By order of the Marine Committee, Jones was to 
 assume command of the ship on his arrival. What 
 was his surprise then, to learn, on reaching Paris, that 
 the ship had been sold to the King of France for a 
 price that covered the expenses of her construction ! 
 He was dumbfounded, and demanded the reason of 
 this forced sale. 
 
 The Indien had been launched, and ready to pro 
 ceed to TOrient to receive her guns, when, like a 
 bolt out of the blue, Sir Joseph Yorke, Minister to 
 the Netherlands, reported to the States-General that 
 she was an American ship of war, that her building 
 had been carried on under false pretences, and 
 demanding that she should be detained in Dutch 
 waters for "meditated breach of neutrality." All 
 concerned in the venture were amazed at the betrayal 
 of the well-kept secret, until Jones, to whom it was a 
 matter of vital interest, found they had been betrayed 
 to King George s government by Lee s private 
 "secretary," Thornton. So complete was the evi 
 dence of this piece of treachery, that copies of the most 
 secret letters and documents, proving beyond a doubt 
 the purpose for which the Indien was intended, had 
 been furnished, How Dr. Franklin ever managed 
 
PAUL JONES 123 
 
 to restrain Paul Jones from falling upon Lee, and 
 rending him limb from limb as the price of his 
 treachery, is not related. But there was a terrible 
 scene. 
 
 Furious as Jones felt, at Dr. Franklin s wish he 
 went to Amsterdam to see the ship. Dark-eyed and 
 swarthy, he looked what he claimed to be, a Spanish 
 officer, wishing to inspect the Indlen and report on it 
 to his master, the King of Spain, with the probability 
 of purchasing, if satisfactory. His fluent Spanish 
 stood him in good stead, and he was able to make such 
 observations as he would, without any one dreaming 
 that the redoubtable Paul Jones was at large among 
 the unprotected citizens of Amsterdam. So well was 
 the secret kept, that Dumas was the only person to 
 whom he revealed his identity, and not one of Lee s 
 spies got an inkling of the plan. This trip occupied 
 nearly two months, and Jones returned to Franklin 
 with the assurance that during the existing neutrality 
 between England and Holland it would be idle to 
 waste time in trying to get possession of the ship, 
 even though it were the property of the French 
 government. 
 
 In refutation of the assertion that Jones behaved 
 violently over his disappointment in losing the Indien, 
 his own letter is worth quoting. 
 
 " I understood," he wrote to the Marine Committee, 
 in his first despatches from Nantes, "though I have 
 yet received no letter, that the commissioners had 
 provided for me one of the finest frigates that ever 
 was built, calculated for thirty guns on one deck, and 
 
124 PAUL JONES 
 
 capable of carrying thirty six-pounders; but were 
 under the necessity of giving her up, on account of 
 some difficulties which they met with at Court. Per 
 haps the news of our late successes may now put that 
 court in a better humour. But my unfeigned thanks 
 are equally due for that intention. " 
 
 In another letter he says, " Deeply sensible of the 
 honour w r hich Congress has conferred upon me, com 
 municated in the orders of the secret committee to 
 the commissioners, I can bear the disappointment with 
 philosophy. Yet I confess I was rather hurt when, 
 at Paris, I understood that the new frigate at Amster 
 dam had never been intended for me, before my 
 appearance, but for the constructor." 
 
 After some delay, Franklin verbally ordered him 
 to join the Ranger, where, on arrival, he found enough 
 to keep him busy, as the crew of the good ship was 
 in a state verging upon mutiny, having been stirred 
 up and worked upon by the first Lieutenant Simpson, 
 described as " a brave man, and for his calibre a good 
 officer, a thoroughbred Yankee sailor, but a man of 
 less brain than ambition." He had convinced the 
 crew that Jones was permanently detached from the 
 Ranger, that orders to sail from home were expected, 
 and he, Simpson, was to be in command; with a lot 
 more misinformation. It is said of Jones, "that the 
 crew used to get crazy about him when he was with 
 them and talking to them, and it was only when his 
 back was turned that any one could wean them away 
 from him ; " and the master hand of Lee was at the 
 bottom of this, with the assistance of those " private 
 secretaries," Thornton and Hezekiah Ford. 
 
PAUL JONES 125 
 
 Jones was a man of action : he sent instantly for 
 the disturbing Mr. Simpson. 
 
 " I command this ship, Mr. Simpson," he said, " by 
 virtue of the resolution of Congress, dated June I4th 
 last. But I will urge none of these considerations 
 upon you in your present attitude. So far as you 
 are concerned, I will say only that I command this 
 ship by virtue of the fact that I am personally the best 
 man aboard a fact which I shall cheerfully demon 
 strate to you at your pleasure ! And I wish you to 
 signify your pleasure to me here and now ! " 
 
 Mr. Simpson instantly decided that he had been 
 sadly misunderstood, and that he wished for nothing 
 better than to serve loyally under his commander as 
 he had always been proud to do. His Yankee caution 
 warned him that it was better to be " a living donkey 
 than a dead lion," and that he had no wish to be a 
 human target. The apology served Jones, who, with 
 his customary good nature, "commanded him to join 
 him, as he was going ashore to dine with the com 
 mandant of the Brest dockyard," assuring him that 
 the French officers would gladly welcome an addi 
 tional guest. 
 
 Jones returned from Holland in March 1778, but did 
 not sail for his cruise in the Ranger until April loth. 
 In the interval he had the good fortune to be con 
 stantly in the company of the Due and Duchesse de 
 Chartres, who were in residence at Brest. The day pre 
 vious to the Ranger s sailing, April 9th, the Duchesse 
 paid him the unusual compliment of giving a dinner 
 in his honour; at which, beside the household and 
 retinue of their rank, many distinguished officers of 
 
126 PAUL JONES 
 
 both services were present, naturally leading the con 
 versation to naval affairs. 
 
 In this Paul took a passive part until d Orvillers 
 brought up the great French battle off Malaga, in 
 which the Comte de Toulouse fought the allied 
 English and Dutch fleets. That he did not pursue, 
 when they ran for Gibraltar, d Orvillers made the 
 subject of adverse comment on de Toulouse. Speak 
 ing for the first time, Jones politely but decidedly 
 differed with d Orviller s opinion. If one of the fallen 
 angels had appeared in that distinguished assembly 
 unannounced, the effect could not have been more 
 startling; for, in their secret souls, most of these 
 elegant courtiers had considered Jones as an ordinary 
 " Yankee skipper," a man of good address, gifted 
 with more savoir faire than the average adventurer, 
 but never thought of him as a man of education or a 
 profound student of history. They did not know that 
 naval history was his dearest hobby, and from the 
 days of Noah s ark and the rudimentary coracle to 
 the latest ship of war he was master of his subject. 
 
 Without a suspicion of the surprise caused by his 
 remarks, he proceeded to explain technically his 
 grounds for difference of opinion in language showing 
 his complete familiarity with the strategical value 
 of the manoeuvres of de Toulouse s fleet, and gave, 
 off-hand, the armament of every ship in his com 
 mand. It is an indisputable fact that he was the only 
 man present who could have furnished this informa 
 tion, for the French navy was, fundamentally, an 
 aristocratic organisation, to enter which certain 
 degrees of nobility and hereditary honours were 
 
PAUL JONES 127 
 
 indispensable, often to the detriment of the service. 
 He proved to them that his grasp of the political 
 importance of the battle, and its effect on the war of 
 the Spanish Succession, was not inferior to his tech 
 nical knowledge; and, it may be said, from this 
 moment Paul Jones s French acquaintances took him 
 seriously, accepting him for the man of refinement 
 and culture that he was, and let their half contemptu 
 ous picture of pirate and filibuster fade from their 
 minds. They began, in a measure, to understand 
 something of his complex character. 
 
 The Duchesse, in whom the Chinese trait of 
 ancestor worship was strongly developed, delighted 
 beyond everything in the history of her grandfather 
 whom Paul so flatteringly defended. She expressed 
 her pleasure graciously, giving an order to one of her 
 attendants. A few minutes later a case was brought 
 to her, which she opened, taking from it a richly 
 jewelled watch of exquisite Louis XV design, which 
 she smilingly handed to him, with the explanation 
 that it had belonged to her grandfather, who always 
 wore it. For once in his life Paul Jones was so taken 
 aback as to be almost at a loss for suitable words in 
 which to thank the royal lady, so unexpected was the 
 gift. But he overcame his momentary embarrassment, 
 thanking the beautiful Duchesse who had so honoured 
 him, adding, with a deep bow, as he placed the won 
 derful jewelled toy close to his ambitious heart 
 
 " May it please your Royal Highness, if fortune 
 should favour me at sea, I will some day lay an 
 English frigate at your feet." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 1778 
 
 PAUL JONES was once again at sea, with the salt 
 spray stinging his lips; living, as he had lived for so 
 many years, between sea and sky, with every sense 
 on the alert for adventure. The seductions of the 
 court were forgotten, the fair women who flattered 
 and caressed, wraiths of his dreams, to fade vaguely 
 into nothingness before the cold light of reality. 
 
 Jones sailed on the Ranger from Brest on April 
 loth, his course was shaped for the west coast of Ire 
 land, but the terrific gales encountered the second 
 day out forced him to change the plans of his cruise 
 and run up St. George s Channel to the Irish Sea. 
 His own letter is the best description of the cruise 
 
 "I sailed from Brest on the loth April; my plan 
 was extensive, I therefore did not at the beginning 
 wish to encumber myself with prisoners. On the I4th 
 I took a brigantine between Scilly and Cape Clear, 
 bound for Ostend, with a cargo of flax-seed for 
 Ireland, sunk her, and proceeded into St. George s 
 Channel. 
 
 "On the 1 7th I took the ship Lord Chatham, bound 
 from London to Dublin, with a cargo consisting of 
 
 porter, and a variety of merchandise, and almost 
 
 128 
 
PAUL JONES 129 
 
 within sight of her port; this ship I manned and 
 ordered into Brest." 
 
 The following night he planned a descent on White- 
 haven, which the wind obliged him to abandon. On 
 the 1 8th in Glentine Bay, on the south coast of Scot 
 land, he "met with a revenue-wherry"; it being the 
 common practice of these vessels to board merchant 
 ships, the Ranger then having no external appearance 
 of war, it was expected that this rover would have 
 come alongside, " which, however, to his surprise, she 
 did not, though the men were at their quarters"; but 
 sailed away despite a severe cannonade. 
 
 "The next morning off the Mull of Galloway I 
 found myself so near a Scotch coasting schooner 
 loaded with barley that I could not avoid sinking her." 
 The letter goes on with much similar _detail ; then, on 
 the 2 ist, he saw the Drake of twenty guns, which he 
 determined to attack in the night. " My plan was to 
 overlay her cable, and to fall upon her bow, so as to 
 have all her decks open and exposed to our musketry, 
 etc.; at the same time it was my intention to have 
 secured the enemy by grapplings, so that, had they 
 cut their cables, they would not thereby have attained 
 an advantage. The wind was high, and unfortunately 
 the anchor was not let go as soon as the order was 
 given, so that the Ranger was brought to upon the 
 enemy s quarter at the distance of half a cable s length. 
 We had made no warlike appearance, of course had 
 given no alarm; this determined me to cut imme 
 diately, which might appear as if the cable had parted, 
 and at the same time enable me, after making a tack 
 
130 PAUL JONES 
 
 out of the loch, to return to the same prospect of 
 advantage which I had at the first." This he was 
 unable to do, as the weather grew very stormy, and 
 forced him "to shelter under the south shore of 
 Scotland." 
 
 These gales, which first caused Jones to alter his 
 cruise, equally upset the arangements of his foes. 
 When the first "provisional plan" had been made, 
 Lee s secretary, Thornton, lost no time in sending all 
 details to the Admiralty, and two heavy sloops of war 
 and a thirty-two gun frigate were ordered to the west 
 coast of Ireland. They left Plymouth on the I2th, 
 two days after the Ranger sailed, but the same gale 
 which affected Jones drove them into Falmouth for 
 shelter. When the three ships arrived at their destina 
 tion they could, naturally enough, find no trace of 
 the Ranger. Until the news sent by Thornton reached 
 the Admiralty, there was no idea of Jones being in the 
 vicinity, much less cruising in home waters. 
 
 Paul Jones had planned this cruise with the hope 
 of crippling English shipping. With this in view, 
 he intended to make a descent on Whitehaven, a 
 " considerable port," where he had the advantage of 
 knowing every foot of the ground from his boyhood. 
 He has been the victim of abuse from all sorts of 
 writers for attacking a town where he had associations, 
 perhaps even friends. But in war there is no senti 
 ment, and it is open to question whether little Johnnie 
 Paul was much spoiled or feted when he returned 
 from his voyages in his poor and unknown days. He 
 intended on such destruction of life and property as 
 
PAUL JONES 131 
 
 King George s brutal Hessian soldiers inflicted on 
 the Americans, and who had spared his plantation and 
 slaves when Lord Dunmore made that devastating 
 raid ? The age was more rugged than the one we live 
 in, and conflicting parties did not go to war for the 
 sake of exchanging civilities. 
 
 On 2 2nd of April he again determined to attack 
 Whitehaven. The hills were covered with snow and the 
 wind so light that " the ship would not in proper time 
 approach so near as I intended." So, nothing daunted, 
 he left the Ranger at midnight with thirty-one 
 volunteers and two boats. So long had all this taken 
 that it was dawn when they reached the outer pier. 
 " I would not abandon the enterprise," he continues, 
 " but despatched one boat under the direction of Mr. 
 Hill and Lieut. Wallingford, with the necessary com 
 bustibles to set fire to the shipping on the north side 
 of the harbour, while I went with the other party to 
 attempt the south side. I was successful in scaling 
 the walls and spiking all the cannons on the first fort; 
 finding the sentinels shut up in the guard-house, they 
 were secured without being hurt. Having fixed 
 sentinels, I now took with me one man only (Mr. 
 Green, midshipman), and spiked up all the cannon on 
 the southern fort, distant from the other a quarter of 
 a mile." 
 
 Rather a daring exploit for one man and a boy to 
 undertake single-handed in the daylight, when the 
 whole town might swoop down on them at any 
 moment ; and how bitter the shock of disappointment 
 on returning breathless " from this business I naturally 
 
 I 2 
 
132 PAUL JONES 
 
 expected to see the fire of the ships on the north side, 
 as well as to find my own party with everything in 
 readiness to set fire to the shipping on the south; 
 instead of this, I found the boat under the direction 
 of Mr. Hill and Mr. Wallingford and the party in 
 some confusion, their light having burnt out at the 
 instant when it became necessary. 
 
 " By the strangest fatality my own party were in 
 the same situation, the candles being all burnt out. 
 The day came on apace, yet I would by no means 
 retreat while any hopes of success remained. Having 
 again placed sentinels, a light was obtained at a house 
 disjoined from the town, and a fire was kindled in the 
 steerage of a large ship, which was surrounded by at 
 least a hundred and fifty others, chiefly from two to 
 four hundred tons burthen, and lying side by side 
 aground, unsurrounded by water. 
 
 There were, besides, from seventy to a hundred 
 large ships in the north arm of the harbour, aground, 
 clear of the water, and divided from the rest only by 
 a stone pier of a ship s height. I should have kindled 
 fires in other places if the time had permitted; as it 
 did not, our care was to prevent the one kindled from 
 being easily extinguished. After some search a barrel 
 of tar was found, and poured into the flames, which 
 now ascended from all the hatchways. The inhabit 
 ants began to appear in thousands, and individuals 
 ran hastily towards us. I stood between them and 
 the ship on fire, with a pistol in my hand, and ordered 
 them to retire, which they did with precipitation. The 
 flames had already caught the rigging, and began to 
 
PAUL JONES 133 
 
 ascend the main-mast; the sun was a full hour s march 
 above the horizon, and as sleep no longer ruled the 
 world it was time to retire. We re-embarked, having 
 released a number of prisoners, as our boats could not 
 carry them. After all my people had embarked I 
 stood on the pier for a considerable space, yet no 
 person advanced ; I saw all the eminences around the 
 town covered with amazed inhabitants." 
 
 His contemporaries considered this an unparalleled 
 feat of hardiness, that a handful of men dared, in 
 broad daylight, land in a large town, spike guns, lock 
 sentries in the guard-house, and unconcernedly set 
 fire to the shipping, while the dazed inhabitants stood 
 by in masses, gaping with surprise. There was a rush 
 to the cannon, as soon as the boats rowed out of range, 
 to find them spiked and harmless. The thirty guns, 
 intended to defend the fort were mere masses of use 
 less metal. After a little the townspeople found some 
 ships guns that had not been disabled, and fired one 
 or two dismounted cannon that laid on the beach and 
 had not been spiked, but their aim was affected by 
 excitement, and Jones wrote: "Afforded some diver 
 sion, which my people could not help showing, by 
 discharging their pistols, etc., in return of the salute." 
 
 The non-success of this raid was one of the captain s 
 greatest disappointments, and it was long before he 
 became reconciled to its failure. He reported to 
 Congress 
 
 " My first object was to secure an exchange of 
 prisoners in Europe, and my second to put an end 
 by one good fire in England of shipping to all the 
 
134 PAUL JONES 
 
 burnings in America. I succeeded in the first even 
 by means far more glorious than my most flattering 
 ideas had expected when I left France. In the second 
 I endeavoured to deserve success; but a wise officer 
 of mine observed, " that it was a rash thing, and that 
 nothing could be got by burning poor people s 
 property." I must, however, do him the justice to 
 mention his acknowledgment that he had no turn for 
 the enterprise, and I must also do equal justice to my 
 former officers in the Providence and Alfred by de 
 claring that had they been with me in the Ranger two 
 hundred and fifty or three hundred sail of large ships 
 at Whitehaven would have been left in ashes." 
 
 All this must have been maddening to the high- 
 tempered Paul, who had so long and carefully planned 
 his raid, especially as one of his crew turned traitor, 
 and went from house to house, rousing up the inhabit 
 ants with the tidings " that fire had been set to a ship." 
 There were no casualties, and only one man was left 
 behind, Jonathan Wells, who lingered too long feed 
 ing the tar-kindled flames. He was not lacking in 
 his share of " Yankee wit," made every one believe 
 him a deserter, and shipped on a transport taking 
 troops to America. Once there he deserted, enlisting 
 on a privateer, then in some manner came to be in 
 the crew of the Alliance when she took Lafayette 
 home in 1779, and when he got to POrient at once 
 reported to his old captain, who had him transferred 
 to the Bonhomme Richard, fitting out for a cruise at 
 that port. Wells is the man who, under the name of 
 " Freeman," supplied the information from which the 
 
PAUL JONES 135 
 
 contemporary Cumberland Packet publishe d a much 
 quoted article. 
 
 If the attempt had been an hour earlier it is impos 
 sible to estimate the damage Jones s forces might 
 have done, but dawn saved the town of Whitehaven. 
 The growing daylight showed the townspeople the 
 smallness of his forces and they began to rally in great 
 numbers, but without system or order. Jones decided 
 it was time to retreat, as the landing parties having 
 become separated he feared Wallingford might be 
 cut off before they could reach the waiting boats. 
 With a command to " Come on ! " he and his twelve 
 men rushed the hundred militia, who were trying to 
 regain possession of the lower fort with the spiked 
 guns, enabling his men, after some lively but harm 
 less skirmishing, to retreat to the boats in good 
 order. 
 
 So ended the famous raid on Whitehaven, a town 
 of from forty to fifty thousand inhabitants, which, 
 " with thirty men only he surprised ; taking two 
 strong forts with thirty pieces of cannon ; setting fire 
 to the shipping where they lay, 300 or upward in 
 the dry pier. That both shipping and town were 
 not burned is due to the backwardness of some 
 persons under my command," Jones concluded his 
 report. 
 
 cc Few naval enterprises exhibit a character of 
 greater daring and originality than this descent on 
 Whitehaven," is the comment of Mackenzie, always 
 reluctant to praise Paul Jones, but such a dare-devil 
 foray won praise even from his pen. " Its actual 
 
136 PAUL JONES 
 
 results were of little moment, for the intended destruc 
 tion of the shipping was limited to one vessel. But 
 the moral effects of it were very great, as it taught 
 the English that the fancied security of their coasts 
 w r as a myth, and thereby compelled their government 
 to take expensive measures for the defence of numer 
 ous ports hitherto relying for protection wholly on the 
 vigilance and supposed omnipotence of their navy. 
 It also doubled or more the rates of insurance, which, 
 in the long run, proved the most grievous damage 
 of all" 
 
 The excitement along the coast was intense. The 
 stout burghers, thoroughly aroused at the thoughts of 
 being seized and carried off by pirates and desperadoes 
 as they sat in the once safe shelter of their homes, 
 formed themselves into companies of militia, to 
 defend the household gods from the ruthless invader. 
 Never in the memory of man had they been so shocked 
 and surprised out of their after-dinner meditations; 
 but, most terrible warning of what might happen to 
 them, was that alarming fact : that it doubled or more 
 the rates of insurance, which, as Jones wrote, "in the 
 long run proved the most grievous damage of all" 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 1778 
 
 No action of Paul Jones s chequered career has 
 been the theme of more controversy than the descent 
 on St. Mary s Isle, a beautifully wooded promontory 
 in the river Dee, about a mile from Kirkcudbright, 
 belonging to the Earl of Selkirk. 
 
 Despite the ridiculous stories prevalent, Jones had 
 no grudge against this nobleman, whom he had never 
 seen. He hoped to carry off Lord Selkirk, hold him 
 prisoner of war, and use him as a pawn in negotiating 
 the release and better treatment of American prisoners. 
 There was no ulterior motive in the whole transaction, 
 which he explains to Lady Selkirk in the letter which 
 has been published far and wide. He did not make 
 his descent on St. Mary s Isle with intent to plunder, 
 and always regretted that he could not make the love 
 of glory greater than gain in the breasts of those who 
 fought with him; for, under the rules of war, he had 
 no right to object to the seizure of Lady Selkirk s 
 plate. 
 
 Of course he had the tremendous advantage of 
 knowing every yard of the coast, and was his own 
 pilot, After leaving Whitehaven he headed for the 
 north shore, up Sol way Firth, about three hours sail 
 
 137 
 
138 PAUL JONES 
 
 with the wind favourable. He wrote Mr. Hewes, that 
 by making two descents, thirty or forty miles apart in 
 so short a time practically the same day he would 
 give the idea that a large fleet of American ships was 
 hovering about the coast. He landed on St. Mary s 
 Isle with one boat and twelve men, proceeding un 
 molested to the castle. Learning that Lord Selkirk 
 was not at home, and the object of his visit fruitless, 
 Jones wished to retire to the Ranger, but this the men, 
 not having the same contempt for booty, were unwill 
 ing to do. 
 
 Out of respect to the emphatic comman ds of their 
 captain they offered no violence, mostly remaining 
 in the hall, while a deputation waited on Lady 
 Selkirk, who was at breakfast, requesting that she 
 would deliver to them all the plate and valuables 
 in the establishment. This she ordered the butler to 
 do, but the treasures at St. Mary s were the result of 
 centuries of collecting, and, from the value of what 
 they carried away, it is clearly shown that the old 
 retainer obeyed his mistress s order with some mental 
 reservations of his own. Even the tea-pot, from 
 which the family were pouring that " cup which cheers, 
 not inebriates," was hastily emptied to add to the 
 spoils; and, it is said, on its return to the Selkirks, 
 some years later, the original tea-leaves still remained 
 in the pot ! 
 
 For some time after leaving St. Mary s Isle Jones 
 was too fully occupied to concern himself with the 
 theft of the plate, but, on arriving at Brest, he wrote 
 the following explanatory letter to Lady Selkirk 
 
H S 
 
PAUL JONES 139 
 
 "Ranger, Brest, May 8, 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 winking 
 at any action of persons under his command which his 
 heart cannot approve; but the reflection is doubly 
 severe when he finds himself obliged, in appearance, 
 to countenance such acts by his authority. 
 
 "This hard case was mine, when, on the 23rd of 
 April last, I landed on St. Mary s Isle. Knowing 
 Lord Selkirk 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 captivity, when the brave are overpowered 
 and made prisoners of war. 
 
 " It was, perhaps, fortunate for you, Madame, that 
 he was from home, for it was my intention to have 
 taken him on board the Ranger, and to have detained 
 him until, through his means, a general and fair 
 exchange of prisoners, as well in Europe as in 
 America, had been effected. When I was informed 
 by some men whom I met at landing that his Lord 
 ship was absent, I walked back to my boat, determined 
 to leave the island. By the way, however, some 
 officers, who were with me, could not forbear express 
 ing their discontent, observing that, in America, no 
 delicacy was shown By the English, who took away all 
 sorts of movable property, setting fire, not only to 
 towns and to the houses of the rich, without distinc 
 tion, but not even sparing the wretched hamlets and 
 
140 PAUL JONES 
 
 milch-cows of the poor and helpless, at the approach 
 of an inclement winter. That party had been with 
 me the same morning at Whitehaven ; some complais 
 ance, therefore, was their due. I had but a moment 
 to think how I might gratify them, and at the same 
 time do your Ladyship the least injury. I charged 
 the officers to permit none of the seamen to enter the 
 house, or to hurt anything about it; to treat you, 
 Madame, with the utmost respect; to accept of the 
 plate which was offered, and to come away without 
 making a search, or demanding anything else. 
 
 " I am induced to believe that I was punctually 
 obeyed, since I am informed that the plate which they 
 brought away is far short of the quantity expressed in 
 the inventory which accompanied it. I have gratified 
 my men; and, when the plate is sold, I shall become 
 the purchaser, and will gratify my own feelings by 
 restoring it to you by such conveyance as you shall 
 please to direct. 
 
 " Had the Earl been on board the Ranger the 
 following evening he would have seen the awful pomp 
 and dreadful carnage of a sea engagement, both 
 affording ample subject for the pencil as well as 
 melancholy reflections for the contemplative mind. 
 Humanity starts back from such scenes of horror, and 
 cannot sufficiently execrate the vile promoters of this 
 detestable war 
 
 For they, twas they, unsheathed the ruthless blade, 
 And Heaven shall ask the havoc it has made. 
 
 The British ship-of-war Drake, mounting twenty 
 guns, with more than her full complement of officers 
 
PAUL JONES 141 
 
 and men, was Our opponent. The ships met, and the 
 advantage was disputed with great fortitude on each 
 side for an hour and four minutes, when the gallant 
 commander of the Drake fell, and victory declared 
 in favour of the Ranger. The amiable lieutenant lay 
 mortally wounded, besides near forty of the inferior 
 officers and crew killed and wounded a melancholy 
 demonstration of the uncertainty of human prospects 
 and of the sad reverse of fortune which an hour can 
 produce. I buried them in a spacious grave, with 
 the honours due to the memory of the brave. 
 
 " Though I have drawn my sword in the present 
 generous 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 or family, 
 and having lived long enough to know that riches 
 cannot insure happiness. I profess myself a citizen 
 of the world, totally unfettered by the little, mean 
 distinctions of climate or of country, which diminish 
 the benevolence of the heart and set bounds to philan 
 thropy. Before this war began I had at the early time 
 of life withdrawn from the sea-service in favour of 
 calm contemplation and poetic ease. I have sacri 
 ficed not only my favourite scheme of life, but the 
 softer affections of the heart and my prospects of 
 domestic happiness, and I am ready to sacrifice my 
 life also with cheerfulness, if that forfeiture could 
 restore peace and goodwill among mankind. 
 
 " As 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 
 
142 PAUL JONES 
 
 endeavour 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 retali 
 ated 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 endeavours to effect a general ex 
 change of prisoners will be an act of humanity which 
 will afford you golden feelings on a death-bed. 
 
 : I hope this cruel contest will soon be closed; but 
 should it continue, I will wage no war with the fair. 
 I will acknowledge their force and bend before it 
 with submission. 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, consistent with my duty, to merit it. 
 
 The honour 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 elsewhere I hope you will see into my character so 
 far as to command me without the least grain of 
 reserve. 
 
 " I wish to know exactly the behaviour of my people, 
 as I am determined to punish them if they have ex 
 ceeded their liberty. I have the honour to be, with 
 much esteem and with profound respect, Madame, 
 etc., etc., 
 
 "JOHN PAUL JONES. 
 
 " To the Countess of Selkirk." 
 
PAUL JONES 143 
 
 The correspondence occasioned by the seizure of 
 the Selkirk plate became voluminous, lasting several 
 years. Paul Jones had pledged his personal honour 
 to restore the plate, "which was very old, and fashion 
 of it not worth a straw, especially in France, where 
 none such was used," but, once in the harpy claws of 
 commissaries and prize agents, it required all his dis 
 interestedness to wrest the plate from them, even by 
 paying, he says, "more than the value," which was 
 something between 140 and 150, showing that a 
 very small part of the Selkirk plate really left the 
 castle. It was valued and re-valued, and occasioned 
 more trouble and expense than it was intrinsically 
 worth, had not Jones considered his honour pledged 
 for its safe restoration. 
 
 Father John, an Irish priest, chaplain to Comte 
 d Orvillers, then commanding a fleet lying off Brest, 
 helped him greatly in the matter, the delay of which 
 exasperated the Captain. So justly provoked was he 
 about this affair, and the sordid spirit of the agents, 
 " that in the very temper of Hotspur we find him ex 
 claiming : I will not abate the thousandth part of 
 a sol of the three twentieths of prizes, which no man 
 in America ever presumed to dispute as being my just 
 and proper right, and which no rascal in Europe shall 
 presume to dispute with impunity ! To whom, since 
 I was myself Commander-in-Chief, would this old 
 fool decree the three twentieths ? Perhaps to his dear 
 self, who is puffed up with the idea of his right to 
 secure the property of captures. " 
 
 Dr. Franklin approved Jones s stand, saying that 
 
144 PAUL JONES 
 
 it "was a gallant letter, which must give her ladyship 
 a high opinion of his generosity and nobleness of 
 mind." Lord Selkirk answered the letter, saying he 
 would accept the plate if returned by order of Con 
 gress, but not " if redeemed by individual generosity." 
 Through a chain of circumstances this letter never 
 reached Jones, being detained several months in the 
 General Post Office in London, and finally returned 
 to the writer. Immediately Selkirk asked a friend 
 to tell Dr. Franklin the contents, as this seemed 
 the easiest way to ensure his reply reaching Paul 
 Jones. 
 
 In 1780 the latter got possession of the plate, but 
 it was not until four years later he was able to restore 
 it to the owners. In a letter to Lady Selkirk, under 
 the date of March i, 1780, he alludes to the informa 
 tion conveyed to him by Lord Selkirk s friend, Mr. 
 Alexander, as to the non-arrival of the letter, also that 
 he had been for the greater part of the time absent 
 from the kingdom. He has " the great satisfaction 
 to inform her that Congress has relinquished their real 
 or supposed interest in the plate, and, for my own 
 part, I scorn to add to my fortune by such an acquisi 
 tion. As for the part claimed by the few men who 
 landed wjth me on St. Mary s Isle it is of little con 
 sequence, and they are already satisfied. Thus you 
 see, Madame, the objection is removed." 
 
 In February 1784 Paul explains to Lord Selkirk 
 that the plate is " lodged in the hands of Messrs. 
 Gourlade and Moylan," mentioning a letter from Mr. 
 Nesbitt, who had been informed by Selkirk s son, 
 
HELEN, COUNTESS OF SELKIRK 
 u unfinished painting. Reproduced by permission of Captain John Hope. R.X 
 
PAUL JONES 145 
 
 Lord Daer, " that Lord Selkirk had agreed to its being 
 restored, and forwarded to the care of your sister-in- 
 law, the Countess of Morton, in London/ which all 
 seems simple and easy, though there was a lot of red 
 tape to be untied before the family tea-pot with the 
 leaves still in it was once again seen upon the 
 breakfast table. 
 
 Paul received a very flattering letter from M. de 
 Calonne, who alluded to one Paul had written, asking 
 permission "to transport by land from 1 Orient to 
 Calais, the plate of Lady Selkirk, which you had 
 permitted to be taken by your people during the late 
 war, and which you afterwards purchased to return to 
 her ladyship." 
 
 * That action, sir, is worthy of the reputation which 
 you acquired by your conduct, and proves that true 
 valour perfectly agrees with humanity and generosity." 
 
 De Calonne tells Paul that he has "given orders 
 to the Farmers General to permit the transportation 
 of the plate from 1 Orient to Calais, free of duty, and 
 you may write to your correspondent at 1 Orient to 
 deliver it to the director of the posts, who will take 
 upon himself the care of having it transported to 
 Calais, and to fulfil all the necessary formalities. The 
 Duke of Dorset has been so obliging as to write to 
 the Custom House at Dover, requesting them to let it 
 pass to London without being opened." So, at last, 
 the plate seemed to be in a fair way to be restored to 
 its rightful owners. 
 
 Jones wrote apologetically to Lord Selkirk for 
 the length of time the plate had been detained, 
 
146 PAUL JONES 
 
 and alludes to his motive for wishing to take him 
 prisoner. 
 
 " You observed to Mr. Alexander, that my idea was 
 a mistaken one, because you were not (as I had sup 
 posed) in favour with the British government, who 
 knew you favoured the cause of liberty On that 
 account I am glad that you were absent from your 
 estate when I landed there, as I bore you no personal 
 enmity, but the contrary towards you. . . . 
 
 "As I have endeavoured to serve the cause of 
 liberty, through every stage of the American Revolu 
 tion, and sacrificed to it my private ease, a part of my 
 fortune, and some of my blood, I could have no selfish 
 motive in permitting my people to demand and carry 
 off your plate. My sole inducement was to turn their 
 attention and stop their rage from breaking out, and 
 retaliating on your home and effects the wanton 
 burnings and desolation that had been committed 
 against their relations and fellow-citizens in America 
 by the British ; of which I assure you, you would have 
 felt the severe consequences had I not fallen on an 
 expedient to prevent it, and hurried my people away 
 before they had time for further reflection. As you 
 were so obliging as to say to Mr. Alexander that my 
 -people behaved with great decency at your house] I 
 ask the favour of you to announce that circumstance 
 to the public. ... I am, etc. 3 
 
 So many slurs have been cast on Paul Jones over 
 this incident, that it is but just to quote Lord Sel 
 kirk s reply, the tone of which proves there was no 
 
PAUL JONES 147 
 
 grudge in his personal feelings toward the Com 
 mander, who had merely acted in accordance with the 
 customs of war 
 
 " London, August 4, 1789. 
 
 " MONSIEUR LE CHEVALIER PAUL JONES, A PARIS, 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I have received the letter you wrote me at 
 the time you sent off my plate, in order for restoring 
 it. Had I known where to direct a letter to you, at 
 the time it arrived in Scotland, I would have then 
 wrote to you; but not knowing it, nor finding that any 
 of my acquaintance at Edinburgh knew it, I was 
 obliged to delay writing till I came here; when, by 
 means of a gentleman connected with America, I was 
 told that M. le Grand was your banker at Paris, and 
 would take proper care of a letter for you; therefore 
 I enclose this to him. 
 
 " Notwithstanding all the precautions you took for 
 the easy and uninterrupted conveyance of the plate, 
 yet it met with considerable delays, first at Calais, next 
 at Dover, then at London. However, it at last arrived 
 at Dumfries, and, I dare say, quite safe, though as 
 yet I have not seen it, being then at Edinburgh. 
 
 " I intended to have put an article in the newspapers 
 about your having returned it; but before I was in 
 formed of its being arrived some of your friends, I 
 suppose, had it put in the Dumfries newspaper, 
 whence it was immediately copied into the Edinburgh 
 papers, and thence into the London ones. 
 
 " Since that time I have mentioned it to many 
 
 K 2 
 
148 PAUL JONES 
 
 people of fashion ; and on all occasions, sir, both now 
 and formerly, I have done you the justice to tell that 
 you made an offer of returning the plate very soon 
 after your return to Brest, and although you yourself 
 were not at my house, but remained at the shore with 
 your boat, that yet you had your officers and men in 
 such extraordinary good discipline, that you having 
 given them the strictest orders to behave well, to do 
 no injury of any kind, to make no search, but only 
 to bring off what plate was given them ; that in reality 
 they did exactly as ordered, and that not one man 
 offered to stir from his post on the outside of the 
 house, nor entered the doors, nor said an uncivil word ; 
 that the two officers stood not a quarter of an hour in 
 the parlour and butler s pantry while the butler got 
 the plate together; behaved politely, and asked for 
 nothing but the plate, and instantly marched their 
 men off in regular order; and that both officers and 
 men behaved m all respects so well, that it would have 
 done credit to the best disciplined troops whatever. 
 
 " Some of the English newspapers at that time 
 having put in confused accounts of your expedition 
 to Whitehaven and Scotland, I ordered a proper one 
 of what happened in Scotland to be put in the London 
 newspapers, by a gentleman who was then at my house, 
 by which the good conduct and civil behaviour of your 
 officers and men were done justice to, and attributed 
 to your orders and the good discipline you maintained 
 over your people. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your most humble servant, 
 
 " SELKIRK." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 1778 
 
 ON the morning of April 24, 1778, the Ranger, 
 after her attack on the shipping of Whitehaven and 
 descent on St. Mary s Isle, was again off Carrick- 
 fergus, on the eve of that encounter which was 
 to bring her captain fame in a night. Though 
 there are many descriptions of the battle, the best is 
 that given by Jones himself to Mr. Hewes. He 
 begins 
 
 u On the morning of the 24th I was again off 
 Carrickfergus, and would have gone in, had I not 
 seen the Drake preparing to come out; it was very 
 moderate, and the Drake s boat was sent out to recon 
 noitre the Ranger. As the boat advanced I kept the 
 ship s stern directly towards her, and, though they 
 had a spy-glass in the boat, they came on within hail 
 alongside. When the officer came on the quarter 
 deck he was greatly surprised to find himself a 
 prisoner! although an express had arrived from 
 Whitehaven the night before. I now understood what 
 I had before imagined, that the Drake came out in 
 consequence of this information with volunteers 
 against the Ranger. The officers told me also that 
 they had taken up the Ranger s anchor. 
 
 * The Drake was attended by five small vessels full 
 
 149 
 
150 PAUL JONES 
 
 of people, who were led by motives of curiosity to 
 see an engagement; but when they discovered the 
 Drake s boat at the Ranger s stern they wisely put 
 back." 
 
 It seems a curious piece of carelessness that an 
 officer should come aboard an unknown ship in this 
 casual manner, asking no questions, taking for granted 
 that all the world was friendly, and this, when that 
 "terrible pirate and sea wolf," Paul Jones, was at 
 large ! The astonishment of this confiding officer 
 must have been worth recording in his memoirs, if he 
 ever wrote any ! 
 
 "Alarm smokes now appeared in great abundance, 
 extending along both shores of the channel. The 
 tide was unfavourable, so that the Drake worked out 
 slowly. This obliged me to run down several times, 
 and to lay with courses up, and main-topsails to the 
 mast. At length the Drake weathered the point, and 
 having led her out to about mid-channel, I suffered 
 her to come within hail. The Drake hoisted English 
 colours, and at the same instant the American Stars 
 were displayed on board the Ranger. I expected 
 that preface had been now at an end; but the 
 enemy soon after hailed, demanding what the ship 
 was. I directed the master to answer, the American 
 Continental ship Ranger, that we waited for them, 
 and desired they would come on. The sun was now 
 a little more than an hour from setting, it was, there 
 fore time to begin. The Drake being rather astern 
 of the Ranger, I ordered the helm up, and gave her 
 the first broadside. The action was warm, close and 
 
PAUL JONES 151 
 
 obstinate; it laste d an hour and five minutes, when 
 the enemy called for quarter, her fore and main top 
 sails both being cut away and down on the cap; the 
 fore-topgallant yard and mizzen-gaff both hanging 
 up and down along the mast ; the second ensign, which 
 they had hoisted, shot away and hanging over the 
 quarter-gallery in the water; the jib shot away, and 
 hanging in the water; her sails and rigging entirely 
 cut to pieces, her main-masts and yards all wounded, 
 and her hull also very much galled. 
 
 " I lost only Lieutenant Wallingford and one sea 
 man (John Donegal) killed and six wounded, among 
 whom are the gunner (Mr. Falls) and Mr. Powers, a 
 midshipman, who lost his arm. One of the woun ded 
 (Nathaniel Wills) is since dead, and the rest will 
 recover. 
 
 "At the time of going into action the Ranger had 
 one hundred and twenty-six, all hands, at quarters, 
 and eighteen guns. The Drake s battery is sixteen 
 nine-pounders and four f our-pounHers ; the Ranger s 
 fourteen nine-pounders and four sixes. 
 
 "The result of the action was due entirely to the 
 superior gunnery of my crew. There was no manoeuv 
 ring worth mention. As soon as the two ships got 
 clear of the land, the Drake being astern an d within 
 hail, both standing to the eastward, the wind southerly 
 and light, sea fairly smooth, they hailed us : What 
 ship is that? to which we replied, The American 
 Continental ship Ranger; come on, we are waiting for 
 you. 5 
 
 " Both ships then wore almost together, laying their 
 
152 PAUL JONES 
 
 heads to the north, and going off nearly before the 
 wind, which was no more than enough to make good 
 steering way. 
 
 "Our broadside was just an instant the first. The 
 enemy s fire was spirited, but, for a king s ship, very 
 ineffective. This I can only attribute to the distress 
 and confusion caused on board of her by the remark 
 able effect of our fire. The range was close, hardly 
 more than a musket shot at any time. Her crew, as 
 I can judge from the prisoners taken, was fully up to 
 the British man-of-war standard : yet in the hour of 
 cannonading our loss was only two killed and six 
 wounded one mortally. The Ranger did not suffer 
 in hull or spars or rigging enough to have prevented 
 her from fighting again the next morning if necessary. 
 But the Drake was almost wrecked, and she lost 
 nineteen killed or died of wounds, including her cap 
 tain and first lieutenant, and twenty-eight officers and 
 men severely wounded, the only sea officer remaining 
 to strike her flag being her second lieutenant. 
 
 The behaviour of my men in this engagement 
 more than justifies the representations I have so often 
 made to you of what American sailors would do if 
 given a chance at the enemy in his own waters We 
 have seen that they fight with courage on our own 
 But no one has ever seen them fight on our 
 coast as they fought here, almost in hail of the enemy s 
 Every shot told, and they gave the Drake 
 broadsides for two right along at that. Of 
 surse, I had lost no opportunity of training them in 
 gun exercise, both at sea and in port. But my 
 
PAUL JONES 153 
 
 supply of ammunition would never admit of actual 
 target practice, so the precision of their fire was simply 
 natural aptitude." 
 
 Would that much restrained ami harassed com 
 mander have obtained greater results if he had the 
 ample facilities of other navies to draw upon? It is 
 open to question, for, with his poor little ship, half- 
 equipped and wholly untried, he won his battles, and 
 that, after all, is the aim ami end of warfare, despite 
 the "pelagic conditions and ulterior objects" so 
 learnedly discoursed of by Napoleon s admirals, much 
 to that imperious autocrat s disgust when he demandeH 
 action, not theory. 
 
 Paul was jubilant over the aptitude shown by his 
 crew : " I have never seen men handle guns as they 
 handled the Ranger s nine-pounders," he declared, 
 with honest pride in the success of his training. "As 
 the two ships were going off the wind, which was 
 light, they both rolled considerably and together ; that 
 is, when the Ranger went down to port the Drake 
 came up to starboard. Quite early in the action I 
 noticed that my quarter gunners had caught the 
 Drake s period of roll and were timing to fire as their 
 muzzles went down and the enemy s came up. By 
 this practice they were hulling the Drake prodigiously 
 below the water-line and everywhere below the plank- 
 sheer, though damaging her but little aloft. Being 
 near Quarter-Gunner Owen Starbuck of Nantucket at 
 the moment, I asked him why they fired that way, and 
 he replied, To sink the English b s, sir. 
 
 " I then told Starbuck and the others that it was not 
 
154 PAUL JONES 
 
 my policy to sink the Drake, but that I wished to take 
 her alive instead of destroying her; explaining that 
 it would be much more to our advantage to carry her 
 as a visible prize into a French port. The alert 
 fellows instantly took this hint, and began firing as 
 their muzzles rose, by which practice they soon 
 crippled the Drake s spars and rigging, and made her 
 an unmanageable log on the water. I am persuaded 
 that if I had not advised them to this effect, my 
 gunners would have sunk the Drake in an hour ! As 
 it was, we had to put spare sails over the sides after 
 she struck to keep her afloat, and careen her as much 
 as we could the next day to plug the holes they had 
 already made between wind and water. While I am 
 telling you about the behaviour of my men, I must 
 not forget to mention that at the moment when the 
 Drake s fore and main topsail yards came down on 
 the caps, and she fell off, giving us the chance to luff 
 under her stern and rake her, I was in the forward 
 division, in consequence of Lieutenant Wallingford 
 being killed, and at once started to run aft to the 
 wheel to order the helm down for the manoeuvre. But 
 before I got to the mainmast the fore and main top 
 sails were already shivering, because Chief Quarter- 
 Master Nathan Sergeant of Portsmouth, N.H., who 
 had the wheel, had already seen our chance and had 
 taken upon himself the important responsibility of 
 luffing ship without orders : thus anticipating my 
 intention, and leaving me nothing to do but order the 
 starboard tacks on board to keep her full and shift 
 the broadside for raking, when, luckily, the enemy, 
 
PAUL JONES 155 
 
 realising his helpless situation, called for quarter and 
 spared further bloodshed. The unfortunate loss of 
 Lieutenant Wallingford in the action enabled me to 
 advance Mr. Sergeant to the post of Acting Master. 
 But I regret to say that since our return here he has 
 found it to his advantage to leave me, being offered 
 command of a large French privateer of twenty-six 
 guns, belonging to M. de Chaumont and M. He 
 Marcereau, now fitting out at St. Malo. As Mr. 
 Sergeant is master of the French language, this com 
 mand will enable him to better his fortunes, and in 
 view of the sorry hopes of recompence in the Conti 
 nental service I could not withhold my consent to his 
 going, or to his taking with him eight others of my 
 New Hampshire men, whom he will make officers in 
 his new ship, the! Marseille. Our seamen who can 
 speak French are in great request here for officers in 
 privateers. 5 
 
 The period of enlistment on the Ranger haH been 
 originally for one year only, and expired October ist, 
 1778. There were many disadvantages in these short 
 enlistments, but the terms offeree! by Congress were 
 not advantageous enough to hold the seamen for long 
 terms, and though Jones disliked parting from his 
 trained officers or crew, his sense of justice would not 
 allow him to hinder their advancement in life. 
 
 In this letter he enclosed the carpenter s very 
 technical estimate for repairs, which amounted to some 
 three thousand louis d or, or twenty-seven hundreH 
 guineas. The Drake had been all knocked to pieces, 
 having " one hundred and twenty-seven shot in her 
 
156 PAUL JONES 
 
 hull, below the plank-sheer, thirty-six of which were 
 below her water-line, some of which, in consequence 
 of the close range, went clean through the hull," but 
 being a new ship, only three years off the stocks, she 
 was considered well worth repairing. 
 
 The French Government allowed Jones to have the 
 repairs made at the Brest dockyard at its expense. 
 
 In the action he lost only one officer an d two men 
 killed, two severely wounded, Mr. Powers losing his 
 right arm, and three able seamen wounded, but " doing 
 well." The Drake was less fortunate, her captain was 
 killed, also her first lieutenant. The second lieutenant 
 who surrendered the Drake was wounded, being kept 
 prisoner for over a year, and did not, in consequence, 
 have the usual court-martial until eighteen months 
 after the action. There was some controversy over his 
 statements, as he testified that the Ranger outclassed 
 the Drake in "weight of metal," declaring the latter 
 had twenty guns, all four-pounders, while official 
 papers in the French archives describe her as " seize 
 piece de neuf livres de balle et quatre piece de quatre" 
 and it is unlikely her guns were changed before she 
 was sold at Brest as a prize. 
 
 With great reluctance Jones relinquished his inten 
 tion of cruising around Scotland, but, short-handed as 
 he was, it would have been impossible to think of 
 anything but getting into port with his prizes, for a 
 heavy sea might send the crippled Drake to the 
 bottom, robbing him of the tangible proofs of his 
 victory. 
 
 He put thirty-two officers and men aboard the Drake 
 
PAUL JONES 157 
 
 to man her and guard the prisoners, and, after taking 
 a prize off Malin Head, shaped his course to the south 
 and west, till clear of the mouth of the English 
 Channel, when he ran for Brest. This prize was of 
 some value, being laden with naval stores," Jones 
 reports. "On the whole I was out of port twenty- 
 eight days, took six merchant prizes, of which I 
 destroyed three and the other three are safe in French 
 ports ; besides taking and bringing in a regular man- 
 of-war of the enemy, slightly superior in force to my 
 ship." 
 
 And now came that long dreamed-of and hoped-for 
 hour, when he entered a French port bringing a ship 
 " slightly superior " to his own, belonging to the finest 
 navy afloat, a feat which had never before happened 
 in the history of naval warfare. So unsettled had 
 been the political situation when he sailed in April, 
 that he was unaware if England and France were at 
 war, or if that declaration still hung in the balance. 
 He knew nothing of importance that had happened 
 since he left France, and a month counted a long time 
 in the critical relations between the two countries. 
 He prayed nothing would go wrong before he reached 
 a friendly port, and his usual luck befriended him, 
 as he arrived off Brest on the evening of May 8th. 
 
 Before sailing, d Orvillers had paid Jones the un 
 precedented compliment of giving him the book of 
 private signals used by the French navy, enabling 
 him to enter any port when he wished. As he sailed 
 through the outer roads of Brest, his trained eye told 
 him that the French Fleet lay there, ready for war, 
 
158 PAUL JONES 
 
 and four guard frigates patrolled between the main 
 land and Ushant. Thanks to d Orvillers, he used 
 the private signals to pass the forts of La Rochelle, 
 1 Orient, Rochfort and Brest without delay. As 
 the frigate La Belle Poule displayed her signal 
 and number, Jones answered, giving the special 
 number allotted to the Ranger by d Orvillers before 
 sailing. After this signalling he communicated by 
 the ordinary code the fact that he had two prizes under 
 his lee, which news La Belle Poule passed on to the 
 Licome astern, and the two bore down upon Jones and 
 his ships. Once within hailing distance La Belle 
 Poule demanded formally 
 
 "Who are you and what is your prize?" to which 
 Jones replied, leaning over the Ranger s taffrail, " The 
 American Continental ship Ranger, of eighteen guns, 
 Captain Paul Jones, and the man-of-war prize is his 
 Britannic Majesty s late ship the Drake, of twenty 
 guns. The other prize a-lee is a merchant ship, not 
 armed ! " 
 
 After this unexpected reply La Belle Poule escorted 
 Captain Jones and his prizes to their anchorage inside 
 the Point St. Mathieu. All this cautiousness and 
 formality told Jones that the French Fleet was pre 
 pared for action, as it had not been when he left Brest 
 a month ago. 
 
 It was past midnight when the Ranger let go anchor 
 and everything seemed quiet, but like wildfire the news 
 of the daring captain s return, with such a prize, spread 
 over the town. k When daylight broke and there was 
 light enough to see, the quays swarmed with people, 
 
PAUL JONES 159 
 
 and the harbour was black with boats filled with pas 
 sengers, eager to catch a glimpse of the Drake and 
 her conqueror. They could not believe the astounding 
 fact, those who had fought against the ships of their 
 old and invulnerable enemy, that a free-lance, with a 
 cockle-shell of a boat, could have accomplished what 
 for centuries they had believed impossible. Still, the 
 ships were there, battered and shot-marked, an in 
 contestable fact. Paul Jones had done the impossible, 
 and he lived to tell the tale. From that moment he 
 was regarded as something out of the common, some 
 thing to be mentioned with bated breath ; his fame was 
 unassailable ; he had earned for himself a permanent 
 place in the history of France and of the world. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 1778 
 
 THE next morning Captain Paul Jones woke up to 
 find himself famous; almost overwhelmed with the 
 flattering official and personal attentions of which he 
 was the recipient. The very tangible proofs of his 
 victory stood forth before the eyes of the world, and 
 even those who had held off, sceptical as to the merits 
 of the sailor, could not now deny him the praise he 
 so richly deserved. The Due de Chartres was the 
 first to come aboard brimming with congratulations, 
 and for the two days the Ranger lay in the harbour 
 her decks were thronged with officers of the fleet and 
 citizens, eager to rejoice with the conqueror, and 
 satisfy themselves of the astounding fact that a 
 British man-of-war lay inert and harmless in a French 
 port. 
 
 Then the other side of the picture began to show, 
 and realities had to be faced. The Ranger with her 
 prizes had gone to the dockyard, and the problem of 
 feeding and clothing three hundred men had to be 
 met, with no money from the country he so brilliantly 
 and so inexpensively served. The Congress still 
 owed him over fifteen hundred pounds for the Provi 
 dence and Alfred, whose crews he had paid out of 
 his own pocket. Paul had to find means of paying 
 as well as feeding those dependent on him. He had 
 
 I Go 
 
PAUL JONES 161 
 
 a letter for 12,000 livres from Congress, which he 
 had not used, so, finding himself in straits for money, 
 he drew upon the Commissioners for 24,000 livres, 
 which would assist in refitting the Ranger and Drake, 
 and contracted with a merchant by the name of 
 Bersolle to supply provisions to his crews and 
 prisoners. The three Commissioners, with that tender 
 care for their own responsibilities and obligations, 
 which seems to have been abnormally developed, 
 promptly dishonoured this draft, putting Jones in a 
 positon of frightful embarrassment. 
 
 "Could I," he wrote them on May 27th, "suppose 
 that my letters of the ninth and sixteenth current, 
 the first advising you of my arrival and giving refer 
 ence to the events of my expedition ; the last advising 
 you of my draft in favour of Monsieur Bersolle for 
 24,000 livres (and assigning reasons for that demand) 
 had not made due appearance, I would hereafter, as 
 I do now, enclose copies. Three posts have already 
 arrived here from Paris since Comte d Orvillers 
 showed me the answer which he received from the 
 minister to the letter which enclosed mine to you. 
 Yet you remain silent. M. Bersolle has this moment 
 informed me of the fate of my bills; the more extra 
 ordinary, as I have not yet made use of your letter 
 of credit of the loth January last, whereby I then 
 seemed entitled to half the amount of my last draft, 
 and I did not expect to be thought extravagant when 
 on the 1 6th current I doubled that demand. Could 
 this indignity be kept secret I should disregard it; 
 and though it is already public in Brest and in the 
 
162 PAUL JONES 
 
 fleet, as it affects only my private credit I will not 
 complain. I cannot, however, be silent when I find 
 the public credit is involved in the same disgrace. 
 I conceive this might have been prevented. To make 
 me completely wretched, M. Bersolle had told me 
 that he now stops his hand, not only of the necessary 
 articles to refit the ship, but also of the daily pro 
 visions. I know not where to find to-morrow s dinner 
 for the great number of mouths that depend on me 
 for food. Are, then, the Continental ships of war to 
 depend on the sale of their prizes for a daily dinner 
 for their men ? Publish it not in Gath. My officers, 
 as well as men, want clothes, and the prizes are 
 precluded from being sold before farther orders arrive 
 from the minister. I will ask you, gentlemen, if I 
 have deserved all this? Whoever calls himself an 
 American ought to be protected here. I am unwilling 
 to think that you have intentionally involved me in 
 this sad dilemma at a time when I ought to expect 
 some enjoyment." 
 
 What a cruel predicament; if the other two Com 
 missioners were indifferent to the fate of Jones and 
 his crews, why did not Franklin do something for 
 his friend ? Certainly, with their opportunities, money 
 could have been borrowed if the funds in hand were 
 not sufficient. It was not hard to get the speculative 
 French to gamble on the chance of the ultimate 
 victory of the revolting colonists. Yet, incredible 
 as it sounds, he was left for a month without the 
 Commissioners relieving the impossible situation. 
 Two hundred prisoners of war, a number of sick 
 
PAUL JONES 163 
 
 and wounded, and a ship after a severe engagement, 
 in want of stores and provisions. Yet," he tells the 
 King in his journal, " during that time, by his personal 
 credit with Comte d Orvillers, the Duke de Chartres 
 and the Intendant of Brest, he fed his people and 
 prisoners, cured his wounded, and refitted both the 
 Ranger and Drake for sea." 
 
 A piece of remarkable luck, due wholly to the 
 friendship of those Frenchmen who liked him, and 
 helped him to care for the starving and wounded 
 creatures who fought so splendidly for a country that 
 neither fed them nor cared for their welfare, who were 
 only kept from starvation by the efforts of a Scotch 
 man and the generosity of his French sympathisers. 
 The strange fatality which ruled Paul Jones s meteoric 
 career decreed that he was never to taste the fruits of 
 his triumphs without a lingering flavour of bitterness 
 at the moment when life seemed brightest. Jealousy 
 he had already experienced; calumny had assailed 
 him in his early years, and was to attack him again. 
 He was too brilliant a star in the stormy political 
 firmament to shine unnoticed. Men liked and 
 defended him, women loved him; he grasped offered 
 opportunities, and those who sat inert, expecting 
 fortune to pour her cornucopia of favours into their 
 laps hated him with the envy of sordid spirits, the 
 malice of the unsuccessful. Fame was his goal, 
 ambition satisfied his payment. The poet might 
 have sung of him when he wrote 
 
 " For glory is the soldier s gain, 
 
 The soldier s wealth is honour." 
 L 2 
 
164 PAUL JONES 
 
 But he had obstacles to overcome which would have 
 quenched hope in the breast of a less tenacious man, 
 and at times only his fatalistic temperament carried 
 him through the dark hours when failure seemed 
 imminent. 
 
 In the crude, undisciplined state of the United 
 States Navy, the insubordination of his crews, who 
 could not seem to comprehend the idea that it was 
 essential to act under orders as a machine, without 
 reference to individual preference, was the great 
 annoyance Jones had to contend with. He alludes 
 to it in the journal he wrote for King Louis, which 
 that undecided monarch read at his leisure in the 
 Temple some years later. 
 
 "Almost on the instant of beginning the engage 
 ment between the Drake and the Ranger, the lieu 
 tenant (Simpson), having held up to the crew that, 
 being Americans fighting for liberty, the voice of the 
 people should be taken before the Captain s orders 
 were obeyed, they rose in a mutiny ; and that Captain 
 Jones was in the utmost danger of being killed or 
 thrown overboard." Though not mentioned in the 
 official report, there is no occasion to doubt its truth, 
 as while the Ranger waited a refit at Brest, Simpson, 
 hoping to supersede the Captain, lost no opportunity 
 of encouraging mutiny among the crew. 
 
 "As Lieutenant Simpson, while under arrest on 
 board the Drake, had constant intercourse with the 
 crew, they thereby became so insolent as to refuse 
 duty, and all hands would go below repeatedly before 
 the Captain s face. It was impossible to trifle at that 
 
PAUL JONES 165 
 
 time, as Comte d Orvillers had assured Captain 
 Jones, unless he could get the Drake ready to trans 
 port the prisoners to America before orders arrived 
 from Court, they would in all probability be given 
 up without exchange, to avoid immediate war with 
 England. It therefore became impossible to surfer 
 the lieutenant to remain any longer among them. 
 Captain Jones had him removed to the ship called 
 the Admiral, where the French confine even the first 
 officers in the service. He had there a good chamber 
 to himself and liberty to walk the deck." 
 
 What type of man Simpson was may be gathered 
 from the fact that "the lieutenant endeavoured to 
 desert out of the Admiral, and behaved so extrava 
 gant, that Count d Orvillers, without the knowledge 
 of Captain Jones, ordered him to the prison of the 
 port, where he had a good chamber, and Captain 
 Jones paid his expenses out of his own pocket. 55 Jones 
 displays a sort of contemptuous pity for Simpson, 
 whom he considered weak and easily led by " land 
 sharks," and described as having the " heart of a lion 
 and the brain of a sheep." 
 
 Jones ultimately heard from the Commissioners that 
 they were pleased with his victory, but all three, for 
 the only time of the same mind, unanimously signed 
 a letter dishonouring his draft ! 
 
 " It is easy to comprehend the willingness of the 
 two extremes of Massachusetts Puritan and Virginia 
 cavalier to sign such a letter as that ; but the signature 
 of Benjamin Franklin is not so easily understood. 
 However, it was there." The sordid meanness of 
 
166 PAUL JONES 
 
 those men, who sat comfortably in their arm-chairs 
 while others fought their battles, was too much for 
 fighting Paul. He was a hot champion of his adopted 
 country, and demanded, " Is, then, our cause become 
 so mendicant that men who victoriously defend it 
 must take not only the chance of death in battle, but 
 must also face the fate of beggary and even starvation 
 after they have conquered? 3 He asks them, "Are 
 the Continental ships of war to depend on the sale 
 of their prizes for the daily dinner of their men? 
 
 " Has it come to this, that I and my truly poor, 
 brave men must not only fight without pay, but also 
 compel our enemy to feed us ? " 
 
 The Captain was wrought to a pitch of fiery and 
 just anger. He translated his letter to those non 
 chalant Commissioners, and put the French version 
 into the hands of his friend de Chartres, who sent 
 it to Maurepas, and he passed it on to Calonne. His 
 friends persuaded Jones not to print it in the Journal 
 de la Marine, one of the Brest weekly papers, as he 
 threatened; goodness knows why, as the whole thing 
 was a secret de P olickmelle ; so, over-persuaded, he 
 refrained from giving this well-deserved publicity 
 to the attitude of the Commissioners. Adding insult 
 to injury, these gentlemen informed Jones that he 
 should have applied to a " fiscal agent " by the name 
 of Schweighauser, "who is the person regularly 
 authorised to act as Continental agent at Brest." 
 Jones knew nothing of this " fiscal agent," and made 
 no reference to his existence when he wrote to the 
 men who were enjoying the luxurious quarters pro- 
 
PAUL JONES 167 
 
 vided by Le Ray de Chaumont and the social gaieties 
 of Paris, while he moved heaven and earth to get 
 bread to put in the mouths of their starving country 
 men. Having tried in vain to get some recognition, 
 to say nothing of money, from them, Jones took 
 matters into his own hands, as no one seemed able 
 or willing to help him. He had an interview with 
 Bersolle, and " offered to arrange for the hypotheca 
 tion of the Baltic prize and cargo for the supplies 
 his crew and prisoners needed." To this Bersolle, 
 who knew something of marine law and admiralty 
 jurisprudence, demurred, as he told Jones that, 
 without the concurrence of the American Commis 
 sioners, he would be unable to dispose of the ship, 
 as he could not give a clear title. But Jones knew 
 his ground, his reply showing him as something of a 
 lawyer; and undoubtedly he did not act without advice 
 from those high in French authority. 
 
 " In strict point of the law of nations you must 
 consider me not in any way a servant of any master 
 but Congress itself, so far as this purpose is con 
 cerned. You, as a subject of the King of France, 
 have no legal knowledge that I am responsible to the 
 Commissioners, because you can have no legal know 
 ledge of any power on the part of the Commissioners 
 in the international sense; as no edict recognising 
 their diplomatic authority has been promulgated. 
 You know them only as certain American persons 
 residing in a quasi-official capacity near the Court of 
 Versailles. You have no warrant to know them in 
 any capacity that can supersede me here, because 
 
168 PAUL JONES 
 
 I now show you my original commission from the 
 Congress, and my orders to command the Ranger, all 
 on the first parchment, with no reference whatever 
 to Commissioners, fiscal agents or any one else. You 
 may therefore, for present purposes, look upon me 
 as the direct naval representative of Congress here. 
 If you doubt my point of law, consult the chancellor 
 of His Most Gracious Majesty s dockyard here. If 
 you find that my legal theory is right, then libel my 
 merchant prize at once by the usual process of your 
 local marine court, irrespective of any other con 
 sideration than the debt due, and let me know when 
 the process is to be served on board. I will then 
 arrange in advance to have my prize crew abandon 
 the libelled ship, leaving her in possession of the 
 bailiffs in admiralty. Then she can be adjudicated, 
 condemned for violation of the port laws, and sold 
 like any other merchant ship, in default, in a foreign 
 port." 
 
 Bersolle, on consultation with the legal authorities, 
 found Paul s law to be as sound as his seamanship, 
 and, after certain preliminaries, the ship was sold at 
 auction. By order of the Comte d Orvillers, the stores 
 were bid in by the naval storekeeper. Schweighauser, 
 who shook in his boots if he came within a hundred 
 yards of Jones, dared not bid in the ship, so had her 
 "struck off" to a French ship-broker. After paying 
 all claims due to Bersolle there was considerable 
 money left over. The whole transaction had been 
 quietly financed, by the kindness of d Orvillers, 
 through a banker, and the surplus money was used 
 
PAUL JONES 169 
 
 to clear off outstanding debts and feed the men. 
 From whom Schweighauser derived his rank and title 
 of "American" or "fiscal agent" is not known. To 
 his great mortification he received not the slightest 
 recognition. Nor were the Commissioners referred or 
 deferred to, for, as Jones remarked, " I could not 
 waste time discussing questions of authority when my 
 crew and prisoners were starving." 
 
 " Though some call this a high-handed action, it 
 never was disputed by the Commissioners or 
 Congress." Unquestionably they were glad to have 
 the decision taken out of their hands. Though the 
 action served its purpose, and debts were paid and 
 crews fed, it did not wash away the sting from the 
 heart of a man whom procrastination placed in such 
 an awkward position ; also, alas ! that it should be so, 
 giving impetus to the rumour that he had been 
 deprived of his command, and was in disgrace to the 
 extent of his drafts not being honoured by the 
 Commissioners. It was one of Paul s black moments, 
 for an aspersion on his personal honour touched him 
 on the raw. 
 
 From the first Paul had been suspicious about the 
 whole proceeding, and, as soon as he had the leisure, 
 set about to investigate. He soon ascertained that 
 most of the " American Agents " in French ports were 
 entirely in the pay and under the orders of Arthur 
 Lee, through his "private secretaries." They were 
 at all ports where prizes were likely to be brought 
 in, and conspired with the French brokers "to bid 
 in the prizes at a far smaller price than the real value. 
 
170 PAUL JONES 
 
 They made snap sales, and then divided with the 
 ship-brokers the margin between the price paid for 
 the prizes and their real value ! Arthur Lee s 
 signature to this letter (May 25) was natural, because 
 he or his creatures had instigated the dishonouring of 
 my draft. John Adams s signature could be explained 
 by his very recent arrival in France and his consequent 
 lack of information as to the kind of people to be 
 dealt with. But Dr. Franklin s signature to it I never 
 could account for, unless because his own honesty 
 was so simple and pure that he could not comprehend 
 or even imagine the existence of such villainy as that 
 of Lee s spies and bandits in the guise of private 
 -secretaries and sea transport agents. I confess that to 
 wards the last of my inquiry, when the evidence at my 
 hand left no room for a doubt of their guilt, and when 
 also I had to admit the want of means to punish them 
 legally, I could never see one of them without feeling 
 the impulse of homicide come over me. Fortunately 
 I held my hand. But to this day I cannot understand, 
 even if I can excuse myself, why I spared the reptile 
 life of Hezekiah Ford in the courtyard of the post inn 
 at Brest, when he was at my mercy, and I had every 
 justification to kill him." 
 
 Hezekiah Ford had lost no opportunity of keeping 
 alive that mutinous feeling aboard the Ranger, which 
 culminated in the arrest of Simpson and his subse 
 quent court-martial. Jones, "loving a brave man as 
 he did, was always lenient to Simpson, pardoning 
 much of his insolence, which he knew to be the work 
 of others." After Simpson had been imprisoned, Ford 
 got up a petition, condemning Jones and praising 
 
PAUL JONES 171 
 
 Simpson, which he sent to the Commissioners. He 
 induced seventy-eight of the crew to sign by telling 
 them that it was the only way they would ever get 
 their pay or prize money. It is more than likely they 
 signed with small idea of what they were doing, as 
 Ford was an artful scoundrel who twisted phrases to 
 suit his own ends. Among the signers were two X s, 
 the marks of the slave boys, Scipio and Cato, of 
 whom their master thought so highly. 
 
 Hezekiah Ford had a narrow escape of his life 
 when Jones unexpectedly learned of this document. 
 Tucking three pistols in his belt, Paul took himself 
 to the inn where Ford waited for the Paris diligence. 
 
 Without pausing or drawing a pistol, Jones, with 
 one blow of that lightning arm, knocked Ford down, 
 seized the coachman s whip and thrashed the 
 scoundrel till he cried for mercy. Big, long-limbed 
 though the man was, weighing half as much again as 
 Paul Jones, he offered no resistance just curled up 
 and blubbered, like the underhand coward he was, 
 while the onlookers, delighted at the fight, stood by 
 at a respectful distance, for the Captain bore the 
 reputation of being dangerous to meddle with when 
 aroused. What became of Hezekiah after his bad 
 quarter of an hour history does not relate. Six months 
 later he was denounced as a spy and a traitor by the 
 Virginia legislature; the resolution being certified by 
 the governor of Virginia, was sent to Congress, and 
 Congress, acting with extraordinary promptness, for 
 Virginia had great influence, ordered Ford s dismissal 
 from the service of the Commissioners. How, then, 
 in face of this, did Lee dare to keep hand-in-glove 
 
172 PAUL JONES 
 
 with Ford? What the ultimate consequences might 
 have been one cannot say, for very shortly Ford took 
 French leave and all the private papers belonging to 
 the Commissioners that he could put his hands on, 
 and went to London, where he hoped to receive the 
 reward of his treachery. 
 
 His tool, Simpson, had no pride, and wrote to 
 Jones, begging him to use his influence to get the 
 Commissioners to stop the court-martial with which he 
 was threatened. He confessed, once for all, that he 
 was not his (Jones s) equal in any kind of argument. 
 " If I have been misguided to your detriment, I hope 
 you will attribute it to lack of being able to see through 
 the designs of others, and not to studied bad inten 
 tions of my own." He trusts Jones "will always think 
 of him as an honest man," modestly requesting two 
 favours : first, that Dr. Franklin shall order the 
 Ranger to America, with him in command, " as it is 
 well known that you Ho not yourself purpose to return 
 in the Ranger to America, having larger prospects of 
 your own on this side of the water. Also, as you 
 know, the crew of the Ranger was shipped for one 
 year, to date from October ist, 1777, when they were 
 mustered on deck, and that year is nearly up. While 
 many of them have gone off in French privateers by 
 your permission, there is yet about sixty of the 
 originals on board, and they all want to go home by 
 the end of their term, which is their right, and it would 
 not be right to try and hold them any longer," all 
 of which is very commendable reasoning on Simpson s 
 part, as he wanted the Ranger himself. 
 
 With his characteristic generosity to those beneath 
 
PAUL JONES 173 
 
 him, Jones used his influence with the Commissioners, 
 and it may be added here that Simpson s brief career 
 was such as to justify this kindness, though the 
 Ranger was taken in Charlestown harbour when that 
 place was captured by Sir Henry Clinton in 1780. 
 
 Even with all disagreements at an end between 
 Paul and his lieutenant, the obnoxious "private 
 secretaries" kept disparaging rumours alive. To 
 Stephen Sayre, "who, under the patronage of John 
 Wilkes, had been a deputy sheriff " before he entered 
 the employ of Lee, he tracecl these newly born 
 slanders. But Sayre, a large, blustering man, with 
 great tales of his prowess in the duello, seems to have 
 been suddenly bereft of those fire-eating propensities 
 when unexpectedly confronted by Jones in a coffee 
 house at Nantes. On the threshold Jones paused, 
 looking for his man; he was unarmed, even without 
 his sword. Calmly he walked up to the braggart, 
 slapped his face soundly, calling him by the com 
 plimentary names of " liar " and " spy." In the pro 
 found pause that followed the bully made some 
 attempt to grapple, but was no match for the agility 
 of his assailant, who seized a heavy cane from one 
 of the onlookers, and gave his traducer a thrashing 
 he remembered to his dying day. Though the noise 
 of the affray called the police to the spot, they saw 
 the uniform, and as they were civil police and never 
 arrested officers of either service, it ended there. The 
 company bowed elegantly with their cocked hats and 
 departed, with a douceur to drink to the health of the 
 King and le brave Capitame Paul. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THERE is little doubt that in the minds of most 
 people the name of Paul Jones instantly calls up the 
 form of a villainous pirate seeking whom he could 
 devour. Varied as was his career, the Skull and 
 Crossbones never fluttered from his mast-head; he 
 never commanded privateer or smuggler, or sailed with 
 even a letter of marque. From the day he left the 
 merchant service, with the exception of two years on 
 his plantation, he was in the navy of the United States, 
 and later in the service of Imperial Russia, though still 
 holding his former commission. But a century ago 
 the word America, to the world at large, invoked a 
 vague jumble of Indians scalping captives at the stake, 
 bloodthirsty buccaneers, and all sorts of joyful law 
 lessness in which Morgan, Captain Kidd and John 
 Smith, with Pocahontas in the background, rollicked 
 shoulder to shoulder in the jollity of universal brother 
 hood. By a process of reasoning the colonists became 
 desperate law-breakers, and Paul Jones, from the fact 
 of such association with ships and colonists, developed 
 into the dare-devil pirate of fiction, with red shirt 
 carelessly flung open, displaying a brawny chest, 
 luridly tattooed with fearful and mystic symbols. An 
 individual with slouched hat pulled low over his vil 
 lainous countenance, who, in place of the necessary 
 
PAUL JONES 175 
 
 and harmless cigarette, carried between his clenched 
 teeth a gleaming cutlass, oblivious of the discomfort 
 of such a pastime, when he wished to rush hastily 
 through a narrow hatchway. His sash bristled with 
 pistols, which he habitually used in target practice on 
 his crew or to stimulate the exertions of such of his 
 passengers as were occupied in the gymnastic and 
 risky exercise of walking the plank. The name of 
 the " Black Douglas " was not more terrifying in his 
 day than that of Paul Jones; in fact, it is quite un 
 believable if there were not authentic records of the 
 fact. Many a merchant would have rejoiced to hear 
 that he had died the customary hanging-in-chains 
 death of the pirate he never was, for, had not his 
 desperate forays on unprotected coasts and in home 
 waters doubled the rate of insurance ? 
 
 Paul Jones was the theme of endless ballads, chap- 
 books and prints, embodying in his person as he did, 
 without recourse to the inventiveness of the writer, all 
 the romance needed to weave a glowing tale. His 
 personality was fascinating, as was the hint of mystery 
 and noble birth clinging to him; he enjoyed a noted 
 success in the world of fashion, and became the 
 intimate of royalties; his unsurpassed brilliancy as a 
 commander, his conquests in love and war created a 
 character which for a typical hero could not have been 
 outdone by the most fertile pen. 
 
 From the date of his death, 1792, until the early 
 part of the eighteenth century, he was the subject of 
 many a tale, whose inventors let nothing stand in the 
 way of embellishment. He is generally described as 
 
176 PAUL JONES 
 
 the " son of the Earl of Selkirk s head gardener, but 
 his real father is Captain John Maxwell, Governor of 
 the Bahama Islands." In others, he was left on the 
 doorstep of the Paul cottage, to be brought up as one 
 of their children. Some time in his early infancy he 
 became a desperate smuggler, rapidly saved up two 
 hundred pounds, and in his varied enterprises got to 
 the north coasts, where exciting adventures came thick 
 and fast. 
 
 " Being impressed on a man-o -war, he availed him 
 self of the first opportunity to escape, and the second 
 time commenced a smuggler, and assumed the com 
 mand of a vessel himself, appointing such of his 
 companions officers as he knew from experience to be 
 able seamen. The crew consisted of sixteen persons, 
 and the vessel was provided with every kind of 
 ammunition and necessary for hazarding desperate 
 adventures, and proved a most formidable annoyance 
 to the maritime trade of the whole kingdom." 
 
 No sooner had war broken out between England 
 and America than he rushed off to the latter country, 
 entering into negotiations with " Silas Deane and 
 others," to whom he offered " very valuable communi 
 cations and intelligence. He obtained from time to 
 time several remittances," which enabled him to 
 " cross the Atlantic to Europe twice, to pick up further 
 particulars of our coasts. Upon this account he is 
 generally said to have changed his name, and assumed 
 that of Captain Paul Jones. Government not being 
 apprised of the sort of spy that had arrived in the 
 country, he was at liberty to go about the capital, and 
 
PAUL JONES 177 
 
 dwelt for a short time at Wapping," where, according 
 to this narrative, he occupied himself in buying up all 
 the maps, charts, soundings and information having to 
 do with the coasts that he could get his hands on, 
 "all this information making him more valuable to 
 those who employed him." He goes through stirring 
 scenes in the early part of the revolution, and, one is 
 inclined to wonder if there is more truth than fiction 
 in the comments the writer makes on the fiasco with 
 the Glasgow, alleging that the " Commander of the 
 Fleet Ezekiel Hopkins was in reality in the pay of the 
 enemies of his country." 
 
 Paul is credited with a number of voyages that 
 would have put the Ancient Mariner to the blush, and 
 taken several lifetimes to make. His failure to take 
 the Drake the first time is laid to the fact that " the 
 mate, who had drunk too much brandy, did not let go 
 the anchor according to orders," and this is amusing, 
 for the official report lays the blame on the mate, 
 though the brandy is not mentioned. 
 
 The description of his informal call at St. Mary s 
 Isle is not to be omitted, as, after some preliminary 
 conversation, " Lady Selkirk herself observed to the 
 officers that she was exceedingly sensible of their com 
 mander s moderation; she even intimated a wish to 
 repair to the shore, although a mile distant from her 
 residence, in order to invite him to dinner; but 
 the officers would not allow her ladyship to take so 
 much trouble." Such a charming entente cordlale 
 between a peeress of the realm and a piratical son 
 of the sea in the midst of war is quite idyllic, and it 
 
 M 
 
178 PAUL JONES 
 
 is no wonder Paul spared no expense in returning the 
 family plate at the earliest opportunity. 
 
 Paul had an eye for stage effect, such as dressing 
 his men up in " red clothes/ 3 and putting some of them 
 aboard the prizes to give the appearance of transports 
 full of troops. The action between the Bonhomme 
 Richard and the Serapis is thrillingly described, being 
 illustrated by a lurid picture of " Paul Jones Shooting 
 Lieutenant Grub For Endeavouring to Lower the 
 American Flag to the Serapis, Captain Pearson, off 
 Flamborough Head, Sept. 1779. In this memorable 
 scene Paul is adorned with a pair of jet-black whiskers, 
 of the " Piccadilly weeper" fashion, that would have 
 wrought havoc with the heart of an Early Victorian 
 beauty. Considering the heated and sanguinary 
 engagement in which all parties were participating, 
 the exquisite neatness of the Commander s white 
 trousers is most noticeable. 
 
 To continue this exciting tale, the captain of the 
 Serapis, " hearing the gunner express his wish to sur 
 render in consequence of his supposing that they were 
 sinking, instantly addressed himself to Jones, and 
 exclaimed, Do you ask for quarter? do you ask for 
 quarter? Paul was so occupied at this period, in 
 serving three pieces of cannon on the forecastle, that 
 he remained totally ignorant of what had occurred on 
 deck. He replied, however, I do not dream of sur 
 rendering, but I am determined to make you strike ! 
 In this dilemma, Lieutenant Grub proceeded directly 
 to tear the stripes from the stump they had been nailed 
 to. The Commodore caught him in this disgraceful 
 
PAUL JONES 179 
 
 act, and shot him instantly with a boarding-pistol, 
 which, as it is a circumstance of remarkable temerity, 
 has as often been asserted as denied, and not seldom 
 misrepresented ; but the reader is assured of the fact, 
 which came from the most undoubted authority, that 
 of Lieut. Wm. Grub s widow. 
 
 Alas, for the veracity of " Wm. Grub s widow " ! 
 The roster of the Bonhomme Richard shows but one 
 of that name, and he, " Beaumont Grub, midshipman," 
 was "absent and not in action." And in the ship s 
 log there is no mention of Jones having shot any one. 
 
 As many famous actors used to play classical parts 
 in contemporary periwigs and red-heeled shoes, copy 
 ing the exaggerated dress of the fops who patronised 
 them, so fashion has left its stamp on the mass of 
 prints handed down to us. Pictures of Paul Jones 
 vary as much as the histories of him, and even in the 
 portraits by recognised artists, his eyes rival the 
 chameleon, sometimes black, at others an innocuous 
 bluish-purple, as in the miniature at the Hermitage, 
 St. Petersburg; while that painted by the Comtesse 
 de la Vandhal, which was his favourite portrait, gives 
 him eyes of a dark but elusive hazel. In a print of 
 the Grub incident, issued in 1826, Paul and the non 
 existent Grub are depicted with resplendent ebony 
 whiskers, while in an earlier one, about 1803, when 
 these adornments were not fashionable, they are guile 
 less of such attractions, though Paul is shown with a 
 beautiful nose, strongly reminiscent of the Iron Duke. 
 He also wears top-boots, and Mr. Grub is stylishly 
 clothed in striped trousers, which add a certain eclat 
 
 M 2 
 
180 PAUL JONES 
 
 to the scene of battle. The Comtesse de la Vandhal s 
 miniature presents him as a man of fashion in all the 
 nicety of Court dress, but above all, Houdon s bust 
 is the most characteristic, reproducing the keen, 
 shrewd, strong features, the forceful concentration, the 
 virility of purpose and doggedness, without which he 
 could never have succeeded. The artist s conception of 
 him is as varied as the historian s idea of his character. 
 From a low-browed, snub-nosed, villainous individual, 
 with a negligee shirt and sash full of pistols, to one 
 wherein he resembles " the Father of his Country," 
 if that gentleman ever appeared minus his wig in the 
 stress of battle, they run the gamut. He had remark 
 ably well-shaped hands, as, in the three-quarter 
 portraits of him, this fact is generally emphasised, 
 unless, after the fashion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, one 
 pair of elegant hands served the artist of his day as 
 models for every sitter. 
 
 As is the case with a man who had such ardent 
 admirers, Paul had his detractors, bitter and un 
 scrupulous, unsparing in their malignant slanders. 
 He is supposed, after having completed his "servi 
 tude " with Captain Johnson, to have " signed articles 
 with Captain Baines, who was then in the Guinea 
 trade; and here his cruel disposition blazed forth in 
 its proper colours by his attempt to sink and destroy 
 the ship and cargo, in consequence of a slight repri 
 mand from the captain, who was a man that bore an 
 excellent character for justice and humanity to his 
 inferiors. For this offence he was brought home in 
 irons; but owing to some defect in the evidence pro- 
 
PAUL JONES 181 
 
 duce d on his trial, he was acquitted of the charge." 
 After admitting that this voyage changed Paul s views 
 of a seafaring life, and made him stay ashore, the 
 writer naively remarks : " We are sorry to observe that 
 in this part of the history we have no favourable record 
 to make of the wanderings of our turbulent hero." 
 
 Though every moment of these years is now 
 accounted for, this anonymous writer, more remarkable 
 for his total abstention from the truth than anything 
 else, endows young Paul with characteristics that 
 would put the rakes of the Restoration to the blush. 
 
 "After committing a number of excesses in the 
 neighbourhood of his patron s residence " the patron 
 being Lord Selkirk, who, it is an authentic fact, Paul 
 Jones had never seen, though his father is assigned 
 to him as gardener, and his services with Mr. Craik 
 ignored "he attempted to seduce (and but too suc 
 cessfully succeeded) the virtue of some three young 
 women of some respectability; two of whom soon 
 after became pregnant. The evil did not stop here; 
 it appears he was resolved upon completing the 
 wretchedness of his victims, and placing his own 
 villainy beyond the possibility of a doubt. For it 
 was no sooner known by Paul that the young persons 
 were in a thriving way, than he endeavoured, by his 
 artifices and insinuations, to prevail upon each of them 
 to form an acquaintance with a wealthy farmer, for 
 the sole purpose of making him father the unfortunate 
 and innocent offspring ! And it is a fact generally 
 accredited, that he completely succeeded in this 
 abominable design." 
 
182 PAUL JONES 
 
 Not satisfied with this scandal, it continues, " From 
 the respect the Earl of Selkirk had for his father, 
 young Paul was admitted into the house as a domestic, 
 but not without some excellent admonitions from his 
 father, who earnestly entreated him to leave the dis 
 solute part of his companions and take himself 
 seriously to amend his life. In this, as in many other 
 cases, it proved only loss of time to reason with so 
 depraved a character, for he had no sooner got into 
 this situation, than he paid his addresses to one of the 
 females in the house, and who very prudently refused 
 to accept them. But Paul had made sure of this prize 
 also, and determined to run all hazards rather than 
 forgo the objects of his pursuits. He accordingly 
 watched an opportunity when he saw her enter the 
 dairy, and immediately rushed in and fastened the 
 door after him, he then, in the most deliberate manner 
 proceeded to insult the terrified woman, and had 
 nearly accomplished her ruin, when her repeated 
 shrieks brought the Earl (who was 1 at that time 
 near the spot) " evidently being an inquisitive peer 
 with an interest in dairy farming " to her assistance. 
 So flagrant an act of injustice could not easily be for 
 gotten, and in lofty language the Earl banished such 
 a desperate character from his estates," this reason 
 being very ingeniously made the motive for the 
 attempt to carry off Selkirk some years later. 
 
 And the reader will learn, " Paul s hatred to the 
 Earl, from this occurrence, was continually rankling 
 in his bosom; and that he embraced the first oppor 
 tunity for retaliating/ 5 
 
PAUL JONES 183 
 
 Not satisfied yet, Paul became a smuggler, and 
 married a "beautiful farmer s daughter with three 
 hundred pounds." But life ashore becoming monoto 
 nous, he again headed his smuggler s band, running 
 into "a port in France, and after most tempestu 
 ous weather (during which Paul actually threw a 
 man overboard for a trifling disobedience of orders !) 
 arrived at Boulogne, where the cargo was disposed of, 
 to a great disadvantage from the damage it sustained 
 in the last storm." 
 
 If Paul had lived a few years later he would have 
 been one of the shining lights among the " Latter Day 
 Saints," for " our hero now turned his thoughts towards 
 a smirking widow " not having haH the benefit of the 
 immortal Mr. Weller s advice "the mistress of the 
 hotel where he too haH lodgings during his stay in 
 Boulogne." But this "merry widow" was well able 
 to take care of herself, and " after using every kind 
 of stratagem for three months successively without 
 being able to prevail upon the fair hostess to accom 
 pany him to the altar of Hymen, he deposited two 
 hundred guineas as a proof of the sincerity of his 
 intention to return and render her completely happy, 
 and then took an affectionate leave." Once on the 
 seas he reverted to the joys of a smuggler s life. 
 " Rightfully judging that Dover was an eligible situa 
 tion, he hired a capital house there, and figured as a 
 first-rate merchant. Having a confidential superin 
 tendent, he had many opportunities of visiting the 
 whole coast; and in one of his excursions, falling in 
 with a number of associates, they formed the resolution 
 
184 PAUL JONES 
 
 of boarding an armed vessel in the Downs, which had 
 been fitted out by our merchants to act against the 
 Barbary cruisers. Enterprising and auclacious as this 
 undertaking was, from the numerous revenue cutters 
 usually stationed in the Downs, they completely 
 succeeded ; two men and a boy were the only persons 
 on board, and from their never having been heard 
 of, the owners supposed the vessel had been driven 
 out to sea, and that all on boarH perished." 
 
 Then Paul goes through a variety of stirring events, 
 vanquishing customs-house men, after sanguinary 
 rights, landing under the cover of dense fogs, and 
 plundering houses of gold and jewels, to which the 
 famed riches of Golconda were " as moonlight unto 
 sunlight." From Sussex to the Isle of Man they 
 roved, ultimately receiving intelligence of some mer 
 chant ships laden with golH and silver, which they 
 took, "and that not one of the richest; but Paul Jones, 
 finding himself entitled to a share amounting to up 
 wards of five hundred pounHs, (determined to pursue 
 his amour at Boulogne." 
 
 Where, during all this time, was his legal bride, 
 "the beautiful farmer s daughter," who does not 
 appear again in the narrative? On reaching TOrient, 
 Paul generously presented "the vessel anH her 
 appurtenances " to his companions ; binding them, 
 however, in a solemn oath that they should deal with 
 him only in such articles as were proper for sale at 
 Boulogne and the Isle of Man. . . . Paul slept that 
 night ashore; and in the morning, after sending his 
 comrades a present of twelve dozen of wine and a 
 
PAUL JONES 185 
 
 liberal supply of fresh provisions, set out for 
 Boulogne. On his arrival he was heartily welcomed 
 by the widow, with whom he had held correspondence 
 during the several months of his absence." Bigamy 
 had no terrors for this roistering blade, as " in about 
 five days they were married, and having assumed the 
 character of landlord, he gave the principal customers 
 of the house an elegant entertainment. For several 
 weeks his behaviour was so affable and condescending, 
 and the articles in which he dealt so good of their 
 respective kinds, and so moderate in price, that the 
 custom of the house surprisingly increased. But 
 nature had not made him to keep within the bounds 
 of moderation. The idea of being possessed of 
 property sufficient to render him independent of busi 
 ness, and the prospects of greater riches, swelled his 
 pride to that pitch that he was no longer able to act 
 under the mask of humility that had for some time 
 disguised his natural turbulence." Just what he did 
 is not hinted, " but the customers were disgusted with 
 his shameful conduct . . . and sought other places of 
 entertainment," so possibly Paul raised the prices. 
 " The decay of the business inflamed him to a degree 
 of the utmost extravagance; and in all probability 
 his wife would have fallen a sacrifice to the impetuosity 
 of his temper had not the amiable tenderness of her 
 disposition been capable of giving some (degree of 
 moderation to his violent, restless and impatient spirit." 
 Apparently he had a partiality for smuggling trans 
 actions connected with the Isle of Man, and hearing 
 that the Earl of Derby was about to sell it to the 
 
186 PAUL JONES 
 
 Crown, he decided to "go there and put his affairs 
 on a firm footing, which he did, leaving his wife in 
 charge of the hotel. . . . On the high seas he met his 
 old pirate crew, but waved his hand in token of 
 greeting/ upon which they sailed away leaving him 
 unmolested. " As soon as he arrived he made the first 
 entry of licensed goods transported from England into 
 the Isle of Man." Returning to Boulogne he carried 
 on his smuggling until the death of his wife, when 
 he "again went to the Isle of Man, and transacted 
 some business in the legal way the better to elude 
 the suspicion of his being engaged in contraband 
 dealing," though, sad to relate, except with the law, 
 smugglers were exceptionally popular characters, 
 helped by high and low alike in their efforts to foil the 
 " Preventive " men. 
 
 If he ever went to see bride the first, there is no 
 note of the fact; undoubtedly he did not, being a 
 very much occupied individual with his many sporting 
 ventures, not " yet an absolute pirate, but a desperate 
 smuggler." His crew was formed of ruffians of all 
 nationalities, " Blacks, Swedes, Americans, Irish and 
 Liverpool men were particularly welcome to him, and 
 in the north of England he was called the English 
 corsair." He amassed three thousand pounds in these 
 ventures, but his " avaricious mind had led him to take 
 great advantage of several of the smugglers with whom 
 he dealt, some of whom he apprehended might at 
 length be provoked to lodge information against him 
 on account of the illegal traffic he had so long pur 
 sued." So he got rid of his various encumbrances, 
 
PAUL JONES 187 
 
 and went to keep a coffee-house in Dunkirk stocked 
 with the money which he had borrowed from confiding 
 individuals before leaving the Isle of Man. He kept 
 on dealing in contraband goods, but was " driven 
 nearly to a state of distraction by those to whom he 
 had entrusted his goods allowing them to be seized, 
 as through his want of precaution the goods had fallen 
 into the hands of the king s officers." Paul now shut 
 up his house in Dunkirk, and prepared to embark for 
 England, having " previously remitted a small sum to 
 each of the persons he had defrauded in the Isle of 
 Man; and as they accepted of payment in part, they 
 destroyed every idea of felony, and constituted their 
 respective claims into mere matters of debt; he was 
 therefore no longer under apprehension of prosecution 
 from the criminal laws." 
 
 Having concluded the matters which brought him 
 to Rochester, Paul re-turned his attention to the ladies. 
 Taking a " lodging in Long Acre, where he had not 
 resided many weeks before he debauched his land 
 lady s daughter, who removed with him to Tottenham, 
 but in about three weeks he deserted her, and she 
 became a common prostitute." Shocking to relate, 
 " Our hero now engaged in a criminal intercourse 
 with the mistress of a notorious brothel in the neigh 
 bourhood of Covent Garden, who assumed his name, 
 and passed under the character of his wife." But 
 again was he bereaved, " the woman being seized with 
 a fit of apoplexy, she expired while he was examining 
 some accounts in a parlour adjoining to her bedroom. 
 He no sooner discovered her situation, than he 
 
188 PAUL JONES 
 
 searched her pockets, and taking her keys, secreted 
 all her ready money, and some other valuable effects, 
 amounting in the whole to about three hundred 
 pounds, and then absconded with his booty." Moving 
 to Paternoster Row, where he gambled recklessly, 
 until reduced to the sum of ,108, with which, after 
 a good deal of brawling in billiard-rooms and pot 
 houses, he again went to sea as a smuggler, " com 
 mitting many depredations along the coast, and 
 capturing a Spanish galleon of inestimable treasure, 
 which struck on a rock, going to the bottom with all 
 hands on board. There were innumerable merchant 
 vessels that found him unpleasantly on the alert, and 
 on one foray he went to Whitehaven, where he seized 
 a young woman while she was standing on the wharf, 
 and placed her in the hold ; and the following day he 
 enticed a publican on board, and immediately got 
 under weigh. The man returned several years after, 
 but the woman has never been heard of since." 
 
 Now all this is an amazing tissue of lies, as Paul 
 Jones was born in 1757 and went to America in 1773, 
 he was less than seventeen when most of these dis 
 reputable adventures were being enacted. Is it odd 
 that he was spoken of with bated breath, shunned as 
 more dangerous than the plague, and that mothers 
 hushed naughty children with the invocation of his 
 name? His services in France and Russia are 
 ignored, and he is sent to Kentucky, where he gained 
 great wealth and estates, dying in the early eighteen 
 hundreds. 
 
 In a three-volume romance by Allan Cunningham, 
 
PAUL JONES 189 
 
 Paul dies in Paris, poor and miserable, wrapped in 
 his cloak on a truckle bed, just as he is about to receive 
 the appointment of commander of the Republican 
 navy; Fenimore Cooper wrote of him in The Pilot, 
 and Thackeray in Dennis Duval; and Dibden wrote 
 a " melodramatic romance" about him, which was 
 played at the Metropolitan minor theatres, and the 
 great Dumas took him as the subject of one of his 
 least-known novels, under the title of Captain Paul. 
 In this book he is the natural son of a great French 
 family, a beneficent deus ex machina to his left- 
 handed brothers and sister, whom he showers with 
 favours. On the many voyages which he made 
 to the West Indies, he always visited this sister 
 and her husband, who was governor of Guadeloupe. 
 The story floats in hysterical tears, in which Paul joins 
 frequently, finally disappearing, after a touching scene 
 with his mother, who presses on his acceptance a 
 diamond-encrusted miniature of his long dead father, 
 the Comte de Morlaix. This, for twenty-five years, 
 the secretive lady had kept, unknown to her husband, 
 who shot Paul s father in a duel, where the latter 
 refused to fire; an incident so disturbing to his mind 
 that he went mad. It is a great jumble, with all the 
 elements of purest melodrama. That very puissant 
 lady, Margaret Blanche de Sable, Marquise d Auray, 
 his mother, was an austere character with a great 
 reputation for piety, and her children stood in whole 
 some awe of her. She must be pardoned her early 
 indiscretion, for she had been engaged to the Comte 
 de Morlaix, when, alack ! a sort of Montagu-Capulet 
 
190 PAUL JONES 
 
 unpleasantness happened, and the lovers were parted. 
 Dumas, with most unusual inaccuracy, buries his hero 
 in Pere la Chaise, which was not opened until 1804. 
 
 The ballad writers sang in praise of his deeds, quite 
 unfettered by hampering truth, and the following is 
 one of the best examples. It begins 
 PAUL JONES 
 
 (From the collection of A. M. Broad ley, Esq.) 
 * An American frigate, called the Rachel by name, 
 Mounted guns forty-four, from New York she came, 
 To cruise in the Channel of old England s fame, 
 With a noble commander, Paul Jones was his name. 
 We had not cruised long when two sails we espied, 
 A large forty-four, and a twenty likewise. 
 Fifty bright shipping, well loaded with store, 
 And the convoy stood in for the old Yorkshire shore." 
 
 It goes on to relate how they came alongside, with the 
 customary interview through the speaking-trumpet, 
 and says 
 " We fought them four glasses, four glasses so hot, 
 
 Till forty bold seamen lay dead on the spot, 
 
 And fifty-five more lay bleeding in gore, 
 
 While the thun dring large cannons of Paul Jones did roar." 
 
 The fight continued amid much smoke of battle, and 
 
 " Paul Jones he then smiled, and to his men did say, 
 Let every man stand the best of his play, 
 For broadside for broadside they fought on the main ; 
 Like true buckskin heroes, we returned it again. 
 
 The Cerapus wore round our ship for to rake, 
 
 Which made the proud hearts of the English to ache, 
 
 The shot flew so hot we could not stand it long, 
 
 Till the bold British colours from the English came down. 
 
 And now, my bold boys, we have taken a rich prize, 
 A large forty-four, and a twenty likewise ; 
 To help the poor mothers, that have reason to weep, 
 For the loss of their sons in the unfathomed deep." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 1778 
 
 WHEN Paul Jones relinquished his command of the 
 Ranger to Simpson, it was on the definite promise of 
 the French government that he was to have the frigate 
 Indlen over which there had been so much bickering ; 
 without this promise he certainly would not have cut 
 himself adrift from the United States Navy, an action 
 leaving him without occupation or employment in a 
 foreign country. Jones had one great failing, and this 
 was, being a man who lived up to his word, he never 
 could be made to realise that there were many men on 
 whom such an obligation was not binding ; and, in this 
 instance of the Indien, the promise was known to and 
 approved by Dr. Franklin, who spoke of it in his 
 letter, dated June 10, 1778, alluding to the wish of 
 the Commissioners to order the Ranger back to 
 America. 
 
 You will judge from what follows whether it will 
 not be advisable for you to propose their sending her 
 back with her people, and under some other com 
 mand. In consequence of the high opinion the 
 Minister of the Marine has of your conduct and 
 bravery, it is now settled (observe that is to be a secret 
 between us, I being expressly enjoined not to com 
 municate it to any other person) that you are to have 
 
 191 
 
192 PAUL JONES 
 
 the frigate from Holland, which actually belongs to 
 the government, and will be furnished with as many 
 good French seamen as you shall require. But you 
 are to act under Congress Commission. 
 
 "As you may like to have a number of Americans, 
 and your own are homesick, it is purposed to give you 
 as many as you can engage out of two hundred 
 prisoners which the ministry of Britain have at length 
 agreed to give us in exchange for those you have in 
 your hands." Here follow some details as to the 
 exchange of prisoners. If by this means you can 
 get a good new crew, I think it would be best that you 
 are quite free of the old one; for a mixture might 
 introduce the infection of that sickness you complain 
 of. But this may be left to your own discretion. Per 
 haps we shall join you with the Providence, Captain 
 Whipple, a new continental ship of 30 guns. . . . 
 
 " It seems to be desired that you will step up to 
 Versailles (where one will meet you), in order to such 
 a settlement of matters and plans with those who have 
 the direction as cannot well be done by letter. I wish 
 it may be convenient to you to do it immediately. 
 
 c The prospect of giving you the command of this 
 ship pleases me the more, as it is a probable opening 
 to the higher preferment you so justly merit." 
 
 The French Minister of Marine notified the wishes 
 of his Most Christian Majesty to employ the American 
 captain, and the Commissioners as formally signified 
 their acquiescence. They say, ".We readily consent 
 that he should be at your Excellency s disposition, 
 
PAUL JONES 198 
 
 and shall be happy if his services may be in any 
 respect useful to the designs your Excellency has in 
 contemplation." 
 
 "Though Jones had already some experience of 
 Marine Committees, and of the delays and insolence 
 of office, it was quite impossible that he could have 
 anticipated all the vexatious annoyance in store for 
 him by a proposal which at first sight appeared so fair 
 and flattering. He made his acknowledgments to the 
 minister in his best style; but probably thought less 
 of the " dignity of human nature," the slang of that 
 day, long before all official connexion was finished 
 between them." The Epervier was the ship promised 
 for his command. He suggests various enterprises to 
 be undertaken by himself for harrying the coast of 
 England and Ireland. " To take the Bank of Ayr, 
 destroy that town, and probably Greenock and Port 
 Glasgow, with the shipping in the Clyde," was yet 
 bolder design. "Much," he says, "might be done in 
 Ireland, where ships worth 150,000 livres, or even 
 200,000, might be seized; London might be distressed 
 by cutting off the supply of coals carried from New 
 castle, the fishing at Campbelton might be destroyed, 
 and many towns on the north-east coasts of England 
 and Scotland might be burnt or laid under contri 
 bution." There was a project of destroying the Baltic 
 fleet. He emphasises the fact that "the success of 
 any of these, or like enterprises will depend in sur 
 prising well, and on despatch both in the attack and 
 in the retreat; therefore it is necessary the ships should 
 sail fast, and that their forces should be sufficient to 
 
194 PAUL JONES 
 
 repel any of the enemy s cruising frigates, two of 
 which may perhaps be met at a time. It is scarcely 
 conceivable how great a panic the success of any one 
 of these projects would occasion in England. It 
 would convince the world that their coasts are vulner 
 able, and would, consequently, hurt their public credit. 
 
 : If alarming the coast of Britain should be thought 
 inexpedient, to intercept the enemy s West India or 
 Baltic fleet, or their Hudson s Bay ships, or destroy 
 their Greenland fishery, are capital objects." 
 
 As so often is the case where promises are easily 
 made, nothing materialised. The inactivity and in 
 action preyed on Jones to such an extent that he wrote 
 on September 13, 1778, an "explicit letter" to M. de 
 Sartine, in a few well-turned sentences expressing the 
 honour which he considered had been done him, when 
 Dr. Franklin told him of de Sartine s intentions. He 
 alluded to his journey to Versailles, in response to 
 those orders, " believing that my intended ship was 
 in deep water and ready for the sea," and of his con 
 sequent surprise on learning from the Prince de 
 Nassau, who had just come from inspecting her, " that 
 the Indien could not be got afloat within a shorter 
 period than three months at the approaching equi 
 nox. To employ this interval usefully I first offered to 
 go from Brest with Comte d Orvillers, as a volunteer, 
 which you thought fit to reject. ... I was flattered 
 with assurances from Messieurs de Chaumont and 
 Bandonin that three of the finest frigates in France, 
 with two tenders and a number of troops, would be 
 immediately put under my command, and that I 
 
PAUL JONES 195 
 
 should have unlimited orders, and be at free liberty 
 to pursue such of my own projects as I thought proper. 
 But this plan fell to nothing in the moment when I was 
 taught to think that nothing was wanting but the 
 King s signature." 
 
 He speaks of "the inferior armament," which was 
 to have been sent out from 1 Orient, of which he 
 rejoices he did not have the command, the expedition 
 proving a failure; and so he u was therefore saved 
 from a dreadful prospect of ruin and dishonour." 
 
 " I had so entire a reliance that you would desire 
 nothing of me inconsistent with my honour and rank, 
 that the moment you required me to come down here, 
 in order to proceed round to St. Malo, though I had 
 received no written orders, and neither knew your 
 intention respecting my destination or command, I 
 obeyed with such haste that, although my curiosity led 
 me to look at the armament at TOrient, yet I was but 
 three days from Passy till I reached Brest. 
 
 "Here, too, I drew a blank; but when I saw the 
 Lively it was not so disappointing, as that ship, both 
 in sailing and equipment, is far inferior to the 
 Ranger" 
 
 The conclusion of the next paragraph speaks 
 plainly of a lack of faith somewhere. 
 
 " My only disappointment here was my being pre 
 cluded from embarking in pursuit of marine know 
 ledge with Comte d Orvillers, who did not sail till 
 seven days after my return. He is my friend, and 
 expressed his wishes for my company; I accompanied 
 him out of the road when the fleet sailed; and he 
 
 N 2 
 
196 PAUL JONES 
 
 always lamented that neither himself nor any person 
 in authority in Brest had received from you any order 
 that mentioned my name. I am astonished therefore 
 to be informed that you attribute my not being in the 
 fleet to my stay at TOrient. 
 
 " I am not a mere adventurer of fortune. Stimu 
 lated by principles of reason and philanthrophy, I laid 
 aside my enjoyments in private life and embarked 
 under the flag of America when it was first displayed. 
 In that line my desire of fame is infinite, and I must 
 not now so far forget my own honour, and what I owe 
 to my friends in America, as to remain inactive. 
 
 " My rank knows no superior in the American 
 Marine : I have long since been appointed to command 
 an expedition with five of its ships, and I can receive 
 orders from no junior or inferior officer whatever. 
 
 " I have been here in the most tormenting suspense 
 for more than a month since my return; and agreeably 
 to your desire, as mentioned to me by Monsieur 
 Chaumont, a lieutenant has been appointed, and is 
 with me, who speaks the French as well as the Eng 
 lish. Circular letters have been written and sent the 
 8th of last month from the English Admiralty, because 
 they expected me to pay another visit with four ships. 
 Therefore I trust that, if the Indien is not to be got 
 out, you will not, at the approaching season, sub 
 stitute a force that is not at least equal both in strength 
 and sailing to any of the enemy s cruising ships. 
 
 " I do not wish to interfere with the harmony of 
 the French Marine; but if I am still thought worthy 
 of your attention, I shall hope for a separate com- 
 
PAUL JONES 197 
 
 mand, with liberal orders. If, on the contrary, you 
 should now have no further occasion for my services, 
 the only favour I can ask is, that you will bestow on 
 me the Alert, with a few seamen, and permit me to 
 return and carry with me your good opinion in that 
 small vessel, before the winter, to America." 
 
 This letter was shown to the Due de la Rochefou 
 cauld, before being sent to Franklin, who, as usual, 
 reiterated his favourite formula of patience. But 
 Jones wrote to him impetuously : " It is in vain for 
 the minister to pretend that he has not ships to bestow. 
 I know the contrary. He has bestowed the Renommee 
 and others here since my return; and there are yet 
 several new ships unbestowed at St. Malo and else 
 where. I know, too, that unless the States of Holland 
 oppose it, the Indien 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 
 advice and take no step without your approbation. 
 If it were consistent and convenient for you to see 
 M. de Sartine, I should hope that such an explanation 
 would be the consequence as might remove every 
 cause of uneasiness. 
 
 " I wish to have no connection with any ship that 
 does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harms way. 
 You know, I believe, that this is not every one s 
 intention. . . . 
 
 " I have, to show my gratitude to France," he adds, 
 " lost so much time, and with it opportunities as I 
 
198 PAUL JONES 
 
 cannot regain I have almost half killed myself with 
 grief. Give me but an assurance that the command 
 of the Indien will be reserved for me and bestowed 
 on no other person on any pretence whatsoever, and 
 I will say I am satisfied. This, I pledge myself, will 
 be no loss to France America is not ungrateful. The 
 noble-minded Congress knows not the little, mean dis 
 tinctions of climate or place of nativity, nor have they 
 adopted any rule which can preclude them from 
 encouraging or rewarding the merit of a stranger by 
 raising him even to the first posts of honour. In the 
 army there are many instances of this. In the navy, 
 young as it is, it gives me particular pleasure to inform 
 you that Congress have given the command of the best 
 ship in their service to a French officer, and called 
 the ship the Alliance ! " 
 
 These letters are undoubtedly genuine, yet it seems 
 strangely inconsistent that Jones should have appar 
 ently forgotten, or ignored, those slights from Con 
 gress, when the promotion of subordinate officers over 
 his head wrought him to a pitch of anger that was not 
 allayed by his consultations with "fiery Nicholas 
 Biddle." In all countries, influence played a part, 
 and, in France, as in America, there were many solicit 
 ing the commands aspired to by Jones. The French 
 Navy, at the moment, offered little chance for a 
 "future Jean Bart"; but what of those "political 
 skippers " who had so excited his contempt and fury 
 a few years back ? 
 
 Again he extols Congress, saying: "M. de Sartine 
 may think as he pleases, but Congress will not thank 
 
PAUL JONES 199 
 
 him for having thus treated an officer who has always 
 been honoured with their favour and friendship." 
 
 To le Ray de Chaumont he complains, very 
 naturally 
 
 " Although the minister has treated me like a child 
 five successive times, by leading me from little to little, 
 and from little to less, yet I had more dependence 
 on his honourable intentions, until he refused the small 
 command which you asked for me the 23rd ultimo, and 
 afterwards bestowed the Fox on a lieutenant, who, to 
 my certain knowledge, does not thank him for the 
 favour, and thinks that ship far short of his right." 
 Jones lost faith in de Sartine s promises, and refers 
 sarcastically to the interview which de Sartine had 
 with de Chaumont, when the former swore " by the 
 Styx that Paul Jones should have a ship if he had 
 to buy it." 
 
 De Sartine did not accord Jones answers to his 
 letters, which was a " piece of incivility and disrespect 
 to me as a stranger which he has not shown even to 
 subalterns in the French Marine, in whose hands I 
 have seen his answers to letters of little importance. 
 The secrecy which I was required to observe respect 
 ing what seemed his first intention in my favour has 
 been inviolable; and I have been so delicate with 
 respect to my situation, that I have been, and am, con 
 sidered everywhere as an officer disgraced and cast 
 off for private reasons. I have, of course, been in 
 actual disgrace here ever since my return, which is 
 more than two months. I have already lost near five 
 months of my time, the best season of the year, and 
 
200 PAUL JONES 
 
 such opportunities of serving my country, and acquir 
 ing honour, as I cannot again expect this war, while I 
 have been thus shamefully entrapped in inaction. If 
 the minister s intentions have been honourable from 
 the beginning, he will make a direct written apology 
 to me, suitable to the injury which I have sustained, 
 otherwise, in vindication of my sacred honour, painful 
 as it will be, I must publish in the Gazettes of Europe 
 the conduct he has held towards me." 
 
 Franklin and Dr. Bancroft sympathised with the 
 offended captain, and Franklin s grandson, William 
 Temple Franklin, who acted as his secretary, wrote : 
 " Monsieur S. s conduct towards you has been as 
 remarkable as it has been unjust, and has altered in 
 a great degree the good opinion many have had of 
 him. I have been asked in several companies, Ou est 
 le brave Capitaine Jones ? que fait-il ? and have felt 
 myself (as your compatriot) in a manner ill-treated, 
 when I can only answer that you are still at Brest." 
 
 Young Franklin added the consoling information 
 that M. de Chaumont had "certain knowledge M. S. 
 was ashamed of the conduct he had held towards you, 
 and that he was now occupied to make up for it. 
 Bancroft," says he, " is assured that the minister had 
 all along felt good dispositions, but had been pre 
 vented from carrying them into execution by the 
 intrigues of 487,557 (the marine), among whom multi 
 tudes were making interest, and caballing to obtain 
 303 (ships) and opposing the disposal of any except 
 among their own body; but 710 (de Sartine) had 
 assured him that you should have one, if he were 
 even to purchase it." He gives Jones the inevitable 
 
PAUL JONES 201 
 
 temporising advice to "wait a week or two, when, if 
 nothing comes, I think 299 (Franklin) will declare his 
 utmost resentment, and nothing that any of us can say 
 will be too bad." 
 
 Unaware of this terrible threat, M. de Sartine still 
 procrastinated. The Ranger sailed under command 
 of Simpson, on July i6th, and on the ist of October 
 Jones was still unemployed, and wrote to Mr. Hewes 
 on the subject 
 
 " The French have little conception of expeditions 
 such as I propose: projects to harry the coasts and 
 destroy the commerce of the enemy. Their idea is to 
 leave all that to privateers, of which I have already 
 been offered a dozen commands. Some of the ships 
 they fit out as privateers are really respectable frigates 
 in size, and I have seen one, called the Monsieur, that 
 mounts thirty-eight or forty guns. But I do not wish 
 to engage in privateering. My object is not that of 
 private gain, but to serve the public in a way that may 
 reflect credit on our infant navy, and give prestige to 
 our country on the sea. . . . Another obstacle I meet 
 with every day is the jealousy of the French officers. 
 By this I mean not the higher ranks, as d Orvillers 
 and d Estaing and de Grasse, but the younger officers 
 in my own grade. You must know that the French 
 navy is not merely aristocratic like the English, but 
 it is wholly a navy of the noblesse. You may think 
 it incredible, but it is a fact that a royal ordinance is 
 in force, not long ago promulgated, requiring that 
 candidates for promotion from lieutenant to captain 
 must first of all produce proof of noble lineage for at 
 least four generations back of their own. or must be 
 
202 PAUL JONES 
 
 members by heritage of the order of the Chevaliers 
 of St. Louis ! This, as you see, puts an end to the 
 possibility of a future Jean Bart." 
 
 Impartially viewing the situation, such jealousy was 
 natural. The army and navy were the only careers 
 open to those nobles, bred of forbears whom Louis 
 XIV s command to live at Versailles, forever in his 
 presence, had reduced to the condition of puppets, 
 with no ambition except to attract the royal smile. 
 The power of independent nobility was dreaded by 
 the French throne, and it was the policy of Louis to 
 have around him at all hours those who might plot, 
 if left to their own devices. Commissions in either 
 service were not gained without fierce and shameful 
 intrigues, whose ramifications extended indefinitely; 
 bribery played its corrupting part, and many a portion 
 less sister prayed her wasted life away in the convent 
 so her brother might swagger with the bravest on the 
 money which should have been her marriage dowry. 
 
 " It must, so long as it now stands, shut out talent 
 and merit from all command rank in the French 
 navy," Jones argued in the same letter. " And in the 
 main, leave open the door of preferment to those only 
 who can boast the favour of titled courtiers, or who, 
 in default of aptitude for the naval service, can offer 
 nothing but pedigrees that in most cases argue decay 
 rather than improvement of blood by age of family." 
 
 This condition of favouritism was not peculiar to 
 the French navy, as has been shown by the incompe 
 tent officers to whom the United States Navy owed its 
 earlier failures, nor did Jones represent it in anything 
 but the true light. He acknowledged facts coldly to 
 
PAUL JONES 203 
 
 Franklin, which, in the letter to de Sartine for some 
 reason or other, he saw fit to view with more partiality. 
 " I have," he declared, "excited the jealousy of many 
 officers in our young navy, because I have pursued 
 honour while they sought after profit." He laments : 
 " The Due and Duchesse de Chartres were sure I was 
 to have two frigates lately ready for sea at Brest, one 
 of thirty-six guns to be my own command, and the 
 other to be commanded by a French officer, Captain 
 de Roberdeau, selected by the Duke, I to be the 
 senior officer. To these frigates were to be added two 
 sloops of twenty guns. But at the last moment the 
 two frigates were needed to join the grand fleet of 
 the Comte d Estaing, and their commands were given 
 to regular French officers." 
 
 Being a foreigner, unacquainted with the wheels- 
 within-wheels spinning so busily at Versailles, Jones 
 never seems to have had the idea that his attempts to 
 get a command might have been more successful had 
 he not been a protege of the Due de Chartres. The 
 Due was greatly disliked by the King and Queen, and 
 hated by the two antagonistic political factions and 
 a myriad of personal enemies. The friendship he 
 showed for Jones was very marked, and, from a prince, 
 could not fail to excite remark and create envy in the 
 minds of his associates on whom the favour was 
 not bestowed ; and disliked though he was de 
 Chartres could not be ignored either in society or 
 politically. 
 
 The intrigues of the French party were not the only 
 ones he had to fight, for the Commissioners were never 
 able to agree upon the many arrangements of which 
 
204 PAUL JONES 
 
 they had the making, and there was always the annoy 
 ance of Lee s treachery to counteract the few details 
 on which they were of the same mind. Jones, very 
 naturally, resents " the presence of English spies and 
 emissaries in pay of Lord North holding positions 
 under the Commissioners or one of them, where they 
 have full knowledge of the most confidential proceed 
 ings and free access to the most secret papers; and 
 you must see that the path of any one striving to 
 honestly serve our cause here is thick with thorns. . . . 
 The Commissioners have no resources . . . yet, with 
 all these sinister forces to contend with, do not for a 
 moment imagine that I despair. I am sure I will 
 succeed in the end, though not quite as quickly as I 
 would like, or, perhaps, not on such a large scale. But 
 I will succeed." 
 
 But the time for success was not ripe, and there 
 were hours when blank failure seemed to appear as 
 a gaunt spectre, to be swept away by a chance word 
 promising the fulfilment of his desire. De Sartine 
 was, undoubtedly, a man of many flattering words and 
 promises, but Jones states that he " cannot and dare 
 not do what I think he really wishes, because of the 
 high and dangerous cabals of the French officers, who 
 urge that the rules of the service will not admit of 
 giving me command of ships detached from the 
 Royal Marine." 
 
 Possibly Paul Jones did not realise at first that 
 there were many who would have preferred him as 
 captain of a privateer where his well-known daring 
 could reap rich profits for the owners of the venture. 
 When at last he did grasp the fact he was highly 
 
PAUL JONES 205 
 
 indignant, and, on November i6th, wrote to Mr. 
 Hewes from Brest; 
 
 " It is now clear to me that they do not intend to 
 give me a regular command. The minister (de 
 Sartine) shuffles all the time with one excuse or 
 another. This makes me believe that it is the fixed 
 intention of the cabal to force me into privateering. 
 There is a strong moneyed and political association, 
 well backed at Court and including, I believe, not a 
 few courtiers, anxious to fit me out with a squadron of 
 privateers or letters-of -marque. M. de Chaumont is 
 at the head of this association. They will give me at 
 least two ships of forty guns each and two or three 
 more vessels of from eighteen to twenty-four guns, with 
 French crews, besides such Americans as I can muster 
 in Brest, Nantes, TOrient, and Dunkirk, and with such 
 a force I am to put to sea in quest of plunder and 
 to enrich a few French bankers and merchants. 
 
 1 You need not be told, Mr. Hewes, that this pros 
 pect does not suit me. I am not in pursuit of private 
 gain for myself or for others. I hold commission as 
 captain in the regular navy of the United States, 
 which, in my estimation, is not to be outranked by the 
 same grade of commission of even date in any other 
 navy in the world. My sole ambition is to have 
 opportunity of fighting a battle in virtue of that com 
 mission, and under our own new flag among nations 
 which that commission entitles me to fly ; to fight under 
 such auspices a battle that will teach to the world, and 
 particularly to Englishmen and Frenchmen, that the 
 American flag means something afloat and must be 
 respected at sea. 
 
206 PAUL JONES 
 
 " To a man of your own perfect perceptions and 
 your own infallible sense of what is proper, Mr. 
 Hewes, it is not needful to say that no such thing as 
 I have expressed can possibly be done in a private 
 armed ship or under a letter-of-marque, flying no 
 matter what flag. To have any effect in the way of 
 prestige to our infant nation such a battle must be 
 fought under the commission that I have been 
 honoured with by the Congress, and under the flag of 
 our own country. 
 
 " However, it wastes time, paper and ink to argue 
 this with you, and, also, as the last reports I have 
 from you indicate that you are yet in feeble health 
 and out of public life, I shrink from the thought of 
 tiring you either with the length of my letter or the 
 troubles of my situation. ... Of one thing, in spite 
 of all, you may definitely assure yourself, and that is, 
 I will not accept any command or enter upon any 
 arrangement that can in the least bring in question or 
 put out of sight the regular rank I hold in the United 
 States Navy; for which I now, as always, acknowledge 
 my debt to you more than to any other person." 
 
 There is far too much correspondence to quote in 
 detail. The whole situation was exasperatingly im 
 possible. No command, nothing definite for the 
 future, nothing but elegantly worded, empty promises; 
 and this to repay Jones for relinquishing a command, 
 to remain in France, at the very particular wish of the 
 Ministry of Marine. Everything seemed to have come 
 to a standstill, even Franklin, the only one of the 
 Commissioners who cared to do anything for Jones, 
 confessed himself powerless to take further steps. 
 
PAUL JONES 207 
 
 Worn out by all this procrastination, he wrote to the 
 Due de Chartres, explaining the matter at some length, 
 and received the following reply 
 
 " It seems to me that nothing is left for you to do 
 but appeal to the King in person. This will, of course, 
 be unusual, and contrary to strict etiquette of Court. 
 But his Majesty is a man of generous sentiments, and 
 I am persuaded that if the real facts of your situation 
 could be laid before him he would act in your favour. 
 My advice, therefore, is that you write to him frankly, 
 in your own fashion. My good consort the Duchesse 
 will undertake to hand your letter to his Majesty. 
 Her Royal Highness will also interest her sister-in- 
 law, the Princesse de Lamballe, in the affair, and by 
 that means you may have even the acquiescence, if 
 not the support, of her Majesty the Queen." 
 
 By one of those strange coincidences, one day, when 
 Jones was impatiently turning over an accumulation of 
 papers, he came across a tattered almanack, published 
 by Franklin, and containing a collection of philo 
 sophical sayings called Poor Richard s Maxims. As 
 he indifferently glanced at the pages he was struck with 
 the advice, if a " man wishes to have any business 
 faithfully and expeditiously performed, to go on it 
 himself; otherwise, to send." This struck him as so 
 applicable to his own position that immediately on 
 receiving the Due de Chartres s letter he went to Paris. 
 When, finally, he received his ship, the Due de Duras, 
 | he obtained permission from the ministry to change 
 the name to the Bonhomme Richard, in compliment 
 to the doctor, who used this as his nom de plume. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 1778-1779 
 
 ON the 3rd of December, 1778, the Duchesse de 
 Chartres presented Paul Jones s letter to the King; 
 on the 1 7th he was summoned to Versailles and 
 granted an audience lasting an hour; the details of 
 which, according to etiquette, never transpired, even 
 in the private papers found after his death. The fol 
 lowing month de Sartine was commanded to place a 
 ship, equal in tonnage and armament to the Indien, 
 at his orders. There is unintentional humour in de 
 Sartine s letter, which commences 
 
 " In consequence of the exposition which I have 
 laid before the King of the distinguished manner in 
 which you have served the United States . . . the 
 King has thought proper to place under your command 
 the ship Duras, of forty guns, at present at I Orient," 
 the writer lavishly promises everything in his power 
 " to promote the success of your enterprise/ all of 
 which Jones, after his experiences, must have taken 
 with a very large grain of salt. 
 
 Captain Jones was to sail under the flag of the 
 United States, "to form his equipage of American 
 subjects," though, as there might be some difficulty 
 in this, the King allowed him to levy volunteers as 
 he saw fit, " exclusive of those who are necessary to 
 
 manoeuvre the ship." He was to cruise in European 
 
 208 
 
PAUL JONES 209 
 
 or American waters at his discretion, but to render 
 account of his actions as often as he entered "the 
 ports under the dominion of the King." 
 
 This letter would have easily convinced any one 
 not behind the scenes that it was to the incessant and 
 untiring efforts of M. de Sartine that Paul Jones owed 
 his long-deferred command, and the concluding 
 paragraph does not lessen the effect. Possibly, like 
 many of those who distribute the favours of others, 
 de Sartine really believed what he wrote. 
 
 " So flattering a mark of the confidence with which 
 you are honoured cannot but encourage you to use all 
 your zeal in the common cause, persuaded as I am 
 that you will justify my opinion on every occasion. 
 It only rests with me to recommend to you to show 
 those prisoners who may fall into your hands those 
 sentiments of humanity which the King professes 
 towards his enemies, and to take the greatest care not 
 only of your own equipage, but also of all the ships 
 which may be placed under your orders." 
 
 Paul affected to believe all these rhetorically im 
 pressive sentiments, and wrote, thanking de Sartine 
 as cordially as if certain contretemps had never been. 
 He expressed his obligation to the minister for allow 
 ing the name of the Duras to be changed to Le Bon- 
 homme Richard, " as it gives me a pleasing oppor 
 tunity of paying a well merited compliment to a great 
 and good man, to whom I am under obligations, and 
 who honurs me with his friendship. 
 
 :f With the rays of hope once more lighting up the 
 
 prospect, my first devoir was at the Palais Royale, to 
 o 
 
210 PAUL JONES 
 
 thank the more than royal the divine woman to 
 whose grace I felt I owed all. She received me with 
 her customary calmness. To my perhaps impassioned 
 sentiments of gratitude she responded with serene 
 composure, that if she had been instrumental in bring 
 ing the affair to a successful issue, it was no more 
 than her duty to a man who, as she believed, sought 
 only opportunity to serve the common cause, now 
 equally as dear to France as to America, and that 
 she was sure I would make the best of the opportunity 
 that had been brought about." 
 
 Paul was overwhelmed by the graciousness of the 
 Princess, and with his intensely chivalric and beauty- 
 loving nature and the romance which formed so 
 strong an element in his complex personality, burned 
 to distinguish himself in the eyes of a woman who 
 believed him capable of great deeds. Had he lived 
 a few hundreds of years before, this romantic strain 
 would have found outlet in scouring arid deserts for 
 an oasis, at which grew fruits on an unclimbable tree, 
 to lay at the feet of an exlgeante lady-love as a gage 
 d amozir. As it was, he swore to " lay an English 
 frigate at her feet"- and kept his word. 
 
 The interview was a long one, and, he tells us, 
 " she said there was a more serious concern that had 
 come to her knowledge; that she knew I was not at 
 the moment suitably provided with private resources, 
 and that in consequence she had directed her banker 
 to place to my credit at the house of his correspond 
 ent in TOrient, M. Gourlade, a certain sum, the notice 
 of which I would find awaiting me on my arrival. 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 [ /<;?>;// the tcrm-cotta bust />,)< 
 
PAUL JONES 211 
 
 She enjoined upon me to offer neither thanks nor 
 protestations to her on account of it." She waved 
 aside the attempted explanations, that Le Ray de 
 Chaumont had made some provision for expenses, 
 and "quite impatiently retorted that M. de Chau- 
 mont s arrangements were not her affair, and com 
 manded me to be silent on the subject. Then she 
 dismissed me with a bon voyage, ne moubliez -pas 
 and a pleasant reminder that I had long ago 
 promised, if fortune should smile upon me, to lay 
 an English frigate at her feet ! whereupon I took 
 my leave, and at once set out for 1 Orient." 
 
 Thanks to the Duchesse s munificent gift of ten 
 thousand louis d or, with its purchasing power of three 
 times the sum to-day, Jones was relieved of that 
 harassing bete noir, lack of funds, and able to fit out 
 the Bonhomme Richard without delay. He con 
 sidered the money as a loan, but when he spoke to 
 the Due d Orleans in 1786 about repaying it, the 
 latter replied positively, " Not unless you wish her to 
 dismiss you from her esteem and banish you from her 
 salon! She did not lend it to you; she gave it to 
 the cause." 
 
 Le Due de Duras, now Jones s ship, under the name 
 of the Bonhomme Richard, was built in 1766 for 
 the French East India Company, from whom the 
 King had just purchased her to be used as an armed 
 transport. Twelve years hard voyaging to the East 
 Indies had reduced her to a state of very great 
 dilapidation, and a thorough overhauling was im 
 perative, which took from February till June, though 
 
 o 2 
 
212 PAUL JONES 
 
 he " exhausted every endeavour to hurry them, and 
 was treated very fairly by the French dockyard 
 authorities." 
 
 Jones had many changes to make in the Bon- 
 homme Richard, which, though a reliable ship for 
 passengers and cargo, where steady sailing was all 
 required, was in truth an unwieldy old craft. He 
 describes her as " sailing well with the wind abaft 
 her beam," when close hauled she " pointed up badly, 
 steered hard and unsteady, and made much leeway. 
 She would not hold her luff five minutes with the 
 weather-leech shivering in the fore-topsail, and had 
 to be either eased off or broached to quickly or she 
 would fall off aback, if not closely conned. I mention 
 this because the ability of a ship to hold her luff, if 
 necessary, right up into the teeth of the wind, and even 
 after that to hold steering way enough to wear or tack 
 as occasion may require, is frequently of supreme im 
 portance in battle, and,, all other things being equal, has 
 decided the fate of many ship-to-ship combats at sea." 
 
 The re-christened Bonhomme Richard was 152 
 feet over all, with a tonnage of 998 tons (French). She 
 carried, when turned over to Paul Jones, fourteen 
 long twelve-pounders, and fourteen long nines, and 
 twelve six-pounders. " Her main or gun deck was 
 roomy, and of good height under beams. . . . Below 
 the main deck aft was a large steerage, or, as it would 
 be called in a man-of-war, a gun-room, extending 
 some distance forward of the step of the mizzen-mast. 
 This deck had been used for passengers when the 
 ship was an Indiaman ; but as the port sills of it were 
 
PAUL JONES 213 
 
 a good four feet above water when the ship was at 
 her deep trim, I determined to make a partial lower 
 gun-deck of it by cutting six ports on a side and 
 mounting in them twelve eighteen-pounders. But, 
 being able to obtain only eight eighteens, I cut only 
 four ports on a side, and in fact put to sea with only 
 six eighteen-pounders, two of the eight being unfit 
 for service when turned over to me." 
 
 He goes into a wealth of technical detail as to his 
 changes in the Bonhomme Richard, but sums up that : 
 " This made her, with the eighteen-pounders, a fair 
 equivalent of a thirty-six-gun frigate ; or without them, 
 the equal of the thirty-two as usually rated in the 
 regular rate-list of the English and French navies." 
 A crew of three hundred and seventy-five all told 
 was enlisted. The Americans, including officers, only 
 counted fifty. A " hundred and ninety odd were 
 aliens, partly enlisted from British prisoners of war, 
 partly Portuguese, a few French sailors or fishermen, 
 and some Lascars. In addition to these two hundred 
 and forty seamen I shipped one hundred and twenty- 
 two French soldiers, who were allowed to volunteer 
 from the garrison, few or none of whom had before 
 served aboard ship, and the commandant of the dock 
 yard loaned me twelve regular marines, whom I ma de 
 non-commissioned officers. The regular marine guard 
 for a ship of the Richard s size or rate would be about 
 fifty to sixty of all ranks. My reason for shipping 
 such a large number was that I meditated descents 
 on the enemy s coasts, and also that I wished to be 
 sure of force enough to keep my mixed and motley 
 
214 PAUL JONES 
 
 crew of seamen in order." The rest of the squadron 
 were the Alliance, Pallas and Vengeance, and a 
 coastguard cutter called the Cerf. It was arranged 
 that Lafayette, with seven hundred men, was to join 
 the expediton. He writes enthusiastically to Paul 
 Jones " that we must not, if possible, put troops on 
 board of her (the Alliance), because there would be 
 disputes between the land officers and Capt. Landais. 
 Don t you think, my dear sir, that we might have 
 them divided in this way 
 
 On board the Bonhomme Richard (50 Dragoons and 150 
 
 soldiers) ......... 200 
 
 On board the Monsieur ....... 300 
 
 On board the Pallas, the artillery and . . . .150 
 
 " If you don t like it, you might have 150 men on 
 board of the Alliance, but I fear disputes. M. de 
 Chaumont will make the little arrangements for the 
 table of the officers, etc." 
 
 Lafayette was admittedly a poseur, and his con 
 cluding paragraph, quoted below, is an example of 
 the strange composition of this man s nature; who 
 could lay such stress on trivial details, and uncon 
 cernedly impoverish himself and his family with a 
 quixotism unsurpassed by the Knight of la Mancha 
 himself. 
 
 Though the command is not equal to my military 
 rank, the love of the public cause made me very happy 
 to take it; and as this motive is the only one which 
 conducts all my private and public actions, I am sure 
 I ll find in you the same zeal, and we shall do as 
 much and more than any others would perform in the 
 same situation. Be certain, my dear Sir, that I ll be 
 
PAUL JONES 215 
 
 happy to divide with you whatever share of glory may 
 await us, and that my esteem and affection for you 
 is truly felt, and will last for ever." 
 
 But Lafayette s family had no wish to see him go 
 to sea in company with so determined a fighter as 
 his Scotch friend, and he wrote on May 22nd, 1779, 
 " I dare say you will be sorry to hear that the King s 
 dispositions concerning our plans have been quite 
 altered, and that instead of meeting you I am now 
 going to take command of the King s regiment at 
 Saintes." The Court was at this moment planning one 
 of those colossal spectacular invasions of England, 
 which, though they never matured, proved a favourite 
 and more than semi-occasional project, causing less 
 harm to the island neighbours than the modest at 
 tempts of Paul Jones and his forays on the Scotch 
 coast. 
 
 The squadron of which Jones supposed he was 
 to have chief command comprised the Bonhomme 
 Richard, the Alliance, the Pallas, the Vengeance brig, 
 and the Cerf, a fine cutter. Jones had, with his usual 
 daring, planned nothing less than an attack on Liver 
 pool. "A plan," he says, "was laid, which promised 
 perfect success, and, had it succeeded, would have 
 astonished the world." No less than five hundred 
 picked men from the famous Irish brigade, under 
 command of Mr. Fitzmaurice, were to have taken part 
 in the attempt. But, unfortunately, "a person (de 
 Chaumont) was appointed commissary, and unwisely 
 intrusted with the secret of the expedition. The com 
 missary took upon himself the whole direction at 
 1 Orient; but the secret was too big for him to keep. 
 
216 PAUL JONES 
 
 All Paris rang with the expedition from 1 Orient; and 
 government was obliged to drop the plan when the 
 squadron lay ready for sea, and the troops ready to 
 embark." 
 
 " In an evil hour he solicited that the Alliance, a 
 new American frigate, of which the command had 
 been given by Congress to one Landais, a French 
 man, should be added to his force. As Dr. Franklin 
 had just been formally appointed ambassador to the 
 Court of France, Jones imagined that not only the 
 disposal of the frigate, but the power of displacing 
 its commander at pleasure, was vested in him, as 
 guardian of American interests in Europe." 
 
 This, presumably, could not be done, and he had 
 the vexation of seeing the fastest sailing ship in his 
 squadron commanded by a man whose enmity towards 
 him was constant and undying. Pierre Landais, a 
 disgraced officer in the French service, cashiered for 
 insubordination and refusal to pay debts of honour; 
 disowned by his family and without career, had been 
 glad to engage as captain of one of the ships sent by 
 Beaumarchais to America with supplies for Washing 
 ton s army. He was a plausible scoundrel, and once 
 in America, represented himself as a French naval 
 officer on leave for the purpose of giving his services 
 to the new navy, and the Congress, without looking into 
 the matter, and thinking to please their French allies, 
 precipitately gave him command of the best ship they 
 had, and fate decreed that he should be a perpetual 
 thorn in Paul Jones s flesh. 
 
 On June loth, 1779, "M. de Chaumont presents his 
 
PAUL JONES 217 
 
 compliments to Mr. Jones, and informs him that 
 everything is on board except the powder, which will 
 require only two hours, when he may set sail with a 
 favourable wind. 
 
 "M. de Chaumont informs, at the same time, Mr. 
 Jones that he will have papers to sign before his 
 departure, for the sundry articles which the King has 
 furnished the ship; therefore M. de Chaumont 
 earnestly entreats Mr. Jones not to neglect it, con 
 sidering the immense expense which the vessels in 
 the port have occasioned to the King." Jones is 
 reminded that " M. de Sartine has left to him and to 
 M. Landais the choice of two excellent American 
 pilots, and his attention is called to the situation of 
 the (French) officers who have accepted commissions 
 from Congress to join the armament of the Bon- 
 homme Richard which you command, may be in 
 contradiction with the interests of their own ships; 
 this induces me to request you to enter into an engage 
 ment with me that you shall not require from the said 
 vessels any services but such as will be conformable 
 with the orders which those officers shall have, and 
 that in no case shall you require any change to be 
 made in the formation of their crews, which, as well 
 as the vessels themselves and their armament, shall 
 be entirely at the disposition of the commandants of 
 the said vessel." This stipulation was one of the 
 first straws to show which way the wind blew, and 
 the precursor of that unheard-of " Concordat " which 
 Jones was obliged to sign before putting to sea with 
 his squadron the second time. 
 
218 PAUL JONES 
 
 Paul s few leisure moments were filled listening to 
 the miscellaneous advice with which every one 
 gratuitously inundated him, and which varied in text 
 from de Chaumont s lamentations over the King s 
 outlay, to Dr. Franklin s perpetual reiterations that 
 Jones should play the game of war in a genteel and 
 harmless fashion where the enemy was concerned, 
 sparing everything and everybody sparable, and treat 
 his prisoners "with kindness and consideration." 
 
 If Franklin really objected to war and its inevitable 
 boisterousness, why did he abandon all his occupa 
 tions, go to France, and work indefatigably to get 
 French help for the Americans, when he knew that 
 such help would embroil several unoffending nations 
 into the war he so deplored? Dr. Franklin is not 
 consistent, and belongs to that great army of tempor- 
 isers of which the American revolution is so full ; 
 who made little effort to back up their representatives, 
 and classed this non-support under the heading of 
 " diplomatic relations." The philosophical doctor was 
 not wholly lacking an eye to the main chance, and 
 there is a suggestiveness in the postscript of one of 
 these letters " N.B. If it should fall in your way, 
 remember that the Hudson s Bay ships are very 
 valuable. B. F" 
 
 As the attack on Liverpool ha d been abandoned, 
 thanks to that "tattling commissary," as Jones aptly 
 calls de Chaumont, and there were, for the moment, 
 no definite plans for a cruise, the squadron put to sea 
 " with a convoy of merchant ships and transports with 
 troops, etc., bound to the different ports and garrisons 
 between this place and Bordeaux." 
 
PAUL JONES 219 
 
 The American squadron consisted of the Bon- 
 homme Richard, 42 guns, Alliance, 36 guns, Pallas 30 
 guns, Cerf, 18 guns, and the Vengeance, 12 guns, and 
 sailed from 1 Orient on June igth, 1779. 
 
 On June 14, 1779, Le Ray de Chaumont produced 
 a paper called a "Concordat" for the five captains 
 to sign. No historian has been able to assign suitable 
 reasons for such a proceeding, which forced the com 
 mander, by his own signature, to deprive himself of 
 all benefits of superior rank, and agree to do nothing 
 without consulting the other captains, who, instead of 
 being subordinate officers under his command, became 
 " colleagues," on a practical equality with their com 
 mander, the effect of which "was to destroy all 
 discipline in the squadron." 
 
 Commodore Jones was furious, and demanded of 
 Chaumont, " What could have inspired you with such 
 sentiments of distrust towards me, after the ocular 
 proofs of hospitality which I so long experienced in 
 your house, and after the warm expressions of gener 
 ous and unbounded friendship which I had so con 
 stantly been honoured with in your letters, exceeds 
 my mental faculties to comprehend. ... I cannot think 
 you are personally my enemy. I rather imagine that 
 your conduct towards me at POrient has arisen from 
 the base misrepresentation of some secret villainy." 
 
 To Mr. Hewes he freely expresses his feelings 
 about the " most amazing document that the putative 
 commander of a naval force in time of war was ever 
 forced to sign on the eve of weighing anchor." 
 
 " I am tolerably familiar with the history of naval 
 operations from the remotest time of classical 
 
220 PAUL JONES 
 
 antiquity to the present day; but I have not heard or 
 read of anything like this. I am sure that when 
 Themistocles took command of the Grecian fleet, 
 he was not compelled to sign such a Concordat ; 
 nor can I find anything to exhibit that Lord Hawke 
 in the French war, nor any English or French flag 
 officer in this war had been subjected to such volun 
 tary renouncement of proper authority. 
 
 1 These being the two extremes of ancient and of 
 modern naval history without a precedent, I think I 
 am entitled to consider myself the subject of a com 
 plete innovation; or, in other words, the victim of an 
 entirely novel plan of naval regulations. 
 
 "... It is my custom to live up to the terms of 
 papers that I sign. I am at this writing unable to see 
 that, by signing this paper, I have done less than 
 surrender all military right of seniority, or that I have 
 any real right to consider my flagship anything more 
 than a convenient rendezvous where the captains of 
 the other ships may assemble whenever it please them 
 to do so, for the purpose of talking things over, and 
 agreeing if they can agree upon a course of sailing 
 or a plan of operations from time to time. 
 
 Yet, strange and absurd as all this may appear, I 
 was constrained to sign this infernal paper by a word 
 from Dr. Franklin, which, though veiled under the 
 guise of advice/ came to me with all the force of 
 an order. 
 
 You know that not only is the word of Dr. 
 Franklin law to me, but also his expression or even 
 intimation of a wish is received by me as a command 
 
PAUL JONES 221 
 
 to be obeyed instantly without inquiry or debate . . . 
 the doctor himself knows this. 
 
 " I am so sure that the doctor always does the best 
 he can, that I never annoy him with inquiries. I can 
 at least see my way clear to some sort of a cruise. 
 I hope to realise in it some of my ambition towards 
 promoting the reputation of the United States on the 
 
 sea." 
 
 Jones then alludes to the moral effect which the 
 capture of the Drake had " on the continent of Europe, 
 and alarmed the English more than they have been 
 alarmed in many years, if ever. It taught the English, 
 and proved to the rest of the world, that a regular 
 British man-of-war, fully manned, well handled and 
 ably commanded, could be reduced in one hour, by a 
 slightly inferior ship, to total wreck and helplessness, 
 and forced to surrender in order to save the lives of 
 the remnant of her crew in sight of their own coast; 
 and all this, not by desperate boarding, but by simple 
 straightway broadsiding at close range, the whole 
 battle being fought on one tack and without manoeuvre. 
 
 " But now, with the force I have, ill-assorted as it 
 is, and hampered as it may be by the untoward 
 conditions I have already confided to you, I can, if 
 fortune favours me, fight a much more impressive 
 battle. 
 
 " I might have a better ship, and my crew would 
 be better if they were all Americans. But I am truly 
 grateful for ship and crew as they are ; and, if I should 
 fail and fall, I wish this writing to witness that I take 
 all the blame upon myself." 
 
222 PAUL/ JONES 
 
 Hewes was a dying man when he received this 
 letter, which was found among his papers, endorsed 
 " It is to be seen that he considers himself now at 
 the end of his resources, and that he must do or die 
 with the weapons in his hands. I only hope that life 
 may be spared me long enough to know the ending. I 
 am sure, from what he says at the end of his letter, 
 that he will either gain a memorable success, or, if 
 overmatched, go down with his flag flying and his guns 
 firing. To me, who know him better than any one else 
 does, his words, if I should fail and fall mean that 
 he intends both shall be if one is; that, if he must fail, 
 he is resolved to fall ; that he will not survive defeat. 
 Knowing him as I do, the desperate resolution fore 
 shadowed in his words fills me in my present weak 
 state with the gloomiest feelings." Life was not 
 spared this staunch friend, who died ere news of 
 the fight between the Serapis and the Bonhomme 
 Richard had crossed the wide expanse of ocean. 
 
 Franklin had sent Commodore Jones secret orders 
 as to the plans to be observed on the cruise ; and Jones 
 complains, with much reason, of having seen a letter 
 from the "tattling commissary" to a junior officer 
 under his command, in which the "secret orders" 
 were freely discussed ! What could a commander do 
 when his fleet, to the cabin boys, knew his private 
 affairs a little better than he himself did? 
 
 In John Kilby s narrative is the funnily worded 
 item : The first thing that happened as we were 
 beating down to the Island of Groix : a man fell off 
 the main-topsail yard on the quarter-deck. As he 
 
PAUL JONES 223 
 
 fell he struck the cock of Jones s hat, but did no 
 injury to Jones. He was killed, and buried on the 
 Island of Groix " which gives a certain vague and 
 delightfully piratical tinge to the commencement of 
 the cruise ! 
 
 The squadron having sailed on June igth, the 
 evening of the following day the Commander had " the 
 satisfaction to see the latter part of the convoy safe 
 within the entrance of the river of Bordeaux. But 
 at midnight, while lying-to off the Isle of Yew, the 
 Bonhomme Richard and Alliance got foul of one 
 another, and carried away the head and cutwater, sprit- 
 sail yard and jibboom of the former, with the mizzen- 
 mast of the latter; fortunately, however, neither ship 
 received damage in the hull." 
 
 Captain Landais s conduct during this accident left 
 much to be desired, and it was solemnly attested by 
 the officers of the squadron that, instead of giving the 
 requisite orders to prevent the collision, and after 
 wards remaining on deck to assist in the extrication 
 of the Alliance, he went below to load his pistols. 
 The base desertion of his station when the fate of 
 his ship was at hazard showed a shrinking from duty 
 and responsibility, and a want of presence of mind; 
 whilst the search for his pistols, real or affected, to 
 be used against his commanding officer, evinced a 
 braggart disposition to shed blood which was doubt 
 less assumed to cover the timidity with which the 
 jeopardy of his ship had affected him. This anecdote 
 will be found very characteristic of the man in after 
 scenes of much greater peril." 
 
224 PAUL JONES 
 
 The squadron reeked with insubordination, and 
 Landais was so hated that he and his officers "were 
 ready to cut one another s throats; the crew had 
 mutinied on the voyage from America, with Lafayette 
 on board, and once in port the first and second lieu 
 tenants deserted. There hap! been trouble on the 
 Bonhomme Richard among the English prisoners 
 who enlisted with Jones as Americans, in order to 
 escape from their loathsome prisons, and with the 
 ultimate hope of getting home once more. "Two 
 quarter-masters were implicated as ringleaders in a 
 conspiracy to take the ship. It was necessary to hold 
 a court-martial for the trial of these offenders; and 
 a knowledge of the circumstances thus reaching M. de 
 Sartine created a distrust with regard to the efficiency 
 of the Bonhomme Richard, which gave Jones great 
 annoyance. The result of the court-martial was, that 
 the quarter-masters were severely whipped instead 
 of being condemned to death, as Jones, from a 
 letter written about this period, seemed to have 
 apprehended." 
 
 The return of the squadron to Brest for repairs was, 
 in the end, a great benefit to the Commander, enabling 
 him to enlist those American seamen just exchanged 
 by Lord North s orders for the prisoners kept by 
 Jones on the Patience in Brest harbour. Undoubtedly 
 this new addition to the Richard s fighting force aided 
 Jones to make one of the most brilliant victories in 
 the annals of naval warfare; without them, and left 
 to the hazards of his mongrel crew, he might have 
 chosen to sink with his ship, rather than "fail and 
 
PAUL JONES 225 
 
 fall." They were the best to be found, these sturdy 
 Yankee tars, such as " Good old Fighting Dick Dale," 
 to whom he left the sword of honour given him by 
 King Louis; Nathaniel Fanning, who wrote a vivid 
 description of the battle; Henry Lunt and John 
 Mayrant, whom the Captain eulogises in his journal : 
 " It was my fortune to command many brave men, 
 but I never knew a man so exactly after my own heart 
 or so near the kind of man I would create, if I could, 
 as John Mayrant." These and a score of others 
 formed the righting backbone of the crew; fearless, 
 daring, bold sailors, who were afraid of nothing 
 human, satanic, or divine. 
 
 For some reason the name Bonhomme Richard 
 seemed to please the fancy of the men. Jones, too, 
 had a very persuasive way, and would walk for an 
 hour or more on the pier with a single sailor whom he 
 was desirous of enlisting, and rarely failed of success. 
 Placing scanty reliance on the untried French, Portu 
 guese and Lascars, who, with the released English 
 prisoners, formed a large proportion of his crew, he 
 drafted them on to other ships of the squadron, 
 manning the Bonhomme Richard with a hundred 
 and fifty American sailors and officers, who, in case 
 of trouble, would be in sufficient proportion to 
 dominate the ship. 
 
 There has been such strong testimony recorded 
 about Jones s dislike to the use of the cat-o -nine-tails 
 that the story told by John Kilby, one of the released 
 prisoners enlisted, is not without interest. It must 
 be kept in mind that the narrative was written from 
 
226 PAUL JONES 
 
 memory some thirty years after the events happened, 
 and memory is not always infallible. All through the 
 story John Kilby s remembrance of the names of those 
 who were his daily associates is so erroneous that it 
 is not easy to believe him reliable on other events 
 He says 
 
 " We all went on board of the ship Bonhomme 
 Richard. The first sight that was presented to our 
 view was thirteen men stripped and tied up on the 
 larboard side of the quarter-deck. The boatswain s 
 mate commenced at the one nearest the gangway and 
 gave him one dozen lashes with the cat-o -nine-tails. 
 Thus he went on until he came to the coxswain, 
 Robertson by name. (These men were the crew of 
 the captain s barge, and Robertson was the coxswain.) 
 When the boatswain s mate came to Robertson, the 
 first lieutenant said : As he s a bit of an officer, give 
 him two dozen. It was done. Now it is necessary 
 to let you know what they had been guilty of. They 
 had carried the Captain on shore, and as soon as Jones 
 was out of sight, they all left the barge and got drunk. 
 When Jones came down in order to go on board, not 
 a man was to be found. Jones had to, and did, hire 
 a fishing boat to carry him on board. Here it will 
 be proper to observe that, some small time before, 
 Jones had entered seventy-two men (English pris 
 oners) who had been released from the prison of 
 Denan (Dinan ?) in the inland part of France. Nearly 
 all of them were good seamen, and the crew of the 
 captain s barge was selected from their number." 
 These released prisoners, whom Jones enlisted and 
 
PAUL JONES 227 
 
 brought from TOrient, paying their travelling expenses 
 out of his own pocket, were mostly " rated as warrant 
 or petty officers upon the reorganisation of the 
 Richard? s crew." 
 
 While the squadron lay inactive for six weeks at 
 the Isle of Groix, Franklin, who had not learned of 
 the accident to the Richard and Alliance, sent Jones 
 a letter with directions for the cruise. The doctor 
 directed that the fleet should cruise on the west coast 
 of Ireland, " establish your cruise on the Orcades, the 
 Cape of Derneus, and the Dogger Bank, in order to 
 take the enemy s property in those seas. 
 
 " The prizes you make, send to Dunkirk, Ostend, 
 or Bergen in Norway, according to your proximity to 
 either of these ports." The cruise was to end at 
 the Texel. This letter was crossed by that of Jones, 
 informing the doctor of the accident to the Richard. 
 The Commodore had many complaints for the ear of 
 his friend, but Franklin tries to pacify him with the 
 suggestion, that as the cruise was to end at the Texel, 
 he might at last accomplish his great desire, and get 
 command of the Indien. 
 
 Shortly before sailing, the squadron had been joined 
 by two privateers, the Monsieur of forty guns and 
 the Grandvillc of fourteen. They offered to bind 
 themselves " to remain attached to the squadron ; but 
 this the disinterested commissary T would not permit. 
 1 he consequences were soon obvious ; the privateers 
 remained attached to the squadron exactly as long as 
 it suited themselves." 
 
 The Monsieur is said to have been owned by Marie 
 
 P 2 
 
228 PAUL JONES 
 
 Antoinette s ladies of honour, the chief share belong 
 ing to the Duchesse de Chartres ; and was commanded 
 by a captain in the navy, Philippe Guedloe de 
 Roberdeau, who warned Jones that Landais would 
 betray him at the first opportunity. His hatred for 
 Landais is given as Roberdeau s reason for after 
 wards leaving the squadron; and in 1780 he refused 
 Landais s challenge on the grounds that the latter 
 was not entitled to the privileges of a gentleman. 
 
 " Having given the necessary orders and signals and 
 appointed various places of rendezvous for every 
 captain in case of separation, Commodore Jones sailed 
 from the road of Groix on the I4th of August, exactly 
 one day short of the time he had been desired to come 
 into the Texel, after ending his cruise; so uncertain 
 and precarious are all nautical movements. 
 
 This force might have effected great services, and 
 done infinite injury to the enemy, had there been 
 secrecy and due subordination; Captain Jones saw his 
 danger; but his reputation being at stake, he put all 
 to the hazard." 
 
 Authorities agree that this cruise of fifteen days 
 left an ineradicable impression on naval history. 
 " Other cruises have been marked at least by dis 
 cipline, subordination, and zeal of commanders for 
 the common cause. This one, from beginning to end, 
 was distracted by insubordination that in any regular 
 navy would have been condemned as mutiny and 
 punished by shooting on deck or hanging at the 
 yardarm." 
 
 Four days out the squadron on the i8th captured 
 
PAUL JONES 229 
 
 the Verwagting, a large Dutch ship, taken some clays 
 before by an English privateer. The effects of the 
 "Concordat" began to show, for though Jones, 
 the senior officer, was within hail, the captain of the 
 Monsieur, who had taken the Dutch ship an d removed 
 from her what he saw fit, put a prize crew on board, 
 ordering her into port. Jones countermanded this 
 order, sending her to 1 Orient, which so displeased de 
 Roberdeau that he departed un der cover of night, and 
 the squadron saw him no more. On the 23rd they 
 made Cape Clear, ami the Pallas took the brigantine 
 Mayflower, with a cargo of butter, salt meats and 
 fish, bound from London to Limerick, sending her to 
 TOrient ; and the Fortune of Bristol was captured and 
 sent to Nantes. 
 
 On the 23rd Jones had a most annoying misaclven- 
 ture. Having sent his boats to capture a brigantine, it 
 was necessary to keep the Bonhomme Richard from 
 drifting into a dangerous bay while awaiting their 
 return ; and, as there was not enough wind to hanHle 
 the ship, the barge was ordered ahead to tow. The 
 ex-prisoners who manned the barge had been looking 
 for just such an opportunity. They waited until dusk, 
 cut the tow-line, and, having overpowered the two 
 American petty officers, made for the shore. They 
 were fired at without effect from the Bonhomme 
 Richard, and the master, Lunt, on his own responsi 
 bility, lowered a boat and gave chase. Lunt was 
 unable to come up with the fugitives, and presently 
 both boats disappeared in the fog, and the Cerf, which 
 was sent to find them, did not return or make for the 
 
230 PAUL JONES 
 
 rendezvous appointed. This took two of the best 
 boats and twenty-three men from the Bonhomme 
 Richard, and signal guns were fired all night, as the 
 fog did not lift. 
 
 The following afternoon Landais came aboard, 
 proceeding to heap insults on his commanding officer, 
 " affirming in the most indelicate language " that the 
 boats had been lost through Jones s " imprudence in 
 sending boats to take a prize ! " It is easy, after this 
 scene, to believe all the allegations made as to the 
 unprecedented and extraordinary conditions with 
 which Paul Jones had to cope on this cruise. 
 
 There was frightful tension during the scene ; how, 
 with this insult and provocation, Paul ever controlled 
 his fiery temper, can only be explained by his para 
 mount desire to carry through the cruise he had 
 planned, so he put an iron-handed restraint on him 
 self, and grimly waited. Landais sneeringly ignored 
 the statements of Colonels Chamillard and Weibert, 
 who tried to drum into his head the fact that the 
 barge was towing the ship, and not chasing prizes. 
 It was his petty jealousy and revenge for not being 
 allowed to chase the day before, " and approach the 
 dangerous shore . . . where he was an entire stranger, 
 and there was not wind enough to govern a ship." He 
 announced himself to be " the only American in the 
 squadron, declaring, from now on, that he, holding a 
 commission as captain in the United States Navy, 
 given him by Congress, was answerable to no one, and 
 would act as he saw fit." 
 
 There was no end to Landais s insolence. A few 
 
PAUL JONES 231 
 
 days later they lost a fine letter-of-marque because, 
 at the critical moment, he ran up the American flag 
 on the Alliance, instead of showing English colours, 
 as the Bonhomme Richard was doing. When the 
 captain of the letter-of-marque saw this, he instantly 
 threw his despatches overboard, beyond reach of the 
 enemy. Incidents of this kind happen frequently, 
 as we gather from the voluminous correspondence 
 between Franklin and Jones. Landais hated Paul 
 Jones with the hatred of a disgraced and dishonour 
 able man for one whose honour was untarnished, who 
 had no stain on his past, and nothing to cloud his 
 future ; and Landais knew that only the exigencies of 
 war allowed him to be tolerated, much less treated 
 with friendliness, by officers of the service he had 
 disgraced. The hasty action taken by Congress had 
 placed all parties in an exceedingly awkward position. 
 The most important project planned by Jones for 
 this cruise was the attack on Leith, from which town 
 he hoped to levy some 200,000. So certain was he 
 of success, that the papers of capitulation were drawn 
 up in due form ready for the signature of the provost 
 and his henchmen, who were to be allowed half-an- 
 hour for reflection before producing the ransom. Leith 
 was unguarded by cannon at its port, and soldiers 
 for defence would have to be brought from Edin 
 burgh, a mile distant. Luck and the wind were 
 against Jones, for a cutter brought in news of his 
 appearance on the Scotch coast, where, some thirty 
 years afterwards, " the prodigious sensation caused by 
 the appearance of Paul Jones in the Firth of Forth is 
 
232 PAUL JONES 
 
 hardly forgotten on the coast of Fife." His arrival 
 on a Sunday morning caused wild turmoil in the 
 hearts of the kirk-going population of the " lang toun 
 o Kirkaldy " ; and one dissenting minister, Mr. Shirra, 
 who had a peculiar and informal manner of intimating 
 his wishes to the Almighty, abandoned all idea of 
 going to his pulpit, and, seating himself in an arm 
 chair, like Canute by the edge of the sea, proceeded 
 to invoke the aid of heaven in the broadest Scotch. 
 
 " Now, deer Lord, dinna ye think it a shame for ye 
 to send this vile piret to rob our folk o Kirkaldy ; for 
 ye ken they re puir enew already, and hae naething to 
 spaire. The way the ween blaws, he ll be here in a 
 jiffie, and wha kens what he may do? He s nae too 
 guid for ony thing. Meikle s the mischief he has 
 dune already. He ll burn their houses, tak their very 
 claes, and tirl them to the sark; and wae s me! wha 
 kens but the bluidy villain might tak their lives? The 
 puir weemen are maist frightened out o thir wits, and 
 the bairns skirling after them. I canna thoVt I I 
 hae been lang a faithful servant to ye, Laird ; but gin 
 ye dinna turn the ween about, and blaiv the scoundrel 
 out of our gate, I ll na staur a fit, but will just sit here 
 till the tide comes and drouns me. Sae tak yere will 
 
 otr 
 
 And, till the day of their deaths, his faithful 
 parishioners could not have been argued out of their 
 belief that it was solely owing to the efforts of the 
 Dominie that a severe gale came up and forced the 
 ships to put to sea for safety, as already one of the 
 prizes had been sunk by the severity of the weather, 
 
PAUL JONES 283 
 
 and the Bonkomme Richard had sprung a mast. 
 For years afterwards, when the old clergyman was 
 complimented on the efficacy of his prayer, he 
 mo destly disclaimed any part in the happening, 
 always saying : " I prayed but the Laird sent the 
 
 Excited crowds assembled on the heights above 
 Kirkcaldy, and on the sandy beach. At one time the 
 Bonhomme Richard was within a mile of the shore, 
 and with glasses the renowned Commander could be 
 clearly seen, and is described as "being dressed in 
 the American uniform with a Scotch bonnet edged 
 with gold as of a middle stature, stern countenance 
 and swarthy complexion." 
 
 The failure to attack Leith ranked as another of 
 his disappointments. There was incessant friction 
 with Landais and with Cottineau, captain of the 
 Pallas, who ransomed a prize, which no one in the 
 squadron had authority to do, as they were considered 
 the property of the King of France. After the gale 
 the squadron made sail to the southward, captured 
 some prizes, and sighted an English fleet, which kept 
 so near shore in the shallow water Jones dared not 
 attack. He then signalled a pilot, who, believing 
 the Bonhomme Richard to be an English ship, 
 brought the news that a king s ship lay at the mouth 
 of the Humber, waiting to convoy a fleet of merchant 
 ships to the north. The pilot innocently gave Jones 
 the private signal, with which he nearly decoyed these 
 ships out of port. They had started to answer the 
 signal, "when the tide turned, and an unfavourable 
 
234 PAUL JONES 
 
 wind made them put back. Jones decided the posi 
 tion was too dangerous to hold unsupported, and the 
 Pallas not being in sight, steered to join her off 
 Flamborough Head." 
 
 Jones had explained to Cottineau, a few days after 
 his failure to attack Leith, similar projects in regard 
 to Hull and Newcastle; but Cottineau had no desire 
 to take those wild chances in which his intrepid com 
 mander revelled, and dissuaded Jones with every 
 argument he could summon. Afterwards Jones 
 declared he would have undertaken it without the 
 help of the Pallas, so sure was he of his junior officers, 
 but for the reproach which would have " been cast 
 on his character as a man of prudence had the enter 
 prise miscarried. It would have been, Was he not 
 forewarned by Captain Cottineau and others ? 
 Cottineau croaked that two days more on the coast 
 would surely lead to their capture, and told Colonel 
 de Chamillard that " unless Jones left next day, the 
 Pallas and Vengeance would abandon him." Thanks 
 to the thoroughness with which the "secret" orders 
 had been made common property, every man Jack in 
 the squadron knew the day appointed for rendezvous 
 at the Texel, and, seeing no opportunity for enriching 
 themselves, clamoured to put into port again. 
 
 Jones, on this cruise, may be compared to a man 
 trying to run with a heavy shot chained to his leg. 
 The fatal " Concordat " compelled him to act in 
 concert with those whom he should have dominated. 
 He possessed in a marked degree that clairvoyant 
 gift of knowing, to the smallest detail, the result of 
 
PAUL JONES 235 
 
 his plans. His perfect confidence in his abilities made 
 him as certain of success as he was of the rising and 
 setting of the sun. He could "hitch his waggon to a 
 star " without misgiving ; but those with whom he had 
 to deal were unable to rise to his heights. 
 
 " I sailed, in my time, with many captains; but with 
 only one Paul Jones," his acting gunner, Henry 
 Gardner wrote. " He was the captain of captains. 
 Any other commander I sailed with had some kind 
 of method or fixed rule which he exerted towards all 
 those under him alike. It suited some and others not; 
 but it was the same rule all the time and to everybody. 
 Not so Paul Jones. He always knew every officer 
 or man in his crew as one friend knew another. Those 
 big black eyes of his would look through a new man 
 at first sight, and, maybe, see something behind him." 
 
 " It was the misfortune of Paul Jones, in almost 
 every important crisis of his life, to be either clogged 
 by the timid counsels of those about him, whose 
 genius and courage could not keep pace with his, or 
 to be thwarted by the baser feelings of ignoble rival- 
 ship. In no other service than that of America, still 
 struggling for a doubtful existence as an independent 
 state, and without either power or means to enforce 
 due obedience throughout the gradations of the 
 public service, could such insubordination as was 
 displayed by his force have been tolerated." 
 
 Paul was to have his opportunity, however, though 
 he little dreamed what the morrow was to bring forth 
 when he closed his tired eyes on the night of 
 September 22, 1779. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SEPTEMBER 23, 1/79 
 
 ON the afternoon of September 23rd, the Bonhomme 
 Richard and Pallas, when off Flamborough Head, 
 sighted a fleet of some forty merchantmen to which 
 they gave chase, endeavouring to prevent them from 
 reaching the harbour. This Jones was unable to do 
 owing to the vigilance of the English frigates Serapis 
 and Countess of Scarborough, which convoyed the 
 fleet. Had Commodore Jones been able to effect the 
 capture of this fleet, laden with Norwegian pine, it 
 would have dealt the government shipbuilding a crip 
 pling blow, as the supply of English pine was quite 
 exhausted. 
 
 The Commodore writes that: "The two ships of 
 war that protected the fleet at the same time steered 
 from the land and made the disposition for battle. 
 In approaching the enemy I crowded every possible 
 sail, and made the signal for the line of battle, to 
 which the Alliance showed no attention. Earnest as 
 I was for the action, I could not reach the Commo 
 dore s ship until seven in the evening, being then 
 within pistol shot when he hailed the Bonhomme 
 Richard." 
 
 As the American and English frigates bore down 
 on one another the Pallas engaged the Countess of 
 
 Scarborough, while an exchange of broadsides be- 
 
 236 
 
PAUL JONES 237 
 
 tween the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis began 
 the most celebrated naval duel in history. Captain 
 Richard Pearson commanded the Serapis, and in him 
 Commodore Jones found an adversary worthy of his 
 steel. Nor were the gallant frigates badly matched 
 in armament and crew : the Serapis carried forty-four 
 guns, throwing a broadside of three hundred and 
 fifteen pounds, compared with the Bonhomme 
 Richard s forty-two guns and broadside of two 
 hundred and fifty-eight pounds of metal. The crew 
 of the former numbered 317 officers and men, against 
 the American frigate s 397. 
 
 The first lieutenant of the Serapis, John Breton 
 Wright, published an account of the combat in 
 London, in the year 1781, which is quoted below. 
 
 " As the stranger approached, Captain Pearson 
 showed some impatience at his inability to make out 
 her rate. From her height out of water and the size 
 of her spars he thought she might be a French fifty 
 of the time of the last war, but she had not yet showed 
 a lower tier, and it was too dusk to make out clearly 
 whether she had her lower ports closed, or if she had 
 any at all. Finally, after ordering a hail, which was 
 not answered, Captain Pearson took the night glasses 
 from his eyes, and said, It is probably Paul Jones. 
 If so, there is work ahead ! 
 
 At this point we cannot do better than quote the 
 first lieutenant of the Bonhomme Richard, Richard 
 Dale, familiarly known as " Dick." "At about eight, 
 being within hail, the Serapis demanded, What ship 
 is that? He was answered, I can t hear what you 
 
238 PAUL JONES 
 
 say. Immediately after the Serapis hailed again, 
 What ship is that? Answer immediately, or I shall 
 be under the necessity of firing into you. 
 
 " At this moment I received orders from Commo 
 dore Jones to commence the action with a broadside, 
 which indeed appeared to be simultaneous on board 
 both ships. Our position being to windward of the 
 Serapis we passed ahead of her, and the Serapis, 
 coming up on our larboard quarter, the action com 
 menced abreast of each other. The Serapis soon 
 passed ahead of the Bonhomme Richard, and when 
 he thought he had gained a distance sufficient to go 
 down athwart the fore foot to rake us, found he had 
 not enough distance, and that the Bonhomme 
 Richard would be aboard him, put his helm a-lee, 
 which brought the two ships on a line, and the Bon 
 homme Richard, having headway, ran her bows into 
 the stern of the Serapis. We had remained in this 
 situation but a few minutes when we were again hailed 
 by the Serapis, Has your ship struck ? to which Cap 
 tain Jones answered, I have not yet begun to fight. 
 As we were unable to bring a single gun to bear upon 
 the Serapis, our topsails were backed, while those of 
 the Serapis being filled the ships separated. 
 
 " As soon as the ships could bring their guns to bear 
 again after separating, the fire of both was renewed ; 
 the enemy s as heavy as before, but ours much weaker," 
 continues the first quarter gunner of the Richard. 
 " In fact, but little of our starboard broadside was left. 
 Of the fourteen twelve-pounders in it at the beginning, 
 nine were either dismounted by their carriages and 
 
PAUL JONES 239 
 
 tackle being smashed by the eighteen-pound shot of 
 the enemy s lower tier or else so jammed through 
 wreckage of the port-openings from the same cause as 
 to be unserviceable. ... Of the hundred and forty- 
 odd officers and men stationed in the main gun-deck 
 battery at the beginning, more than half at least over 
 eighty were killed or wounded. The whole deck 
 was slippery with blood and littered with fragments 
 of heads, bodies, and limbs. 
 
 " It was clear to every one that, at this rate, the end 
 could not be far off; and besides, it was known that 
 many of the enemy s eighteen-pound shot had pierced 
 our hull between wind and water, and there was 
 already at least three or four feet of water in the hold, 
 and rapidly gaining. From the gun-deck itself, look 
 ing out-port, we could see that the port sills were much 
 nearer the water s surface than at the beginning, show 
 ing that the ship had already sunk at least two feet 
 from her natural trim. Yet, despite this wreck and 
 carnage, I could not see that any of our remaining 
 men were disposed to flinch, or that the five guns we 
 had left were worked with any less will than at the 
 start. 
 
 "Just at this moment the Commodore came down 
 on the gun-deck and said to Mr. Dale, who was at the 
 moment near me 
 
 " Dick, his metal is too heavy for us at this busi 
 ness. He is hammering us all to pieces. We must 
 close with him ; we must get hold of him ! Be pre 
 pared at any moment to abandon this deck and bring 
 what men you have left on the spar-deck, an d give 
 
240 PAUL JONES 
 
 them the usual small arms for boarding when you 
 come up. . . . 
 
 " The worst carnage of all was on number two gun 
 of the forward starboard division. From the first 
 broadside till the gun-deck was abandoned nineteen 
 different men were on this gun, and at the end but 
 one of her original crew remained. That was our little 
 Indian, Anthony Jeremiah, or, as his messmates nick 
 name was, Red Jerry, generally pronounced by the 
 crew Red Cherry/ He was port-fire throughout. 
 When the gun-deck was abandoned and we went 
 above Jerry joined Mayrant s boarding party and was 
 among the first over the enemy s hammock netting in 
 the final rush. . . . He seemed to bear a charmed 
 life. . . ." 
 
 Every possible method to gain an advantage known 
 to naval warfare was practised by the ships. The 
 Serapis was much easier to handle than the Richard, 
 as the latter was slow in answering her helm, and had 
 more guns available, as the eighteen pounders with 
 which Jones had been so generously provided were 
 utterly useless after they had fired eight shots in all, 
 two bursting at the first charge and killing their crews. 
 Jones had not known at the time he took them aboard 
 that they were all condemned as unsafe ! 
 
 The Commodore had intended to "lay the Bon- 
 homme Richard athwart the enemy s bow; but as that 
 operation required great dexterity in the management 
 of both helm and sails, and some of our braces being 
 shot away, it did not exactly succeed to my wish. 
 The enemy s bowsprit, however, came over the 
 
PAUL JONES 241 
 
 Bonhomme Richard s poop by the mizzen-mast, and 
 I made both ships fast in that situation. 
 
 " While lashing the ships together Paul incidentally 
 lost his hat overboard, and on regaining the quarter 
 deck found his aide-of-the-day, Midshipman Lin- 
 thwaite, with another which he had fetched from the 
 cabin. Never mind the hat, West/ Jones said laugh 
 ing, put it back in the cabin. I ll fight this out in my 
 scalp ! I ve a mind to peel my coat too ! And if I 
 could I d fight in the buff like the gun-deck hearties ! 
 
 "The wind kept the two ships so close that the 
 muzzles of the guns touched. The ship was leaking 
 fast, the battery of twelve-pounders silenced and 
 abandoned, leaving only two pieces of cannon nine- 
 pounders on the quarter-deck which were fit for use. 
 The purser, Mr. Mease, who commanded the guns 
 on the quarter-deck, was dangerously wounded, and 
 Jones with difficulty rallied a few men, and shifted 
 over one of the lee-quarter deck-guns, so they after 
 wards could turn three nine-pounders on the enemy 
 being seconded only by the fire from the tops. The 
 Commodore directed the fire of one of the three cannon 
 against the mainmast of the Scrapis, with double- 
 headed shot, while the other two were exceedingly 
 well served with grape and canister shot, to silence 
 the enemy s musketry and clear her decks, which was 
 at last effected. 
 
 The plight of the Bonhomme Richard was 
 
 critical. Riddled with shot, leaking so that the pumps 
 
 could scarce keep pace with the rising water in her 
 
 hold, flames breaking out in a dozen places at once, 
 
 Q 
 
242 PAULI JONES 
 
 and spreading so rapidly that the greatest fears were 
 felt for the safety of the magazine. 
 
 " Everything now depended on the musketry of our 
 ship ; of the sailors in the fore, main and mizzen tops 
 with muskets and hand grenades, and the French 
 marines who were mostly stationed on the quarter 
 deck, poop-deck, and top of the roundhouse, and but 
 few of them were left. Our gun-deck battery was all 
 silenced by this time, and the few men of these serving 
 in it not killed or disabled had abandoned that deck. 
 Most of our twelve-pounders were dismounted or so 
 cluttered with wreckage that we could not work them. 
 The eighteen-pounders of the enemy s lower tier were 
 driving in beams, knees, and planking of the deck 
 under our feet, and his upper tier of nine-pounders 
 were splintering everything overhead, in consequence 
 of the height of our one gun-deck being a little 
 more than that of his lower tier and less than that of 
 his upper tier, until our gun-deck battery was wholly 
 out of action, untenable fore and aft, and our only 
 cannon still serviceable were three of our quarter-deck 
 nine-pounders, and these were being worked with a 
 will. 
 
 The lower deck of the Serapis was, of course, all 
 decked over, so our musketry could not reach the 
 English on that deck. But the upper tier of the 
 Serapis was uncovered through the waist of that ship, 
 which was rather long, both her quarter-deck and fore 
 castle being short. 
 
 In face of these facts it became the Commodore s 
 tactics to give his whole attention to clearing the 
 exposed decks of the enemy. He therefore assumed, 
 
PAUL JONES 243 
 
 and held for the rest of the action, direct command 
 of his French marines in person. Before it was over 
 the Commodore had every Frenchman, who was not 
 killed, stark crazy. At first it was all he could do to 
 eet them to stand. Toward the last he had trouble 
 
 o 
 
 to keep them from boarding the enemy before he was 
 ready. It took them several days to cool off ! " 
 
 The most dramatic version of this incident was 
 written in a Memoir e du Combat, by Jones s orderly, 
 Pierre Gerard, and published in 1781. It is more to 
 the point in the original French, with its untranslat 
 able idioms. 
 
 " I have seen all this. I have been part of it. 
 Being orderly of the day to the Commodore I could 
 not leave him. I must see all he did and hear all he 
 said. I have seen Captain de Chamillard leave his 
 post of commandant of the marines. He had suffered 
 a contusion of the knee, but I do not know that it 
 was enough to make a brave man quit his post. Many 
 of the crew, both French and American, stayed to the 
 finish with much worse wounds. But it is not for me 
 to reflect on the behaviour of my superior officer. 
 
 "When he was gone Commodore Jones sprang 
 among the shaking marines on the quarter-deck like 
 a tiger among calves (s elanfant par mi des soldats de 
 marine s effrayants, en tigrc par mi les veaux). They 
 responded instantly to him. In an instant they were 
 filled with courage ! The bravery without end of the 
 Commodore perpetrated every soul, and every one who 
 saw his example or heard his voice became as much a 
 hero as himself ! 
 
 "At that moment the fate of the combat was 
 
244 PAUL JONES 
 
 decided. Every man whose wounds permitted him 
 to stand up pressed forward to the front of danger, 
 and the Commodore had but to look at a man to make 
 him brave. Such was the power of one heart that 
 knew no fear ! Such the influence of one soul that 
 knew the meaning of no other word than conquest ! 
 
 ; When the ships ranged alongside, close aboard, 
 the Commodore watched until he saw that the fluke 
 of the enemy s anchor would hook in our mizzen foot 
 shrouds close to the channels. They soon engaged 
 and before the way could be stopped the anchor-fluke 
 of the enemy had ripped through two of the foot- 
 stays and strained heavily at the third. But this one 
 did not give way, and then the Commodore, calling 
 me to follow and pass lashings, leaped through the 
 quarter-deck port into the channels and quickly made 
 the fluke of the anchor fast to our stays, passing the 
 line clear round the latter and doubling it again over 
 the fluke, so that when the ships tended they would not 
 drift clear. 
 
 " But I could distinctly hear, amid the crashing of 
 the musketry, the great voice of the Commodore, 
 cheering the French marines in their own tongue, 
 uttering such imprecations on the enemy as I never 
 before or since heard in French or any other language, 
 exhorting them to take good aim, pointing out objects 
 for their fire, and frequently giving them direct ex 
 ample by taking their loaded muskets from their hands 
 into his and firing himself. In fact, toward the very 
 last, he had about him a group of half-a-dozen marines 
 who did nothing but load their firelocks and hand them 
 
PAUL JONES 245 
 
 to the Commodore, who fired them from his own 
 shoulder, standing on the quarter-deck rail by the main 
 topmast backstay." 
 
 At this intense moment the carpenter, gunner an d 
 master-at-arms, deciding the Bonkomme Richard 
 was sinking, released the two hundred prisoners con 
 fined below, who swarmed up through the orlop hatch, 
 adding to the indescribable confusion. One of them 
 managed to climb through the ports on to the Serapis, 
 where he rushed to inform Captain Pearson that the 
 Richard was sinking fast, and could not hold out for 
 more than a few minutes. One of the petty officers, 
 Arthur Randall, had called for quarter, crying that 
 the Bonhomme Richard was sinking, and Captain 
 Pearson, not seeing the Richard s flag, for the halyards 
 had been shot away, hailed to know if they yielded? 
 
 In Jones s account he says : " I having answered 
 him in the most determined negative, they resumed 
 the battle with double fury," but Pierre Gerard is 
 more colloquial 
 
 " En cc moment, eric le capitaine anglais, Avez- 
 vous amene voltre pavilion ? Auquel, fero cement ct 
 lachant un gros juron, a repondu le Commodore Jones, 
 Non ! je vais a I instant commence? le combat ! 
 
 In the midst of this tumult Jones had time to realise 
 the danger to be apprehended by the release of so 
 many prisoners, and, furious at such an unheard-of 
 breach of discipline, snapped his pistol in the face 
 of the master, John Burband, " but it missed fire, and 
 he then felled the master-at-arms to the deck by 
 
246 PAUL JONES 
 
 striking him on the head with the pistol. . . ." The 
 Commodore told the prisoners that the Scrapis was 
 sinking, to which one of them, the master of a 
 merchant ship taken a few days before, retorted, " It 
 is this ship that sinks ! " Jones ordered them to the 
 pumps, but this man cried out to his fellow prisoners, 
 " Let the d d Yankee pirate sink ! " Upon which 
 Pierre says, " I presented my pistol at his head, and 
 said to him in English, Obey the Commodore ! In 
 stead of heeding my words he grasped at my pistol, 
 whereupon I fired and he fell to the deck lifeless. 
 There was no more resistance on the part of the 
 prisoners, and Mr. Dale, the first lieutenant, without 
 difficulty mustered them at the pumps." 
 
 Jones now called for volunteers for the exceedingly 
 dangerous work of climbing into the top and throw 
 ing hand grenades through the hatch of the Serapis. 
 There was no lack of volunteers. The men who sur 
 rounded the Commodore were thirsting for such a 
 daring action by which they could gamble with the 
 chances of life and death and work off the battle mad 
 ness which drove them to frenzy. 
 
 Gardner describes what followed : " In obedience 
 to this, I had a couple of buckets of grenades whipt 
 into the top, and, with Midshipman Fanning and two 
 seamen Jerry Evans of Nantucket, and Peter Nolte, 
 a Swede, brave as all Northmen are lay out on the 
 yardarm, Fanning overboard, I next, with a slow 
 match, and the two seamen carrying a bucket of 
 grenades. 
 
 " Fanning lay out to the earrings. The hatch was 
 
PAUL JONES 247 
 
 not entirely open, the cover only having been slewed 
 round, probably by one of our shot earlier in the action, 
 leaving a triangular opening about two feet at the 
 widest part. As the ships were rocking slightly in 
 the swell, it took a pretty good aim to throw a grenade 
 through so small an opening. Still, Fanning did it 
 at the third trial, when a terrible explosion occurred 
 in the enemy s lower tier, by which the whole hatch 
 was blown open and so much noise, flame, and smoke 
 made that we first thought it was the magazine." 
 
 In this appalling disaster on the Serapis, over 
 twenty of the crew were blown to pieces, numbers 
 frightfully scorched, and " many stood with only the 
 collars of their shirts upon their bodies," so stupend 
 ous had been the concussion. It was caused by the 
 hand grenades falling among some broken cartridges 
 which the powder monkeys had left scattered along 
 the deck, as they brought them up faster than they 
 were needed. The crew of the Serapis, when prisoners 
 on the Bonhomme Richard, said later, that with the 
 utmost difficulty were the men rallied to the guns again, 
 for this devastating explosion took all the heart out 
 of them. Just at this critical moment the Alliance 
 appeared, and those on the Bonhommie Richard, hard 
 pressed as they were, thought aid was at hand, 
 "when," Jones says, "to my utter astonishment, he 
 discharged a broadside full into the stern of the 
 Richard. 
 
 * We called to him for God s sake to forbear firing 
 into the Bonhomme Richard, yet they passed along 
 the off-side of the ship and continued firino-. 
 
248 PAUL JONES 
 
 Every tongue cried that he was firing into the wrong 
 ship, but nothing availed ; he passed round, firing into 
 the Bonhomme Richard s head, stern and broad 
 side and by one of his volleys killing several of my 
 best men, and mortally wounded a good officer on the 
 forecastle." 
 
 Captain Landais s extraordinary behaviour has 
 never been satisfactorily explained. The Bonhomme 
 Richard had shown her signal of reconnaissance, there 
 was no chance that he had mistaken her for the 
 Serapis, as the latter was painted a bright yellow, and 
 the Bonhomme Richard black, both being clearly 
 distinguishable in the clear harvest moonlight. It 
 can only be ascribed to his jealousy and hatred of 
 Jones, whom he had so frequently made the object 
 of his spite. 
 
 Both ships were in dire distress. For the third 
 time the Alliance raked the Richard with a death-deal 
 ing broadside after which she made off and took no 
 further part in the action. Desperate indeed was the 
 courage of the man, who with sinking ship, with flames 
 raging and relentlessly creeping nearer the magazine 
 each second, with the pumps useless against the great 
 tide of water pouring into the riddled hull, with nearly 
 all his guns silenced, refused to listen to the word 
 surrender, though urged by those of "whose courage 
 and good sense he entertained a high opinion." A 
 party of men who had lost years rotting in English 
 prisons waiting exchange, strained like hounds at the 
 leash for the word of command to throw themselves 
 over the side of the Serapis: they would never be 
 taken alive ! 
 
PAUL JONES 249 
 
 Pearson, brave as he was, fought against an oppo 
 nent who would have blown up his ship rather than 
 surrender : a man whose last chance to win renown 
 hung on this battle. For when Jones wrote : " If I 
 fail or fall," he wrote with the unalterable intention 
 of falling if fortune failed him but to fail, never. 
 Surrender was a word unknown in his vocabulary, and 
 like a demon he pervaded the ship, flogging the weary 
 spirits with heartening words, urging them to hold out 
 for a few moments and victory would be theirs. 
 Through lazy, hanging smoke, which there was 
 not wind enough to clear away ; over the blood-stained 
 decks, where wounded groaned, and the increasing 
 flames lighted a scene like Dante s Inferno; above 
 the thunder of battle and the rattle of musketry, rose 
 that " great voice," cheering his men to victory. He 
 raged everywhere, like the spirit incarnate of battle. 
 His eager eye caught a swaying of the enemy s main 
 mast, there was an ominous crackling; those on board 
 the Seraph paused involuntarily was this the pre 
 cursor of another explosion ? . . . The voice of Paul 
 Jones roared out over the din, " Now is your time, 
 John ! Go in ! " 
 
 With a " hoarse shout, Remember Portsea gaol !, 
 Mayrant, his fierce Huguenot blood boiling, led his 
 band of Yankee sailors over the hammock-netting and 
 down into the waist of the Sera-pis, encountering little 
 resistance, though he was himself run through the 
 fleshy part of the thigh by a pike in the hands of an 
 English sailor. Mayrant instantly killed this sailor 
 with a pistol shot, which was the last casuality of the 
 action." 
 
250 PAUL JONES 
 
 At this moment (ten thirty-five), after an heroic 
 resistance of two hours and thirty-five minutes, Cap 
 tain Pearson " found it vain and impracticable from 
 the situation we were in to stand out any longer with 
 the least prospect of success. I therefore struck (our 
 mainmast at the same time went by the board). The 
 first lieutenant and myself were immediately escorted 
 into the ship alongside." The Countess of Scar 
 borough had some time before this surrendered to the 
 Pallas. 
 
 This is the simple event, shorn of dramatic detail. 
 According to Dick Dale, who was so excited he never 
 noticed one of his legs was pretty well shot to pieces 
 by a splinter from a gun, the " flag of the Serapis was 
 struck by Captain Pearson s own hand, as none of his 
 people would venture aloft on this duty"; and 
 Gardner says that Pearson " Seized the halyards of 
 the Serapis and struck the flag himself." There was, 
 however, so much smoke from the fires raging on the 
 ships and such confusion aboard both that the situa 
 tion was not perceived; and the English gunners on 
 the Serapis s lower gun-deck kept up their cannonade, 
 while the French marines on the Richard s poop-deck 
 and the American sailors in the tops of the latter con 
 tinued their musketry, until Mayrant, seeing Dale 
 standing on the Richard s rail holding on to the main- 
 topmast backstay, called out to him, " He has struck; 
 stop the firing. Come on board and take possession." 
 
 Pearson was a gallant enemy, and, if he must sur 
 render, there was no shame in yielding to the indomit 
 able Paul Jones. Yet there is a pathos, a regret for 
 
PAUL JONES 251 
 
 a brave enemy : " when the first lieutenant of the 
 Serapis now came up from below, and noticing Dale s 
 uniform, he asked Captain Pearson, Has the enemy 
 struck, sir ? No, sir, I have struck/ was the laconic 
 reply." 
 
 It was a bitter moment, and stirred the feelings of 
 the conqueror who described it. " Captain Pearson 
 now confronted me, the image of chagrin and despair. 
 He offered me his sword with a slight bow, but was 
 silent. His first lieutenant followe d suit. I was sorry 
 for both of them, for they had fought their ship better 
 and braver than any English ship was ever fought 
 before, and this fortune of war came hard to them. I 
 wanted to speak, but they were so sad and dignified 
 in their silence I hardly knew what to say. Finally 
 I mustered courage and said, as I took the swords 
 and handed them to Midshipman Potter at my elbow : 
 Captain Pearson, you have fought heroically. You 
 have worn this sword to your own credit and to the 
 honour of your service. I hope your sovereign will 
 suitably reward you/ He bowed again, but made no 
 reply; whereupon I requested him and his lieutenant 
 to accompany Mr. Potter to my cabin." 
 
 So many writers have put into Captain Pearson s 
 mouth the sentence, " Sir, it is with reluctance that 
 I hand this sword to a man who fights with a halter 
 around his neck," that a few words of explanation are 
 not out of place. Captain Pearson was an officer 
 trained in the nice courtesies of his profession, and 
 such a remark could only be attributed to him by 
 writers totally ignorant of the etiquette customary on 
 
252 PAUL JONES 
 
 such occasions. His loss was the fortune of war, and 
 he accepted it as such. But the story kept on grow 
 ing, being copied from the London to American 
 papers, until Jones, when in New York in 1787, saw it 
 printed in the Courant, to whose editor he wrote. 
 
 " New York, September 7, 1 787. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I have read in your esteemed journal, with 
 much regret, a statement copied from a paper printed 
 elsewhere to the effect that Captain Richard Pearson, 
 when tendering his sword to me about eleven o clock 
 p.m., September 23, 1779, observed: It is with 
 reluctance that I yield this sword to a man who fights 
 with a halter around his neck ! 
 
 " Permit me to assure you, sir, upon my honour, that 
 nothing of the kind occurred. It could not, in the 
 nature of things, have occurred. The statement 
 ascribes to Captain Pearson language most grossly 
 unofficer-like and most painfully ungentlemanlike at a 
 moment and on an occasion rigorously demanding the 
 most delicate courtesy of intercourse. 
 
 : Whatever may have been the adversity of fate to 
 Captain Pearson in the fortunes of war, he was and 
 is an officer of the first grade in personal courage and 
 professional skill, and a gentleman without reproach. 
 Therefore, the relation I at one time held with him 
 makes it my duty to defend his reputation as an officer 
 and gentleman when assailed in his absence. 
 
 1 The truth is this : When Captain Pearson tendered 
 his sword to me he simply bowed and did not speak. 
 Deeming it the part of politeness to say something 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 that might assuage the bitterness of his feelings, I 
 said : Sir, you have defended your ship with credit 
 to yourself and honour to your service. Allow me, 
 sir, to express the hope that your sovereign may 
 suitably reward you. 
 
 " When I had said this Captain Pearson bowed pro 
 foundly, but spoke no word. I then requested Mr. 
 Thomas Potter, of Baltimore, one of my midshipmen, 
 to escort Captain Pearson and one of his lieutenants, 
 who was with him, to my cabin. During the whole 
 ceremony Captain Pearson was mute. He did not 
 utter one word or audible sound. 
 
 " Now permit me, sir, to explain the possible origin 
 of the story : When Captain Pearson was exchanged 
 and returned to England he underwent the formal 
 court-martial usual in such cases. I obtained a copy 
 of the record of his court-martial as printed in the 
 Official Chronicle. In his statement to the court, 
 Captain Pearson said : The extraordinary and un 
 heard-of desperate stubbornness of my adversary had 
 so depressed the spirits of my people that, when more 
 than two hundred had been slain or disabled out of 
 three hundred and seventeen all told, I could not urge 
 the remnant to further resistance. 5 
 
 "Then the judge-advocate asked : To what, Cap 
 tain Pearson, do you attribute this extraordinary and 
 unheard-of desperate stubbornness ? 
 
 " Captain Pearson s reply was : I do not know, 
 sir, unless it was because our government, in its in 
 scrutable wisdom, had allowed, if it did not cause, 
 the impression to be spread abroad that Captain Jones 
 
254 PAUL JONES 
 
 and his crew would be held pirates, or, at least, not 
 entitled to the usages of civilised war. 
 
 " To that the judge-advocate replied : In other 
 words, Captain Pearson, you mean they fought like 
 men fighting with ropes round their necks ? 
 
 " That might be a way to state what I mean/ said 
 Captain Pearson. 
 
 " There was no impropriety in this language when 
 and where it was uttered. On the contrary, Captain 
 Pearson unquestionably intended to convey, in a 
 diplomatic manner, his disapproval of the policy of 
 his government to which he had reference. In that 
 view it was creditable to him. The record of the 
 court-martial soon found its way into the English 
 newspapers, gossip of coffee-houses and the like, and 
 ultimately became distorted into the absurd shape now 
 being considered. 
 
 * Trusting you will enable me to have the satis 
 faction of seeing the above true statement in the print 
 of your esteemed columns, and also have the pleasure 
 of forwarding a copy of it to Captain Pearson, 
 " I remain, 
 
 :< Very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " PAUL JONES. 
 " (Commodore U .S. Navy) 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 1779 
 
 A PLACID harvest moon shone unheeding on the 
 havoc of war, its untempered, ghastly white light 
 enhancing the awful scene of carnage; on decks 
 drenched with valiant blood, on the threescore of 
 peaceful dead, lying unshriven, their brief span ended. 
 More than twice their number lay as they had fallen, 
 writhing and groaning, or numb with the agony of 
 mortal wounds, and the cockpit was a horrible pan 
 demonium of suffering, to which the " good old 
 surgeon, Lawrence Brook," unassisted as he was, could 
 give but scant attention. Wreckage of every descrip 
 tion cumbered the decks, confusion reigned supreme. 
 Those who rushed to and fro at the orders of their 
 captain stumbled over the bodies of their dead com 
 rades, over the spent shot, over the weapons fallen 
 from inert, lifeless hands, and the fragments of burst 
 guns, slipping as they ran on gruesome fragments of 
 what had been living men. It was a scene of 
 "carnage, wreck and ruin, unimaginable unless seen." 
 
 " Only a hundred or so of her unwounded crew 
 remained to man the Bonhomme Richard, the other 
 forty or thereabouts were with Mayrant aboard the 
 prize. The poor Richard was indeed a wreck, she 
 had sunk so that the shot-holes " twixt wind and 
 water" could not be plugged. The starboard side 
 
256 MtJL JONES 
 
 of the ship was driven in. Every gun on the star 
 board side was disabled. But for a few frames, 
 futtocks and stanchions that still remained intact, the 
 whole gun-deck would have fallen through." 
 
 " Such was the condition of the Richard, when sink 
 ing and on fire she was still the conqueror, and could 
 by signal command the ship that had destroyed her ! 
 Nothing like this has ever been known in the annals 
 of naval warfare." 
 
 The terrific battle had lasted nearly three hours 
 without pause in its unremitting fury. So dense was 
 the smoke hanging over the ship, that for some minutes 
 after the Serapis had struck, both sides continued 
 firing, and it was not till Mayrant on the Serapis 
 called to Dick Dale, that the news spread over the 
 ship. Then came a sudden calm, the rattle of combat 
 stilled as if by magic, the ships drifted together on 
 the moonlit water, and there was no sound save the 
 groans of the wounded, or the hoarse commands of 
 the officers. The mingled emotions in the hearts of 
 commanders and crews can only be imagined in their 
 complexity. 
 
 The Richard s rudder had been shot away early 
 in the action, and had not Jones, with much foresight, 
 had a second one rigged by the carpenters before 
 leaving TOrient, the ship would have lain like a log 
 at the mercy of wind and tide when the lashings 
 holding her to the Serapis were severed. Through 
 the confusion of victory and defeat, the Captain led 
 a party to make a complete survey of the Richard, 
 which took until five o clock the next day (September 
 
PAUL JONES 257 
 
 24th), when the Richard was condemned as utterly 
 unseaworthy, and her wounded and prisoners ordered 
 to be transferred to the Serapis and other ships of 
 the squadron without a moment s delay, for, in the 
 event of wind and sea rising, there was no hope of 
 keeping the Richard afloat. 
 
 Staggering with exhaustion, hardly seeing from 
 their dazed, sleepless eyes, the tattered, powder- 
 stained sailors and marines slaved at the call of 
 humanity, for, should the sea become disturbed, the 
 catastrophe would be too frightful to picture, and the 
 brave old Richard was sinking fast. A crew from 
 the Pallas manned the pumps, but the water gained 
 steadily in the hold. There were only three boats left 
 to move the "poor fellows, who had to be handled 
 tenderly," and two died in the boats. The means of 
 transport was painfully crude, the unprecedented 
 situation one of extreme peril, which every moment 
 increased. The crew of the Serapis behaved splen 
 didly, tirelessly helping the enemy of the night before 
 as the wounded and prisoners quite outnumbered the 
 able-bodied crew of the Richard. At last the transfer 
 was complete ; and dusk fell, but still they worked. 
 A shiver of rising wind made those who waited with 
 the untiring Commodore urge him to leave his task of 
 hastily gathering up the ship s papers. All the stores 
 had to be abandoned, and scarcely any of the ammu 
 nition was saved. Jones s loss amounted to 50,000 
 Hvres, as he managed to save "only a few souvenirs 
 from feminine friends in Paris, his journal, and a bag 
 of linen." "Most of the officers lost everything." 
 
 R 
 
258 PAUL JONES 
 
 Thanks to his journal, Jones leaves us a word-picture 
 of the last minutes of the ship he had fought so 
 daringly. 
 
 " No one was now left aboard the Richard but our 
 dead. To them I gave the good old ship for their 
 coffin, and in her they found a sublime sepulchre. 
 She rolled heavily in the long swell, her gun-deck 
 awash to the port sills, settled slowly by the head, 
 and sank peacefully in about forty fathoms. The 
 flag which the maidens of Portsmouth had given the 
 Commodore fluttered bravely in the rising breeze, 
 and the last vestige mortal eyes ever saw of the 
 Bonhomme Richard was the defiant waving of her 
 unconquered and unstricken flag as she went down." 
 
 That luck Paul Jones considered so great a factor 
 in the success of a sailor held his friend, for the dead 
 calm which allowed him to move his wounded from 
 the Richard, had kept the Edgar, seventy-four guns, 
 one of the frigates sent to capture him inert at 
 the mouth of the Humber all the day of the 24th, 
 when every minute was vital. 
 
 When the Serapis, badly shattered, with mainmast 
 shot away, spread what canvas she could rig on 
 damaged masts and spars, and got slowly under 
 way with her seven hundred souls aboard, it was a 
 matter for conjecture if she ever could make port. 
 The great number of prisoners and wounded, the 
 terrible crowding, the insufficient medical aid, after so 
 hot a fight, turned the ship into a charnel-house. The 
 situation above decks was extremely awkward, and 
 
PAUL JONES 259 
 
 Jones suggested that Dr. Bannatyne should use his 
 influence to get Captain Pearson to accept Captain 
 Cottineau s cabin on the Pallas, which had been 
 offered at the Commodore s wish. 
 
 " You can understand as I do," he said, " that such 
 an arrangement would relieve both Captain Pearson 
 and me of much embarrassment." And he told the 
 surgeon that Captain Pearson had declined to be his 
 guest, saying, "he would rather mess with his sub 
 ordinate officers, whom I have quartered in the gun 
 room of this ship, which does not seem to me 
 proper." 
 
 Captain Pearson accepted the hospitality of the 
 Pallas s captain, "requesting Dr. Bannatyne to pay 
 his most feeling compliments to Commodore Jones, 
 with the assurance that his delicate sense in the matter 
 was fully appreciated." Dr. Bannatyne continues, 
 "As all of our wounded remained on board the 
 Sera-pis, it was of course necessary that I and my 
 assistant, Dr. Edgerley, should stay with them, and 
 we, being non-combatants, shared with Dr. Brook, of 
 the late Bonhomme Richard, the mess of Commo 
 dore Jones, there being no ward-room mess. Only 
 one commissioned officers mess was kept up after the 
 battle till we gained port." 
 
 Nathaniel Fanning describes the voyage : " The 
 course was for Dunkirk, but on the 2/th a gale came 
 up, blowing him over toward the coast of Denmark, 
 as it was impossible to handle the ship with the in 
 adequate sails. This gale continued until the evening 
 of the 29th. During this time the scenes on board 
 
 R 2 
 
260 PAUL JONES 
 
 beggared description. There were but few cots and 
 not even enough hammocks for the wounded, so that 
 many of them had to lie on the hard decks, where 
 they died in numbers night and day. The British 
 officers, with watches of their men, took almost the 
 whole charge of the wounded, and left us free to work 
 the ship. ... In the common danger enmity was 
 forgotten, and every one who could walk worked with 
 a will to save the ship and their own lives. Finally, 
 on the fifth day, the wind abated and hauled to the 
 north-west, when we ran down to the coast of Holland, 
 and made the entrance of the Helder, through which 
 we made our way into the Texel, where we anchored 
 about 3 p.m., October 3rd, finding there the Alliance 
 and V engeance, which came in the day before. 
 During these few days, including those not wounded 
 w T ho died from sheer exhaustion, we buried not less 
 than forty of the two crews. Neither the Commodore 
 nor the brave British officers ever slept more than two 
 or three hours at a time, and were sometimes up for 
 two days at a time. As the Pallas, being not much 
 hurt, and her prize (the Countess of Scarborough], 
 could work to windward, the Commodore had often 
 signalled them to bear up for port and leave him to 
 take care of himself; to which the good Captain 
 Cottineau always replied that he preferred to stand 
 
 by" 
 
 Politically speaking, Paul Jones s visit to the 
 Helder was of inestimable service to the American 
 cause, as it forced the Dutch from their attitude of 
 neutrality, compelled them to cease temporising, and 
 
PAUL JONES 261 
 
 stand forth defiantly in the face of their old enemy, 
 England, all within the year. Undoubtedly this end 
 was hoped for by Franklin, who had ordered the 
 squadron under Commodore Jones to rendezvous there 
 the previous summer, with the unavowed intention of 
 involving their " High Mightinesses " in the conflict 
 they were so craftily trying to escape. :( By com 
 pelling England to declare war, and the Dutch to 
 declare openly for the United States, an end was 
 virtually put to a contest, in which Britain was left 
 to contend single-handed with her refractory colonies, 
 then backed by France, Spain and Holland." 
 
 The Alliance was already in the Texel when the 
 Serapis and Pallas warped slowly into port. Though 
 the " Commodore and the brave British officers had not 
 slept more than two or three hours at a time, and were 
 sometimes up for two days at a time," there was little 
 rest to be found at the Texel. The wounded and 
 prisoners must be cared for, and arrangements made 
 for court-martialling Landais. Instantly on arriving, 
 Jones sent special messengers to Franklin with the 
 news of the great victory, and a report of Landais s 
 scandalous behaviour. He then became involved in 
 a "diplomatic duel" with Sir Joseph Yorke, the 
 British Minister, who puzzled their " High Mighti 
 nesses dreadfully by formally demanding in the name 
 of King George the prizes, and that Paul Jones and 
 his crew should be given up to him as rebels and 
 pirates." Despite his official attitude, he recommends 
 their " High Mightinesses shall permit the wounded 
 to be brought on shore that proper attention may be 
 
262 PAUL JONES 
 
 paid to them." This their High Mightinesses did, 
 and the wounded and prisoners from both ships were 
 lodged in an old fort. 
 
 That Sir Joseph s official and personal views of 
 the situation differed, may be gathered from Jones s 
 letter to Bancroft, under the date of December 17, 
 1779, in which he says 
 
 The Dutch people are for us and for war. . . . 
 Nothing now keeps Holland neutral except the influ 
 ence of the shipowners, who are doing almost the 
 entire commerce of Europe at enormous rates, and 
 the bankers of Amsterdam, who are handling all the 
 continental exchanges that before the war went to 
 London. And our cause has been helped by the 
 arrogance of Sir Joseph Yorke s demands and the 
 style of dictator which he assumes for his master 
 the King. 
 
 " Privately, however, I am told that Sir Joseph is 
 a clever old fellow and as good a vis-a-vis at dinner 
 as one could wish. Most unexpectedly i encountered 
 him for a few moments at the house of M. Van 
 Berckel, the Grand Pensionary, when arrangements 
 were being made for the comfort of the wounded 
 prisoners who had been landed. I had expected to 
 deal with his secretary, but Sir Joseph came himself. 
 He was most civil, and requested me, if not too in 
 convenient, to supply him with a list of names of the 
 wounded, and something as to the conditions and 
 prospects of each, saying he wished to have it because 
 so many letters of inquiry came to him about them 
 from relatives in England. This I did as soon as I 
 
PAUL JONES 263 
 
 returned to the Texel. ... I could not help noting, 
 though, that he eyed me curiously. 
 
 " The only personal allusion he made was to say 
 that he presumed I had seen or heard reports in print 
 or gossip that he offered reward for the surreptitious 
 seizure of my person, and if so he hoped I would view 
 them with suitable contempt. I said that I had heard 
 such rumours, but that my knowledge of his character 
 was a sufficient answer to them ; for which he thanked 
 me. He offered to send medicine, blankets and food, 
 and, if necessary, to employ a Dutch physician to take 
 the place of Dr. Bannatyne, late surgeon of the 
 Sera-pis, who had broken down. I accepted all his 
 good offices in behalf of the prisoners on shore. 
 
 " Sir Joseph said he would send the supplies up by 
 a small vessel from Amsterdam to the Texel in a day 
 or to, consigned to me. But I, not wishing to be 
 responsible in any way for them, for fear that malicious 
 enemies might accuse me of appropriating them 
 which I frankly said to Sir Joseph requested him 
 to consign such supplies as he might send to Dr. 
 Edgerley, late surgeon of the Scarborough, who, since 
 the illness of the late chief surgeon on the Serapis, 
 had been placed by me in full charge of his wounded 
 countrymen landed at the Texel. Sir Joseph at once 
 most politely expressed his approval of this sugges 
 tion, and said he would consign the supplies to Dr. 
 Edgerley, who, being a non-combatant, was, of course, 
 not held under any restraint whatever by me." 
 
 The supplies arrived a few days later, and a private 
 letter to Dr. Edgerley "requesting him to inform me 
 
264 PAUL JONES 
 
 that if, as he suspected, the wounded Americans might 
 also be in need of such supplies as he had sent, they 
 should have an impartial share : because," he said, "we 
 all know that old England can never tell the difference 
 between friends and foes among brave men wounded 
 in battle, even if some of them may, peradventure, be 
 rebels ! 
 
 " I confess that when Dr. Edgerley showed to me 
 this sentiment of Sir Joseph s I was at a loss for com 
 ment, and said only that nothing else could be 
 expected from an English gentleman ! But I must 
 also confess that my opinion of Sir Joseph as a man 
 from that moment took a very wide divergence from 
 my estimate of him as an ambassador." 
 
 So assiduous were the dames of Holland, that Jones 
 was able to "dispense with Sir Joseph s charity to the 
 wounded of our own crew." Was it thanks to the 
 personality of the " rebel and pirate " commander that 
 the " lovely Holland dames and daughters of the 
 Helder every day thronged the decks of the Serapis 
 and the Pallas with all the delicacies that only the 
 good hearts of women can contrive for the comfort 
 and succour of brave men who have been wounded 
 in battle?" 
 
 Though this is anticipating, it is better to conclude 
 the wrangle with their High Mightinesses. Sir Joseph 
 would not let the matter rest, urging persistently that 
 Jones should be given over to British authority. The 
 States of Holland in cases of this kind were always 
 governed by a set of " maxims." These " maxims " 
 dictated that they should decline deciding on the 
 
PAUL JONES 265 
 
 validity of captures in the open seas of vessels not 
 belonging to their own subjects. They afforded at 
 all times shelter in their harbours to all ships what 
 soever, if driven in by stress of weather; but compelled 
 armed ships with their prizes to put to sea again as 
 soon as possible, without permitting them to dispose 
 of their cargoes ; and this conduct they were to follow 
 in the case of Jones." 
 
 The High Mightinesses were in a pretty pickle, 
 "and declined to pass judgment on the person and 
 prizes of Paul Jones." If they protected him as an 
 American, it showed open defiance to England, which 
 at the moment they were not anxious to do, " and 
 the French commission under which it was alleged he 
 acted could never be forthcoming." 
 
 How it must have wrung the souls of the thrifty 
 Dutch merchants who were publicly forbidden to sell 
 naval or military stores to the squadron, except barest 
 necessities to carry them to the first foreign port, 
 "that all suspicion of their being furnished here may 
 drop ! " 
 
 Sir Joseph tirelessly kept the matter before their 
 High Mightinesses, who worried the French ambas 
 sador, the Due de la Vauguyon, who was in his turn 
 pestered by de Chaumont, and those of his party wish 
 ing to get these rich prizes into their hands. Though 
 actuated by different motives, all united in one great 
 wish to get Paul Jones out of the way. This daring 
 man had never been in a more critical situation. A 
 light squadron of English ships was kept cruising 
 about to " prevent his gaining any French or Spanish 
 
266 PAUL JONES 
 
 port/ 5 if he succeeded in escaping the ships at the 
 entrance of the Texel. " So deep and galling was the 
 wound this individual had inflicted on the national 
 pride, that the capture of one Paul Jones would have 
 at this time been more welcome to England than if 
 she had conquered a rich argosy," is the opinion 
 expressed by one anonymous biographer. 
 
 Jones, if it had been left to his judgment, would 
 have taken his prizes to Dunkirk, which was a French 
 port, and one where he would have been free from 
 these diplomatic complications. Franklin ordered 
 him to the Texel primarily with the bribe of the 
 Indien, really, as it turned out, to bring matters to a 
 crisis between Holland and England. But Jones was 
 destined not to have the Indien, for " the same officious 
 commissary, whose talkative propensities and suspici 
 ous disposition had so frequently baffled the projects 
 of Jones, had again been at work, and, although the 
 Dutch Government might have winked at the sailing 
 of the fleet under his convoy, the measure would have 
 been rendered abortive by premature disclosure." 
 Jones declared that he suspected Le Ray de Chaumont 
 to be at the bottom of all this caballing, " as he wished 
 to control the sale of the Serapis as a prize, under the 
 provisions of the Concordat, she being worth more 
 than all the others taken after the three sent to Bergen 
 had been given up." These ships were sent to Bergen 
 in express defiance of Jones s orders, as the King of 
 Denmark was wholly at the disposition of King 
 George, to whom, at the first demand, he turned over 
 the hard-won prizes, losing both prizes and prize- 
 
PAUL JONES 267 
 
 money to Jones and his crew. This incident formed 
 the subject of endless negotiations for several years, 
 as there were so many questions of international 
 marine law to be adjusted. 
 
 " The Due de la Vauguyon, Mr. Dumas and Dr. 
 Franklin now apprehended that de Reynst would take 
 it upon himself to use force at any time he might 
 select to compel me to quit the roadstead with my 
 squadron," Jones writes, adding, that de Reynst had 
 lately been ordered to command the Dutch fleet in 
 the Texel, as Commodore Riemersma was " of the 
 American party, and he had already been extremely 
 polite to me personally; so much so, that Sir Joseph 
 Yorke felt called upon to mention it among his griev 
 ances. On the other hand, de Reynst was a tool in 
 the hands of his Serene Highness the Prince Stadt- 
 holder (Prince of Orange), who in turn was a tool 
 in the hands of Sir Joseph. . . . The diplomats were 
 sure that I would fall into the hands of these (English 
 ships) as soon as I might get in the offing." 
 
 "A provisional commission" as capitaine de vais- 
 seau in the French navy, was twice offered to and 
 finally refused by Jones on December I3th. It was 
 thought that the French flag would be respected by 
 the Dutch. tc In vain I expostulated with them that 
 by accepting the shelter of the French flag I should do 
 exactly of all things that which Sir Joseph Yorke 
 wished me to do ; namely, withdraw all pretensions 
 of the United States as a party to the situation, and 
 thereby confess that the United States claimed no 
 status as a sovereign power in a neutral port. They 
 
268 PAUL JONES 
 
 all knew what I had written to the States-General on 
 November 4th, in rejoinder to Sir Joseph s demand 
 that I be treated as a pirate/ and they had approved it. 
 I now contended that to seek shelter under the French 
 flag or behind a French commission would stultify the 
 position I then took; but none of them would so view 
 it. On the contrary, they all, but more particularly 
 the Duke, endeavoured to mystify me with a mass of 
 abstrusities in diplomatic usage and international law 
 which had no bearing on the case that I could see." 
 
 He offered to turn the prisoners over to the French 
 ambassador, with the agreement that an exchange 
 should be made for American prisoners in England, 
 and " leave Captain Cottineau to hoist the French flag 
 on the Pallas, the Vengeance, and Cottineau s prize 
 the Countess of Scarborough, and then make the best 
 of my way to sea with the Serapis and Alliance under 
 the American flags." 
 
 Tired as he was of this wrangle, Jones could not 
 help seeing the humour of these worthy gentlemen s 
 objection that the new mainmast he had put in the 
 Serapis was too short, " and she could not sail with 
 it well enough to stand a chance of escaping the ships 
 of the enemy on blockade. I modestly suggested," he 
 comments, " that I being somewhat of a seaman ought 
 to be left to judge of that; but they, none of whom 
 could tell a main-brace from a marlin-spike, knew 
 better, and it was decided I should take out only the 
 Alliance" 
 
 When he flatly refused to fall in with all their sug 
 gestions, he was presented with an order from Dr. 
 
PAUL JONES 269 
 
 Franklin, who, for a friend, seems to have caused some 
 of the ambitious Scotchman s bitterest moments, " that 
 he should turn over all the prisoners and the ships, 
 except the Alliance, to Captain Cottineau," and then 
 do what I pleased, or what I could with the Alliance. 
 I afterwards found out that this order had been pro 
 cured at the same time as my French commission, 
 but held up only to serve on me as a last resource if 
 I proved contumacious." 
 
 Destined to be the sport of political juggling, Paul 
 could not learn that others had not the one-purposed 
 spirit which animated him, and he confesses, " The 
 deprivation of the Serapis was the sorest of all my 
 wounds. I had long ago given up hope of command 
 ing the Indien. The Serapis had been taken by an 
 American ship under the American flag, and com 
 manded by virtue of an American commission. I 
 could not conceive by what shadow of right M. de 
 Sartine could claim her as a French prize, and he 
 made no attempt to set up any." 
 
 Under the heading, "On the Bonhomme s prize, 
 the ship of war Serapis" at the Texel, November 4, 
 1779, he wrote to the French ambassador explain 
 ing that he had spoken with the commandant of the 
 Road on board his ship, the latter "questioning 
 me very closely whether I had a French commis 
 sion, and, if I had, he almost insisted on seeing 
 it. In conformity with your advice, Cet avis 
 donne au commencement n etoit plus de saison 
 depuis ^admission de V escadre sous pavilion Ameri- 
 cain* I told him that my French commission not 
 
270 PAUL JONES 
 
 having been found among my papers since the loss 
 of the Bonhomme Richard, I feared it had gone to 
 the bottom in that ship; but 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 lying 
 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 intention to depart with the utmost 
 expedition whenever I found a possibility to go clear. 
 
 " I should have departed long ago, if I had met 
 with common assistance; but for a fortnight 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 provision, too, that I ordered the 
 day I returned from Amsterdam from the Hague, is 
 not yet sent down ; and the spars that have been sent 
 from Amsterdam are spoiled in the making. None 
 of the ironwork that is ordered for the Sera-pis is yet 
 completed, so that I am, even at this hour, in want 
 of hinges to hang the lower gun-ports. My officers 
 and men lost their clothes and beds in the Bonhomme 
 Richard, and they have yet got no supply. The bread 
 that has been twice a week sent down from Amsterdam 
 to feed my people, has been, literally speaking, rotten, 
 and the consequence is that they are falling sick. 
 
 " It is natural also that they should be discontented, 
 while I am not able to tell them that they will be paid 
 
PAUL JONES 271 
 
 the value of their property in the Serapis and Countess 
 of Scarborough, if either or both of them should be 
 lost or taken after sailing from here. 
 
 " I have but few men and they are discontented. 
 If you can authorise 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 the money to buy them, 
 I believe I shall soon be able to bring them again 
 into a good humour. . . ." 
 
 There seemed no way out of this labyrinth, when 
 the French unexpectedly cut the Gordian knot, declar 
 ing the cruise at an end, and. with the amiable co 
 operation of Franklin, placed the vessels under the 
 French flag, ordering Jones to command the Alliance, 
 and Landais to Paris to explain his behaviour to the 
 plenipotentiaries. 
 
 :< Jones received the information with disgust and 
 chagrin ; but such were the orders of de Sartine, such," 
 is this writer s opinion, "the course sound policy 
 dictated." It would seem in this, as in so many similar 
 instances, that Franklin in his later years grew rather 
 indifferent to the interests of his mission, and sacri 
 ficed his friend to save controversy and worry, perhaps 
 to keep in favour with the French people, whose 
 adulation so pleased his vanity. 
 
 After an altercation with the French ambassador 
 at the Hague, lasting, Jones says, thirteen hours, he 
 reluctantly bade farewell to the Serapis, " whose deck 
 seemed the theatre of his glory." The squadron 
 sailed shortly after under Dutch convoy, and he was 
 
272 PAUL JONES 
 
 left alone on his new ship, which he found like all 
 vessels commanded by Landais, filthy, in sad repair, 
 with a crew on the verge of mutiny. 
 
 Paul was now offered a French commission, the 
 command of a letter-of-marque ! Whatever his per 
 sonal difficulties, he was at this time in "the blaze 
 of his fame," talked of, says Franklin, "at Paris 
 and Versailles," celebrated throughout Europe and 
 America. His temper and blood were at no time very 
 cool on sudden excitement, and the excess of his 
 indignation may be imagined when he received the 
 insulting offer of a letter-of-marque. He had thrown 
 up his chances of advancement in the American navy 
 to stay in France. He had put up with insult, annoy 
 ance and suspicion for this. He wrote to the French 
 ambassador to the Hague a letter considered " one 
 of the best productions of his pen." 
 
 " Alliance, Texet, December 13, 1779. 
 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 " Perhaps there are many men in the world who 
 would esteem as an honour the commission that I have 
 this day refused. 
 
 " My rank from the beginning knew no superior in 
 the Marine of America, how then must I be humbled 
 were I to accept a letter-of-marque ! I should, my 
 lord, esteem myself inexcusable, were I to accept even 
 a commission of equal or superior denomination to 
 that I bear, unless I were previously authorised by 
 Congress. . . . Comte d Orvillers offered to procure 
 for me from a Court a commission of capitaine de 
 
PAUL JONES 273 
 
 vaissea^t ) ) which I did not then accept for the same 
 reason, although the war between France and England 
 was not then begun, and of course the commission of 
 France would have protected me from an enemy of 
 superior force. 
 
 " It is a matter of the highest astonishment to me 
 that, after so many compliments and fair professions, 
 the Court should offer the present insult to my under 
 standing, and suppose me capable of disgracing my 
 present commission. I confess that I never merited 
 all the praise bestowed on my past conduct, but I also 
 feel that I have far less merited such a reward. 
 Where profession and practice are so opposite, I am 
 no longer weak enough to form a wrong conclusion. 
 They may think as they please of me; for where I 
 cannot continue my esteem, praise or censure from 
 any man is to me a matter of indifference. . . . 
 
 : When I remained eight months seemingly forgot 
 by the Court at Brest, many commissions such as that 
 in question were offered to me; and I believe (when 
 I am in pursuit of plunder] I can still obtain such an 
 one without application to Court. . . ." 
 
 Jones told Franklin in the letter enclosing this, 
 * They have played upon my good humour too long 
 already, but the spell is at last dissolved. They would 
 play me off with the assurance of the personal and 
 particular esteem of the King, to induce me to do what 
 would render me contemptible even in the eyes of my 
 own servants ! Accustomed to speak untruth them 
 selves, they would also have me to give under my 
 
274 PAUL JONES 
 
 hand that I am a liar and a scoundrel. They are 
 mistaken, and I would tell them what you did to your 
 naughty servant, We have too contemptible an 
 opinion of one another s understanding to live to 
 gether/ I could tell them, too, that if Monsieur de 
 Chaumont had not taken such safe precautions to 
 keep me honest by means of his famous Concordat, 
 and to support me by so many able colleagues, these 
 great men would not have been reduced to such mean 
 shifts. . . ." 
 
 In reply to his letter, Jones soon received one of 
 apology from the ambassador, which to some extent 
 pacified him, without materially altering his views on 
 the situation. 
 
 The first letter from Franklin contained a measure 
 of balm for his wounded feelings. " For some days," 
 he wrote, " after the arrival of your express, scarce 
 anything was talked of at Paris and Versailles but 
 your cool conduct and persevering bravery during that 
 terrible conflict. You may believe that the impression 
 on my mind was not the less strong than that on others, 
 but I do not choose to say in a letter to yourself all I 
 think on such an occasion. 
 
 The Ministry are much dissatisfied with Captain 
 Landais, and M. de Sartine has signified to me in 
 writing that it is expected that I should send for 
 him to Paris and call him to account for his con 
 duct. . . ." Franklin intimates that he will follow 
 this suggestion, allowing Landais the chance of an 
 explanation, a court-martial being inconvenient at the 
 moment. 
 
PAUL JONES 275 
 
 Immediately the fleet anchored in the Texel, Jones 
 took action to restore proper discipline to ships 
 and crews. With this end in view he removed 
 Landais from the Alliance, replacing him with his first 
 lieutenant, Arthur Degge. As Landais treated this 
 order with supercilious contempt, his commander sent 
 Captain Cottineau with a curt intimation to the effect 
 that, if he was not instantly obeyed, "he would be 
 under the painful necessity of boarding the Alliance 
 and carrying the order into force personally at the 
 end of twenty-four hours." 
 
 Without replying to this, Landais sent Captain 
 Cottineau a challenge, after the latter had left the 
 Alliance, on the pretext that an affront was offered in 
 bringing him the message. However, he waited for 
 no new developments, disappearing bag and baggage 
 early next morning. A few hours later Jones mustered 
 the crew, informing them officially that Captain 
 Landais had been relieved of his command, and in 
 stalling Lieutenant Degge in his place. Such of the 
 crew as had been strong partisans of Landais were sent 
 on other ships, and Degge ordered, in case of the late 
 captain s reappearance, to signal to the flag-ship for 
 instructions. 
 
 But Landais did not return. His challenge having 
 been accepted by Cottineau, they fought on the Island 
 of the Texel with rapiers, his opponent running 
 Cottineau through the side and receiving a slight 
 scratch on the neck, after which the duel was stopped 
 by the seconds. Bent on mischief, Landais went to 
 Amsterdam and ordered immense quantities of stores 
 
 s 2 
 
276 PAUL JONES 
 
 for the Alliance from Neufville & Co., agents of the 
 United States. His baffled spite on discovering that 
 Dr. Franklin had forbidden them to furnish supplies, 
 except on personal voucher of Commodore Jones, may 
 be pictured. . . . Checkmated in this direction, he 
 commenced writing abusive letters to Jones, who 
 ignored them, enraging Landais to such a pitch of fury 
 that he sent Jones a challenge through the post 
 an insult in itself, and an infraction of the rigid laws 
 of duelling. For this reason and for the fact that 
 Landais was still under the charge of conduct unbe 
 coming an officer and a gentleman, Jones could have 
 declined the challenge. But this was the one com 
 munication he yearned to receive from his enemy, and 
 joyously ignoring all irregularities, despatched Lieu 
 tenants Harry Lunt and John Mayrant to wait upon 
 Landais. Having, as the challenged party, the choice 
 of weapons, Jones chose pistols at ten paces, and 
 Landais, who was an expert with the rapier, and had 
 planned to kill Jones or injure him for life, found 
 himself outwitted at his own game. He protested 
 angrily to Mayrant and Lunt that it was barbarous 
 and that the pistol was not recognised under the 
 French code. 
 
 " To this Lunt responded that the code prevailing 
 in America did recognise the pistol, and that Com 
 modore Jones, being an American, was entitled 
 to proceed according to the code of his own 
 country." 
 
 Pierre Landais had not the slightest ambition to 
 confront his outraged commander at the foolishly 
 
PAUL JONES 277 
 
 inadequate distance of ten paces, and departed under 
 cover of night in a post-chaise for Paris. 
 
 He was loathed by the crew of the Richard, who 
 laid the death of many of their bravest comrades to 
 his cowardly broadsides from the Alliance. Lieu 
 tenant Dick Dale had publicly insulted him in a coffee 
 house at the Helder, where Dale, who was only 
 wounded a few days before and still limping badly, 
 with his usual impetuosity tried to force a public 
 quarrel on Landais, denouncing his behaviour in the 
 Alliance ; and in order that there might be no mistake 
 in Landais s mind about his meaning, he expressed 
 himself in Landais s own tongue, saying to him, 
 among other things 
 
 " On ne fait rien de votre conduite a cette occasion, 
 autre que ccla dun poltron ou dun traitre, ou des deux 
 ensemble ! Moi, cela ne fait aucun doute que vous 
 avez merite bien le gibet ! " (" One can make nothing 
 out of your conduct on that occasion but that of a 
 coward or a traitor, or both ! To me there is not the 
 slightest doubt but that you richly deserve the 
 gallows.") 
 
 Only the interference of the bystanders prevented 
 a fight on the spot, both men being armed, and Lan 
 dais, poltroon though he was, would hardly have 
 refused to fight if attacked. Dale impatiently awaited 
 the challenge, which, according to all precedent, must 
 be sent; but it never came, as Landais got out of it 
 by standing on the difference in their rank. He was 
 considered prudent in not pressing the quarrel, be 
 cause Dick was a dead shot with a pistol, and equally 
 
278 PAUL JONES 
 
 adept with Landais in the use of the rapier, " and all 
 who knew him knew well that the first crossing of 
 blades would make his lame leg for the time being, 
 at least as well as it ever was." If Dick had fought 
 it was with the intention of killing Landais. This 
 intention, of which Dale made no secret, being the 
 reason Jones chose other seconds to wait on Landais. 
 Not willing to fight in the open, this mischief-maker 
 went to the Hague, trying to enlist the French ambas 
 sador s sympathies, but de Vauguyon refused an in 
 terview. Landais then tried to get the Chevalier de 
 Livoncourt, France s Naval Agent in Holland, to give 
 a written statement to the Due, but this de Vauguyon 
 refused to receive, instructing de Livoncourt to tell 
 Landais that M. de Sartine had communicated to him 
 the fact that Dr. Franklin " had notified Landais of 
 the charges against him " and had ordered him to 
 report in person to Dr. Franklin at once, bringing with 
 him "such witnesses as he might judge needful for 
 his defence." Being politely frozen out of Holland, 
 Landais betook himself to Passy, as ordered. 
 
 On Christmas Day 1779 such a gale blew off the 
 Texel that most of the patrolling English frigates 
 were driven off the coast, which was what Commodore 
 Jones had long waited for, and seized the opportunity 
 to slip out on to the high seas. Though the gale still 
 swept the coast and menaced shipping, it abated a 
 little the afternoon of the 26th, and late that night, or, 
 rather, early on the morning of the 27th, Jones stood 
 out to sea in the Alliance, boldly shaping his course 
 for the Straits of Dover. Daring as ever, Jones sailed 
 
PAUL JONES 279 
 
 down the Channel, passing within pistol-shot of the 
 Channel Fleet anchored off Spithead, but good for 
 tune and his cool fearlessness carried him through 
 this fleet where every soul was on the qui vive for his 
 capture. Safely out of a very dangerous neighbour 
 hood, the Alliance sailed for Corunna, where, Spain 
 and England being at war, the Commodore was enthu 
 siastically welcomed and made much of. 
 
 The junior officers of the Alliance, not being ham 
 pered by fears of the hereafter, amused themselves 
 making the acquaintance goodness knows where 
 of some very pretty young nuns, supposedly safe in 
 the shelter of their cloister. The usual golden means 
 of opening locks was evidently employed, for these 
 giddy young women met Mayrant and Midshipman 
 Potter "at the house of a cordwainer, near the con 
 vent. They were surprised there by the Spanish 
 police, and the officers were placed in the calabazo," 
 the adventurous nuns being "hustled back to their 
 convent." 
 
 Thanks to the kind offices of that " little cherub who 
 sits up aloft and looks out for the life of poor Jack," 
 Commodore Jones was dining with the Governor of 
 Corunna when the incident was reported. The dinner 
 had been long and heavy, the wines excellent; the 
 Governor easily agreed to the wish of the deferential 
 but exceedingly quick-witted Commodore that he 
 should be allowed to take the offenders aboard the 
 Alliance and "visit upon them the most condign 
 punishment." The Alliance was to sail the next day 
 but one, and Jones, knowing the prejudice against 
 
280 PAUL JONES 
 
 heretics, which in this instance would be intensified, 
 as they had trespassed on the sacred precincts of the 
 Church, deemed it safer to have his "boys" under his 
 eye, than take any chances of their being embroiled 
 with the authorities. " His Excellency was polite 
 enough to agree with this, and the two culprits were 
 taken from the calabazo and sent aboard consider 
 ably past midnight. Next day a summary court- 
 martial was convened, which "sentenced" Mayrant 
 and Potter to deprivation of their rank and other 
 penalties. 
 
 This finding the Commodore translated into 
 Spanish, engrossed a copy of it with his own hand, and 
 forwarded the same to his Excellency the Governor, 
 under the escort of a lieutenant and two officers, as 
 behooved the solemn occasion. The Governor received 
 the deputation with much gravity, " and expressed 
 complete satisfaction at the promptness and thorough 
 ness of the Commodore s action, saying it was much 
 better that the affair should have taken this course 
 than to have detained the offenders for punishment by 
 the Spanish authorities, which might have caused 
 complications. 
 
 :( But once at sea the Commodore reviewed the case 
 and peremptorily set the proceedings aside on the 
 ground that the -punishment was inadequate to the 
 offence /" This restored their former rank to the gay 
 Lotharios, who were the butt of much sly wit and 
 allusion for getting caught ! 
 
 Rather a striking little incident is the following, 
 as illustrating the temper of this crew. The second 
 
PAUL JONES 281 
 
 day out from Corunna the Jack-o -the-dust handed 
 Jones a petition, which ran as follows 
 
 " We respectfully request you, sir, to lay us along 
 side any single-decked English ship to be found in 
 these seas, or any double-decked ship under a fifty." 
 This was not a " round Robin, but a straight petition, 
 headed by old John Robinson, and signed in order of 
 rating by every member of the crew, including cooks 
 and cabin-boys." 
 
 : When this paper was handed to me," said the 
 Commodore, " I could hardly control my feelings. I 
 at once mustered the crew and told them that it was 
 necessary to return to 1 Orient . . . we were not pre 
 pared for a long cruise. . . . Being midwinter we 
 would not have much chance of encountering English 
 cruisers of force similar to our own in the Bay of 
 Biscay. But I promised them that I would keep a 
 good look-out and, if occasion presented, would 
 conform exactly to the terms of their petition." 
 
 Without doubt there was extra grog served out that 
 day, and alert eyes kept a sharp look-out for the 
 hoped-for sail, but, to their great disappointment, they 
 reached 1 Orient without adventure. 
 
 There was a perpetual demand for American officers 
 to command French privateers, and Mayrant and 
 Fanning were offered most advantageous commands, 
 if Jones would allow them to accept. On these 
 privateers the French made a practice of putting on 
 board an "agent comptable" who, under the guise 
 of purser, could according to the French law govern 
 ing privateers, and the Concordat the Americans had 
 
282 PAUL JONES 
 
 to sign command the ship, the captain being reduced 
 to a mere sailing-master and " colleague " on his own 
 ship. Jones refused to allow Mayrant and Fanning 
 to go unless the papers were made out so that they 
 were both captain and agent comptable. After much 
 heated argument he won his point, for, as he told 
 Mercereau, who was recruiting for the privateer, " I 
 had my fill to the full of French chicanery, and that 
 unless he could take my boys on my terms he could 
 leave them as they were, with me." Thanks to their 
 Commander s firmness and their complete independ 
 ence, Mayrant and Fanning, in their twenty-months 
 cruise, with two privateers, made something like 
 200,000, much to the satisfaction of all concerned, 
 and earned for themselves a reputation for daring that 
 was not soon forgotten. 
 
 The Alliance needed a refit, which on his arrival 
 at TOrient, despite Franklin s howls of economy, 
 Jones proceeded to give her. " His professional 
 spirit of liberality far outran the frugal genius of 
 Franklin, and the almost pathetic remonstrances 
 addressed to him by the Republican sage are as amus 
 ing as they are characteristic." . . . " The whole 
 expense will fall on me ! " cries Franklin, as the Court 
 of France had demurred to incurring further expenses 
 for this refractory hero and his American ship, and I 
 am ill-provided to bear it, having so many unexpected 
 calls upon me from all quarters. I therefore beg you 
 would have mercy on me, put me to as little charge 
 as possible, and take nothing you can possibly do 
 
PAUL JONES 283 
 
 without. As to sheathing with copper, it is totally 
 out of the question." 
 
 But, sympathising with Jones for the many crosses 
 and vexations he had to bear, it is pleasing to know 
 that once in his career he was able to pronounce the 
 ship he commanded one of the most " complete 
 frigates in France." When she was ready for sea, 
 Franklin worked tooth and nail to get his tempestuous 
 friend afloat, even going to the terrible lengths of 
 advancing unauthorised a small percentage of their 
 prize-money to the penniless sailors, the former crew 
 of the Richard, "to allay discontent, and send the 
 men home in good humour. But neither the Commo 
 dore nor his crew were yet in trim for sea. " Despair 
 ing of a settlement of his prize claims, and those of 
 his crew, Paul went to Paris to taste some of the 
 sweets of hard-won fame, for he was popular with the 
 Court and the nation," even to the extent of being 
 cheered at the opera, " and Paris was at this moment 
 in the very height and fervour of the American 
 
 mania." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 1779 
 
 : IN the blaze of his fame" Paul Jones arrived at 
 Paris, to be lionised by society, congratulated by 
 royalty, to be the idol of women high and low. He 
 was bidden by the Due and Duchesse de Chartres to 
 be their guest at the Palais Royal, and occupied 
 one of the splendid apartments of that historic dwell 
 ing during his stay in Paris; which distinction set 
 tongues a-wagging at the unusual honour conferred 
 upon one not of royal blood. 
 
 As soon as news of the Bonhomme Richard s 
 victory reached Paris, in October 1779, the Duchesse 
 de Chartres, " then living at the Palais Royal, made 
 a grand illumination, gave a great ball, the invitations 
 to which read, In Honour of Commodore Paul 
 Jones, and sent a bill of exchange for a large sum 
 to the Commodore." Louis Philippe, who is the 
 recorder of this gossip, tells of the Commodore s letter 
 to his mother, concluding : " The enemy surrendered 
 at thirty-five minutes past ten p.m. by your watch, 
 which I consult only to fix the moment of victory." 
 
 The son of this charming Duchesse thought this 
 "merely the flattery of a subtle courtier; " though his 
 mother " accepted it as the homage of a knight like 
 Bayard or Charles the Bold. The Duchesse de 
 
 Chartres was one of the calmest persons I ever knew; 
 
 284 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 [From a wax medallion, made about the time of his death, and now in the author* collection. 
 
PAUL JONES 285 
 
 but she almost went wild over the victory of Paul 
 Jones in the Bonhomme Richard. One of my 
 proudest memories is that, when a little boy, I enjoyed 
 the society of that wonderful man." 
 
 But Louis Philippe, then at the mature age of six, 
 would be too young to see the personal note in all 
 this, or understand that a beautiful woman of twenty- 
 seven might find more than a political pleasure in the 
 victory of a daring sailor, who had every charm of 
 the polished courtier, every trait of gallantry and 
 consideration for her that her neglectful husband 
 lacked. There must be a mental reservation in accept 
 ing the following statement : " Next to my poor unfor 
 tunate father (Egalite), my mother s affections were 
 bestowed on Paul Jones," for the Due and Duchesse 
 had long been estranged, owing to the dissolute life 
 of the former. Jones was all unite in declaring 
 a man of intensely chivalrous temperament, and he 
 " held her in esteem far beyond the reach of flattery. 
 Whatever expression he offered was his own con 
 ception of worship, of adoration, of that religious, I 
 might say spiritual, devoutness which human beings 
 usually pay to the divinities of their hearts and their 
 faith ! In her he saw only the goddess of his chivalric 
 mythology. In him she saw, as she often said, only 
 L Achille fougueux de V Ocean! I am sure no one 
 else ever appreciated or comprehended him as she 
 did; no one else ever worshipped her as he did. It 
 was a rare and beautiful relation between such a 
 woman and such a man." 
 
 The recollections of a child of six, written some 
 
286 PAUL JONES 
 
 thirty-five years afterwards, and translated several 
 times, cannot be relied upon as history, in fact as 
 anything more serious than unreliable tittle-tattle. 
 There is a little too much of the ultra-platonic speci 
 fied, to be in accord with the spirit of the day and 
 hour in which they both lived. The Duchesse was 
 a neglected and openly insulted wife, if such terms 
 can be used in describing one of so high rank, and 
 Paul was the embodiment of chivalry, and thirty-two 
 years of age. The manners of the Court did not 
 frown on consolation if discreetly offered. It would, 
 indeed, be interesting to know to what extent the 
 Duchesse permitted the respectful consolations of the 
 Commodore to be offered. 
 
 The April that brought Paul to Paris proved too 
 fickle in its tears and smiles for the fete champetre 
 which the Duchesse had planned, and she changed the 
 entertainment to a superb banquet in honour of Com 
 modore Jones. As the evening waned he asked her 
 Royal Highness if she remembered his promise, " if 
 fortune should favour him he would lay an English 
 frigate at her feet "? and on hearing her assent, turned 
 to an attendant, who held the sword surrendered by 
 Pearson, which he took and, dropping gracefully on 
 one knee, presented to the beautiful Duchesse, by 
 whose aid he had been able to achieve this end. 
 
 In a few well-turned sentences he expressed regret 
 at not being able to keep his promise and lay the 
 frigate in actual truth at Her Royal Highness s feet, 
 but that being impossible he had the honour to 
 " surrender to the loveliest of women " the sword 
 
PAUL JONES 287 
 
 surrendered by "one of the bravest of men," which 
 the Duchesse forthwith accepted with that charming 
 affability which she ever displayed towards the 
 Commodore. 
 
 The distinguished assemblage was charmed with 
 this little comedy, and for a few hours there was no 
 crumple in the rose leaf. It was Paul s hour, and he 
 enjoyed it to the full, with no thought of the morrow. 
 And the Duchesse? Of all that company no heart 
 beat so high as hers with pleasure, or with so varied 
 emotions. In her journal she wrote 
 
 "... Though the company at table was most dis 
 tinguished, Commodore Jones, fresh from his marvel 
 lous victories, was easily the centre of attraction to 
 all. I said to him that all the world had read the 
 accounts of his exploits, and the more we read the 
 more we marvelled. And I asked him what thought, 
 what impulse, what inspiration could have sustained 
 him to persevere when his ship was on fire and sinking 
 under his feet, and his men almost all in the throes of 
 death about him. To this he replied, with a profound 
 bow and the gravest solemnity : May it please Your 
 Royal Highness, I could not be the first to strike the 
 flag that I had been the first to exhibit in Europe; 
 and, besides, surrender must have postponed the 
 rapture of greeting you again ! 
 
 1 Then I could only reply as I did, Ah, my dear 
 Commodore, not Bayard or Charles le Temeraire 
 himself could have laid his helmet at a lady s feet 
 with such knightly grace ! " 
 
 If his hard Scotch head could have been turned, 
 
288 PAUL JONES 
 
 Paul did not lack opportunity, for he was dined and 
 wined by the highest in the land, and was made the 
 lion of the hour because of his achievements, and, 
 from sentiments naively expressed by the Duchesse 
 de Chartres : " People usually do things either for 
 love or hatred. I do these things for both. I love 
 the Americans of my own accord, and I inherit the 
 hatred my great-grandfather bore to the English ! " 
 He dominates the gossip and letters of the moment, 
 for he possessed the heart of a hero large enough to 
 spare a little bit for every one of those adulating 
 women who sang his praises, hung on his lightest 
 words, and hampered his very footsteps when he 
 appeared in public. The Commodore was something 
 of a poet in his leisure moments, and there still are 
 fragments of his effusions, no worse, no better than 
 those of many others; in fact, warmly praised by 
 Baron Grimm in his letters. These verses were 
 addressed to those ladies with whom he kept up that 
 half-amorously allegorical correspondence, so much 
 in vogue among the Amintas and Phyllises and their 
 swains. We have none of his verses to Aimee de 
 Telluson ; undoubtedly he wooed her in tenderer ways, 
 but to a nymph with whom he exchanged endless 
 billets-doux, who hides beneath the name of " Delia/ 
 he wrote a poem of some length, which began 
 
 " When Jove from high Olympus goes 
 
 To Ida, and the fair below, 
 All heav n laments but Juno shows, 
 A jealous and superior wo : 
 
PAUL JONES 289 
 
 In vain to her all pow r is given, 
 
 To female weakness ever dear ; 
 She scorns the sovereignty of heav n, 
 
 Her God. her Jove, seems all to her ! " 
 
 It continues through a couple of verses in this classic 
 ally mythological strain, ending 
 
 " Thus, when thy warrior, though no god, 
 
 Brings Freedom s standard o er the main, 
 Long absent from thy blest abode, 
 
 Casts anchor in dear France again; 
 O ! thou more heavenly ! far more kind 
 
 Than Juno, as thy swain than Jove, 
 With what heart s transports, raptur d mind 
 
 Shall we approach on wings of love ! " 
 
 The poetic sailor was more sparing of his muse 
 than of his grape and canister, for, changing 
 " Cast anchor in dear France again" 
 
 by a twist of the quill to 
 
 " In fair Columbia moors again." 
 
 the poem served him equally at opposite ends of the 
 globe, and there is little likelihood that the ladies to 
 whom it was addressed ever compared notes. 
 
 Paul was besieged with invitations; his mail varied 
 from long, solemn official documents to those giddy, 
 heavily scented, three-cornered effusions, of which he 
 received more than his share, with the interesting 
 intimation that 
 
 "Madame de H. begs M. Jones to pardon the 
 liberty she takes in addressing him without having the 
 honour of his acquaintance ; and requests a moment s 
 conversation with him at her apartments in the royal 
 palace (Palais Royal?), or at the hotel of the 
 
290 PAUL JONES 
 
 Duchesse of - . She asks a thousand pardons if 
 she should be the means of giving him any trouble 
 at the moment of his departure; but he must not be 
 astonished that all are eager to profit by the present 
 opportunity of seeing him/ Alas ! that there is no 
 further detail of this willing dame. . . . 
 
 For so busy a man Jones managed to carry on an 
 enormous correspondence with all kinds and con 
 ditions of people. It has been suggested that the 
 lady who concealed her identity under the name of 
 " Delia " was one and the same as Aimee de Telusson, 
 which is most unlikely, for a number of reasons. It 
 would be easy to decide once and for all if the letters 
 of the two ladies could have been compared. Who 
 ever she was, the fair " Delia " would be considered 
 rather a gushing writer in the present day and 
 generation. She tells Paul 
 
 " Your letter of - , which I received on Sunday 
 the 20th, lacerates my heart, and increases my despair; 
 I kissed with sad and concentrated grief the traces 
 of thy precious tears, and shed a flood of the bitterest 
 drops that ever flowed from a breaking heart." She 
 describes her mind as " plunged in a chaos of doubt 
 and fears," and vehemently declares, " No ! never 
 did I feel, never did I love until that moment, at 
 once so dear and so fatal to my repose, when fate 
 presented you to my ravished sight : that moment 
 fixed my destiny for ever. Yes ! my tender and 
 adorable friend ! On you alone depends that destiny; 
 you alone have the power to make my happiness or 
 misery. Pardon this frank confession, oh ! my dear 
 
PAUL JONES 291 
 
 Jones; and be persuaded that deeming thee incapable 
 of a mean action, I love, esteem, and even respect 
 thee ; never otherwise would I have revealed thus 
 freely all thy power over every faculty of my being. 
 I adore thee, I again repeat; and never did any other 
 mortal possess such sway over my heart this, my dear 
 and only friend, is my pledge of faith; I am thine 
 and thine only during my whole life." She beseeches 
 him to " be careful of thy life, and remember that 
 mine depends on it. ... I incessantly address myself 
 to heaven for your safe arrival in America; if you are 
 satisfied with that government, you will continue in 
 its service; if not, resign, and rejoin your faithful 
 friend; the whole world beside may forsake you, 
 but her heart is eternally yours; I swear it by that 
 sacred flame which will never be extinguished in my 
 breast. 
 
 1 You ask how you can render me happy ; take 
 care of yourself, love me study the means of enabling 
 us to pass our days together, and never forget that 
 my life is bound up in yours, and that the moment 
 which deprives me of you will put an end to all my 
 miseries. Your health is dear ten thousand times 
 dearer to me than my own; if you love me, do not 
 neglect it. I have received your letter of the i6th, 
 which increases my solicitude on this point; in the 
 name of all that is sacred take care of your precious 
 self. Rely on my heart; it is yours and nothing can 
 operate a change in its sentiments. I adore you for 
 yourself alone, and it is thus that you should be loved. 
 If I was capable of thinking otherwise, I would not 
 
 T 2 
 
292 PAUL JONES 
 
 suffer you to depart and to expose your invaluable life. 
 The thought of your danger brings back all the weak 
 ness of my sex; and I confess that my anxiety and 
 frightful alarms for the object of all my wishes will, 
 without a doubt, hasten my death. The terror and 
 solicitude that I feel for my lover are indescribable. 
 Dear Jones! adieu; I am forced to leave thee; I 
 cannot go on. The Chevalier assures you of his 
 respect and friendly sentiments ; he sets out to-morrow 
 evening, alas ! happier than his unfortunate sister ; he 
 will soon see you. God ! she would willingly be the 
 lowest of your crew." 
 
 Jones replies to Delia from America in 1781, a 
 letter in which details of a new ship he has to com 
 mand take first place, which is not to be wondered at, 
 as he says, " It is now more than twelve months since 
 I left France; yet I have not received a single letter 
 from thee in all that time, except the one written in 
 answer to my letter of leave-taking. That one is a 
 tender letter, and does honour to thy matchless heart ! 
 I read often and always with transport the many 
 charming things that are so well expressed in thy 
 letters; but especially the last. ... I rest, therefore, 
 sure that absence will not diminish, but refine the pure 
 and spotless friendship that binds our souls together, 
 and will ever impress each to merit the affection of 
 the other. Remember and believe my letter at part 
 ing. It was but a faint picture of my heart. I will 
 find opportunities to write, and be everything thou 
 canst wish," etc. But somehow the letter does not 
 ring with that rugged feeling which brings the blood 
 
PAUL JONES 293 
 
 smarting to cheeks pale with anxiety and longing. It 
 rather seems as if "Delia" was the one who "held 
 the cheek," for on his return to Paris, nearly two years 
 later, he received a note, which he put away with the 
 remark, "From her apartments in the Boulevard," 
 and the date endorsed on it in his systematic hand 
 writing. 
 
 "Is it possible that you are then so near me, and 
 that I am deprived of the sight of a mortal who has 
 constituted the misery of my life for four years ? O ! 
 most amiable and most ungrateful of men, come to 
 your best friend, who burns with the desire of seeing 
 you. You ought to know that it is but eight days 
 since your Delia was at the brink of the grave. Come, 
 in the name of heaven." 
 
 It is more than likely that Paul went, though the 
 gushing " Delia " was but one of his many irons in 
 the fire. 
 
 The critic must be lenient. " Nor is it possible to 
 look on the tear-stains that blot those crooked char 
 acters, traced by a hand then trembling with youthful 
 passion, and over which the grave must long since 
 have closed, without a feeling of pity and kindness 
 for the fair writer, so devoted, so eloquent, and prob 
 ably so unfortunate." Was she married, single, or 
 a consolable widow? We do not know, though from 
 the tone of her writings she was not a jeune fille, since 
 none but those of the lowest class could have been as 
 independent as she, and her letters show a woman 
 of refinement and education. In comparison with 
 those written by Aimee de Telusson, she betrays a 
 
294 PAUL JONES 
 
 much less controlled temperament, and one in which 
 self-repression was lacking. If "Delia" had been a 
 widow, she would not have been constantly in affright 
 lest her portrait and letters should be seen by some 
 other eye than that for which they were intended. 
 " Delia " had an income of eight thousand livres a 
 year, and " alleges her liberality of disposition as the 
 cause of her narrow fortune." Aimee de Telusson at 
 this time lived with the Marquise de Marsan, as she 
 had no fortune of any sort. " Delia" repeatedly offers 
 her lover assistance, influence ; " she has trinkets and 
 effects ; " she was eager to make a holocaust of them 
 all, though the sacrifice certainly does not seem to 
 have been accepted. The only link which might serve 
 to connect her with Aimee is in the letter where she 
 says, " the Chevalier sets off to-morrow . . . happier 
 than his unfortunate sister, as he will soon see you." 
 Aimee s half-sister was married to the Chevalier de 
 Thouvenot, an officer in the Marine Artillery, but 
 surely this is too thin a thread to weight with such 
 surmises; and again, her anxious desire for secrecy 
 argues fear of detection from one to whom she was 
 bound "till death do them part." 
 
 Was " Delia " the Comtesse de la Vandhal, one of 
 the prettiest young women in that magic circle to 
 which Paul had the entree ? Madame was nothing 
 loath to indulge " a little harmless gallantry on the 
 part of the famous American Commodore," and their 
 flirtation was noted and reported by the indefatigable 
 Miss Edes-Herbert, supposed to be the author of 
 those gossipy letters which many think written by 
 
CAPTAIN RICHARD 1 KARSON 
 
PAUL JONES 295 
 
 some journalist of the day, so quickly did they appear 
 in print. Miss Edes-Herbert was then living in the 
 house of the Comtesse de la Vandhal, where she gave 
 English lessons. 
 
 " Since my last, Paul Jones drank tea and supped 
 here. If I am in love with him, for love I may die; 
 I have as many rivals as there are ladies, but the most 
 formidable is still Lady - - (the Comtesse de la 
 Vandhal), who possesses all his heart. . . . They corre 
 spond, and their letters are replete with elegance, 
 sentiment and delicacy. She drew his picture (a 
 striking likeness), and wrote some lines under it, which 
 are much admired, and presented it to him, who, since 
 he received it, is, he says, like a second Narcissus, in 
 love with his own resemblance; to be sure, he is the 
 most agreeable sea-wolf one would wish to meet 
 with. . . . The king has given him a magnificent gold 
 sword, which, lest it should fall into the hands of the 
 enemy, he has begged leave to commit it to the care 
 of her ladyship a piece of gallantry which is here 
 highly applauded. " 
 
 "We believe that even the most finished French 
 coquette would feel rather startled at the eclat of an 
 appearance like the above in an English periodical, 
 published within the month." 
 
 Paul was essentially a man of action, and let no 
 grass grow under his feet. It may be inferred from 
 the tenor of the following letter the Comtesse had, like 
 so many of her sex, aroused the ready sympathies of 
 the Chevalier with that old but ever effective plea : 
 that the souls of her lawful mate and her own did not 
 
296 PAUL JONES 
 
 form that exquisite affinity so greatly to be desired, 
 for he writes her 
 
 " I am deeply concerned in all that respects your 
 happiness; I therefore have been, and am, much 
 affected at some words that fell in private conversa 
 tion from Miss Edes the evening I left Versailles. I 
 am afraid that you are less happy than I wish, and 
 am sure you deserve to be. I am composing a cipher 
 for a key to our future correspondence, so that you 
 will be able to write me very freely, and without risk." 
 Then he begs her to " accept the within lock. I am 
 sorry that it is now eighteen inches shorter than it was 
 three months ago. If I could send you my heart itself, 
 or anything else that could afford you pleasure, it 
 would be my happiness to do so." At these protesta 
 tions the lady took alarm, kept the lock of hair, the 
 cipher and letter, replying that she was surprised at 
 the audacity of his letter, which must have been mis 
 directed ! Begged him to be of service to her husband, 
 who was on his way to TOrient. " She would be 
 obliged to the Chevalier to show him every civility." 
 
 The cautious Scotchman who had kept a copy of 
 his letter, referred to it, confessing himself "still at 
 a loss, and cannot conceive what part of the letter 
 itself could have occasioned your imagining I had 
 mistaken the address. As to the little packet it 
 contained, perhaps it might better have been omitted : 
 if so, it is easily destroyed. If my letter has given 
 you even a moment s uneasiness, I can assure you 
 that to think so would be as severe a punishment as 
 could be inflicted on me. ... I was greatly honoured 
 
PAUL JONES 297 
 
 by the visit of the Count . . . and am so well con 
 vinced of his superior understanding that I am glad to 
 believe Miss Edes was mistaken. I admire him so 
 much that I should esteem myself very happy indeed 
 to have a joint expedition with him, etc. . . ." Surely 
 this was rubbing it into her ladyship ! The friend 
 ship was allowed to languish by Jones, and there is 
 nothing more than a couple of ceremonious letters, 
 written in 1783, mostly in reference to the lady s hus 
 band, as she was not backward in soliciting favours 
 for him. 
 
 The Chevalier Paul Jones, as he became after the 
 King had decorated him with the Order of Military 
 Merit " never before conferred on any one who had 
 not actually borne arms under the commission of 
 France," was easily the most-talked-of man in Paris. 
 He had been given a magnificent gold sword by the 
 King, with the inscription, " Vindicati Marls Ludovicus 
 XVI Remunerator strenuo vindici" So, to put it poet 
 ically, Mars and Venus sought to do him honour, and 
 he basked in the sunshine of favour. Miss Edes- 
 Herbert, who had been "taught to regard Captain 
 Jones as a rough, desperate renegade, if not pirate," 
 confessed herself " amazed to meet a most courteous, 
 graceful gentleman of slight build, and rather delicate, 
 not to say effeminate, cast of features, faultlessly 
 dressed, exquisitely polite, altogether handsome, and 
 speaking French fluently, though with an indifferent 
 accent, and many lapses of grammar. However, his 
 French was better than that of most English persons 
 of quality, who pretend to speak the language in the 
 
298 PAUL JONES 
 
 drawing-rooms of London. For some reason he was 
 quite attentive to me, and we danced twice. Natur 
 ally we avoided political subjects, though once he 
 asked me if I had heard or read anything about 
 the affair of taking the Earl of Selkirk s plate at 
 St. Mary s Isle in the cruise of the Ranger. I said I 
 had, and he then told me that his relation to the affair 
 was not correctly understood, and he would do himself 
 the honour to send to me copies of all the papers in 
 the case, in order that I might be able to form a right 
 judgment. And, by way of compliment, I suppose, 
 he added that, while under the circumstances that 
 existed he was compelled to be indifferent to the 
 estimation in which Englishmen held him, he was as 
 sensitive as ever to the sentiments of Englishwomen ; 
 also, that, while he might be at war with my country 
 men as a nation, he could never be anything but at 
 peace with their daughters. Altogether I was quite 
 charmed with him. He was quite impartial in his 
 attentions to the ladies. However, his preference 
 for her ladyship, our gracious hostess (Aimee de 
 Telusson), could not be quite hid; it was not even 
 partly veiled. Neither, I must say, was her ladyship s 
 reciprocity of it. A few days afterward he called 
 on my father to initiate a scheme for exchanging 
 the crew of the Serapis for American prisoners in 
 England. I did not see him on this occasion, but 
 my father informed me that he was deeply impressed 
 by him, and could not help seeing in him genius of 
 the first order. My father spoke of his manner as 
 extremely cold, reserved, and wholly official, which 
 
PAUL JONES 299 
 
 was the exact reverse of his deportment toward me 
 at the reception. My father said that when he told 
 Captain Jones, as he had to, that our Government had 
 not given him authority to recognise the right of cartel 
 to the American insurgents, the Captain replied : 
 Very well, sir; but, as Voltaire says, the future is 
 much longer than the present. 
 
 Jones had been knighted on June 28, 1780, and, 
 with " his blushing honours thick upon him," was 
 the hero of a garden party, given by the Comtesse 
 d Houdetot, the fourteenth of the following month, 
 at her chateau of Montmorency. " Though there was 
 all the afternoon and evening a throng of the noblesse 
 and persons of quality in all stations of eminence, no 
 one gained so much notice or was so sought after 
 for introductions as the American Commodore, Paul 
 Jones, now titled Monsieur le Chevalier. 
 
 "As on the occasion of our previous meeting at 
 the Marquise de Marsan s, he was now especially 
 polite to me; so much so, that many of the ladies 
 rallied me on what they were pleased to term my 
 1 conquest of the conqueror. Finally I ventured to 
 say to him : Monsieur le Chevalier, you will not 
 think it strange if I am not so cheerful as these French 
 ladies are in paying devotion to you, because all these 
 honours are in compliment to your victory over my 
 own people. 
 
 To this he instantly replied, not in French, which 
 we had been speaking, but in English : My dear 
 Miss Edes-Herbert, I most fully comprehend and 
 appreciate your sentiments. And permit me to say 
 
800 PAUL JONES 
 
 also that had my adversary on the occasion you speak 
 of been any but a countryman of yours, I would not 
 be thought entitled to so much credit as they seem 
 to give me for the victory. Therefore, my dear lady, 
 instead of being sad you should be buoyant in the 
 thought that it is only upon those who have defeated 
 Englishmen that such honours are bestowed. And 
 beyond doubt the extreme infrequency of such events 
 has much to do with the extravagance of praise the 
 French now bestow upon me. 
 
 "While this conversation was going on, we were 
 seated together on a rustic bench apart from the 
 throng, and Mile, de Telusson came to present the 
 Commodore to some other ladies. As soon as 
 the introductions were made I repeated to the whole 
 party what he had just said to me. 
 
 " What beautiful sentiments! exclaimed Mile. 
 Aimee. No one else in the world could be chivalric 
 enough to entertain them ! But it is like him ; and he 
 has no equal among men ! 
 
 This, according to Miss Edes, was said with 
 "passionate vehemence and entire disregard of en 
 vironment that left no doubt in my mind as to what 
 had become of Aimee s heart. As for the Chevalier, 
 he listened with a half affectionate, half amused ex 
 pression, and said only in reply that it was not in his 
 power to suitably express the sentiments that such 
 honours stirred within him. And, he added, you 
 know, ladies, that I am but a simple sailor, unaccus 
 tomed to such graces as yours." 
 
 It is strange that two lovers whose devotion lasted 
 
PAUL JONES 301 
 
 fourteen years should have never married; each was 
 independent, and there would have been no family 
 council to raise obstacles. Is there truth in the 
 whisper that, in his very early days, the Chevalier 
 fell desperately in love with some one with whom 
 marriage was out of the question and remained 
 single for memory s sake ? Was the mystery over his 
 birth the restraining influence, or was glory the mistress 
 he loved before any other? Paul carefully destroyed 
 the numerous letters received from Aimee during so 
 long a time, which would have been of the greatest 
 interest, covering, as they did, many years of their 
 lives, and but few of his to her survive. 
 
 Jones constantly received unsolicited requests from 
 all sorts of men, begging to be allowed to join any 
 expedition he thought of organising, for the distinc 
 tion of serving under his banner. 
 
 He met and patched up a truce with John Adams 
 at one of those economical and intellectual suppers 
 given by Franklin, where the board was more graced 
 by wit and learning than groaning under good cheer, 
 and Adams, to some extent, helped him with his prize- 
 money claims. But, under the surface, Adams always 
 disliked the Commodore, and at this moment (1779) 
 wrote of him as " ambitious and intriguing." These 
 feelings he had the tact to keep to himself, for Paul 
 was much too popular for it to be prudent to dis 
 parage him openly. The substratum of jealousy, the 
 wounded vanity in Adams s puritanical nature, never 
 forgave Jones, and as long afterwards as 1813 he 
 referred to the dead man as " a foreigner of the south 
 
302 PAUL~JONES 
 
 arrogating to himself merit that belongs to New 
 England sailors." But where, one asks, would the 
 " New England sailors " have been, had their com 
 mander been one of Adams s inefficient captains on 
 such occasions as the fights with the Drake and the 
 Serapis ? 
 
 Paul s Parisian stay was brief, filled to the last 
 minute with innumerable hospitalities, and he returned 
 to TOrient, missed by those who loved him, who daily 
 poured their plaints on to sheets of stiff white paper, 
 carefully folded and sealed with the hearts, cupids 
 and other devices suitable to the contents. 
 
 His chere Aimee wrote on the 28th August, 1780 
 
 " Since your departure, my dear Commodore, I have 
 done little else than answer inquiries concerning you 
 from your legion of feminine worshippers. Is he 
 going to sea again ? Has the King given him a 
 new command? When will he return hither? are 
 questions constantly addressed to me by all the fair 
 world. In vain I expostulate that I am not your 
 gaoler ! That you honour me only as you do them, 
 with your society betimes, and regale me only as you 
 do them, with your exhaustless wit and graces. 
 
 They will not have it so, but declare one and all 
 that I am the chosen one. Only yesterday the 
 Comtesse de la Vendhal said to me : Alas, my poor 
 husband ; he is so good, and withal so dull ! What 
 would I not give to be, as you are, enshrined in the 
 affections of a heart like that of Paul Jones; to know 
 that devotion and affection for me were cherished in 
 
PAUL JONES 303 
 
 that same bosom that holds the courage that made him 
 conquer in a battle the like of which is unheard of? 
 Do not fail, my dearest Aimee, to plume yourself upon 
 your conquest. You are, as we all know, the daughter 
 of a king. But, far more than that, you are, as all 
 equally know, the beloved of a hero ! 
 
 " Now, my dear Commodore, what can I say in 
 reward of such compliments? Surely I can say 
 nothing that would be adequate. But I never permit 
 myself to doubt that what all say must be true. I 
 could not doubt it without despair. Fortuneless as 
 I am, and dependent upon the chanty of a bene 
 factress who, I believe, has taken me in place of a 
 child of her own, denied to her in the providence of 
 God, I am richly content so to be, if only I may 
 trustfully believe that I have your affection. 
 
 " Her Royal Highness (Duchesse de Chartres) has 
 told me since you went away that there is no doubt 
 of your receiving command of another squadron by 
 direct order of his Majesty and without interference 
 of M. de C- - or any other interested person. She 
 tells me H. M. (the King) has said you shall have the 
 Scraps as soon as she is fitted out; your own prize, 
 gained by such desperate valour by valour like unto 
 the legend of La Tour d Auvergne. 
 
 " Necessarily I hope so. It will take you once more 
 away from me, amid perils no one can foresee the end 
 of; but all in pursuit of glory and in defence of our 
 common cause. For that, and that alone, I am willing 
 to deny myself all; even the rapture of being with 
 you soon again. 
 
304 PAUL JONES 
 
 "When you are in readiness with your new argosy 
 to sail in quest of another Golden Fleece, may not 
 your poor little Aimee Adele come to 1 Orient to say 
 Bon Voyage ? True, I cannot, indulge the fancy 
 that such a parting would in any way influence your 
 chivalry, which needs not reinforcement ; but it would 
 enable a poor little waif who loves you to see for 
 once her hero with his armour on in all panoply of 
 battle ! " 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 1779 
 
 THE Chevalier Jones was a man of unbounded 
 ambition, and the honours bestowed on him by the 
 King, though regarded as a final and ample reward 
 by many, only satisfied a lesser part of his complex 
 nature. There is not the slightest doubt that he was a 
 most disquieting free lance to be at large among those 
 who were actuated by less disinterested motives than 
 himself. He had hoped for command of the Serapis, 
 which had been sold to the King on June 22nd for 
 240,000 livres. He would have been glad to have 
 La Terpsichore, on which the Due de Chartres first 
 visited America, but in the French Navy the captains 
 greatly outnumbered the available ships, and he was 
 obliged to content himself with the Ariel, and the 
 mission of carrying the supplies, collected with so 
 much labour by the Commissioners, to Washington s 
 army, a venture promising little glory. On his return 
 to TOrient he found his crew mutinous and sullen, 
 full of the grievance that their commander had neg 
 lected their interests while enjoying the sunshine of 
 popularity. This was the consequence of an intrigue 
 hatched by Lee and Landais the men being but 
 pawns in the game to ruin and annoy Jones. Though 
 getting money from the Commissioners was a feat 
 
 U 305 
 
306 PAUL JONES 
 
 greater than the labours of Hercules, Jones blamed 
 himself severely " for having returned from Paris 
 without having absolutely insisted on the previous 
 payment of my men." 
 
 Landais had long since been ordered to America 
 for his court-martial, Dr. Franklin advancing money 
 for travelling expenses. Instead of obeying orders 
 he, backed by Lee, declared that the Alliance had 
 been wrongly taken from him, as the command had 
 come from Congress. The officers and crew sent a 
 petition to the plenipotentiaries "setting forth their 
 grievances and their wishes/ while Landais modestly 
 expressed a desire to be given his old command. 
 
 All this was enough to whiten the remaining hairs 
 left to Franklin, for he had supposed Landais half 
 way across the briny deep, soon to be in the hands of 
 responsible authority; while his turbulent friend Paul 
 seemed, for once, suitably provided with enough work 
 to keep him occupied for some months. 
 
 The good old gentleman was so exasperated that 
 he wrote a concise and definite reply to Landais, in 
 which there was not the faintest hint of any tempor 
 ising, or of replacing him on the Alliance. 
 
 " No one ever learned the opinion I formed of you 
 from inquiry made into your conduct. I kept it 
 entirely to myself. I have not even hinted it in my 
 letters to America, because I would not hazard giving 
 to any one a bias to your prejudice. By communicat 
 ing a part of that opinion privately to you I can do no 
 harm, for you may burn it. I should not give you the 
 pain of reading it if your demand did not make it 
 
PAUL JONES 307 
 
 necessary. I think you, then, so imprudent, so 
 litigious and quarrelsome a man, even with your best 
 friends, that peace and good order, and consequently 
 the quiet regular subordination so necessary to suc 
 cess, are, where you preside, impossible. These are 
 within my observation and apprehension. Your 
 military operations I leave to more capable judges. 
 If, therefore, I had twenty ships of war in my dis 
 position I should not give one of them to Captain 
 Landais. The same temper which excluded him from 
 the French Marine would weigh equally with me; of 
 course I shall not replace him in the Alliance 
 
 Franklin exhausted his diplomacy to bring reason 
 to that mutinous crew, "whom the power of France 
 would have enabled him to crush at once." The 
 officers and men of the Alliance were naturally indig 
 nant at the charge of having fired into the Bonhomme 
 Richard. Franklin politely tells the discontented 
 ones that, " if it came to be publicly known that you 
 had the strongest aversion to Captain Landais, who 
 had used you basely, and that it is only since the last 
 year s cruise, and the appointment of Commodore 
 Jones to the command, that you request to be again 
 under your old captain, I fear suspicions and reflec 
 tions may be thrown upon you by the world, as if this 
 change of sentiment may have arisen from your 
 observation during the cruise that Captain Jones loved 
 close fighting, that Captain Landais was skilful in 
 keeping out of harm s way, and that you therefore 
 thought yourself safer with the latter." He exhorts 
 
 them to take an old man s advice, and go home 
 u 2 
 
808 PAUL JONES 
 
 peacefully with their ship. He might as well have 
 talked to the winds of heaven; "which failure proves 
 that something beside reason is at times necessary in 
 governing seamen." 
 
 The sailors refused to weigh anchor and depart 
 from 1 Orient unless they received six months wages, 
 all their prize money, and " until their legal captain, 
 Pierre Landais, was restored to them." The last 
 clause being interlined in Landais s own writing. 
 
 Not to be baffled, Jones posted to Versailles, where 
 he obtained an order for apprehending and imprison 
 ing Landais if necessary, and was promised letters to 
 the Commissary of the Port to facilitate his departure. 
 On the 1 3th of June the mutiny had reached its 
 culmination. Causing his appointment to the Alliance 
 to be read on the deck of the ship, and addressing 
 the assembled crew, Jones demanded that whoever 
 had any complaint to prefer against him should speak 
 out. There was," he says, " every appearance of 
 contentment and subordination. ... I am certain the 
 people love me and would readily obey me." The 
 proofs of this affection were of a very unusual kind, 
 for no sooner had Jones quitted the ship than Landais 
 came on board and usurped the command, " flatly 
 refusing to relinquish the ship ! " 
 
 Losing no time, Jones sped off again to Versailles, 
 where he was assured orders had been sent to TOrient 
 " to compel Landais and his crew to obedience, or, if 
 he attempted to quit the port, to fire on him and, if 
 necessary, sink the ship; but when Jones returned to 
 TOrient he found no orders had materialised. How- 
 
PAUL JONES 309 
 
 ever, the authorities of the port, his friends, assured 
 him of their support, and, in this unprecedented 
 situation, he adhered to his policy of tolerant forbear 
 ance when he learned that the Alliance had been 
 towed from the road of 1 Orient to Port Louis. 
 
 Though no express from Versailles had been 
 received, M. de Thevenard, the commandant, made 
 preparations to stop the Alliance, having sent orders 
 in the evening, without consulting Jones, "to fire on 
 the Alliance and sink her to the bottom, if they 
 attempted to approach and pass the barrier that had 
 been made across the entrance of the port. Had I 
 remained silent an hour longer the dreadful work 
 would have been done," Paul wrote in his journal. 
 
 At Franklin s request the Ministry of Marine had 
 sent orders that the Alliance must be prevented from 
 sailing at all hazards, but by what means was not 
 mentioned to the peaceful Quaker, who received a 
 shock on reading Paul s letter, where he told Franklin 
 that, rather than doom so many innocent men to death, 
 he had taken upon himself to cancel the orders to de 
 Thevenard, adding, "Your humanity will, I know, 
 justify the part I acted in preventing a scene that 
 would have rendered me miserable for the rest of my 
 life." 
 
 Upheld by Arthur Lee, and spared just punishment 
 by the leniency of the Commodore, Landais put to sea 
 on June 22nd. Though the ship was laden with military 
 stores, of which Washington s army stood in urgent 
 need, Landais, after passing Cape Finisterre, deter 
 mined to cruise as far south as the Windward Isles. 
 
310 PAUL JONES 
 
 There was a stormy scene between Lee and the Cap 
 tain, the former upholding officers and crew in their 
 refusal to obey Landais. Then occurred a comedy 
 of true Gilbertian flavour. Lee, being a doctor, with 
 degrees from the University of Edinburgh, ordered a 
 survey to be held upon the Captain, who was declared 
 insane ; then, as ex-Commissioner of the United States, 
 he ordered Lieutenant Degge to take command of the 
 Alliance, which resumed her proper course, arriving 
 at Boston the 2nd of August. It has never been satis 
 factorily decided to what the intense and persistent 
 enmity Lee displayed towards Paul Jones should be 
 attributed. When the Alliance was fitting out and 
 taking aboard her cargo of military supplies, Lee had 
 asked and obtained permission from Franklin, to 
 return to the United States on board the vessel. But 
 Lee had no intention of sailing with Jones in com 
 mand, and did everything to make matters as unplea 
 sant as he could. During his four years as Commis 
 sioner he had accumulated a vast amount of furniture, 
 household effects, among other things two coaches, all 
 of which he insisted should be stowed away on the 
 Alliance. As the object of the voyage was to take out 
 supplies for the army, Jones refused, for, had he 
 shipped all Mr. Lee s belongings, there would have 
 been no room for anything else. He, however, offered 
 to arrange for them to be taken on one of the merchant 
 ships going under convoy of the Alliance, and was 
 deaf to any other arrangement. Consequently Lee 
 left no stone unturned to take the command away 
 from Jones, with the result related above. 
 
PAUL JONES 311 
 
 The social side of life furnished the Chevalier with 
 pleasures, which in a great measure counterbalanced 
 the annoyances to which he was subjected, and left 
 no time on his hands in which to grow moody or repine 
 over the irremediable. He busied himself over the 
 many projects he had in view, receiving assurance that 
 the Comte de Maurepas and Comte de Vergennes, 
 whose assistance he had solicited, would aid him so 
 far as they were able to secure ships for an expedition 
 which he was then trying to organise. 
 
 On the 25th August he celebrated King Louis s 
 birthday on the Ariel, and fired two royal salutes, and, 
 on the 2nd of September gave a magnificent enter 
 tainment on the same ship. It must be admitted that 
 the employment of taking stores to America in the 
 Ariel was not up to Jones s expectations, and he still 
 hoped to be able, through the interest of the new 
 French Ministry, to obtain the Serapis, as there were 
 five hundred tons of army stores to be transported in 
 excess of the tonnage of the Ariel. 
 
 It is an interesting commentary on the gratefulness 
 of Republics that Jones received from the American 
 Government absolutely no promotion or reward for 
 his superb victory over the Serapis, while Captain 
 Pearson was knighted by King George for the gallant 
 defence of his ship. Writing to the American agent 
 Dumas, on September 8th, Jones referred to the good 
 fortune of his late adversary, and said : " The next 
 time I meet him I will make a lord of him ! " 
 
 On October ;th the Ariel sailed, to run into the most 
 terrible storm that had swept the coast for years, in 
 
312 PAUL JONES 
 
 which the Ariel lost her fore and main masts, " and 
 rode waterlogged in the open ocean to windward of 
 the Penmarques, perhaps the most dangerous ledge 
 of rocks in the world, for two days and three nights 
 in a tempest that covered the shores with wrecks and 
 dead bodies, and that drove ships from their anchors 
 ashore even in so sheltered a port as POrient." They 
 managed to get back to TOrient on the i2th, but Jones 
 says : " Long as I have followed the sea in all climates 
 and at all seasons I never, till that event, conceived 
 how awful is the majesty of tempest or the unspeak 
 able horrors of shipwreck. 3 
 
 The repairs to the Ariel consumed two months, as 
 all the cargo had to be taken out, the powder dried 
 and muskets cleaned before they were utterly spoiled 
 by the salt water. Paul tried again to get La Terp 
 sichore, only to find himself anticipated by Captain 
 Beauvallon. De Sartine had been superseded as 
 Minister of Marine by the Marechal de Castries, a 
 friend of the American party, and Jones wrote imme 
 diately on learning of his appointment to congratulate 
 him, enclosing "an outline of a project for action," 
 which he begged his Excellency to consider : the gist 
 of which was, that the following spring Jones should 
 cruise with the Alliance and Confederacy, a new ship 
 being built in Boston. On the i7th December Paul 
 wrote, bidding farewell to Aimee, as the nearness of 
 parting and the uncertainty of the future recalled, with 
 almost overwhelming vividness, the softer memories of 
 his life in France 
 
 The men of France I esteem, respect and honour. 
 
PAUL JONES 318 
 
 They are brave, generous and faithful. But the 
 women of France ! What words can I find to express 
 my homage, my worship, my devotion ! They have 
 been in these years of toil and storm and battle my 
 guardian angels; they have saved me from despair, 
 and they have inspired me to conquer. Their approv 
 ing smiles and tender praise have been to me more 
 than the applause of statesmen and even more than 
 the favour of royalty itself. 
 
 " Should fate decree this to be my last view of 
 enchanted France I can at least perish somewhere far 
 away with the music of the voice of a Frenchwoman 
 soothing me, and the beauty of a Frenchwoman s face 
 and form pictured in my glazing eyes." 
 
 Before sailing on December i8th the Commodore 
 gave a " superb entertainment " on the Ariel, which did 
 not escape description in detail by a puritanical con 
 temporary. " The ship was tastefully prepared by 
 spreading her awnings, so as to convert the quarter 
 deck into a ball and banqueting room. A curtain of 
 pink silk hung from the awning to the deck, decorated 
 with alternate mirrors and pictures, some of which 
 latter partook of the prurient character of the French 
 taste of that day. Between the mirrors and pictures 
 were wreaths of artificial flowers. The deck was laid 
 with carpets. These arrangements were made under 
 the superintending care of a French lady, of Jones s 
 acquaintance; while cooks and waiters from the shore 
 made liberal preparations for the feast. When all was 
 ready at the appointed hour, Jones despatched three 
 
314 PAUL JONES 
 
 of his boats ashore, the crews of which were neatly 
 dressed in uniform and decorated with the American 
 and French cockades united. The ship, too, was 
 dressed with flags. At three o clock the company 
 arrived, consisting of many persons of rank of both 
 sexes, splendidly dressed. 
 
 "Jones received them, as they came up the ship s 
 side, and conducted them to their seats on the quarter 
 deck, with a great deal of ease, politeness and good 
 nature. At half-past three the company sat down to 
 an elegant dinner, from which they did not rise till 
 sunset. All hands were at quarters, prepared, by 
 Jones s order, to exhibit a representation of the cap 
 ture of the Sera-pis. At eight o clock, as the moon 
 rose, the evening being much the same as on that 
 memorable occasion, a gun was fired on the forecastle 
 as a signal to commence. It was immediately followed 
 by a tremendous explosion of great guns, small arms, 
 rockets and grenades. The tops, as in the action with 
 the Serapis, were kept in a complete blaze. The scene 
 was splendid, but the din was awful. The ladies, 
 beside themselves with terror, begged Jones to have 
 mercy on them, and the action was prematurely 
 arrested at the end of an hour. The admiral s band, 
 which had been lent for the occasion, now struck up a 
 lively air and the dance began. It continued with 
 unabated spirit until midnight, when the company was 
 set on shore by the boats, with the same regularity 
 with which they came off, except, as Fanning says, 
 that some of them were half seas over. The officers 
 gallantly attended them to their very doors. 5 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 1780-1783 
 
 A FEW days later, on the i8th, with the roar of that 
 mimic battle still echoing in the air, the Ariel sailed, 
 the voyage being without exciting incident until the 
 adventure described in the memorial for the King of 
 France, which is written in the third person. Through 
 a long chase, during which Jones manoeuvred so that 
 the enemy should not see the force of the Ariel, " an 
 action finally became unavoidable," and everything 
 was thrown overboard that interfered with the defence 
 and safety of the ship. In the afternoon the Ariel 
 fired now and then a light stern-chaser at the enemy 
 from the quarter-deck, and continued to crowd sail as 
 if very much alarmed. This had the desired effect, 
 and the enemy pursued with greater eagerness. Cap 
 tain Jones did not suffer the enemy to come close up 
 till the approach of night, when, having well examined 
 his force, he shortened sail to meet his approach. 
 When the two ships came within hail of each other 
 they both hoisted English colours. The person whose 
 duty it was to hoist the pennant on board the Ariel 
 had not taken care to make the other end of the 
 halyards fast, to haul it down again to change the 
 colours. This prevented Captain Jones from an 
 advantageous manoeuvre he had intended, and obliged 
 
 315 
 
316 PAUL JONES 
 
 him to let the enemy range up along the lee-side of 
 the Ariel, where he saw a battery lighted for action. 
 A conversation now took place between the two ships, 
 which lasted near an hour; by which Captain Jones 
 learned the situation of the enemy s affairs in America. 
 The captain of the enemy s ship said his name was 
 John Pindar. His ship had been constructed by the 
 famous Mr. Peck of Boston, built at Newbury Port, 
 owned by Mr. Tracey of that place, commanded by 
 Captain Hopkins, the son of the late Commodore 
 Hopkins, and had been taken and fitted out at New 
 York, and named the Triumph by Admiral Rodney. 
 Captain Jones told him he must put out his boat and 
 come on board and show his commission, to prove 
 whether or not he really did belong to the British 
 navy. To this he made some excuses, because Cap 
 tain Jones had not told him who he was, and his boat, 
 he said, was very leaky. Captain Jones told him to 
 consider the danger of refusing. Captain Pindar said 
 he would answer for twenty guns, and that himself 
 and every one of his people had shown themselves 
 Englishmen. Captain Jones said he would allow him 
 five minutes only to make his reflection. This time 
 being elapsed Captain Jones backed a little on the 
 weather quarter of the enemy, ran close under her 
 stern, hoisted American colours, and being within 
 short pistol-shot on the lee-beam of the enemy began 
 to engage. It was past seven o clock, and as no equal 
 force ever exceeded the vigorous and regular fire of 
 the Ariel s battery and tops, the action while it lasted 
 made a glorious appearance. The enemy made a 
 
PAUL JONES 817 
 
 feeble resistance for about ten minutes. He then 
 struck his colours. The enemy then begged for 
 quarter, and said half his men were killed. The 
 Ariel s fire ceased, and the crew, as usual after a 
 victory, gave cries of joy, "to show themselves Eng 
 lishmen." The enemy filled their sails, and got on 
 the Ariel s weather-bow before the cries of joy had 
 ended on board the Ariel. Captain Jones, suspecting 
 the bafce design of the enemy, immediately set every 
 sail he could to prevent her escape; but the enemy 
 had so much advantage in sailing that the Ariel could 
 not keep up, and they soon got out of gun-shot. The 
 English captain may 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 civilised nations. It 
 must be remembered, however, that this ship was not 
 one belonging to the regular navy. The Triumph is 
 impartially described as a letter-of-marque and a 
 sloop-of-war, she mounted twenty guns twelve or 
 fourteen nine-pounders and the rest sixes, with a crew 
 of ninety-seven men. The Naval Chronicle says the 
 Ariel carried "a battery of twenty twelve-pounders, 
 a crew of 180 men, mostly prime sailors, and com 
 manded by the redoubtable Paul Jones." 
 
 Soon after this encounter Jones was called on to 
 suppress a mutiny among the English part of the 
 Ariel s crew, and arrived at Philadelphia on the i8th 
 February, 1781, with twenty of the ringleaders in irons. 
 Paul had been absent from America three years, three 
 months, and eighteen days. A few days after his 
 
318 PAUL JONES 
 
 arrival he turned over the command of the Ariel to 
 his lieutenants, Dale and Lunt, who took the ship to 
 Portsmouth. This ended Jones s active connection 
 with the United States Navy, which had lasted from 
 December 7, 1775, to the present date, during which 
 he had earned for himself more fame than all the 
 others connected with the service, both by his daring 
 as a fighter and his skill as a diplomat; and had made 
 the power he represented, young as it was, an import 
 ant factor in the politics of nations. One of the first 
 pieces of news brought to Jones was that Pierre 
 Landais had been dropped from the navy, which 
 ended any necessity of a court-martial and wiped 
 Landais and his eccentricities off the calendar of 
 events to be dealt with. 
 
 The action of Lee and Landais in usurping com 
 mand of, and running away with, the Alliance had, 
 by upsetting Jones s plans for sailing, greatly delayed 
 the arrival of the military stores. This occasioned 
 much dissatisfaction, the matter being made the sub 
 ject of an inquiry by Congress, Jones and Franklin 
 eventually being exonerated from any blame ; and the 
 latter, "as an appropriate mark of the entire confid 
 ence of Congress, was appointed by the Marine Com 
 mittee to the sole management of maritime affairs in 
 Europe." 
 
 The Board of Admiralty, soon after his arrival, 
 called upon Commodore Jones to answer some forty- 
 seven questions relating to his services and public 
 affairs in that connection, which, after a great deal of 
 correspondence he did to their satisfaction. The sub- 
 
PAUL JONES 319 
 
 jects and answers are mostly on naval and technical 
 matters and not interesting, while a number relate to 
 Landais and his usurped command of the Alliance. 
 
 Like all men who have risen to heights unattained 
 by the less successful, Jones was constantly the prey 
 of jealousy and petty malice. Perhaps he was too 
 sensitive to public criticism, and would have been 
 happier had he been of the disposition to ignore things 
 which were not of a pleasing nature. For example, 
 though he had received permission from Congress to 
 wear the decoration bestowed by Louis XVI, he 
 never did so in America after being told by some 
 ladies at a dinner that they had "heard deprecating 
 comments " on this, and that he used a title derived 
 from a king though an officer of a "free republic." 
 There is only one letter of Jones s written, while in 
 America, in which he signs himself the "Chevalier 
 Paul Jones," though Washington addressed him by 
 this title in his correspondence of a certain date. 
 Taking all these different elements into consideration, 
 one is not surprised, after weighing the matter care 
 fully, that Paul found life in the old world more con 
 genial. But it must not be thought that he was un- 
 praised and unappreciated by the mass of his adopted 
 countrymen, and even Washington, who so seldom 
 grew enthusiastic, quite unbent in commendation of 
 his friend in the letter he wrote to the " Chevalier 
 Paul Jones." 
 
 : Whether our naval affairs have in general been 
 well or ill conducted would be presumptuous in me 
 to determine. Instances of bravery and good conduct 
 
820 PAUL JONES 
 
 in several of our officers have not, however, been want 
 ing. Delicacy forbids me to mention that particular 
 instance which has attracted the admiration of all the 
 world, and which has influenced the most illustrious 
 monarch to confer a mark of his favour which can 
 only be obtained by a long and honourable service, 
 or by the performance of some brilliant action." 
 Washington concludes by hoping that " you may long 
 enjoy the reputation you have so justly acquired," and, 
 knowing what we do of George Washington, this was, 
 indeed, high praise. 
 
 The cabal by whom Jones was disliked still con 
 tinued to give him annoyance, and, shortly after his 
 arrival on the Ariel, he learned that Lee had been 
 spreading derogatory stories about him. Without 
 waiting, the Commodore challenged Lee, who tried 
 to avoid fighting by insinuating that it was a matter 
 of question whether Jones was a gentleman and 
 entitled to the privileges of one, demanding 
 
 "Who is he, anyhow? Nobody but the son of 
 obscure Scottish peasants, and a man who has changed 
 his name at that ! What right can such a person claim 
 to expect satisfaction from a Virginia gentleman of my 
 position and antecedents?" 
 
 General Anthony Wayne, to whom this question 
 was addressed, intimated that he was not there to go 
 into questions of genealogy, quietly adding : " But 
 permit me to suggest, sir, that no one in this country 
 or before American people can possibly reflect credit 
 upon himself by trying to bar Paul Jones from the 
 rights of a gentleman. It makes no difference who 
 
PAUL JONES 321 
 
 his parents may have been, or how many times he 
 may have changed his name, the American people will 
 never sustain any man in the pretence of barring from 
 a gentleman s privileges the conqueror of the Drake 
 and Serapis" Wayne clearly placed before Lee the 
 question of social standing and the rights and position 
 of an officer in the navy, who had been knighted for his 
 conspicuous valour and daring bravery, and who was 
 received by the highest society in every country. To 
 refuse the challenge of Paul Jones would stamp the 
 man, who took such an action, as worse than a coward. 
 To make a long story short, mutual friends smoothed 
 the matter over, and the duel was heard of no more. 
 
 Robert Morris, always one of Jones s staunch 
 friends, advised him in a letter to drop his quarrel with 
 Lee, saying very sensibly: " You should, I think, 
 accept these accumulated honours and proofs of the 
 public confidence as most ample vindication of your 
 self from any wrongs of which you have hitherto enter 
 tained a sense, and you should also view them as 
 having placed you upon a plane of honour and 
 dignity from which you could but derogate by further 
 meditation of personal recourse in any direction 
 whatever." 
 
 The Chevalier could afford to be magnanimous, and, 
 though the summer was not marked by heroic combat 
 or naval victory, he found that "peace hath her 
 victories no less renowned than war," and equally 
 enjoyable. He and his officers and men were publicly 
 thanked by Congress on April i4th, and on June 26th 
 he was unanimously elected to command the America, 
 
322 PAUL JONES 
 
 building at Portsmouth, it being recommended by 
 some of his partisans that Jones should be raised to 
 the rank of Admiral. Mingled with these glowing and 
 congratulatory happenings, the old spectre of unpaid 
 crews kept stalking grimly. On the arrival of the 
 Ariel Colonel Henry Fisher, of the " Continental 
 Army," had loaned him money to pay off officers and 
 crew, and, on June 26, he petitioned Congress for an 
 advance on the pay due to him, of which, from hia 
 date of commission, December 7, 1775, until the 
 present moment, he had never received a penny. The 
 amount reached the total of 1400 $s. He was 
 referred to the Treasury Board without definite result. 
 The Chevalier Jones did not arrive in Portsmouth 
 until the end of August, having visited General Wash 
 ington on the way, and received personally the con 
 gratulations of that august statesman. Jones had, in 
 the February previous, been authorised by Congress 
 to wear the Order of Military Merit, which King Louis 
 bestowed on him for his valour, and was given a 
 sumptuous entertainment at Philadelphia by the 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne, the French Minister, in 
 honour of the event. His reception on arriving at 
 Portsmouth was most flattering, and inspired by that 
 personal tinge, which friendship alone can give, had 
 all the sincerity of a real home-coming. The Ranger 
 had been considered by the people of Portsmouth as 
 their ship, and when Jones "came back in 1781, to 
 command the America, covered with world-wide fame, 
 decorations, Order of Knighthood, and the thanks of 
 Congress, he became at once the most interesting 
 
PAUL JONES 323 
 
 character in the place. The good people, staid in 
 their notions of republican simplicity as they were, 
 rejoiced to see that four years of almost marvellous 
 success had by no means spoilt him, but that he was 
 yet the same plain Paul Jones they had known and 
 liked so well in 1777. 
 
 " The young folks did little less than worship him, 
 because his appearance among them was always the 
 signal for jolly yarns and interesting accounts of what 
 he had seen in the great world beyond the seas. 
 
 " On such occasions, when surrounded by the young 
 ladies, to whom his stories of Paris and Versailles 
 were almost like fairy tales, his usually sad, swarthy 
 face would light up with a rich glow as if his youth 
 had come back again, and he would hold all listeners 
 as in a trance." 
 
 And, most undeniably, Paul had nice little ways, 
 for " among the souvenirs he had brought from France 
 and also from Spain were rare little bits of lace hand 
 kerchiefs, fans of marvellous design, gloves, slippers, 
 and bewitching little ornaments for the hair. Most of 
 these had already met their fate among the Commo 
 dore s fair friends in Philadelphia before he came to 
 Portsmouth." 
 
 The completion of the America occupied most of 
 his waking hours, for the work progressed slowly, and 
 he was afraid the ship would be seized by the enemy 
 or blown up, as the island on which she was being 
 built was poorly fortified and, with the exception of 
 the guard he ordered, and the two six-pounders 
 defending the landing, quite open to attack. After 
 
 X 2 
 
324 PAUL JONES 
 
 Jones s arrival a sharp watch was kept for prowling 
 boats, and anything approaching too close was warned 
 off on penalty of being fired into with the omnipresent 
 six-pounders. By way of variety in his troubles, the 
 America was too large to be launched off the stocks 
 where she was built, and only with the utmost mani 
 pulation was she got into the water at all. The 
 America was a seventy-four gun ship, extreme length 
 182^ feet, with a complement of 626 officers and men. 
 Her keel had been laid down in 1777, though little 
 had been done on her except " to get out and season 
 her timbers," and Jones, who had been led to under 
 stand that she was ready for launching, received a 
 disagreeable shock when he first saw her at Langdon s 
 Island. He planned as figurehead "the Goddess of 
 Liberty crowned with laurels. The right arm was 
 raised with the forefinger pointing to heaven, as if 
 appealing to that high tribunal in behalf of the justice 
 of the American cause. On the left arm was a blue 
 buckler with thirteen silver stars." 
 
 Paul became so exasperated at the slowness of the 
 task he had undertaken, that he wrote Lafayette he 
 had volunteered to join Washington s army, request 
 ing that he might serve in the marquis s division ; but 
 Robert Morris would not allow him to leave Ports 
 mouth, where he considered his services more useful 
 than they would be in the field. During his stay in 
 Portsmouth Paul was persuaded to address a public 
 meeting at the town hall, and made a glowing refer 
 ence to the flag given him by the girls of Portsmouth 
 as " a pattern new to the world. That flag the Ranger 
 
PAUL JONES 325 
 
 carried across the sea and showed alike to our French 
 friends and our English enemies. Our French friends 
 saluted it with the cannon of their grand fleet. Our 
 English enemies twice lowered their haughty emblem 
 to it ... the story of the flag as made by the 
 daughters of Portsmouth has been written in letters 
 of blood and flame that can never be rubbed out so 
 long as Liberty shall be the watchword of brave men 
 and virtuous women." He told an anecdote which 
 greatly pleased his audience, of a sailor boy, Johnny 
 Downes, with him on the Ranger and Bonhomme 
 Richard. :t Johnny, though seventeen years old, was 
 so small for his age that he attracted the attention of a 
 duchesse who was visiting the ship, who asked him 
 
 Why are you here ? Such a child ! You are not 
 big or strong enough for war. Why did your mother 
 let you come here? 
 
 My mother did not let me come here, madame, 
 she sent me Johnny replied ; but the duchesse was not 
 satisfied, and pursued the question. 
 
 " < Why, then, did she send such a little and delicate 
 boy? 
 
 Because, madame, she had no other boy to send. 
 But, madame/ said Johnny, * I am much stronger than 
 you think. I can keep my station with the best of 
 them, as the Captain will tell you, if you do me the 
 honour to ask him. True, I am small, but that is an 
 advantage, because the enemy can t hit me in battle as 
 easily as they could if I was large. " 
 
 The duchesse was charmed, declaring to the Captain 
 that Johnny came of a race of Spartan mothers, all of 
 
326 PAUL JONES 
 
 which must have been very pleasant to Johnny s 
 mother, who sat in the audience. 
 
 In the following May, 1782, the birth of the 
 Dauphin being announced, Congress, to emphasise the 
 entente cordiale between the two countries, ordered 
 all commanding officers to celebrate. We have no 
 details of what the other commanders did, but Com 
 modore Jones, with his usual lavishness, gave an 
 entertainment on the America, supplying, at his own 
 expense, the powder used for salutes and everything 
 connected with the joyful day. 
 
 With the completion of the America came another 
 crushing disappointment. Instead of sailing in com 
 mand he received a letter from Robert Morris, dated 
 September 4, 1782, enclosing the resolution by which 
 Congress presented the ship to France, to replace 
 the French ship Magnifique, wrecked the preceeding 
 month at the entrance to Boston Harbour. So he saw 
 the realisation of his hopes and ambitions given to the 
 Chevalier de Martigne, and the bitterness of the dis 
 appointment was not lessened by the fact that he had 
 a crew such as his heart loved, officered by the men 
 who had fought the Bonhomme Richard to victory. 
 The French renamed her Le Franklin, and so she 
 passed from the hands of those who built her; and 
 Paul Jones, at the end of seven years constant, and 
 often thankless, service, found himself without com 
 mand, without prize money or pay, and without official 
 recognition of his exertions in the cause to which he 
 devoted so important a part of his life. 
 
 Unhappy and unoccupied ashore, Commodore Jones 
 
PAUL JONES 327 
 
 volunteered to join the Marquis de Vaudreuil s flag 
 ship, on the expedition undertaken by France and 
 Spain against English power in the West Indies. 
 This squadron, comprising the ships under de Vau- 
 dreuil and the main French fleet commanded by the 
 Comte d Estaing, as well as the Spanish fleet under 
 Admiral Don Solano, was so late in arriving at the 
 rendezvous that Admirals Hood and Piggott pre 
 vented the planned attack on Jamaica, and then the 
 news of peace between England and France ended 
 the cruise. Jones, not being in good health, imme 
 diately sailed on a French frigate for Philadelphia, 
 carrying with him commendatory letters from de 
 Vaudreuil to the Chevalier de la Luzerne, in which 
 the former says, after many complimentary prelimin 
 aries : " I shall feel infinitely obliged to you if you 
 can find a means of doing him service. He is one of 
 the bravest, ablest and most honourable of men." 
 
 But all the hardships, anxieties and vicissitudes of 
 fortune to which Paul had been subjected for so many 
 years were beginning to tell on that iron constitution. 
 While in the West Indies he had a sharp attack of 
 fever, and for years he had never enjoyed more than 
 four hours sleep at a time. His eyes, tried by the 
 poor light of ships lamps and the enormous amount 
 of correspondence he had carried on, gave him con 
 stant trouble, since he had a decided aversion to any 
 kind of eye-glasses. In his own words 
 
 " It was not until peace came, and with it no imme 
 diate prospect of active service nor any incentive to 
 ambition, that I realised how prodigally I had drawn 
 
328 PAUL JONES 
 
 upon Nature s bequest to me of an iron frame and a 
 strong constitution. For the first time in my life I 
 felt what the doctors call the effect of reaction. For 
 tunately my affairs were in a condition that enabled 
 me to rest without serious inquietude on the score of 
 means. ... I passed the months of June, July, 
 August, and a part of September in the bracing air of 
 the Lehigh Valley, and this with so much benefit that, 
 in November, I was able to undertake a mission to 
 France, by appointment of Congress, as special and 
 plenipotentiary agent to adjust and collect all prize 
 moneys due and unpaid in that country to American 
 seamen who had served under my command/ 
 
 An interesting sidelight on his unusual character is 
 the shrewd sense he showed in business matters. This 
 trait, from his early days in the merchant service, 
 induced him to put by what money he could, which, 
 by careful manipulation, grew into a comfortable nest- 
 egg as the years went on. Far from benefiting by his 
 services to the United States, his part in the war was 
 a great expense to him, though he gave freely to the 
 cause he considered so just and rightful. Congress 
 acted wisely in appointing him as agent to deal with 
 the troubled question of prize-money adjustment, and 
 his excellent credit is proved by his instantly obtaining 
 the necessary bond for ,40,000. 
 
 As illustrating his foresight in financial matters, the 
 following is a good example. While in America Paul 
 bought large quantities of illuminating oil, for which 
 there was always a great demand in Europe, and 
 shipped it to his agents in Amsterdam, Nantes and 
 
PAUL JONES 329 
 
 Antwerp. As his credit was practically unlimited, 
 he had to pay out almost nothing in actual money, and 
 the oil when sold by his correspondents brought in a 
 profit of some 7500 or 8000. This sum may be 
 exaggerated, but the Chevalier is known to have 
 benefited considerably by this and other commercial 
 ventures during the previous nine years. If he had 
 not had these means of income it would be impossible 
 to say how he could have provided for the constant 
 expense of keeping open house on shore or aboard 
 ship, and for the Telusson menage; as it was not until 
 1785 he got his prize money, amounting to the sum of 
 181,039 livres, i sou, 10 deniers. 
 
 On the loth of November Jones sailed from Phil 
 adelphia on the Washington. This ship, being forced 
 by adverse gales to put into Plymouth, he landed, post 
 ing to London, where the first person he met was his 
 old enemy, John Adams, to whom he delivered the 
 despatches he carried, and discussed a commercial 
 treaty in which both were interested. Jones left 
 London the next morning, arriving at Paris on the 
 7th of December. The despatches he brought for 
 Franklin were rough drafts for treaties, concerning 
 fishing and other rights, to be submitted to the Cabinet 
 in London. Franklin was anxious to employ Jones 
 on this mission, but the latter preferred to lose 
 no time in taking up the adjustment of his prize 
 claims. 
 
 On the 2oth of December he was presented to Louis 
 XVI in his role of Special Agent by the Marechal de 
 Castries, Minister of Marine. The King conferred on 
 
330 PAUL JONES 
 
 him the honour of a command to " lunch at the royal 
 table, a distinction that no naval officer under the rank 
 of Admiral had enjoyed in France since Louis XIV 
 similarly entertained Jean Bart; after the repast the 
 Commodore enjoyed another honour, one to which he 
 had often aspired but never before realised : that of 
 being presented to the Queen. This was a marked 
 triumph for the Commodore, because while the war 
 was in progress, notwithstanding the persuasions of 
 many of his friends including even Mme. de Campan, 
 the Queen had steadily declined to lend her counten 
 ance to the Commodore s enterprises and ambitions." 
 
 Just how much of this is authentic one cannot deter 
 mine, as the only mention of it in the Commodore s 
 papers is : " On December 2oth his Excellency the 
 Marechal de Castries graciously presented me in my 
 official capacity to the King, who in turn presented me 
 informally to Her Majesty the Queen." 
 
 The adjustment of the prize-money claims was beset 
 with untold complications, a fact which Jones appre 
 ciated, and employed no less an advocate than the 
 eloquent Mirabeau, with Malesherbes to advise in 
 matters involving admiralty jurisprudence. The con 
 fusion was increased by the action of Congress, which 
 had several times during the war changed the rules 
 governing the distribution of prize money. The prizes 
 taken by the American and French ships had been 
 sent to, and sold in, the ports of different countries, 
 some in Holland and others in France. Those sent 
 to Denmark, against Jones s orders, had instantly been 
 returned to the English owners at the request of the 
 
PAUL JONES 331 
 
 British minister, an action foreseen by Jones, who knew 
 the Danish king s sympathies to be with England. 
 All this involved an almost incomprehensible mass of 
 legal subtleties, and a knowledge of International and 
 Admiralty law bewildering even to the clever brains 
 employed on the case. 
 
 Franklin declared in exasperation, " If I once get 
 rid of this business, nothing shall ever induce me to 
 to approach it again," and implores Jones " to have 
 mercy on me, and refrain from bothering me any more 
 with masses of technical details, and even sea lingo, 
 which is worse than Greek to me." In truth the old 
 gentleman grew extremely irritable, and it is amusing 
 to see how the Commodore, knowing that " even Jove 
 nods at flattery," appealed to the sage s vanity in the 
 most barefaced manner. He concludes his reply to 
 this scolding by apologising deferentially for invad 
 ing Franklin s peace or "disturbing his tranquillity, 
 impelled to do so by no consideration less flattering 
 to you than the childlike faith and the artless con 
 fidence I have ever reposed in your incomparable 
 wisdom and your unexampled grasp of affairs. . . ." 
 
 The Commodore s mission took him to London, 
 where his appearance at Lloyd s formed the theme of 
 a column of gossip in the Cumberland Packet of 
 November, 1786. 
 
 " Last Wednesday appeared on the Underwriters 
 Change at Lloyd s no less a personage than the cele 
 brated Paul Jones; no stranger to the Cumberland 
 coast and Whitehaven, but a most attractive stranger 
 and object of much interest at Lloyd s. He came on 
 
332 PAUL JONES 
 
 the most peaceful errand of listing on the Boards for 
 underwriting certain cargoes of American destination 
 in which he has interest. 
 
 " No one noticed him until he had to sign the 
 Owners Register, which he did in a bold round hand. 
 In a few minutes many had seen it, and his identity 
 among the throng on the floor was quickly made out; 
 when there was a rush about him almost amounting 
 to mobbing. All introduced themselves to him, and 
 he received them in a most charming manner, easy 
 and affable. The Chairman of the Board . . . invited 
 him into the lunch-room, by accepting which he 
 escaped attentions, which, though kindly meant and 
 most politely accepted, must have been annoying." 
 
 The writer proceeds to describe Jones : " His attire 
 is of the most faultless make-up, and his bearing 
 martial and imposing to the last degree. It is gossiped 
 about that while at luncheon the chairman remarked 
 that his relations with British commerce had most 
 materially changed during the past few years. To 
 which Captain Jones is said to have replied, Oh no, 
 not so much that, as it is a resumption of most pleasant 
 relations many years ago/ 
 
 The impression he made on all who had the privi 
 lege of seeing and conversing with him is most plea 
 sant, and it is a common remark that it is much better 
 to have him here seeking insurance on cargoes 
 of his own than at sea seeking cargoes insured by 
 others." 
 
 Jones says that he owed many of the pleasures of 
 his stay in London to the kindness of Captain the 
 
PAUL JONES 333 
 
 Honourable Samuel Hood, afterwards Sir Samuel 
 Hood, who commanded the Zealous at the Battle of 
 the Nile. The Commodore s connection with this dis 
 tinguished naval family was unusual and most interest 
 ing. As far back as the days when Jones was a young 
 merchant captain he became involved in some trouble 
 at the Island of Grenada "under circumstances not 
 at all discreditable to him." Captain, afterwards 
 Admiral, Lord Hood learned the facts of the case, 
 and being senior officer on the station, interfered in 
 Captain John Paul s behalf, causing him to be released 
 and giving his word as an officer and a gentleman that 
 the young captain should appear to answer the charge 
 if necessary. In 1779, after the fight between the 
 Serapis and the Bonhomme Richard, Jones found 
 Midshipman Hood, severely wounded, among the 
 prisoners. Immediately on arriving at the Texel- he 
 turned Hood over to Sir Joseph Yorke, without 
 parole, begging him to convey his compliments to the 
 boy s family, and " say that he found pleasure in the 
 opportunity to reciprocate an ancient kindness." In 
 1784-5 Jones had seen a great deal of Captain Hood, 
 who was in France, and says, " It had been in my 
 power to be serviceable to him in social directions. 
 Now he, with the courtesy for which he is everywhere 
 distinguished, repaid my former attentions, and to him 
 more than any one else I owe the most enjoyable 
 moments of my stay in London. . . ." Captain Hood 
 was ordered to a ship on the American station, and 
 left shortly after this, but his fellow-officers made 
 life so agreeable that Jones found it hard to tear 
 
334 PAUL JONES 
 
 himself away. Eventually he took passage to France 
 by the Ostend lugger, which sailed under the English 
 flag. He commented that, " It was the first time since 
 1773 that I had trod an English deck with the King s 
 colours flying. I own that for a moment the sensation 
 was queer." 
 
 Jones hoped that France would employ him against 
 the Algerines, as the United States was too poor to 
 engage in an expedition at this moment. Unfortun 
 ately France was bankrupt, and could do nothing in 
 response to the Commodore s petition to the King. So 
 prophetic was the plan of French rule in Africa, out 
 lined in this document, that it was quoted by Louis 
 Philippe in a speech, asking for money to promote 
 the Algerine conquest, many years later. 
 
 Jones was urged by the Frazier Brothers, in whose 
 charge he had placed his Virginia property, to return 
 to a community where every one desired so distin 
 guished a man for a neighbour. They offered to 
 rebuild his house and buildings, which had long ago 
 been razed to the ground. To this Jones replied most 
 politely, but declared it impossible to work a planta 
 tion to advantage without slave labour, to which he 
 very strongly objected. His mission, he explained, 
 was not yet completed, and he hoped to find employ 
 ment in his career of naval officer. 
 
 Leaving for Denmark in May, 1787, he had gone as 
 far as Brussels when he learned that two of the firms 
 to which his goods were consigned were insolvent. 
 As this venture comprised a large part of his working 
 capital, he instantly took a swift sailing packet for 
 
PAUL JONES 335 
 
 New York, arriving there some days before the slow 
 merchant ships, and, by his promptness, saved his 
 money. Paul remained in the United States until 
 November. Congress approved the settlement he had 
 made for prize money, and, on the i6th of October, 
 voted him a gold medal which was to be made in Paris, 
 under the supervision of Thomas Jefferson, who had 
 succeeded Franklin as American Minister to France. 
 Jones was to be the bearer of a letter to King Louis 
 on his return, and Jefferson was given full powers to 
 act in the Danish prize case, with authority to appoint 
 any agent he saw fit. In spite of the gold medal, 
 Jones was still unpaid for his services, owing to the 
 depleted condition of the national exchequer. Excep- 
 ing two thousand guineas on account, the remainder, 
 amounting to 10,000, came to his heirs fifty -six years 
 after his death. 
 
 Paul still played the part of a social butterfly, and 
 fluttered about as gaily as of yore among his many 
 friends. The Livingstons, blest with the match 
 making instinct, tried to marry him to a comely widow, 
 whose maiden name had been Rosalie Bloom; but 
 Paul, with the sound of that charming Frenchwoman s 
 voice lingering in his ears, and the pressure of her 
 miniature in his heart, desparted fancy free, though 
 the lady would not have proved obdurate had Paul 
 willed, for Madame Livingston says 
 
 There was no mistaking the signs of her conduct 
 in his presence. I frankly own that though I had 
 known the Chevalier in Philadelphia when there with 
 my husband during the war, and had greatly admired 
 
836 PAUL JONES 
 
 him then, he was now an infinitely superior man. Then 
 I had thought him a genius, as did everybody, but in 
 many respects a rough diamond/ But now he fairly 
 shone with the polish of European courts; his grace, 
 dignity and aplomb were easily beyond imitation by 
 the most accomplished men of our own set, and he 
 seemed more like some French duke paying us a visit 
 than the brave, dashing sailor, Paul Jones, I had 
 known in Philadelphia in 1776." 
 
 Madame Livingston continues eulogistically : " His 
 ways were the poetry of grace and elegance, his table 
 talk was to us a revelation of the charm and fascina 
 tion of Court-life in the Old World. His discourses 
 of the great, the royal and the noble personages he 
 had encountered in his marvellous career, told some 
 times in English like that of Bacon, and sometimes 
 in French like that of Fontenelle, by turns delighted, 
 amazed and mystified us. Alas ! that he could have 
 been with us but two short weeks. . . . Such chivalry 
 I never saw in any man. We begged him to give us 
 his own description of the miraculous battle that had 
 made him famous in all the world. He parried our 
 importunity by saying that too much had already been 
 written about it, and, besides, the picture of it in his 
 memory was too horrible for portrayal in the sight of 
 our delicate sex. But he said that he felt at liberty 
 to impress on us that he owed a debt of gratitude to 
 his brave adversary, Captain Sir Richard Pearson, 
 whose martial conduct and heroic bravery had given 
 him the opportunity for such a combat; and in that 
 view he considered himself fortunate in having 
 
PAUL JONES 337 
 
 encountered so admirable a foe. And that was all we 
 could induce him to say about it." 
 
 Did some premonition sweep over Paul, that this 
 was to be the last time he would set foot on the shores 
 of the country for which he had performed such great 
 service? He saw once more those fighting sailors 
 whom he loved so well; one and all they had come 
 to see their old commander. Dale, Mayrant, Tom 
 Potter, Fanning, Gardner, whose names recall that 
 raging sea fight. Who was the favourite? He said, 
 " It has been my fortune to command many brave men, 
 but I never knew a man so exactly after my own heart 
 or so near the kind of man I would create, if I could, 
 as John Mayrant." This was high praise from Jones, 
 whom his critics accuse of never commending any man 
 serving under him, forgetting that, in those rude times, 
 fulsome praise was not heaped on such as did their 
 duty, and did it bravely because it was their duty. 
 
 Did Paul, at this period of his life, in his heart of 
 hearts ever lose a little of the keen enthusiasm for the 
 service of the United States and the " Rights of 
 Man," when other lands honoured him so unstintedly 
 with their praise ? . . . and then, there was the Lady 
 in the Case, his "well beloved Adele," to whom he 
 complains 
 
 " The last French packet brought me no letter from 
 the person whose happiness is dearer to me than any 
 thing else. I have been on the rack of fear and 
 apprehension, and am wholly unable to account for 
 your silence; having received but one letter since my 
 departure from France, and that one written soon after 
 
338 PAUL JONES 
 
 I left there, informing me of the sudden death of our 
 most noble friend the Marquise. . . . My return to 
 Europe approaches. My sentiments are unchanged 
 and my impatience can better be imagined than ex 
 pressed. I have been honoured here beyond my 
 expectations. But your silence makes even honours 
 insipid." 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 1783-1788 
 
 OUT of touch as he was with the hourly changes, 
 the gossip and intrigue of his Paris, Jones came back 
 very quietly, wishing to pick up the broken links before 
 announcing his return. With this end in view, he went 
 to the Hotel de Beauvois, where he was unknown, 
 sending word to the American Minister, Thomas 
 Jefferson, of his arrival, and Jefferson called on him 
 immediately. We know from his complaints to Aimee 
 de Telusson that letters had been few and far between, 
 and if those from her had never reached their destina 
 tion, such as were written by casual correspondents 
 shared a like fate, and Jefferson s gossip fell on eager 
 ears long strangers to news of a world which held 
 for him such brilliant and tender memories. Aimee, 
 he learned, had received the appointment of Court 
 reader, translator of English plays and periodicals, 
 and was living at Versailles. Almost in the same 
 breath Jones received information which radically 
 changed his future career, for Mr. Jefferson told him 
 he had been requested by Baron Simolin, the Russian 
 Ambassador, to lay before him a proposition which 
 was, in brief, an unofficial offer of service in the 
 Russian navy. 
 
 In his journal Jones says, "I was at first inclined 
 to view the proposition as chimerical, though I knew 
 
 Y 2 
 
 339 
 
340 PAUL JONES 
 
 that the impending war between Russia and Turkey 
 must afford grand possibilities of naval operations, 
 because an indispensable factor in it would be the 
 destruction of the Turkish navy in the Euxine, and 
 the conversion of that land-locked sea into a Russian 
 lake. . . . 
 
 " On the other hand, I knew little of Russia or the 
 Russians. My acquaintance with them was limited 
 to less than a dozen personages in Imperial diplomatic 
 service. ... I knew not one word of the language. 
 I could not see how it would be possible to satisfac 
 torily direct operations of subordinates in warfare 
 through interpreters. ... I had formed impressions 
 as to the genius and methods of government in Russia 
 that accorded ill with any conception of what ought 
 to be in that respect . . . these impressions had been 
 wholly derived from reading. I was, of course, open 
 to whatever lessons actual observation and experience 
 might teach. ... I admitted to him that it opened up 
 a vision of ambitious hopes and dreams of glory on a 
 grand scale too powerful and too vivid to be lightly 
 cast aside. 
 
 " Mr. Jefferson was complimentary enough to say 
 that while my knowledge of French would enable me 
 to deal fully with Russians in high station, he was 
 persuaded that my aptness at learning foreign tongues 
 would doubtless soon remove the objections on the 
 score of the Russian language itself. He said he had 
 but one more duty to discharge in the premises, 
 namely, to bring me personally in contact with the 
 Russian ambassador. 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 a wax medallion sent by Paul Jones to Mrs. Belches iu 1 786 Reproduced by 
 permission of the Edinburgh Antiquarian Society. 
 
PAUL JONES 341 
 
 " Still mystified, however, as to the origin of this 
 remarkable proposal, I set about investigating it in 
 my own way. Proceeding in a day or two to Ver 
 sailles, I placed myself en rapport with the Court 
 entourage, and lost no time in setting the wits of Little 
 Madame at work to trace out the mystery. She soon, 
 through the gossip of the palace, had the plot 
 unravelled. 
 
 " It appears from her revelations that a year or more 
 before this time, or shortly after, I had tendered my 
 services to the King in the hope of employment 
 in a crusade against the Algerines, the Empress 
 Catherine II had applied by autograph letter to his 
 Majesty for the loan of a flag-officer of high rank, 
 comparative youth and established capacity to organise 
 and command her forces in the Black Sea. 
 
 "His Majesty had officers of suitable rank and 
 attainments for such an arduous task; as, for example, 
 Kersaint, d Albert de Rions, or Morad de Galles; but, 
 as I learned, they would not have viewed the oppor 
 tunity with unquestioning favour. Besides, his 
 Majesty from motives of state prudence, was not 
 inclined to so palpably choose sides in the struggle 
 between the Empress and the Sultan as would be 
 involved in encouraging or even allowing a French 
 vice-admiral or even contre-admiral of established 
 repute to take active command against the Turks. 
 His Majesty, in this dilemma, had then intimated to 
 his ambassador near the Court of the Empress, that 
 my own services might possibly be found available, 
 and, if so, commending me in the most unqualified 
 
342 PAUL JONES 
 
 terms to the consideration of the Empress. On such 
 representations by the Comte de Segur to the Empress, 
 she had instructed her ambassador at Versailles, the 
 Baron Simolin, to approach me on the topic, and 
 Simolin, in his turn, had employed the good offices 
 of Mr. Jefferson to inaugurate the project with me. 
 I learned also that the Empress had thus far succeeded 
 in enlisting only the services of the Prince of Nassau- 
 Siegen ; and this did not add to my favourable impres 
 sions in view of my previous acquaintance with the 
 prince in the affair of the Indien and other projects 
 during the American War. I took precautions to 
 fortify myself with the knowledge of preliminary 
 events before meeting M. de Simolin." 
 
 This meeting, which took place at the house of the 
 Chevalier Littlepage, ended without anything definite 
 being arranged, and on the 24th of January Jones 
 received his credentials as agent to Denmark, where 
 he arrived the early part of February. It was a hard 
 and trying journey at that time of year, as to reach 
 Copenhagen he had to go first to Brussels overland, 
 then to the Hague and Amsterdam, to Hamburg by 
 packet, again by land to Liibeck, then by sea to Copen 
 hagen, taking over a month, and he found himself, 
 upon his arrival in March, very much out of health by 
 the fatigues of the journey, narrowly escaping a severe 
 attack of fever. But in a week or so he was himself 
 again, and records in his journal 
 
 " On my arrival I paid my respects to the Minister 
 of France. He received me with great kindness; we 
 went five days ago to the Minister of Foreign Affairs; 
 
PAUL JONES 343 
 
 I was much flattered with my reception, and our con 
 versation was long and very particular respecting 
 America and the new Constitution, of which I 
 presented a copy. He observed that it had struck 
 him as a very dangerous power to make the 
 president commander-in-chief ; in other respects it 
 appeared to please him much, as leading to a new 
 and sure treaty of commerce between America anH 
 Denmark. " 
 
 Being presented at Court by the Baron de la 
 Houge, Minister Plenipotentiary of France to the 
 Danish Court, he comments : " I had a very polite and 
 distinguished reception. The Queen Dowager con 
 versed with me for some time, and said the most civil 
 things. Her Majesty has a dignity of person and 
 deportment which becomes her well, and which she 
 has the secret to reconcile with great affability and 
 ease. The Princess Royal is a charming person, and 
 the graces are so much her own that it is impossible 
 to see and converse with her without paying her that 
 homage which artless beauty and good nature will ever 
 command. All the royal family spoke to me, except 
 the King, who speaks to no person when presented. 
 His Majesty saluted me with great complaisance at 
 first, and as often afterwards as we met in the course 
 of the evening. The Prince Royal is greatly beloved 
 and extremely affable ; he asked me a number of 
 pertinent questions respecting America. I had the 
 honour to be invited to sup with his Majesty and the 
 Royal Family. The company at table (consisting of 
 seventy ladies and gentlemen, including the Royal 
 
344 PAUL JONES 
 
 Family, the Ministers of State and Foreign Ambas 
 sadors) was very brilliant." 
 
 " I must tell you," he writes Lafayette, " that Mr. 
 Elliot (the same who niched Dr. Lee s papers at 
 Berlin) was furious when he found my business at 
 Copenhagen, and that I was received with great dis 
 tinction at Court, and in all the best societies in 
 Denmark. Every time I was invited to sup with the 
 King, Elliot made an apology; he shut himself up for 
 more than a month, and then left town. This occa 
 sioned much laughter; and as he had shunned society 
 from the time of my arrival, people said he had gone 
 off in a fright." Jones "hopes that Mr. Jefferson is 
 satisfied with the train in which I left the Danish busi 
 ness. It would have been impossible for me to have 
 pushed it any farther, as I had not the full power to 
 conclude it finally." This refers to his mission, which 
 he was unable to bring to a definite conclusion, being 
 informed through letter by Count Bernstorff, the 
 Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, that the King 
 could take no further steps in the matter till the New 
 Constitution had been formally adopted by the United 
 States. 
 
 It has been a disputed subject as to the reason for 
 the King of Denmark bestowing a pension of 1500 
 Danish crowns (,75) on the unsuccessful agent of the 
 prize claims. It was merely a royal way of paying a 
 compliment. " For the respect he had shown to the 
 Danish flag while he commanded in the North Sea," 
 was the official announcement. It placed Jones in an 
 " embarrassing situation " ; but the fact that he never 
 
PAUL JONES 345 
 
 received a penny while living, and only left a record in 
 his will, so his heirs might benefit by the accumulated 
 300, frees his memory from any complicity in the 
 transaction. 
 
 Since Paul Jones s interview with Baron de Simolin 
 at the Chevalier Littlepage s, there had been a most 
 incessant correspondence carried on, in which the 
 Baron, the American Minister, the Russian Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs, Prince Potemkin, Comte de Segur, 
 who was supposed to hold an extraordinary influence 
 over the Empress, and a score of others figured. It 
 had been proposed to confer on the Chevalier Jones, 
 on entering the Russian service, the grade of " captain- 
 commandant, with the rank of major-general, 55 which 
 did not please Jones, who stipulated for that of rear- 
 admiral, saying, " I cannot conceive the reason why 
 any difficulty should be made to my being admitted 
 into the marine of her Imperial Majesty as rear- 
 admiral, a rank to which I have some claim, and that 
 it should at the same time be proposed to give me 
 the grade of major-general, to which I have no title. 5 
 In the same letter to Jefferson he says, "If Congress 
 should think I deserve the promotion that was pro 
 posed when I was in America, and should condescend 
 to confer on me the grade of rear-admiral from the 
 day I took the Serapis (September 23, 1779, exactly 
 nine years before), I am persuaded it would be very 
 agreeable to the Empress, who now deigns to offer me 
 equal rank in her service, though I never had the 
 honour to draw my sword in her cause, nor to do any 
 other act that could merit her Imperial benevolence. 
 
346 PAUL JONES 
 
 . . . The mark I mentioned of the approbation of that 
 honourable body (Congress) would be extremely flat 
 tering to me in the career I am now to pursue, and 
 would stimulate all my ambition to acquire the neces 
 sary talents to merit that, and even greater favours at 
 a future day. I ask for nothing, and beg leave to be 
 understood as having hinted what is natural to con 
 ceive, that the mark of approbation could not fail to 
 be infinitely serviceable to my views and success in 
 the country where I am going." 
 
 Jones would not have accepted this command ha d 
 Congress objected, but the country of his adoption had 
 no need of his services, in fact, did not consider him 
 in any way, and on his last departure from America 
 he brought a letter to the king, in which they recom 
 mended that he should be allowed to cruise in one of 
 the French fleets, to have the opportunity of study 
 ing naval tactics and manoeuvring. . . , The flat 
 tering offer from the Empress Catherine changed 
 all this. 
 
 Though Paul Jones had fought intrepidly for the 
 " Cause of Liberty " and the " Rights of Man," there 
 is no denying he went into the service of Russia heart 
 and soul. " Loving glory as I do," he says of himself, 
 :t I am perhaps too much attached to honours, though 
 personal interest is an idol to which I have never 
 bowed the knee." It was a radical change of front 
 to go from the service of the newest of countries into 
 that of Imperial Russia, the most feudal, luxurious 
 and barbaric under a thin veneer of French polish 
 in the world. Catherine had her reputation, her 
 
PAUL JONES 347 
 
 favourites, and she was shamelessly open in what she 
 did; boasting herself to be "as frank as an English 
 man." She was a clever women, who used her pawns 
 while they were useful, and broke them as a child 
 does an annoying toy when they irritated. It is not 
 to be supposed that a man so well posted in the gossip 
 of courts as Jones, was unaware of the idiosyncrasies 
 of this masterful sovereign, though it sounds a little 
 incongruous to hear such sentiments as these coming 
 from his pen. 
 
 " The unbounded admiration and profound respect 
 which I have long felt for the glorious character of her 
 Imperial Majesty forbids the idea that a sovereign so 
 magnanimous should sanction any arrangement that 
 may give pain at the outset to the man she deigns to 
 honour with her notice, and who wishes to devote him 
 self to her service." The latter part of the sentence 
 somewhat modifies the idea expressed, as there is no 
 doubt so astute a courtier as Jones knew every word 
 he wrote would eventually reach the Imperial ears, 
 and the mighty lady loved flattery. This was part 
 of the letter to Jefferson, urging his claims as a rear- 
 admiral, declaring himself not in favour of a "con 
 joined command, which is hurtful and often fatal in 
 military operations. There is no military man who is 
 so entirely master of his passions as to keep free of 
 jealousy and its consequences in such circumstances. 
 Being quite a stranger, I have more to fear from a 
 conjoined command than any other officer in the 
 service of her Imperial Majesty. I cannot think 
 why her Majesty should think it best to divide the 
 
348 PAUL JONES 
 
 command on the Black Sea ; and if the direction of that 
 department be already confided to an officer of suffi 
 cient ability and experience, I do not seek to interfere 
 with his command. 5 
 
 The Empress in her instructions to Baron Krudener 
 had described the appointment as that of " captain 
 commandant/ with the relative rank of major-general, 
 but Jones said he could much better comprehend 
 the meaning of the words " rear-admiral " than those 
 used by the Empress, and, as they seemed to mean 
 substantially the same thing, he would prefer the 
 simpler and more strictly naval designation of rear- 
 admiral. This being promised by Baron Krudener, 
 on the part of the Empress, the negotiations were 
 concluded and Catherine wrote to him in her own 
 hand 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 "A courier from Paris has just brought from 
 my envoy in France, M. de Simolin, the enclosed letter 
 to Count Besborodko. As I believe that this letter 
 will 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 of it, 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 connected only with those who are most 
 favourably 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 
 
PAUL JONES 349 
 
 acquired for valour and skill on the element in which 
 you are to serve. 
 "Adieu. 
 
 " I wish you happiness and health. 
 
 " CATHERINE." 
 
 Flattering as this seemed, Jones still hesitated, 
 though the letter, sent by Imperial courier from 
 St. Petersburg, determined him to go in person to see 
 the woman who swayed the sceptre over the trackless 
 wastes of the north. 
 
 In his journal he said : " Though I foresaw many 
 obstacles in the way of my entering the service of 
 Russia, I believed that I could not avoid going to 
 St. Petersburg to thank the Empress for the favour 
 able opinion she had conceived of me. I transferred 
 the treaty going forward at Copenhagen to Paris, to 
 be concluded here, and set out for St. Petersburg by 
 Sweden. 
 
 " At Gresholm I was stopped by the ice, which pre 
 vented me crossing the Gulf of Bothnia, and even 
 from approaching the first of the isles in the passage. 
 After having made several unsuccessful efforts to get 
 to Finland by the isles, I imagined that it might be 
 practicable to effect my object by doubling the ice to 
 the southward, and entering the Baltic Sea. 
 
 1 This enterprise was very daring, and had never 
 before been attempted. But by the north the roads 
 were impracticable, and, knowing that the Empress 
 expected me from day to day, I could not think of 
 going back by Elsineur. 
 
350 PAUL JONES 
 
 : I left Gresholm early one morning in an undecked 
 passage-boat, about thirty-three feet in length. I 
 made another boat follow, of half that size. This 
 last was for dragging over the ice, and for passing 
 from one piece of ice to another to gain the coast of 
 Finland. I durst not make my project known to the 
 boatmen, which would have been the sure way of 
 defeating it. After endeavouring, as before, to gain 
 the first isle, I made them steer for the south, and we 
 kept along the coast of Sweden all the day, finding 
 difficulty enough to pass between the ice and the shore. 
 Towards night, being almost opposite Stockholm, 
 pistol in hand, I forced the boatmen to enter the Baltic 
 Sea ancl steer for the coast. We ran near the coast 
 of Finland. All night the wind was fair, and we 
 hoped to land next day. This we found impossible. 
 The ice did not permit us to approach the shore, 
 which we only saw from a distance. It was impos 
 sible to regain the Swedish side, the wind being 
 high and directly contrary. I had nothing left for it 
 but to stand for the Gulf of Finland. There was 
 a small compass in the boat, and I fixed the 
 lamp of my travelling carriage so as to throw a light 
 on it. 
 
 " On the same night we lost the small boat; but the 
 men saved themselves in the large one, which with 
 difficulty escaped the same fate. At the end of four 
 days we landed at Revel, where our enterprise was 
 regarded as a kind of miracle. Having satisfied the 
 boatmen for their services and their loss, I gave them 
 a good pilot, with the provisions necessary for making 
 
PAUL JONES 
 
 their homeward voyage when the weather should 
 become more favourable." 
 
 He makes no comment on the hardships of this 
 voyage, and " arrived at St. Petersburg in the evening 
 of the 23rd April, old style, and on the 25th had my 
 first audience of the Empress. Her Majesty gave me 
 so flattering a reception, and up to the period of my 
 departure treated me with so much distinction that I 
 was overcome by her courtesies (Je me laissai seduire) 
 and put myself in her hands without making any 
 stipulation for my personal advantage. I demanded 
 but one favour, that I should never be condemned 
 unheard/ And this one stipulation was totally 
 ignored on the first opportunity ! 
 
 Chivalrous to a degree in his dealings with women, 
 Paul acted as the impulse dictated, and failed to secure 
 for himself those lasting benefits gained by most 
 of his contemporaries. There was a glamour about 
 " Catherine-Slay-Tsar," as Walpole called her, never 
 posessed by the more respectable type of woman, and 
 unquestionably her condescension dazzled this latest 
 recruit to her banner. Dissipated, bedizened old 
 woman she was, but still Empress, and mistress of the 
 art of flattery to a degree unsurpassed. It is unlikely 
 she threw the handkerchief to the Chevalier, for, had 
 she done so, those to whom the favour had not been 
 accorded would have proclaimed the fact. Born in 
 1729, Catherine was sixty when Jones came to her 
 Court in 1788; had she been younger history might 
 have been written differently. 
 
 The ever ready courtiers fawned on him, over- 
 
352 PAUL JONES 
 
 whelming him with social attentions, and after his 
 death the cards of every celebrity, diplomatic, military 
 or social, were found in profusion among his papers. 
 " He was received with a distinction that might have 
 turned the soundest head. His very manner of 
 approach had disposed people to gaze on the American 
 hero as a wonder ; his door was besieged with carriages, 
 and his table loaded with invitations. In short, he was 
 now in Russia, and the man whom, for the first time, 
 the Empress delighted to honour; the expected con 
 queror of the Turks, and it might be a future 
 Potemkin." 
 
 In his frequent correspondence with Lafayette he 
 tells him : " I was detained against my will, a fort 
 night, and continually feasted at Court, and in the 
 first society; the Empress received me with a distinc 
 tion the most flattering that perhaps any stranger 
 can boast of on entering the Russian service. Her 
 Majesty conferred on me immediately the grade of 
 Rear-Admiral." 
 
 So versatile a man as Paul Jones unconsciously 
 assumed, in a greater or lesser degree, the colour of 
 his surroundings. Loyal as he had been to the 
 interests of the United States while in their navy, his 
 present duty lay to Russia. The fruits of his services 
 in the former country, were always, more or less, 
 dead-sea apples, and the future seemed to promise 
 tangible honours. About this time he expresses the 
 sentiment 
 
 " I certainly wish to be useful to the country which 
 I have so long served. I love the people and their 
 
GATHER INK II. 
 
PAUL JONES 353 
 
 cause, and shall always rejoice when I can be useful 
 to promote their happiness." He urges Lafayette to 
 " come here, and pay your court to Bellona, who you 
 are sure will receive you as her favourite. You would 
 be charmed with Prince Potemkin. He is a most 
 amiable man, and none can be more noble-minded. 
 For the Empress, fame has never yet done her justice. 
 I am sure that no stranger who has not known that 
 illustrious character, ever conceived how much her 
 Majesty is made to reign over a great empire to make 
 people happy, and to attach grateful and susceptible 
 minds. Is not the present a happy moment for France 
 to declare for Russia?" 
 
 Without commenting unkindly, it is apparent that 
 one mind, which might not have been considered 
 "susceptible," was certainly biased in favour of the 
 woman who was, literally, the incarnation of despotic 
 power, tyranny, autocracy and every principle that he 
 had spent years in combating. " Such were the extra 
 ordinary lights that had suddenly dawned upon the 
 former champion of liberty, and assertor of the 
 dignity of human nature. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 1788-1789 
 
 THERE has been so much written lately on 
 eighteenth-century Russia, and no less about the 
 extraordinary personality of its Empress, that even 
 the most " gentle reader " cannot fail to be aware of 
 the conditions prevailing in the years 1788-9. 
 
 As France under the Louis had been the prey of 
 favourites, so Russia was despoiled and dominated 
 by the string of men whom the Empress deigned to 
 notice, and the sums it pleased this amorous old lady 
 to squander away upon her pleasures ran into an 
 appalling total in the many years during which she 
 amused herself. Potemkin, though no longer official 
 first favourite, ruled his mistress with a rod of iron, 
 making himself indispensable by pandering to her 
 whims, and insolently domineered over her by sheer 
 force of his personality whenever occasion offered. 
 It pleased him to be gracious to Paul Jones on his 
 arrival in Russia, and so good an impression did he 
 make, that the latter sang his praises for a time. A 
 letter from Baron de Simolin to Count Besborodko 
 alluded to the subject of the Chevalier Jones, 
 "whom," de Simolin says, Potemkin "requested me 
 to induce to repair to his headquarters as quickly as 
 possible, that he might employ his talents at the 
 opening of the campaign ; and to assure him that in 
 
 354 
 
PAUL JONES 855 
 
 entering the service he would do all that depended 
 on him to make his situation pleasant and advan 
 tageous, and certainly procure for him occasions in 
 which he might display his skill and valour." This 
 letter was found in Jones s papers, with the significant 
 comment " Has he kept his word?" 
 
 Potemkin, the product of an amazing age, could 
 not have had his being at another epoch. A country 
 where, less than a hundred years before, the heir to 
 the throne had been knouted to death by his kingly 
 father, alone might be responsible for the astonish 
 ing character history and memoir present to us. 
 Potemkin s contemporaries, the Prince de Ligne and 
 the Comte de Segur, have both left their impressions 
 of a personality which ruled Russia from the day of 
 his ascendency to the death of the Empress, who, it is 
 said, married him secretly shortly before her death. 
 Had he been a man of continuous purpose, he could 
 have changed the map of Europe, but, as de Segur 
 so eloquently says, " Like the rapid passage of those 
 shining meteors which astonish us by their lustre, but 
 are as empty as air, Potemkin began everything, com 
 pleted nothing, disordered the finances, disorganised 
 the army, depopulated his country and enriched it with 
 other deserts. The fame of the Empress was increased 
 by his conquests. The admiration they excited was 
 for her; and the hatred they raised was for her 
 minister. Posterity, more equitable, will perhaps 
 divide between them both the glory of the successes 
 and the severity of the reproaches. It will not bestow 
 on Potemkin the title of great man ; but it will mention 
 
 Z 2 
 
356 PAUL JONES 
 
 him as an extraordinary person; and, to draw his 
 picture with accuracy, he might be represented as a 
 real emblem, as the living image of the Russian 
 Empire. 
 
 " For, in fact, he was colossal like Russia. In his 
 mind, as in that country, were cultivated districts and 
 desert plains. It also partook of the Asiatic, of the 
 European, of the Tartarian and the Cossack; the 
 rudeness of the eleventh century and the corruption 
 of the eighteenth ; the polish of the arts and the ignor 
 ance of the cloisters; an outside of civilisation and 
 many traces of barbarism. In a word, if we might 
 hazard so bold a metaphor, even his two eyes, the 
 one open and the other closed, reminded us of the 
 Euxine, always open, and the northern ocean, so long 
 shut up by ice." 
 
 He was accompanied on his travels by a select 
 company which his associates tersely style a " harem," 
 the husbands of the ladies so honoured by the Pasha 
 being ignored as completely as if non-existent. Prince 
 de Ligne leaves an edifying picture of Potemkin, 
 "waving one hand to the female that pleases him, 
 and with the other making the sign of the Cross; 
 embracing the feet of a statue of the Virgin, or the 
 alabaster neck of his mistress . . . sober, though seem 
 ingly a glutton; gnawing his fingers, or apples or 
 turnips ; engaged in wantonness or prayer . . . bearing 
 himself better than any man, while he seems to think 
 of nothing but the most voluptuous baths; not caring 
 for cold, though he appears unable to exist without 
 furs; always in his shirt without drawers, or in rich 
 
PAUL JONES 857 
 
 regimentals embroidered on all the seams, barefoot 
 or in slippers embroidered with spangles; wearing 
 neither hat nor cap ; it is thus I saw him once in the 
 midst of a musket fire." The French ambassador, 
 de Segur, who had unlimited opportunities to see 
 Potemkin in all the parts he loved to play, sums him 
 up- 
 
 " Prince Gregory Alexandrovitch Potemkin, one of 
 the most extraordinary men of his times ; but in order 
 to have played so conspicuous a part, he must have 
 been in Russia, and have lived in the reign of 
 Catherine II. In any other country, in any other 
 times, with any other sovereign, he would have been 
 misplaced, and it was a singular stroke of chance that 
 created this man for the period that tallied with him 
 and brought together and combined all the circum 
 stances with which he could tally. " 
 
 To the whim of this personage Jones really owed 
 his Russian experiences. Satiated with honours 
 heaped on him by the Empress and those decorations 
 from foreign Courts with which he shone resplendent, 
 Potemkin cherished the ungratified desire of being 
 decorated with the Order of St. George, the Grand 
 Ribbon of which was given, only after a victory, to 
 the successful commander. Why the Empress had not 
 bestowed it on this spoiled child of fortune is one of 
 the unexplained oddities of her character and the 
 relationship of this edifying pair. Catherine had long 
 nursed the chimerical hope of overthrowing or dis 
 membering the Turkish Empire and seizing the throne 
 of Constantinople, on which she would have placed 
 
358 PAUL JONES 
 
 her grandson, named Constantine in view of such a 
 contingency. Potemkin, whose soul loved turmoil 
 which might lead to his betterment, lost no oppor 
 tunity of insulting or annoying the Turks, forcing 
 them at last to take the initiative, and declare war. 
 It was imperative that the Rusian fleet should be 
 commanded by an able officer, and, sweeping aside 
 with his customary disdain the discontent of those 
 who considered themselves superseded, Potemkin set 
 in motion the negotiations which resulted in Paul 
 Jones entering the Russian service. Knowing the 
 corruption of the Court, and the jealousy Potemkin 
 had stirred up and ignored, as he was too powerful to 
 be harmed, it can be understood into what a hot-bed 
 of conflicting passions Jones stepped, and one which 
 time and circumstance did not lull. Jealousy and 
 favouritism he had experienced in the United States 
 and France, but "as sunlight unto moonlight" to 
 what the Russian vista opened up. For a man of his 
 straightforward, impetuous nature to have been able 
 to fathom and checkmate the deceit of those by whom 
 he was surrounded, and understand their methods, 
 would have necessitated the training of a lifetime. 
 Paul soon relinquished any idea of learning the 
 language, as Russian was neither used socially or 
 officially, French being employed everywhere, even 
 for official documents and archives. 
 
 In Tooke s Life of Catherine the Great, published 
 in London 1789, the author asserts that there were a 
 number of " British naval officers " in St. Petersburg, 
 soliciting the Empress for employment in her navy. 
 
PAUL JONES 359 
 
 Some of these "naval officers," jealous of the dis 
 tinction shown Paul Jones, went in a body to Rear- 
 Admiral Greig protesting that they would not serve 
 under Jones, offering, such as had commissions, to 
 resign them, and those who had nothing wished to 
 withdraw their application for employment. Sir 
 Samuel Greig, a Scotchman who had been in the 
 Russian navy since 1770, and held the rank of Rear- 
 Admiral of the Baltic Fleet, commanded by Vice- 
 Admiral Kreuss, listened unsympathetically to their 
 grievances, and, according to Naraschkin, told them 
 not to behave like school-boys, as the Empress, if 
 she heard of this, would dismiss them instantly from 
 her service, and expel them from Russia as con 
 spirators against her sovereign authority/ But 
 some of them, sure in their own conceit, " disdained 
 Greig s advice, and went, full of their complaints, 
 to Count Besborodko, who let the matter come to 
 the ears of the Empress, who was furious at the 
 presumption." 
 
 " What ! " she exclaimed, " do these men who are 
 beggars of my bounty presume to question my treat 
 ment of a man who is my invited guest? " 
 
 With the utmost difficulty she was persuaded from 
 summarily dismissing all those "naval officers" who 
 were in her employ, and peremptorily refused to con 
 sider further applications from the others. One of 
 those she retained, Lieutenant Edwards, spoke and 
 wrote Russian fluently, and was attached to Jones 
 as aide-de-camp during the campaign, and spoken 
 highly of for his efficiency. In the journal we find the 
 
360 PAUL JONES 
 
 observation that " Lieutenant Edwards was led to join 
 in the futile cabal against me, not by his own inclina 
 tion, but by the clamour of the other Englishmen 
 about him." Tooke, the author quoted above, was an 
 attache of the British Embassy at St. Petersburg; 
 for some unknown reason he hated Paul Jones, and 
 this undoubtedly biased all he wrote, and makes his 
 opinions unreliable. 
 
 Compensating for other annoyances, and for the first 
 time since his entrance into public life, Paul found 
 himself amply furnished with money by his employers, 
 having received the " emoluments of his rank " dating 
 from the first overtures of Baron de Simolin. When 
 he left St. Petersburg for Cherson, on May 7th, he 
 had a purse of two thousand Austrian ducats about 
 a thousand pounds for his expenses extraordinary. 
 He was to travel the distance of eleven hundred miles 
 in one of the Empress s tarantasses, such as were used 
 by the officers of state, and fitted with all portable 
 luxuries. But, except at night, the Rear-Admiral pre 
 ferred to travel on horseback, accomplishing the 
 journey in twelve days, which was not a bad record 
 for hard travelling, averaging, as he did, some ninety 
 miles a day. He allowed only four stops of more 
 than an hour s duration ; one to dine with the Governor 
 of Moscow and go to the Kremlin; then at Tula, 
 visiting the armouries and buying some weapons; the 
 third for repairs to the carriage; and the last at 
 Ekaterinoslav in all less than eighteen hours. The 
 condition of the roads forbade any sleep in the 
 tarantass, and his only compensation for all this 
 
PAUL JONES 861 
 
 discomfort was the unlimited supply of post horses, 
 which his mission allowed him to command in the 
 name of the Empress, and so rush on with the fatiguing 
 journey. 
 
 Unquestionably diplomatic though he was, Jones 
 found himself in a position where all his powers of 
 constraint and self-control were tested to the utmost. 
 One of the first confidences he received from the 
 Prince de Nassau was, " that if we gain any advantage 
 over the Turks, it was necessary to exaggerate it to 
 the utmost; and that was the counsel the Chevalier 
 de Ribas had given him, "which bit of information 
 opened a line of novel thought." 
 
 The Russian fleet, manned by Greeks, Genoese and 
 some Crimean fishermen, was as yet an unknown 
 quantity. The men were not sailors, and not more 
 than a couple of hundred had ever seen the sea. 
 Whether the pangs of mal-de-mer would have changed 
 the fate of war one cannot but surmise. The foreign 
 officers, English, Dutch, and French men, alone under 
 stood the science of navigation; the Russians being 
 literally "at sea" when out of sight of landmarks. 
 Excepting de Winter, Greve and Fanshaw, the com 
 manding officers were Russians. The Rear-Admiral 
 spent but one evening at Cherson, "but even this 
 short period was enough to show me that I had entered 
 on a delicate and disagreeable service. Rear-Admiral 
 Mordwinoff, chief of the Admiralty, did not affect to 
 disguise his displeasure at my arrival ; and though he 
 had orders from the Prince-Marshal to communicate 
 to me all the details concerning the force in the Liman 
 
362 PAUL JONES 
 
 and to put me in possession of the flag belonging to 
 my rank as Rear-Admiral, he spared himself the 
 trouble of compliance. 
 
 "We set out early next morning for Glouboca, the 
 armament of the Liman being at anchor very near 
 that place, in the roads of Schiroque, between the bar 
 of the Dneiper and the embouchure of the river Bog. 
 We went on board the Wolodimir before midday, 
 where we found that Brigadier Alexiano had 
 assembled all the commanders, to draw them into a 
 cabal against my authority. . . . This man was a Greek, 
 as ignorant of seamanship as of military affairs, who, 
 under an exterior and manners the most gross, con 
 cealed infinite cunning. Though a subject of Turkey, 
 it was alleged that he made war with the Mussulmans 
 by attacking their commerce in the Archipelago on 
 his own authority, and that he had followed this means 
 of enriching himself up to the period that Count 
 D Orloff arrived with the Russian fleet. . . . Alexiano 
 was a good deal offended in the first instance, and 
 afterwards made great merit with the Prince-Marshal 
 of the sacrifice which he affected to make in serving 
 under me. He said that if he withdrew, all the other 
 officers would follow his example. The Prince- 
 Marshal sent presents to his wife, and wrote him 
 kindly, persuading him to remain in the service. All 
 the difficulty he made was nothing more than a piece 
 of manoeuvring to increase his importance; for, from 
 what followed I know that, had he left the service, it 
 would have been alone, and that no one would have 
 regretted his absence." 
 
PAUL JONES 368 
 
 On May 26, 1788, Rear-Admiral Jones hoisted his 
 flag on the Wolodimir. He then inspected the fleet 
 of which he was in command, which, it must be 
 admitted, presented astounding surprises on closer 
 acquaintance. It consisted, in part, of vessels built 
 to convey the Empress s carriages when she made her 
 spectacular progress to the Crimea. These, he was 
 told by those who wished to be discouraging, were 
 so light that they would sink if guns were put on 
 board ! Nothing daunted, he ordered what repairs 
 could be made with the materials at hand. Painting, 
 fumigating and provisioning were instantly commenced, 
 Paul borrowing three thousand soldiers from 
 Suwarrow s army, as the vessels were insufficiently 
 manned. Unacquainted with the ins and outs of the 
 higher grades of the Russian service, Jones was 
 astounded to learn that the sixty gunboats, called the 
 " flotilla," commanded by Nassau-Siegen, though 
 technically part of his fleet, were in no way under 
 his orders. The impossibilities of such a situation 
 a fleet being under two commanders who were as 
 temperamentally different as fire and water became 
 hourly more apparent. Nassau displayed an unremit 
 ting love for the safety of his well-fed person ; Paul 
 scorned danger of any sort, and appealed to Potemkin. 
 As it pleased the favourite to be friendly, he tried 
 to temporise, ordering Nassau to hold himself at 
 Jones s disposal when the Rear-Admiral required his 
 services. This sounded very well, but if there was 
 the slightest excuse to inconvenience Jones, his old 
 acquaintance never allowed it to escape. Nassau- 
 
364 PAUL JONES 
 
 Seigen had no wish to expose his precious self, and 
 " durst not advance five versts without being escorted 
 by three frigates." 
 
 To quote further from the journal which Rear- 
 Admiral Jones prepared for the Empress : " On the 
 29th the squadron drew up opposite the first village, 
 to the left of the Bog, in an obtuse angle, and thus 
 commanded, by a cross fire, the only passage of the 
 Liman. This lies between two sandbanks, through 
 which the Turks must advance with their heavy 
 vessels. By this position the Rear-Admiral covered 
 Cherson and the country on both banks of the Liman, 
 made good the free passage of the Bog to the army 
 of the Prince-Marshal, and held the Turks in check 
 in any attempt they might make against Kimbourn. 
 
 " The Prince of Nassau at this time talked a great 
 deal of projects of descents, surprises and attacks, 
 but without any rational plan." There are gleams of 
 unintentional humour in the descriptions of this war, 
 where "a battery having been raised upon the Point 
 of Stanislaus, the Prince of Nassau expressed himself 
 delighted with it, as in case of necessity he might 
 there find shelter." And " the Rear-Admiral could not 
 have retreated, as several of his vessels were already 
 within a few inches of getting aground." 
 
 General Suwarrow, commander of Kimbourn, made 
 the Rear-Admiral responsible for the safety of that 
 place, while Brigadier Alexiano and the Prince of 
 Nassau did all that was possible to make him dis 
 trustful of the means which he possessed for attack 
 or defence. 
 
PAUL JONES 365 
 
 There was no one in that fleet so well able to judge 
 the seaworthiness of these ships as the one to whom 
 they delighted in supplying these irritating bits of 
 information. Paul says, " The squadron made a for 
 midable appearance, but had little real strength. The 
 Wolodimir and the Alexander were but half armed; 
 and both vessels already within a few inches of 
 touching the bottom, so shallow is the Liman for 
 vessels of war. . . . The Rear-Admiral determined to 
 assemble a council of war, in conformity to the ordin 
 ance of Peter the Great. This council he opened 
 by a speech, the main theme being the necessity of 
 perfect understanding between the squadron and 
 flotilla, and that, uniting heart and hand, and forget 
 ting all personal considerations, they should deter 
 mine to conquer, as the true duty of a patriot was to 
 be useful to his country." What sublimely unconscious 
 satire ! A Scotchman urging patriotism on an 
 assembly composed of Poles, Germans, English, 
 French and Dutch, the few Russians present being 
 united with the others by ties of that universal self- 
 interest for which they all strove. Jones then ex 
 plained the signals of Pavilion, which had been trans 
 lated into Russian by his aide, Lieutenant Edwards, 
 and essayed, with the aid of a blackboard, to give 
 them an idea of his tactics and plan of battle. The 
 lesson availed little, as the cabals of his enemies 
 blocked what benefit might have been derived from 
 the council. 
 
 " On the 6th June (old style), at two in the morning, 
 the Prince of Nassau advanced, as had been previously 
 
366 PAUL JONES 
 
 agreed on, with the greater part of the flotilla ; but in 
 place of cutting off the retreat of the vessels forming 
 the enemy s advanced guard, he retired at daybreak 
 before a very inferior force, and without offering the 
 smallest resistance ! The Turks chased him, keeping 
 up a cannonade, into the midst of the squadron, which, 
 as had been arranged, advanced to take up a position 
 to support him." 
 
 " The Turks were so encouraged by this cowardly 
 behaviour, that on the night of the 6th June, they 
 advanced their flotilla within cannon shot of our 
 reserve, which had been posted on the previous night 
 on the right wing." What grins of contemptuous 
 amusement would have adorned the face of the 
 Richard s old crew, had they witnessed the following 
 scene 
 
 "At sunrise the Turks made sail; and Brigadier 
 Alexiano ran upon the deck of the Wolodimir half 
 naked, exclaiming like a frantic man in French and 
 Russian that the Turks were going to attack and board 
 us, and that we would be blown to pieces for having 
 been so foolish as to leave our former position. He 
 had, notwithstanding, in the council of war given his 
 voice in favour of the position we now actually 
 held. Brigadier Ribas, the captain and all the crew 
 were witnesses of his extravagant and unjustifiable 
 behaviour." 
 
 This engagement, albeit something of a fiasco, 
 figured as a brilliant victory for the Russians, and 
 eventually brought Jones the decoration of Saint 
 Anne as it was thanks to his cool-headedness that the 
 
PAUL JONES 367 
 
 Turks did not gain the day. The most accomplished 
 historian has been unable to make interesting reading 
 out of this guerrilla-like warfare, which consisted of 
 indefinite skirmishes and attacks, without important 
 results on either side. Given a couple of good fighting 
 ships and some of his old crews, Paul could have 
 made more history in a week than the entire Russian 
 fleet, including the " flotilla " which was more of a 
 hindrance than a help was capable of doing all 
 through the war. On the ;th there was a skirmish in 
 which the Russian ships were at one time in danger 
 of being cut off, owing to the tardiness with which 
 the reserves advanced. The wind failing at the 
 critical moment, Jones had his vessels towed by 
 ships boats, " and by an oblique movement formed 
 in a line of battle, with the intention of cutting off 
 the retreat of the enemy, and galling him by a cross 
 fire." The Captain Pasha advanced in a kirlangitch 
 to bring up the second division of his flotilla. 
 
 "At this time our reserve was very critically situ 
 ated. A double chaloupe quitted the station, and 
 four of our galleys were in danger of being captured. 
 The Prince of Nassau, who did not relish going 
 himself, sent Brigadier Corascoff, who made these 
 
 retreat." 
 
 The Prince calmly left the reserve, which was much 
 disorganised without a leader, and " stationed himself 
 before the Rear-Admiral, where he could be of no use 
 whatever. The Rear-Admiral went in the same boat 
 with the Prince of Nassau, and again issued his orders 
 along the line. Being now within cannon shot of the 
 
368 PAUL JONES 
 
 enemy, he opened fire, advancing always in an oblique 
 line to cut off the enemy s retreat. At the same time 
 he despatched Brigadier Alexiano to endeavour to 
 rally the vessels of the reserve, which the Prince of 
 Nassau had deserted; but Alexiano contented himself 
 with waving his hat in the air and shouting behind the 
 lines, Fire, my lads, on the kirlangitch of the Captain 
 Pasha ! " 
 
 The Russians eventually routed the Turks, burning 
 two of their fifty-seven vessels. " The Rear-Admiral, 
 who had directed the whole affair, gave the credit of it 
 to the Prince of Nassau." 
 
 On the 1 6th of June the Turk attacked again, having 
 brought from the grand fleet without Kimbourn two 
 thousand men to add to the force under the walls of 
 Oczakow; only the fact of his running aground frus 
 trated his intention of bearing down on the Russian 
 flotilla under full sail and sinking the smaller vessels. 
 Captain Pasha then intended to burn the Russian 
 flotilla " by throwing in fire balls (grappins), and setting 
 fire to certain trading vessels which he had prepared 
 as fire ships." But "the best-laid schemes of mice 
 and men" cannot be relied upon, and the lack of a 
 few feet of water frustrated all Captain Pasha s plans ; 
 another instance of that " chance " to which Paul Jones 
 always declared the sailor owed so much. 
 
 At midnight the rear-admiral attacked the Turkish 
 force, which was thrown into such confusion that they 
 hoisted anchors and cut cables in wild alarm. " Our 
 squadron advanced in line of battle with a striking 
 and formidable appearance, so that the Turks knew 
 
PAUL JONES 369 
 
 not how weak it really was. As our flotilla had been 
 very slow in weighing anchor, the Rear-Admiral was 
 obliged to make the squadron halt twice to await it. 
 At length, the flotilla being always last, the squadron 
 opened fire on the enemy, of whom the person second 
 in command, who had flown about like a fool, quickly 
 ran his ship on a sandbank on the south of the Liman. 
 There was no longer hope for him; from the moment 
 he grounded he was ours." 
 
 Taking advantage of the confusion the Turks were 
 in, Jones ordered the Wolodimir to steer within pistol 
 shot of the Turkish flagship, which had again run 
 aground. Brigadier Alexiano who had no wish to 
 endanger himself, under pretence that there was only 
 fifteen feet of water, gave orders in Russian, and 
 unknown to the Rear-Admiral, "to let go the 
 Wolodimir s anchor." The Captain Pasha harassed 
 the Russians by throwing bombs and balls of great 
 size, and " struck down " the Little Alexander with a 
 bomb. There was no discipline on the Russian ships, 
 and, instead of pursuing the flying Turks, the flotilla 
 swarmed round the Turkish ships which were aground 
 like a hive of bees. Assembling some of the Russian 
 vessels, Jones, with de Corascoff, chased the Turks 
 under the walls of Oczakow. Nassau hurried to claim 
 the admiral s flag, which had been on Captain Pasha s 
 ship. " The Zaporavians drew the flag from the water, 
 and the Prince of Nassau, a long while afterwards, 
 had the glory (which he turned to good account) of 
 snatching it from their hands. The Rear-Admiral 
 might have claimed at least half of this flag, as he 
 
 A A 
 
870 PAUL JONES 
 
 had his hands on it; but he regarded it as a thing 
 of very little consequence." 
 
 With wanton recklessness the Russians destroyed 
 the ships they had captured, amusing themselves by 
 firing into them with brandcougles, a kind of bomb 
 shell, perforated with holes, filled inside with com 
 bustibles and fired from pieces called licornes. 
 " How imbecile does the human mind become under 
 the influence of sudden panic ! The Rear-Admiral, an 
 hour after the affair, advanced in his boat and took 
 soundings all along the Turkish line, opposite the 
 walls of Oczakow, and within reach of case-shot, and 
 not a single gun was fired upon him." 
 
 On the night of the i;th June Captain Pasha 
 attempted to get his remaining force out of the Liman, 
 but was prevented by the raking fire of the block fort, 
 erected some time before by the Rear-Admiral s 
 advice. When General Suwarrow sent orders for 
 Jones to seize the Turkish ships lying there aground, 
 Brigadier Alexiano dissuaded him from sending 
 frigates, saying he would lose them, "as the current 
 there was like that of a mill dam, and the bottom was 
 so bad that anchors would not hold." It was accord 
 ingly resolved to proceed with the flotilla; and 
 Alexiano, who had his private reasons, set out with 
 the Prince of Nassau. The flotilla went pell-mell, 
 and without any sort of order or plan, upon the nine 
 ships aground, and fired brandcougles into them 
 without mercy. It was in vain the wretched Turks 
 made the sign of the Cross, and begged for quarter 
 on their knees ! Above three thousand of them were 
 
PAUL JONES 371 
 
 burnt with their ships. " Neither the Prince of Nassau 
 nor Alexiano were to be seen at this time. They were 
 together and at some distance during the frightful 
 carnage, and it was afterwards asked of them if they 
 had not during this time been at Kimbourn?" 
 
 Used to the clean warfare of civilised nations, Paul 
 was daily infuriated at " the monstrous and wanton 
 cruelties to which the Turks were subjected by the 
 more barbarous and brutal Russians," though, had the 
 advantage been on the side of the "unspeakable 
 Turk," there is small reason to suppose the exchange 
 of civilities would have been less bitter. Finally, on 
 the 27th, Potemkin s army having come up, Nassau 
 received orders to capture and destroy the Turkish 
 flotilla under the walls of Oczakow, Jones being 
 instructed to render him every assistance. " The Rear- 
 Admiral had sent all the chaloupes and barcasses 
 belonging to the squadron to haul out the vessels of 
 the flotilla. The Prince-Marshal had taken the trouble 
 to arrange the plan of attack himself, but this plan 
 was not followed." 
 
 At six the next morning Jones sallied forth to seize 
 five of the enemy s galleys within shot of Fort Hassan. 
 These lay between the cross-fire of the Russian ships, 
 Fort Hassan, the Turkish fleet and Oczakow, making 
 it a dangerous enterprise, and to protect themselves 
 further the Turks had prepared a small frigate as a 
 fire-ship, which they set alight and anchored to the 
 north-east of Fort Hassan. 
 
 Jones boarded the galley of the Captain Pasha, 
 which lay considerably nearer the fort. But from 
 
 A A 2 
 
872 PAUL JONES 
 
 unskilfulness and excess of zeal, a young officer cut 
 the cable of this galley without waiting the orders of 
 the Rear-Admiral ; and before the boats could be got 
 in order to haul it out, the wind drifted the galley 
 towards the shore and still nearer the fort. Instantly 
 Jones ordered the galley to be lightened by throwing 
 everything possible overboard, and ropes brought to 
 secure it to the burnt frigate, but none could be found 
 long enough. * The Rear-Admiral was unwilling to 
 yield to the obstinate opposition of the Turks, who 
 fired upon him from all their bastions and from their 
 flotilla, and he despatched Lieutenant Fox to the 
 Wolodimir to fetch an anchor and cable. This was 
 a certain means of securing his object; and in waiting 
 the return of the lieutenant he left the galley with 
 his people, and assisted in the flotilla s advance. 
 Before the return of Lieutenant Fox he was astounded 
 to see fire break out in the galley of the Captain 
 Pasha, at first believing that the slaves chained on 
 board had found means to escape, and had set fire to 
 the vessel; afterwards he had positive proof that 
 Brigadier Alexiano, being in a boat at the time with 
 the Prince of Nassau, on the outside of the flotilla, 
 and aware of the intention of the Rear-Admiral, swore 
 that it should not succeed, and sent a Greek canoe 
 to set fire to the galley. The three other Turkish 
 galleys were at once run down and burnt by brand- 
 cougles. There were also a two-masted ship and a 
 large bomb vessel burnt near Fort Hassan. This 
 includes all that was taken or destroyed by water, 
 save fifty-two prisoners taken by the Rear-Admiral in 
 
PAUL JONES 373 
 
 the two galleys. The wretched beings who were 
 chained in the galley of the Captain Pasha perished 
 there in the flames." It is generally supposed that a 
 large number were captive Christians, forced to serve 
 their conquerors. The truth of the burning of the 
 Captain Pasha s galley was sworn to, and arrested by, 
 a number of Russian and foreign officers in the fleet. 
 
 Again it will be seen at what a great disadvantage 
 Jones s unfamiliarity with Russian procedure placed 
 him, for, the instant the action was over, Nassau and 
 Alexiano stampeded to the Prince-Marshal s head 
 quarters to chant an ode in praise of deeds performed 
 by themselves. A few minutes after the flotilla began 
 to retire, the rain fell in torrents, " of which Nassau 
 and Alexiano received their share before returning to 
 headquarters." The latter died on July 8th of a malig 
 nant fever caught from this chill. " The Prince of 
 Nassau, who had made use of him in caballing against 
 me, God knows for what, neither visited him in his 
 sickness, nor assisted at his funeral." Nor did the 
 Greek compatriots leave the Russian service, as 
 Alexiano had boastfully asserted they would do, but 
 served peacefully under Jones until the end of the 
 war. 
 
 For his important services in this war Alexiano 
 received notice the day before his death of his pro 
 motion two grades, and that the Empress had given 
 him a fine estate and serfs in White Russia. Nassau 
 received a valuable property with three or four thou 
 sand serfs, and the military Order of St. George of 
 the second class. "Her Majesty likewise gave him 
 
374 PAUL JONES 
 
 liberty to hoist the flag of Vice-Admiral on the taking 
 of Oczakow, to which event it was apparently believed 
 he had greatly contributed. I received the Order of 
 St. Anne, an honour with which I am highly flattered, 
 and with which I could have been perfectly satisfied 
 had others been recompensed only in the same propor 
 tion, and according to the merits of their services. All 
 the officers of the flotilla received a step of pro 
 motion and gratuity of a year s pay. The greater part 
 of them also obtained the Order of St. George of 
 the last class. Only two of these officers had been 
 bred to the sea; all the others were ignorant of naval 
 affairs. The officers of the squadron under my com 
 mand were almost wholly marine officers. They had 
 done their duty well when opposed to the enemy; 
 but they obtained no promotion, no mark of dis 
 tinction, no pecuniary reward. My mortification was 
 excessive. 
 
 " My officers at this time gave me a very gratifying 
 proof of their attachment. On promising that I would 
 demand justice for them from the Prince-Marshal at 
 the close of the campaign, they stifled their vexation 
 and made no complaint." 
 
 If Rear-Admiral Jones could have metamorphosed 
 himself into an assiduous toady where Potemkin 
 was concerned, there is no doubt his Russian experi 
 ences would have been less trying, but he was "not 
 skilled in playing such a part/ consequently his path 
 was a rugged one. Between Nassau and himself 
 there was a bitter hatred, born of years, and yet in 
 the Russian campaign Nassau was the one man essen- 
 
PAUL JONES 375 
 
 tial to his interests. The Chevalier Littlepage urged 
 him to keep on friendly terms with the princeling 
 who, through some remote German connection, 
 claimed cousinship with the Empress, who was one of 
 the Anhalt-Zerbst family. Littlepage wrote, " I know 
 that your honour can sacrifice nothing ; but, for heaven s 
 sake, my dear friend, be prudent, as much for yourself 
 as for your friends. Prince Potemkin has conceived 
 a high esteem for you, but he loves Nassau. If ever 
 mutual interest dictated union between two persons, 
 it is between you and the Prince of Nassau at the 
 present moment. The reverse will be the prejudice 
 of both. . . . Remember the eyes of all Europe are 
 fixed upon you. Fear no competition, and be 
 indulgent to those who have not the same reason to 
 feel above rivalry." 
 
 Paul assured the writer that he had, for the good of 
 the service, and the esteem and attachment he bore 
 Prince Potemkin, endured more from Nassau than he 
 could have done " from any other than a madman/ 
 All this very good advice ran glibly off Littlepage s 
 pen, but subsequent events proved it more " honoured 
 in the breach than in the observance/ for, being 
 appointed to a command in the squadron, Littlepage 
 came face to face with some of the problems with 
 which his friend had been obliged to grapple. What 
 did the Chevalier Littlepage do? Promptly threw 
 up his command and returned to Warsaw ! 
 
 On the occasion when Potemkin, with the General 
 Comte de Brandisky of Poland, the Prince de Repuin, 
 the Prince de Ligne, General Samoilov and a string 
 
376 PAUL JONES 
 
 of glittering dignitaries, came aboard the Wolodimir, 
 remaining to dine with the Rear-Admiral, Potemkin, 
 knowing the strained relations between Jones and 
 Nassau, requested the Chevalier Littlepage, who was 
 chamberlain to the King of Poland, and Prince de 
 Ligne to patch up the quarrel. Nassau apologised, 
 and Jones "accepted with sincere pleasure. We 
 embraced in the presence of this honourable company, 
 and I believed him as sincere as myself." But this 
 was a mere cessation of hostilities. The campaign 
 was not sufficiently exciting to occupy any one to the 
 exclusion of personal grievances, and is one long 
 recital of misunderstandings, belittling to the actors 
 in the farce, and kept alive by the spoiled favourite, 
 who was peevish for more decorations. Trying as 
 most of his experiences had been, Paul was never 
 driven so near the point of exasperation as at this 
 moment. Potemkin, at first friendly, became, under 
 the influence of Nassau, less amenable to reason; 
 Nassau was jealous of Jones, and lost no opportunity 
 of annoying him, or placing petty obstacles in his 
 way. 
 
 One afternoon Jones called on Potemkin to make a 
 report, and the favourite showed him, through the 
 glass he carried, "a large piece of artillery on the 
 fore part of the vessel of the Turkish flotilla that stood 
 farthest out, and which had run aground. I imagined 
 at the time that there was no other vessel run aground 
 save the one in the road, at the distance of a verst 
 from the fortress of Hassan Pasha; so I said the thing 
 was quite easy; for although the Turks should come 
 
PAUL JONES 377 
 
 up in force to defend the vessel, there would always 
 be time to spike the piece of cannon. 
 
 " It was night when I undertook this little enter 
 prise. As I did not imagine the Prince-Marshal 
 attached so much importance to it as to wish that I 
 should conduct it in person, I confided it to Lieutenant 
 Edwards, a brave and an intelligent man, whom I 
 wished to requite for past services. . . . 
 
 " Mr. Edwards returned before daybreak without 
 having succeeded. He said there were a great many 
 men in the ship, who fired on him, and that he durst 
 not board her, he was so ill supported. I was vexed 
 that he had failed, and in my report to the Prince- 
 Marshal I said that I would conduct the enterprise 
 myself next night, if that would satisfy him. 
 
 4 The Prince-Marshal held me at my word; but it 
 was eleven at night when Mr. Edwards returned with 
 the order. The wind, which was high, was quite 
 against me, as well as a strong tide ; and I would have 
 deferred the attempt if I had not conceived my honour 
 pledged. I was led to hope, that after midnight the 
 wind might fall and the strength of the tide lessen, 
 if it did not change. The night was very dark, and 
 the rain fell in torrents. I waited till two o clock, 
 when the moon rose. I had with me five armed boats, 
 and I calculated on being followed by four bateaux 
 saporoses, and by one of the armed vessels I had 
 taken from the Turks; but it was impossible to haul 
 them against the wind, and I was compelled to go 
 on as best I could with only my five boats. I had 
 noticed that our flotilla had run down a small Turkish 
 
378 PAUL JONES 
 
 vessel in the shallows of the fortress of Hassan Pasha, 
 but I did not perceive till the moment after I had 
 despatched Mr. Edwards to headquarters, because the 
 vessel lay so near the fortress, where the water is of 
 little depth, that it had only sunk a foot or fifteen 
 inches, and consequently appeared as if still afloat. 
 As the Prince-Marshal had only spoken to me of the 
 farthest out of the Turkish flotilla, I now believed he 
 meant the one nearest the fortress, in which idea I 
 was confirmed by Mr. Edwards on his return from 
 headquarters. ... I rowed for the vessel nearest the 
 fortress, which carried a large cannon in her bow; but 
 after having fatigued my rowers, I was vexed to see 
 daylight appear, whilst I had still more than a verst 
 to go before I could reach the vessel. I returned on 
 board my own ship, to prevent a useless alarm, intend 
 ing to renew my attempt next night. 
 
 :< Without waiting to receive my report, the Prince- 
 Marshal sent me orders to abandon the enterprise, for 
 he had intrusted it to other ships . . ."; but the " other 
 ships" did nothing; and the Turks availed themselves 
 of an open way to bring out all their flotilla. " Some 
 days afterwards a colonel of Cossacks boarded the 
 vessel . . , and set fire to it, for which he received 
 public thanks/ 
 
 On July 1 3th Potemkin ordered Jones to establish 
 a " permanent blockade." The wording of the letter 
 gave great offence to the Rear-Admiral, who was told 
 to " hold yourself in readiness to receive him (Captain 
 Pasha) courageously, and drive him back. I desire 
 that this be done without loss of time ; if not, you will 
 
PAUL JONES 379 
 
 be made answerable for every neglect." The missive 
 was signed by Prince Potemkin. 
 
 With even the slightest knowledge of Jones s 
 temper it can readily be understood that he answered 
 "with perhaps rather too much freedom and warmth," 
 for when his blood was up he had as little care for 
 the all-powerful Prince-Marshal as he had shown in 
 his earlier days for insubordinate sailors or " political 
 skippers." Their heated correspondence ended in 
 Jones being replaced in his command by Admiral 
 Mordwinoff. Nassau, having displeased his dicta 
 torial friend and crony, was already on the way to 
 Warsaw. 
 
 "The Rear-Admiral at the same time received 
 orders from her Imperial Majesty to go to St. Peters 
 burg with the understanding that he would be 
 employed in the North Sea." Sweden having declared 
 war against Russia at the commencement of the cam 
 paign, and Admiral Greig, who had commanded the 
 Russian fleet, being dead, " I was assured her Majesty 
 had very important views in recalling me. Yet I 
 could not but feel grieved to be deprived of my com 
 mand when the campaign, so far as regarded maritime 
 operations, was so nearly concluded." 
 
 Potemkin, despite his protestations, had little love 
 for Nassau, and craftily waited until the Prince had 
 gone to Warsaw before distributing the gold swords 
 which the Empress had sent as rewards. In the dis 
 tribution of these, Jones and all his officers were 
 studiously overlooked, and he afterwards "heard 
 several of the officers who got them express their 
 
380 PAUL JONES 
 
 astonishment, not being able to guess for what they 
 had been so highly rewarded." 
 
 On November the Qth Jones embarked in a small 
 open galley for Cherson. He suffered excessively 
 from the intense cold, and the day after his arrival 
 was taken dangerously ill. Three days and nights in 
 an open boat in that terrible climate had their effect 
 on one whose life had been passed chiefly in temperate 
 or tropical latitudes. His journey from Copenhagen, 
 with its subsequent illness, made the first serious 
 breach in the iron constitution of this intrepid man; 
 and, though his recuperative powers were good, Jones 
 lacked the calm mind which plays so large a share 
 in the recovery of an invalid. He did not leave 
 Cherson until the 6th of December, for, even had the 
 river not been frozen, he was too weak to travel; and 
 finally arrived at St. Petersburg on December 28, 
 1789. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 1789-1790 
 
 IT is greatly to be regretted that by his wasted 
 services in Russia, where he contracted the illness 
 which terminated fatally in his forty-fifth year, Paul 
 Jones shortened a career so full of brilliant possi 
 bilities. He had entered the Russian navy against the 
 advice of his closest friends, and Washington so 
 strongly disapproved of the "Champion of Liberty" 
 enrolling himself under the banner of despotic 
 Catherine, that he always afterward blamed Thomas 
 Jefferson for his part in the negotiation. 
 
 On the 3ist of December, 1789, the Rear-Admiral 
 was commanded to appear at Court for a private 
 audience. He presented the flattering and insincere 
 letter with which Potemkin had charged him, in which 
 he was warmly recommended to the Empress, only to 
 be informed a day or so later that the Empress must 
 await the arrival of Prince Potemkin before coming 
 to any decision. 
 
 A strange woman this, who, above her love of 
 autocracy, preserved so strongly that Teutonic strain 
 of subserviency to the male which, in her barbarian 
 ancestresses, had made them meekly condone the loss 
 of their noses, hacked off by irate lords in punishment 
 for imaginary or found out misdemeanour : the 
 
 spirit which made her endure being struck by her 
 
 381 
 
382 PAUL JONES 
 
 lover, and write meekly to him across the length of 
 her Empire, "Have I done well, my master?" 
 
 Jones s reception at Court and his success socially 
 were not pleasing to his enemies, who set afoot a vile 
 intrigue to ruin him. The old story of Mungo 
 Maxwell was resurrected, but the victim this time was 
 Jones s nephew, who had been flogged to death at his 
 orders. This new conspiracy was of a still more dis 
 graceful nature, and planned, it is shameful to say, by 
 those high in authority. " In every despotic Court, es 
 pecially in that of St. Petersburg, political intriguers 
 never are in want of servile instruments to forward 
 their basest and darkest purposes. In the present case 
 these tools were found of all ranks, though of but one 
 nation." The Comte de Segur in his memoirs presents 
 the intrigue clearly, as from his important diplomatic 
 position he was acquainted with the innermost life at 
 Court. All during his residence in Russia he played 
 such a prominent part that a rival once said, " The 
 Empress does not, as a rule, tell her ministers what 
 to do until Segur has advised her what to tell them." 
 
 He begins 
 
 " Paul Jones, a sharer in the victories of the Prince 
 de Nassau, had returned to St. Petersburg; his 
 enemies, unable to bear the triumph of a man whom 
 they treated as a vagabond, a rebel, and a corsair, 
 resolved to destroy him. 
 
 This atrocity, which ought to be imputed to some 
 envious cowards, was, I think, very unjustly attributed 
 to the English officers in the Russian navy, and to the 
 merchants who were their countrymen. These, in 
 
PAUL JONES 883 
 
 truth, did not disguise their animosity against Paul 
 Jones; but it would be unjust to affix upon all a base 
 intrigue, which was, perhaps, but the work of two or 
 three who have continued unknown. 
 
 " The Rear-Admiral was favourably welcomed at 
 Court; often invited to dinner by the Empress, and 
 received with distinction into the best society in the 
 city ; on a sudden Catherine commanded him to appear 
 no more in her presence. 
 
 " He was informed that he was accused of an in 
 famous crime, of assaulting a young girl of fourteen, 
 of grossly violating her, and that, probably, after some 
 preliminary information he would be tried by the 
 Courts of Admiralty, in which there were many Eng 
 lish officers, who were strongly prejudiced against 
 him. 
 
 " As soon as this order was known every one aban 
 doned the unhappy American; no one spoke to him, 
 people avoided saluting him, and every door was shut 
 against him. 
 
 " All those by whom but yesterday he had been 
 eagerly welcomed, now fled from him as if he had been 
 infected with a plague; besides, no advocate would 
 take charge of his cause, and no public man would 
 consent to listen to him; at last even his servants would 
 not continue in his service, and Paul Jones, whose 
 exploits every one had so recently been ready to pro 
 claim, and whose friendship had been sought after, 
 found himself alone in the midst of an immense 
 population ; Petersburg, a great capital, became to him 
 a desert. 
 
 " I went to see him ; he was moved even to tears by 
 
384 PAUL JONES 
 
 my visit. I was unwilling/ he said to me, shaking 
 me by the hand, to knock at your door, and to expose 
 myself to a fresh affront, which would have been more 
 cutting than all the rest. I have braved death a 
 thousand times, now I wish for it. His appearance, 
 his arms being laid upon the table, made me suspect 
 some desperate intention. 
 
 Resume/ I said to him, your composure and your 
 courage. Do you not know that human life, like the 
 sea, has its storms, and that fortune is even more 
 capricious than the winds? If, as I hope, you are 
 innocent, brave this sudden tempest ; if, unhappily, you 
 are guilty, confess it to me with unreserved frankness, 
 and I will do everything to snatch you, by a sudden 
 flight (evasion), from the danger which threatens you/ 
 
 I swear to you upon my honour/ said he, * that 
 I am innocent, and a victim of the most infamous 
 calumny. This is the truth Some days since a 
 young girl came to me in the morning to ask me if I 
 could give her some linen or lace to mend. She then 
 indulged in some rather earnest and indecent allure 
 ments. Astonished at so much boldness in one of 
 such few years, I felt compassion for her; I advised 
 her not to enter upon so vile a career, gave her some 
 money, and dismissed her; but she was determined 
 to remain. 
 
 Impatient at this resistance I took her by the 
 hand and led her to the door ; but at the instant when 
 the door was opened, the little profligate tore her 
 sleeves and her neckerchief, raised great cries, com 
 plained that I had assaulted her, and threw herself 
 
PAUL JONES 385 
 
 into the arms of an old woman, whom she calle d her 
 mother, and who, certainly, was not brought there by 
 chance. The mother and daughter raised the house 
 with their cries, went out and denounced me ; and now 
 you know all. 
 
 " Very well/ I said; but cannot you learn the 
 names of those adventurers ? 
 
 " The porter knows them/ he replied. Here are 
 their names written down, but I do not know where 
 they live. I was desirous of immediately presenting 
 a memorial about this ridiculous affair, first to the 
 Minister and then to the Empress; but I have been 
 interdicted from access to both of them. 
 
 Give me the paper/ I said; resume your accus 
 tomed firmness; be comforted; let me undertake it; 
 in a short time we shall meet again/ 
 
 "As soon as I had returned home I directed some 
 sharp and intelligent agents, who were devoted to me, 
 to get information respecting these suspected females, 
 and to find out what was their mode of life. I was 
 not long in learning that the old woman was in the 
 habit of carrying on a vile traffic in young girls, whom 
 she passed off as her daughters. 
 
 : When I was furnished with all the documents and 
 attestations for which I had occasion, I hastened to 
 show them to Paul Jones. You have nothing more 
 to fear/ said I, the wretches are unmasked. It is only 
 necessary to open the eyes of the Empress, and let 
 her see how unworthily she has been deceived; but 
 this is not so very easy : truth encounters a multitude 
 of people at the doors of a palace, who are very clever 
 
 BB 
 
386 PAUL JONES 
 
 in arresting its progress; and sealed letters are, of all 
 others, those which are intercepted with the greatest 
 art and care. 
 
 " Nevertheless, I know that the Empress, who is 
 not ignorant of this, has directed, under very heavy 
 penalties, that no one shall detain on the way any 
 letters which are addressed to her personally, and 
 which may be sent to her by post; therefore, here is a 
 very long letter which I have written to her in your 
 name; nothing of the detail is omitted, although it 
 contains some rough expressions. I am sorry for the 
 Empress; but since she heard and gave credit to a 
 calumny, it is but right she should read the justifica 
 tion with patience. Copy this letter, sign it, and I will 
 take charge of it; I will send some one to put it in 
 the post at the nearest town. Take courage ; believe 
 me, your triumph is not doubtful/ 
 
 "In fact, the letter was sent and put in the post; 
 the Empress received it, and, after having read this 
 memorial, which was fully explanatory, and accom 
 panied by undeniable attestations, she inveighed 
 bitterly against the informers, revoked her rigorous 
 orders, recalled Paul Jones to Court, and received him 
 with her usual kindness. 
 
 1 That grave seaman enjoyed with a becoming pride 
 a reparation which was due to him ; but he trusted very 
 little to the compliments that were unblushingly 
 heaped upon him by the many persons who had fled 
 from him in his disgrace; and shortly afterwards, dis 
 gusted with a country where the fortune of a man may 
 be exposed to such humiliations, under the pretence of 
 
PAUL JONES 387 
 
 ill-health he asked leave of the Empress to retire, 
 which she granted him." 
 
 The account of this attack on a man enjoying the 
 exalted rank Rear-Admiral Jones did gives food for 
 thought. " In Russia, at that moment, the crime of 
 which he was accused would have been no bar to his 
 advancement." Nor, had it not been a well-laid plot, 
 would the unsupported word of the lowest class of 
 woman been listened to, much less taken uncorrobor 
 ated. Such people were knouted and disposed of by 
 the police if they dared to open their mouths, much 
 less openly attack those from whom they gained their 
 evil living. All these facts point to one conclusion : 
 that the plot was of purely Russian origin, for no 
 English or foreigners controlled the Russian autho 
 rities at their pleasure, and Jones, in his letter to 
 Potemkin, complains that his "servant was kept 
 prisoner by the officers of police for several hours, two 
 days successively, and threatened with the knout." 
 Also, that M. Crimpin, whom he employed as advocate, 
 has been forbidden by the governor of the city, " at 
 his peril, or any other person, to meddle with my 
 cause ! " 
 
 He asks Potemkin : " Shall it be said in Russia a 
 wretched woman, who eloped from her husband and 
 family in the country, stole away her daughter, lives 
 here in a house of bad fame, and leads a debauched 
 and adulterous life, has found credit enough on a 
 simple complaint, unsupported by any proof, to affect 
 the honour of a general officer of reputation, who has 
 
 BB 2 
 
388 PAUL JONES 
 
 merited and received the decorations of America, of 
 France, and of this Empire ? " 
 
 It is said this plot was traced to Nassau-Siegen, 
 a nephew of Besborodko, and young Zouboff; but 
 de Segur, who was in a position to know, makes no 
 such allegation in his Souvenirs and Anecdotes. Jones 
 left a mass of papers relating to the matter, and in 
 the letter to Potemkin calls attention to the accusation 
 that he was alleged to have held a long conversation 
 with the girl in Russian, a language unknown to him ! 
 That Paul had powerful enemies is an established 
 fact. During his service in the Black Sea, not a letter 
 of any sort reached him, and he was in a white heat 
 of fury at the thought of his most private affairs being 
 common property in the hands of his enemies. Aston 
 ished at the total neglect on the part of every one, he 
 could not understand the situation, until, through the 
 bag of the French Embassy, he received a letter from 
 the American Minister, dated Paris, March 1789, 
 which began by telling him that his letter from St. 
 Petersburg, January 3ist, was the "only -proof his 
 friends had of his existence since he left Copenhagen" 
 It is idle to suppose that this outrageous tampering 
 with his letters was not connived at in high places. So 
 widely known was this weakness of the Russian 
 Government, that when Catherine s son, the Archduke 
 Paul, travelled through Europe with the Archduchess, 
 he arranged for his private correspondence to be 
 forwarded to the Swedish post-office by couriers. 
 Alas ! for his correspondent, the frivolous aide- 
 de-camp Bibikoff, who had the rashness to write 
 of Potemkin as "One Eye" the courier bearing 
 
PAUL JONES 389 
 
 the unlucky letter was intercepted at Riga, and 
 poor Bibikoff sent to Astrachan, where he died- 
 suddenly. 
 
 Though restored to favour, Jones at heart was no 
 longer enthusiastic for the service of the Empress. 
 Always sanguine, he hoped for the fulfilment of the 
 innumerable plans he had perfected and laid before 
 the Ministers; such as projects for commercial treaties 
 between Russia and the United States, which were 
 speedily pigeon-holed. He was furious at the garbled 
 versions of the campaign of the Liman, which were 
 circulated on all sides; having been invited to Russia 
 by the most flattering promises and inducements, why 
 this sudden change of face ? Potemkin had no further 
 use for him in Russia. This in one sentence explains 
 more clearly than endless volumes that long chain of 
 inexplicable events which so grievously chagrined a 
 man whose greatest fault was his readiness to put faith 
 in the protestations of apparent friends. Did he hope 
 against hope, or were his eyes blinded when he wrote 
 to Jefferson from St. Petersburg : " 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 campaign " ? He wished 
 that the United States, which had concluded a treaty 
 with Morocco, would make common cause with Russia 
 in a war against the Barbary States, and put a stop 
 to their piratical interference with commerce; hoping 
 Count Besborodko would " appoint him to make known 
 the intentions of the Empress to the United States." 
 Paul alludes to the incivility displayed by Besborodko 
 on the occasion of his calling to take leave, as he 
 
390 PAUL JONES 
 
 saw the " Count go out of another door, and depart 
 without a single expression of ordinary civility ad 
 dressed to me at the moment of my leaving Russia, 
 to console me for all the bitter mortifications I have 
 endured in this Empire. Before coming to Russia I 
 had been connected with several governments, and 
 no Minister ever either refused me an audience, or 
 failed to reply to my letters." Perhaps, with the 
 incessant tribulations to which Jones had been sub 
 jected, came a sort of forgetfulness, for what of the 
 highly unsatisfactory correspondence between de 
 Sartine and himself, when he was soliciting a ship 
 from the French Government? 
 
 His sole object in calling on Besborodko, he ex 
 plained, was to take leave and get his passport. It 
 seems that he experienced some difficulty about his 
 arrears of pay, and, having been told by the Comte 
 de Bruce that the Empress granted him leave of 
 absence for two years with the appointments of his 
 military rank during his absence, wished to adjust the 
 matter before leaving Russia. Jones had only 
 received his pay and allowances from the time of his 
 entry into the service to the ist of July, 1789, some 
 1800 roubles a year; the rouble being approximately 
 four shillings. It was said that " Her Majesty likewise 
 mentioned nothing but the appointment then due." 
 " If I could believe that this was her Majesty s inten 
 tion I should remain silent," he comments, " for I 
 certainly did not accept the service her Majesty 
 offered me on account of my appointments or the 
 usual emoluments of my grade." However, the busi- 
 
PAUL JONES 391 
 
 ness was satisfactorily concluded before Jones left 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 The Rear-Admiral was granted a farewell audience 
 by the Empress, who cheerily wished him bon 
 voyage. His staunch friend, de Segur, gave him a 
 letter to the Comte Montmorin, in which Jones s 
 services were most flatteringly alluded to, and enclosed 
 an article to be printed in the Gazette de France, in 
 absolute refutation of the slanders spread by his 
 enemies. 
 
 This article will undeceive those who have be 
 lieved in the calumny, and will prove to the friends 
 and compatriots of the Vice-Admiral, that he has 
 sustained the reputation acquired by his bravery and 
 his talents during the last war; that the Empress 
 desires to retain him in her service; and that if he 
 absents himself at this moment, it is with his own free 
 will and for particular reasons which cannot leave any 
 stain on his honour. 
 
 The glorious marks of the satisfaction and bounty 
 of the King towards M. Paul Jones, his attachment to 
 France, which he has served so usefully in the common 
 cause, his rights as a subject and as an admiral of the 
 United States, the protection of the Ministers of the 
 King, and my personal friendship for this dis 
 tinguished officer, with whom I made a campaign in 
 America, are so many reasons which appear to me to 
 justify the interest which I took in all that concerned 
 him during his stay in Russia. 3 
 
 This announcement alluded to Jones in flattering 
 terms, ending : "As a mark of favour for his conduct 
 
392 PAUL JONES 
 
 during this campaign, the Empress has decorated him 
 with the insignia of the Order of St. Anne, and her 
 Imperial Majesty, satisfied with his services, only 
 grants him permission to absent himself for a limited 
 time, and still preserves for him his emoluments and 
 his rank." 
 
 Thanks to the Chevalier Littlepage, a descendant of 
 one of the Irish Brigade, Paul was able, in 1791, to 
 fathom " the mystery of his treatment in Russia," for 
 the Chevalier Littlepage travelled from Madrid to 
 Paris with a " gentleman of high rank in the diplomatic 
 corps." This personage, who had been in St. Peters 
 burg during Jones s stay there, declared it to have 
 been " conducted by a little great man behind the cur 
 tain. The unequalled reception with which I had at 
 first been honoured by the Empress had been extremely 
 mortifying and painful to the English at St. Peters 
 burg, 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 
 soothe the Court at London into a pacific humour, 
 found no first step so expedient as that of sacrificing 
 me. But instead of producing the effect he wished, 
 this base conduct, on which he pretended to ground 
 a conciliation, rather tended to widen the political 
 breach, and made him despised by the English 
 minister, by the English Cabinet, and by the gentle 
 man who related the secret to Mr. Littlepage." The 
 letter of Mr. Littlepage, enclosed with this, " in part 
 confirms this solution of an intrigue so essentially 
 Russian. Yet there remains some secret cause and 
 
PAUL JONES 393 
 
 movement impossible to fathom." The campaign 
 upon the Liman," says Chevalier Littlepage, " added 
 lustre to the arms of Russia, and ought to have estab 
 lished for ever the reputation and fortune of the 
 gallant officer to whose conduct those successes were 
 owing." (Littlepage attributes to the Rear-Admiral the 
 entire success of the campaign of 1788; not, like Comte 
 de Segur, dividing his laurels with Nassau; and it is 
 to be remembered that Littlepage was an eye-witness.) 
 He concludes by commenting on the very apparent 
 truth that unfortunately in Russia, more perhaps than 
 elsewhere, everything is governed by intrigues. " Some 
 political motives, I have reason to think, concurred in 
 depriving Rear-Admiral 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 lead 
 ing persons to ruin him, in the opinion of the Empress, 
 by an accusation too ridiculous to be mentioned." 
 
 One of Jones s biographers ascribes to him the in 
 tention of entering the Swedish navy, but there is 
 nothing very definite to confirm the statement; and 
 the same writer goes on to say the Rear-Admiral had 
 always intended returning by way of Copenhagen and 
 Berlin, "but as it was known that he left Russia dis 
 satisfied, he deemed it best to avoid all further occa 
 sion of giving his enemies any handle against him, and 
 accordingly he kept away from places where it might 
 be presumed that he was tempted to tell tales or utter 
 complaints." 
 
394 PAUL JONES 
 
 Just why Paul should have been less likely to utter 
 complaints at Warsaw, where he went, than at other 
 places, it is hard to explain. If he had wished a 
 sympathetic ear for his wrongs, there was the Polish 
 patriot, Kosciusko, with his hatred of Russia and his 
 love of liberty, who fought so gallantly to free his 
 country. It is not unlikely that the two had met in 
 America, where Kosciusko served on Washington s 
 staff during the war. The men became good friends, 
 and there ensued an enigmatic correspondence, from 
 which one infers the Pole tried to enlist the Scotch 
 man s aid in his plots against Russia, as the Rear- 
 Admiral wrote, from Amsterdam in 1/89, that a 
 moment s reflection would convince Kosciusko that 
 the considerations he owed to himself, as well as the 
 delicacy of his situation still being an officer in the 
 Russian service did not permit him to take such a 
 step. There is little doubt that, had he been free, 
 the lofty patriotism of Kosciusko would have drawn 
 Jones, always the champion of liberty, into the struggle 
 which ended the life of the patriotic Pole. 
 
 After leaving Russia, Jones passed several months 
 in the tranquillity of Holland, where he had friends, 
 pursuing the amusements of a gentleman of leisure, 
 though his brain and pen were never idle. After his 
 experiences in Russia, it was a rare treat to receive 
 and write letters, secure in the knowledge that they 
 would be in the hands of those to whom they were 
 addressed, without hindrance other than the slowness 
 of the posts. At the comparatively young age of 
 forty-two, Paul had come to the forked ways. There 
 
PAUL JONES 395 
 
 was no call for his services in America; France 
 admired and petted him, but offered no employment; 
 with Russia he was sick at heart. His health had 
 never recovered from the exposure of his reckless 
 voyages; his musical voice, so often alluded to, showed 
 signs of breaking, and his general condition was such 
 as to give grave anxiety to his intimates. He was as 
 sanguine as ever, and wrote to a friend in Hamburg 
 of his intention to go there in the spring " and pay my 
 court to some of your rich old ladies. ... I must stay 
 in Europe till it is seen what changes the present 
 politics will produce ... if you think I can pass my 
 time quietly, agreeably, and at a small expense in 
 Hamburg, I should prefer it to the fluctuating 
 prospects of other places/ 
 
 Paul Jones in the character of a suitor to rich old 
 ladies, shows the versatile hero in another light. His 
 feminine correspondence was, as of yore, most ex 
 tended, and he thought of going to Avignon to visit 
 Madame la Mair d Altigny, to whom he wrote on 
 February 8, 1790. The usual mystery shrouds this 
 lady, and the postscript gives food for surmise, 
 when, nearly a year later, he asks : " Have you not 
 sufficient confidence in my discretion to explain the 
 enigma of the happiness with which you say, I will 
 be loaded, and which will astonish me as soon as I 
 know it ? " 
 
 Perhaps it was a little mal-apropos that Jones 
 sent his " great respect " to the celebrated Madame 
 Krudener, when writing to her husband, as that charm 
 ing lady who had not then developed the role of 
 
396 PAUL JONES 
 
 prophetess and religious mentor to the Emperor 
 Alexander tiring of the " shawl dances/ a la Hamil 
 ton, with which she delighted her Parisian circle, was 
 amusing herself by a violent amour with that dashing 
 cavalry officer, Louis de Fregville ! Jones asks 
 Baron Krudener s aid in securing his Danish pension, 
 which the other assured him would be easy; but at the 
 time of his death he speaks of never having received a 
 penny of it. 
 
 The Rear-Admiral inforced the Empress Catherine 
 that " Her Majesty would soon receive a direct proof 
 of the unanimous approbation with which I am 
 honoured by the United States. I allude 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. . . . The United States have ordered a 
 copy of my medal to be presented to every sovereign 
 in Europe, Great Britain excepted." 
 
 While passing through Vienna, Jones had been 
 received at the Court of Joseph II, and met the Arch 
 duke, afterwards Leopold II, whom he failed to find 
 impressive, though he was the " son of Maria Theresa 
 and the brother of Marie Antoinette." It is a strange 
 anomaly, that a man who cared so little for recompense 
 from those he served, should have had so keen and 
 successful a grasp of financial matters, in which he was 
 invariably fortunate. His Amsterdam agents had 
 managed the investments placed in their hands most 
 satisfactorily, and in 1790 he was obliged to go to 
 London at Dr. Bancroft s request, as the latter had 
 taken Sir Robert Harris into partnership, and insisted 
 
PAUL JONES 397 
 
 that Jones should look over his books. This inspec 
 tion was most gratifying, and showed some 6000 to 
 his credit, 4000 of which he immediately drew, un 
 doubtedly with the intention of providing for Aimee 
 de Telusson, and settling some debts incurred on her 
 account. 
 
 If Jones had been uncertain about his reception in 
 England, his mind was shortly set at rest. Though 
 the papers had been filled by Tooke with calumnies, 
 based on the Russian slander, he found an unex 
 pected champion in Sir Robert Curtis. Just at that 
 moment when the dastardly plot was unravelled by de 
 Segur, the Empress had sent for Captain (later Sir 
 Robert) Curtis, " one of the noblest and most chivalric 
 men that ever wore the British naval uniform, which 
 is about all that can be said of any man," whom she 
 wished to have in her service. Curtis and de Segur 
 had been friends in India long ago, and the former 
 felt so incensed at the way Paul Jones was slan 
 dered, that he bluntly refused to enter the Russian 
 service, and, what is more to the point, immediately 
 on reaching London, wrote an article, over the 
 signature, " A Briton Afloat/ 3 denouncing, in the 
 strongest language, the treatment to which so gallant 
 a sailor had been subjected, and concluding 
 
 They ought to cease entertaining the hatreds of a 
 past war as to Paul Jones, and welcome him to their 
 respect and admiration as the only commander in 
 naval history who had shown himself able to make 
 French sailors fight like Englishmen . . . and to 
 reflect with pride that he could never have done this 
 
398 PAUL JONES 
 
 if he had not himself been British born. Those who 
 wish to do so, may call him a pirate. To me he was 
 a rebel, indeed, in the American Revolution; but his 
 rebellion has succeeded, its success has long been 
 acknowledged by our sovereign, and now I think it 
 high time to view him on his merits as a fighter and 
 a conqueror on the sea, without prejudice and without 
 any more impotent hate." 
 
 Society lost no time in flocking to see this much- 
 discussed character. The epistolary Walpole showed 
 him the delights of Strawberry Hill ; he visited Charles 
 James Fox, Lady Wemyss, and other "people of 
 fashion," including Lady Ossory, who showed him 
 marked civility. In company with the Prince Regent, 
 his old friend the Due d Orleans, and a following of 
 " Bloods," he had the sublime felicity of being present 
 at the championship prize-fight between " Big Ben 
 Ryan " and Mendoza, two of the Prince Regent s pets, 
 the event being held at Wormwood Scrubbs. Jones 
 rode frequently in the Park, where the spectacle of a 
 sailor on horseback startled the writer of the London 
 Chronicle into marvelling where so distinguished a son 
 of Neptune could have had the opportunity of learning 
 to ride other than sea-horses. The discussions on the 
 Russian question, which agitated Parliament at that 
 moment, interested him deeply, as he had so recently 
 come from the scene of war. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 1789-1792 
 
 WHAT is more likely though history is silent on the 
 point than that part of the gallant Admiral s stay in 
 Holland was cheered by the company of the -petite 
 blonde f Mistress of her actions, why should she 
 allow her lover to be so near and not go to him? 
 Despite the seeming delicacy of those wasp-waisted 
 ladies, they thought nothing of travelling hundreds 
 of miles on wobbly pillions, or in primitive vehicles, 
 under conditions which would reduce us to a state 
 bordering on nervous exhaustion. But we shall never 
 know if Aimee and her lover mused on the placid 
 innocuousness of Dutch landscape, or met again, when 
 the gardens of Paris blazed with the luxuriance of 
 late May. This meeting was the beginning of the 
 end. It is hard to deceive a woman who loves, and 
 from the moment of their meeting, even when joy 
 lent buoyancy to his step and the flush of excitement 
 tinged his swarthy cheek, a presentiment of coming 
 sorrow gripped Aimee s heart in icy bands. She 
 longed to have the opinion of the first doctor of the 
 day : yet dreaded the verdict, as one hesitates to open 
 the final chapter of a book, lest the ending shall be 
 tragedy. 
 
 Putting her feelings aside, she insisted her lover 
 
 399 
 
400 PAUL JONES 
 
 should have a consultation. Paul was obliged to 
 submit, and found himself in the hands of an old 
 friend, Dr. Gourgeaud, who had been fleet-surgeon 
 when he cruised as the Marquis de Vaudreuil s guest 
 on La Triompkante, in 1782-3. Jones was annoyed 
 to learn that his lungs were permanently affected from 
 the illness contracted in Russia, to which country he 
 was forbidden to think of returning. Though the 
 Rear-Admiral pleaded and argued, they were firm, 
 bidding him consider his health before his duty to 
 the Empress. He might remain in Paris during the 
 summer with precautions, but unless he went south 
 during the cold weather they would not hold out any 
 encouragement of his recovery. This was a crushing 
 blow to a man of forty-three, brimming with ambi 
 tion, just beginning to reap those laurels he so loved. 
 He said little, and, with his usual fatalistic belief, 
 shrugged his shoulders, and care fell from him. 
 
 The daily approaching crisis in French politics 
 took his mind from himself, and he burned to be in 
 the thick of the struggle, which, like a great cauldron, 
 seethed almost at boiling-point, ready to overflow and 
 scald the unwary. Always more or less in the public 
 eye, from his unusual personality as well as from the 
 unique position he occupied, Jones s return was noted 
 by a most flattering article in the Point du Jour, and, 
 calling to thank the editor, Bertrand de Barere, the 
 interview resulted in a lasting friendship. Bertrand 
 de Barere, as to whose personality Macaulay ex 
 pressed pronounced opinions, started life as an obscure 
 country lawyer and ended as one of the leaders of the 
 
PAUL JONES 401 
 
 National Convention, where he amused himself by 
 embellishing his speeches with thundering, guttural 
 oaths in the Basque tongue, which no one but himself 
 understood. Barere used to boast, when under the 
 mellow influence of the flowing bowl, that his ancestors 
 helped Hannibal in his conquests of Gaul, and were 
 only deterred from taking Rome by the debauch of 
 Capua. Jones found him interesting, as the acquaint 
 ance afforded a glimpse of the bourgeoise, a class 
 with which he had never come in contact, and 
 also enabled him to view French politics from a 
 diametrically opposite standpoint. Ardent advocate 
 of liberty as he had always been, Jones maintained 
 his opinion that the establishment of a republic, 
 similar to the United States, was impossible in France, 
 from the fact of the adjoining countries being 
 monarchical, the different temperament of the people, 
 and the utterly dissimilar conditions prevailing. 
 America was a country unhampered by precedent, 
 France was honeycombed with ancient customs of 
 which no one knew the origin, so lost were they in the 
 dark ages ; and to sweep a king from his throne, when 
 a constitutional monarchy would serve better, would 
 be an act of insanity. Jones argued that Louis XVI 
 was the truly sincere friend of French liberty, and not 
 responsible for the sins of his ancestors, disagree 
 ing with Danton, who declared the King aided the 
 American cause solely to annoy England. It must 
 be admitted that the King s kindness to Jones un 
 doubtedly biased his views more or less, and he had 
 long arguments with Tom Paine, who told him that, 
 
 c c 
 
402 PAUL JONES 
 
 should Louis be deposed, France would not be the 
 first nation to kill its sovereign, adding that he and 
 Jones were descendants of those men who had made 
 such things as Cromwell possible. But Jones stuck 
 to his argument, retorting 
 
 " What you say is true, Tom, but bear in mind that 
 the French lack two essential elements of that situa 
 tion : First, they have in Louis XVI no Charles I, 
 and second, and most important, there isn t the 
 making of one Cromwell in the whole group of them 
 together." 
 
 Firm as Paul was in his defence of the King, he 
 could not condone the monarch s weakness on the 
 "Day of daggers" (February 28, 1791). He said: 
 " Up to that time I had been able to find reason for 
 the King s gentleness. But this was not gentle. It 
 was weak. From that hour 1 pitied the poor man, 
 beset by situations to which nature had made him 
 unequal. Then or never was the time for grapeshot. 
 Then, and then only, did my heart turn against the 
 populace. For once I wished I might be in command 
 of the thirty cannon that were packed in the court 
 yard, with trained men standing ready to work them. 
 Some slaughter would have been necessary, but it 
 would have been a slaughter of scoundrels (boucherie 
 dcs scelerats)" 
 
 As to Lafayette, who played such a prominent part 
 in the public life of the hour, Jones, though a firm 
 friend, shared the universal opinion of his contempor 
 aries that the tremendous responsibilities of the 
 political upheaval were more than he was capable 
 
PAUL JONES 403 
 
 of controlling, and that he had let loose more 
 "dogs of war" than could be called to heel at his 
 whistle. 
 
 Lafayette was occupied morning and night with his 
 duties in the National Guard, and Jones attended all 
 the debates, where political questions were discussed 
 with a vigour and impassioned eloquence possible only 
 among the Latin races. 
 
 Improved in health, Paul enjoyed life to its fullest 
 extent in the society he loved best. The more one 
 realises the stupendous amount of manual labour 
 involved in the indefatigable correspondence with 
 scattered friends, the projects, memorials and plans 
 which he drew up, in a time when mechanical devices 
 for writing were unheard of, and sees the reams of 
 paper covered in his neat script, the more easily one 
 understands that cramped fingers and weakened eye 
 sight must have been the inevitable result. He wrote 
 congratulating Potemkin on his Russian success ; pro 
 posed to Gouverneur Morris plans for the attack on 
 India, should Russia and England declare war, and 
 was never, for an instant, idle or without project for 
 his employment. 
 
 There have been many comments on Paul s seem 
 ing weakness for sending his bust to his friends; this 
 Baron Grimm, the greatest gossip of his day, explains, 
 completely refuting the supposition that the bust was 
 first taken at his own wish. Touching on the social 
 success of the returned hero in 1780, on his having 
 been "applauded with transport at all the public 
 places where he has shown himself, and particularly 
 
 cc 2 
 
404 PAUL JONES 
 
 at the opera," he alludes to the remarkable fact "that 
 this brave corsair, who had given multiplied proofs of 
 possessing a soul the most firm and courage the most 
 determined, is at the same time the most feeling and 
 mild man in the world, has made a great many verses 
 full of elegance and softness, the sort of poetry which 
 appears most congenial to his taste being the elegy 
 and the pastoral. The Lodge of the Nine Sisters, of 
 which he is a member, have employed M. Houdon 
 to take his bust. This resemblance is a new master 
 piece worthy of the chisel which appears destined 
 to consecrate to immortality illustrious men of all 
 kinds." 
 
 In February, 1/91, Jones requested the Empress 
 Catherine to cancel his leave, " if she had no further 
 use for his services." He asked Jefferson to obtain 
 permission from Congress to wear the Order of St. 
 Anne, with which his bust had been decorated. There 
 were, in Russia, five orders of knighthood : three 
 founded by Peter the Great, and two, St. George and 
 St. Vladimir, by Catherine II. St. Anne was a Hoi- 
 stein Order, conferred by the Grand Duke Paul, as 
 Duke of Holstein; only the Russian decorations being 
 conferred by the Empress personally. 
 
 To Baron Grimm Jones sent a copy of his bust, and 
 the particulars of a new development in ship-building, 
 submitted by the inventor, who claimed the advan 
 tages of separate beds or hammocks for the crew, less 
 smoke in action, better ventilation, and a host of 
 smaller details. Jones desired that this might be 
 brought to the notice of the Empress, as it would 
 
PAUL JONES 405 
 
 be useful to Russia. He asked Grimm to learn the 
 intentions of the Empress regarding himself; but 
 Catherine, while using Grimm as a compiler of back 
 stairs gossip, did not consider him a necessary factor 
 in affairs of state, and informed him curtly : " If peace 
 did not take place she would let M. Paul Jones know 
 her intentions respecting himself, and would not 
 choose him as the medium of her correspondence 
 with Paul Jones." 
 
 It is interesting just at this moment to pause, 
 wondering what the ultimate destiny of this man 
 would have been had he lived through the great 
 Revolution, until Napoleon raised France to the 
 apex of her military glory. When, years later, the 
 news of Trafalgar was brought to Napoleon, he 
 gloomily asked Berthier : " How old was Paul Jones 
 when he died? 5 and on being told about forty-five 
 Berthier was not sure said : " Then he did not fulfil 
 his destiny. Had he lived to this time France might 
 have had an admiral," and, again, he said : " Our 
 admirals are always talking about pelagic conditions 
 and ulterior objects, as if there was any condition or 
 any object in war except to get in contact with the 
 enemy and destroy him. That was Paul Jones s view 
 of the conditions and objects of naval warfare. It 
 was also Nelson s. It is a pity they could not have 
 been matched somewhere with fairly equal force.* 
 
 Paul, during the last year and a half of his life, 
 was in indifferent health, which, combined with the 
 unsettled condition of politics, restrained him from 
 taking active steps to obtain employment for his 
 
406 PAUL JONES 
 
 services. There was a terrible tension in the very 
 air, the precursor of the swift-coming storm, which 
 kept every nerve on the alert, ready to spring from 
 danger at the sound of the tocsin. Paul s wonderful 
 adaptability fitted him for any office to which he could 
 have been appointed, and his political friendships 
 brought him continuously in touch with the men in 
 whose hands lay the destinies of France. The 
 brilliant Treatise on the Existing State of the French 
 Navy, though published anonymously, was instantly 
 attributed to Jones, who, in December, 1791, was pre 
 sented at Court in his rank of Russian Admiral. In 
 the letter telling Lafayette of this he speaks of some 
 " fur linings, brought from Russia," which he hoped 
 his Majesty would accept. These were a pelisse of 
 spotless ermine and a mantle of sea-otter given him 
 by General Suwarrow. The unsettled claims for pay 
 ment of the Bonhomme Richard s crew, w r hich he 
 had advanced and never received, occupied him con 
 tinually. Undeniably all these incessant projects and 
 worries sadly affected his health, when he should have 
 been quiet and untroubled, and, added to his restless 
 temperament, augmented the jaundice from which he 
 was beginning to suffer. 
 
 With what pleasure he would have received the 
 news that Congress had commissioned him, the ist 
 of June, 1792, as admiral, to take command of a 
 squadron, sent to bring that graceless old heathen, the 
 Dey of Algiers, to reason and to liberate the Christian 
 captives. It was his favourite project, but death spared 
 him the disappointment of knowing that his adopted 
 
PAUL JONES 407 
 
 country, impoverished by war, was unable, when 
 the time came, to raise the million dollars needed to 
 equip the expedition. When Mr. Pinkham, the new 
 American Minister to the Court of St. James, arrived, 
 bringing the commission, Paul was far beyond all 
 these worldly honours. The dwindling sands of life 
 had ceased. 
 
 As always, his last days were full of action, hurrying 
 to and fro, and endless visitors at his appartement in 
 the Rue de Tournon near the Luxembourg, where he 
 kept open house and we find the names of great and 
 small in the political melee, the Due d Orleans among 
 the number. 
 
 When too ill to go abroad Paul spent the warm 
 July afternoons lounging in a hammock, "which Mme. 
 de Telusson caused to be rigged in the garden of the 
 Admiral s lodgings, a genuine sailor s hammock, swung 
 low to the ground with long cords stretching clear 
 across the little garden. In this hammock the Admiral 
 would pass the afternoons when the sun had retired 
 behind the shade of the houses opposite; and Mme. 
 de Telusson would sit by him, gently swinging the 
 hammock. In this way the stricken hero found some 
 relief from the pains that devoured him." 
 
 A stranger to illness, he never doubted his recovery : 
 those near him were not so hopeful. He had aban 
 doned the idea of returning to Russia, and, had he 
 lived, planned to enter the French service, where high 
 rank awaited him. Jones attended a sitting of the 
 National Assembly on Wednesday, July nth, and was 
 to have spoken on the reorganisation of the French 
 
408 PAUL JONES 
 
 navy, but, when the time came, begged to be excused 
 on account of his health, as to have been heard in that 
 vast chamber would have necessitated him raising his 
 voice to a pitch which brought on the terrible attacks 
 of coughing so weakening to him. After the spirited 
 seance concluded, Jones joined Cambon, Barere, and 
 other members of the Central Jacobin Club for supper 
 at the Cafe Timon. 
 
 The following speech, alleged to have been recorded 
 by Capelle, but found in none of the standard works, 
 is quoted by Buell with no reference to the where 
 abouts of the original, and is a most astounding jumble 
 of phrases to have fallen from the lips of Paul Jones, 
 whose enmity to England disappeared long since, and 
 who was, above all, self-contained and a diplomat to 
 the tips of his fingers, and never known to give way 
 to such outbursts 
 
 "At this, which proved to be his last, supper all 
 were delighted at the apparent mending of the 
 Chevalier s health. Barere and Philippe were particu 
 larly cheered by his showing of health and recuperat 
 ing energy. 
 
 They toasted him as the coming Admiral of 
 France. But he parried all their compliments politely, 
 and finally said 
 
 " Gentlemen, pardon me, but let me say that this 
 is no time for jest or raillery, no matter how well 
 meant or how gentle. You all know my sentiments. 
 I do not approve, I cannot in conscience approve, all 
 that you have done, are doing, and, alas ! intend yet 
 to do. But I feel that I ought to take advantage of 
 
PAUL JONES 409 
 
 this perhaps my last opportunity to define clearly 
 my attitude. 
 
 " Whatever you do now, France does. If you kill 
 my good friend the King, France kills him; because, 
 as things are now ordered, the group of which a great 
 majority is present here, is France. Louis XIV once 
 said : " I am the state." You can say that you are the 
 state with more truth. 
 
 " My relations to the people across the Channel 
 are known to us all. Their enemies must be my 
 friends everywhere; those whom they hate I must 
 love. As all here know, as all France knows, the 
 progress of the French people towards liberty, and the 
 promises that progress gives of new strength and a 
 new might to the French nation, fill the rulers of 
 England with alarm and resentment. The day when 
 this alarm will turn to hostility and this resentment be 
 expressed by blows is not far off. 
 
 It is the beginning of this paragraph which, even 
 if taken as a purely political bit of oratory, seems 
 so impossible. That a man of Jones s conservative 
 nature and well-controlled temperament should launch 
 forth into such clap-trap appeals for popularity is 
 utterly at variance with his behaviour through life. 
 There being no phonographs ready to record his words 
 verbatim, and the brain of the scribe in all proba 
 bility over-excited by the conviviality of the meal, 
 one must allow for exaggeration. The Admiral never 
 saw a report of the speech, and undoubtedly local 
 colour crept in unawares. 
 
 " When that day comes, if I am able to stand a 
 
410 PAUL JONES 
 
 deck/ the speech continues, I shall make no point 
 of rank/ " an absurdity when it is well known that 
 although Paul had no desire for money he stuck 
 tenaciously to little worldlinesses like these. I 
 shall raise no question of political opinion. I shall 
 only ask France to tell me how I can best serve her 
 cause. 
 
 " You have brought back to my ears the sound of 
 many voices giving forth the lusty cheers of courage 
 in combat. Some of those faces were of American 
 mould; but more were the faces of Frenchmen. Some 
 of those voices sounded in my native tongue, but 
 more in the language of France. The Richard s 
 crew was, as you know, considerably more than half 
 Frenchmen. 
 
 " I cannot be immodest enough to say that I found 
 it easy to teach them the art of conquering English 
 men. But I trust you will not think me vainglorious 
 if I say that, in that combat, I at least did what, un 
 fortunately, some French officers have not of late 
 years done, I simply let my Frenchmen fight their 
 battle out. 
 
 " Now, I promise you that, if I live, in whatever 
 station France may call me to lead her sons, I shall 
 always, as I have done when meeting the English or 
 any other foe, let my Frenchmen fight their battle 
 out/" 
 
 There is much more in the same strain of florid 
 oratory which makes one certain that the gallant Paul 
 has been too freely translated. 
 
 The following Sunday Gouverneur Morris visited 
 
PAUL JONES 411 
 
 Paul Jones at his house, 42 Rue de Tournon, in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 " Found the Admiral lying in a hammock, stretched 
 in the little garden in the rear of his lodgings. Mme. 
 T. and two young ladies were with him. He was 
 extremely cheerful, and seemed better than for a long 
 time previously. He did not cough much, and talked 
 a good deal. Wonderfully interesting ! Promised 
 to lunch with me next day. Took my leave about five 
 o clock, and the ladies accompanied me. . . . Mme. 
 de T. was most charming, and was in high spirits at 
 the evident improvement of the Admiral s health." 
 
 On the afternoon of the i8th of July, 1792, Paul 
 Jones drew up his will and, assisted by Gouverneur 
 Morris, made an inventory of his goods, but no one 
 dreamed that the end was so near. Simply, and 
 unostentatiously as he had lived, his spirit left the 
 ambitious, tired body. Alone and self-reliant, Paul 
 Jones breathed his last. . . . No tears fell from tender 
 eyes, no loving fingers closed the heavy lids. . . . 
 
 Colonel Blackden wrote a simple and brief letter 
 announcing his death to Mrs. Taylor of Dumfries, his 
 eldest sister 
 
 " Great Titchfield Street, 
 
 " London^ August 9. 
 
 Your brother, Admiral Jones, was not in good 
 health for about a year, but had not been so unwell 
 as to keep the house. For two months past he began 
 to lose his appetite, to grow yellow, and show signs of 
 
412 PAUL JONES 
 
 the jaundice; for this he took medicine, and seemed 
 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 waist 
 coat, and had great difficulty in breathing. I visited 
 him every day, and, beginning to be apprehensive of 
 his danger, desired him to settle his affairs; but this 
 he put off till the afternoon of his death, when he was 
 prevailed upon to send for a notaire, and made his 
 will. Mr. Beaupoil and myself witnessed it about 
 eight 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 2oth, that in case the United States, whom he 
 had so essentially served, and with so much honour 
 to himself, should claim his remains they might be 
 more easily removed. This is all, Madame, that I can 
 say concerning his illness and death." 
 
 The final discovery of the Admiral s body by the 
 untiring efforts of the American Embassy in Paris, and 
 its exhumation in 1905, after lying hidden for one 
 hundred and thirteen years in the abandoned cemetery 
 of St. Louis; its removal to America under escort of 
 a naval squadron, and subsequent burial with much 
 
PAUL JONES 413 
 
 ceremony at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, are 
 all too recent events to need description. There had 
 been several half-hearted efforts previously by the 
 American Government to find and remove the remains, 
 but they all failed from one cause or another. 
 
 It seems a remarkable omission that a man so 
 famous as Paul Jones, who was followed to his grave 
 by a deputation from the National Assembly and 
 by many of the leading men of France, should have 
 been buried without any name-plate or other dis 
 tinguishing mark on the leaden coffin. This omission 
 is all the more remarkable since a leaden coffin 
 was used " in case the United States, whom he 
 had so essentially served, and with so much honour 
 to himself, should claim his remains, they might be 
 more easily removed. 3 And there are those who 
 whisper that the body, exhumed and taken away with 
 so much ceremony and care, is not that of the founder 
 of the American Navy. 
 
 The American Minister, Gouverneur Morris, writing 
 to Robert Morris, says 
 
 " Before I quit Paul Jones I must tell you that 
 some people here who like rare shows wished him 
 to have a pompous funeral, and I was applied to on 
 the subject; but as I had no right to spend money 
 on such follies, either the money of his heirs or that 
 of the United States, I desired that he might be buried 
 in a private and economical manner. I have since had 
 reason to be glad that I did not agree to waste money, 
 of which he had no great abundance, and for which 
 his relatives entertained a tender regard. 
 
414 PAUL JONES 
 
 Why this absurd and niggardly desire when Morris, 
 of all men, knew that his friend left a considerable 
 sum of money at his banker s, and an estate eventually 
 realising 12,000? One might even go to the length 
 of thinking that in the event of so distinguished a 
 man as the Chevalier Admiral Paul Jones having died 
 in poor circumstances, his friend could have taxed the 
 obligations of friendship to the extent of seeing him 
 buried in a manner appropriate to his worldly rank. 
 Was there, in Morris s heart, that latent gleam of 
 jealousy of the "foreigner" from which Paul seemed 
 ever doomed to suffer? The French wished to place 
 him in the Pantheon to sleep among the heroes of 
 their nation ; why, then, was he buried in the cemetery 
 for foreign Protestants with " no priest, no service," 
 and a simple volley of musketry fired over his 
 grave ? 
 
 The Moniteur in its official report of the National 
 Assembly records that a letter was received on the 
 subject, from Colonel Blackden 
 
 " MR. PRESIDENT, 
 
 " I announce to you that Admiral Paul Jones 
 died last evening in Paris ; that the American Minister 
 has ordered the person at whose house the Admiral 
 died to cause him to be buried in the most private 
 manner, and at the least possible expense ! ! ! 
 
 This person, on account of the formalities still 
 existing relative to Protestants, found it necessary to 
 apply to a Commissary. He has done it, and M. 
 Simoneau, the Commissary, expresses his astonishment 
 
PAUL JONES 415 
 
 at the order given by the Minister, and says that a 
 man who has rendered such signal services to France 
 and America ought to have a public funeral. He 
 adds that if America will not pay the expense he will 
 pay it himself. The friends of the Admiral wait the 
 orders of the Assembly respecting the mode of 
 interment. 
 
 " S. BLACKDEN. 
 " (Late Colonel in the Service 
 of the United Slates^ 
 
 A curious old law still existed which allowed 
 foreign Protestants to be buried free of expense, and 
 this was to be taken advantage of to bury, as a pauper, 
 a man whose name had rung through two worlds 
 . . . The generous M. Simoneau, brother of the 
 Mayor of Etampes, actually paid the expenses of the 
 pitiful burial, which amounted to 462 francs, and 
 the great Paul Jones was laid to his final rest 
 through the kindness and charity of a total stranger ! 
 The Dutch Pastor, Paul Henri Marron, delivered 
 the funeral oration, a florid bit of oratory highly 
 complimentary to the dead; the speaker declaring 
 "the fame of the brave outlives him, his portion is 
 immortality." 
 
 Though America forgot him, in the hearts of his 
 French friends Paul held a place not to be usurped 
 by another. On the Sunday following his death 
 Barere delivered from the steps of the Palais de 
 Justice one of his celebrated " Sermons to the People " 
 on the " Freedom of the Sea," in which he eulogised 
 
416 PAUL JONES 
 
 the gallant Paul Jones in the highest terms, and 
 during the next decade memoirs of him were con 
 stantly published at Paris. His personal belongings, 
 decorations and uniforms were taken charge of by 
 Mrs. Taylor, the sister who came from Scotland for 
 this purpose. The golden sword given him by Louis 
 XVI, of which he was so justly proud, he bequeathed 
 to " Dick " Dale, who, he said, had done more than 
 any one to help him win it. Of the beautiful and 
 broken-hearted Aimee there is no word, but her 
 welfare had been his care long ago. 
 
 There is much thoughtfulness evinced for those 
 dependent on him, to whom he left his property. 
 Through the busy years of his life he kept up a corre 
 spondence with the two married sisters, endeavouring 
 to mediate in their incessant quarrels. He frequently 
 sent them money, and this was undoubtedly the reason 
 for their persistence in keeping warm the slight tie 
 of relationship, for, as they had not met for some 
 twenty years, their interests could have had little in 
 common. 
 
 Paul Jones undoubtedly deserves to rank as one 
 of the remarkable men of an age which saw the final 
 disappearance of the feudal system and the birth of 
 an era devoted to those " Rights of Man " of which 
 he was so ardent a champion. Had he entered the 
 British navy his rise would have been steady and 
 rapid, for as a sea-fighter he was unsurpassed in 
 resourceful daring; never did he know defeat, or, it is 
 alleged, was he wounded. His victories were the 
 more remarkable from the poor means with which he 
 
PAUL JONES 417 
 
 gained them, and were won single-handed, unsup 
 ported by his squadron, won by sheer fighting, and 
 owed nothing to manoeuvre or stratagem. It is better 
 for his undimmed glory that he never lived to become 
 Admiral of the fleet of Republican France, for, fight 
 ing as he would have been obliged to fight with the 
 preponderance of his crew Frenchmen and none of 
 his sturdy " Yankee bullies" to fall back upon could 
 he have held his own when he measured swords against 
 Nelson, as he would have been called to do? Could 
 he, by the magnetism of his personality, the force of 
 his inflexible will, have inspired these Frenchmen to 
 fight as they had once fought on the Bonhomme 
 Richard f 
 
 He was a man without a country, inasmuch as, 
 though he fought, and fought loyally for the banner he 
 upheld, his love of active service predominated over 
 all else. When he told Lady Selkirk : " I am not in 
 arms as an American. ... I profess myself a citizen 
 of the world, totally unfettered by the little, mean 
 distinctions of climate or country," he expressed those 
 sentiments which, above all, animated him. He was 
 " unfettered by the little, mean distinctions of climate 
 or country," but he had not forgotten his native land 
 to the extent of indifference to the opinions of his 
 compatriots, for he once said : " The English nation 
 may hate me, but I will force them to esteem me 
 
 He believed firmly in Nelson s dictum that " a naval 
 officer, unlike a military commander, can have no fixed 
 plans. He must always be ready for the chance. It 
 
 DD 
 
418 PAUL JONES 
 
 may come to-morrow, or next week, or next year, or 
 never; but he must be always ready." He was pre 
 pared for what might happen, and among his papers 
 was found a complete and exhaustive list of every 
 ship in the English navy, down to the most insigni 
 ficant detail. With this he could not be taken by sur 
 prise as to the strength of his opponent. There was 
 much speculation as to the manner in which he 
 obtained such a document, but since 1770 Paul had 
 been a Freemason, and to such an one nothing is 
 denied by his brothers. While in France, where Free 
 masonry was, for the moment, the fashionable whim, 
 this universal brotherhood unlocked for him many a 
 secret door. It was so very much the cult of the hour 
 that there were lodges to which women belonged as 
 well as men, and the initiation of the beautiful Prin- 
 cesse de Lamballe as Grande Maitresse of the Mere 
 Loge E cos sals e d Adoption was the occasion of 
 much festivity and a flowery poem in honour of the 
 event. 
 
 His faults were those of too keen a love for glory, 
 too great an intolerance of those who had light regard 
 for their word of honour, too bitter a contempt 
 for such as put gain before the welfare of their 
 country. 
 
 He formed many friendships with men and with 
 
 the women of the hour ; his love for Aimee de Telusson 
 
 was ardent and chivalrous, and yet these friendships 
 
 these ties were as frail as the web of the spider 
 
 when ambition balanced the scales. 
 
 There was no hesitation for him, destiny ordered 
 
PAUL JONES 419 
 
 his to be a life of ambition, full of turbulent emo 
 tions, gratified achievements, never-ending hope and 
 aspiration. . . . Can he not be aptly described in 
 the words 
 
 * Jealous in honour ; sudden and quick in quarrel ; 
 Seeking the bubble reputation 
 Even in the cannon s mouth " ? 
 
INDEX 
 
 ADAMS, J. O., 49, 52, 60, 61, 65, 
 74, 75> 9 b > !7o, 301, 302, 329 
 
 Alexander, W., 144, 146 
 
 Alexiano, Brigadier, 362, 364, 
 366, 3(38, 369, 370, 371, 372, 
 
 373 
 
 Algiers, Dey of, 406 
 Altigny, Mme. la Mair d , 395 
 Amherst, Sir Godfrey, 30 
 Aremberg, Prince Louis d , 118 
 Artois, Comte d , no 
 Auray, Marquise d , 189 
 Austen, John Loring, 95, 96 
 Auvergne, La Tour d , 303 
 
 Baines, Capt., 180 
 
 Bancroft, Dr., 95, no, 200, 262, 
 
 39 6 
 
 Bandonin, 194 
 Bannatyne, Dr., 259, 263 
 Barere, Bertrand de, 114, 400, 
 
 401, 408, 415 
 Bart, Jean, 198, 202, 330 
 Beaumarchais, 216 
 Beaupoil, 411 
 Beauvallon, 312 
 Benson, Capt., 21 
 Bernstorff, Count, 344 
 Bersolle, 161, 162, 167, 168 
 Berthier, 405 
 Bertrand, Mme., 103 
 Besborodko, Count, 348, 354, 359, 
 
 388, 389, 390 
 BibikofT, 388, 389 
 Biddle, Nicholas, 61, 77, 198 
 Blackden, Col., 411, 414 
 Bloom, Rosalie, 335 
 Bonneval, 104. See Telusson, de 
 Bouffon, Mme. de, 118 
 Bourbon, Comtesse de, 114 
 Bourgoyne, Gen., 91, 92, 95, 101 
 Braddock, Gen., 32, 60 
 
 Brandisky. Comte de, 375 
 Brook, Lawrence, 255, 259 
 Bruce, Comte de, 390 
 Buell, 408 
 Burband, John, 245 
 
 Cadwalder, Gen., 77 
 Calonne, de, 145, 166 
 Cambon, 408 
 
 Campan, Mme. de, 113, 330 
 Capelle, 113, 408 
 Carleton, Sir H. G., 56, 58 
 Carroll, Col., 74 
 
 - Mrs., 74 
 
 Castries, Marechal de, 312, 329, 
 
 330 
 Catherine II, 341, 342, 345, 346, 
 
 347, 348, 349, 35 1 35 2 > 353 
 
 354> 355 357, 35^, 359, 360, 
 
 361, 363, 364, 373, 375, 379, 
 
 381, 382, 383, 385, 386, 387, 
 
 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 
 39 6 >. 397, 400, 404, 405 
 
 Chamillard, Col., 230, 234, 243 
 
 Chandler, Caroline, 85 
 
 Charles I, 402 
 
 Charlie, Bonnie Prince, 11 
 
 Chartres, Due de, 40, 41, 42, 
 
 99, 101, 116, 117, 125, 160, 
 
 163, 166, 203, 207, 284, 285, 
 
 305 
 
 - Duchesse de, 41, 102, 106, 
 114, 119, 120, 125, 127, 203, 
 
 207, 208, 210, 211, 228, 284, 
 285, 286, 287, 288, 303 
 
 Chaumont, Le Ray de, 96, 155, 
 167, 194, 196, 199, 200, 205, 
 211, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
 219, 265, 266, 274 
 
 Choiseul, Due de, 104 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, 173 
 
 Cooper, Fenimore, 189 
 
 429 
 
INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 Corsacoff, Brigadier, 367, 369 
 Cottineau, Capt., 233, 234, 259, 
 
 260, 268, 269, 275 
 Craik, Mr., 10, 13, 14, 15, 27, 181 
 
 - Mrs., 10 
 Crimpin, 387 
 Cromwell, -}O2 
 Cunningham, Allan, 188 
 Currie, Beck & Co., 24 
 Curtis, Sir R., 397 
 
 Daer, Lord, 145 
 
 Dale, Richard, Lieut., 225, 237, 
 239, 246, 250, 251, 256, 277, 
 
 278, 3*8, 337. 4 l6 
 Deane, Silas, 120, 121, 176 
 Degge, Arthur, Lieut., 275, 310 
 "Delia," 288, 290, 292, 293, 
 
 294 
 
 Denmark, King of, 266, 344 
 Derby, Earl of, 185 
 Dibden, 189 
 Donegal, John, 151 
 Dorset, Duke of, 145 
 Dowries, Johnny, 325 
 Dumas, Alex., 189, 190 
 
 - Charles Frederick, 121, 123, 
 267, 311 
 
 Dun more, Earl of, 33, 59, 60, 
 
 Eastment, James, 24, 25 
 Edes-Herbert, Miss, 114, 294, 
 
 295, 296, 297, 299, 300 
 Edgerley, Dr., 259, 263, 264 
 Edwards, Lieut., 359, 360, 365, 
 
 377- 378, 395 
 
 Elliot, Grace Dalrymple, 118 
 Estaing, Comte d , 201, 203, 327 
 Evans, Jerry, 246 
 
 Falls, Gunner, 151 
 
 Fanning, Nathaniel, 65, 225, 246, 
 
 247, 259, 281, 282, 314, 337 
 Father John, 143 
 Faulkner, Betty, 74 
 Fisher, Col. Henry, 322 
 Fitzmaurice, Mr., 215 
 Ford, Hezekiah, 124, 170, 171, 
 
 172 
 Fox, Charles James, 397 
 
 - Lieut., 372 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 67, 83, 95, 
 
 97, 120, J2i, 122, 123, 124, 143, 
 
 144, 162, 165, 170, 172, 191, 
 
 194, 197, 2OO, 2OI, 203, 2O6, 
 
 207, 2i6, 2l8, 220, 221, 222, 
 
 227, 231, 26l, 266, 267, 271, 
 
 272, 273, 274, 276, 278, 282, 
 
 283, 3OI, 306, 307, 309, 3IO, 
 
 318, 329, 331, 335 
 Frazier Brothers, 42, 334 
 Frederick the Great, 104, 105 
 Freeman, 134 
 Fregville, Louis de, 396 
 
 Galles, Morad de, 341 
 
 Gardner, Henry, 235, 246, 250, 
 
 337 
 
 Genlis, Mme. de, 119 
 George III, 49, 122, 261, 266, 311 
 Gerard, Pierre, 243, 245 
 Gillon, Capt., 121 
 Gourgeaud, Dr., 400 
 Gourlade and Moylan, 144, 210 
 Grand, le, 147 
 Grasse, de, 201 
 Green, Mr., 131 
 Greig, Admiral Sir Samuel, 359, 
 
 379 
 Grimm, Baron, 288, 403, 404, 
 
 405 
 Grub, Lieut., 178, 179 
 
 Hacker, Capt., 55 
 
 Hall, Elijah, 79, 80, 89, 92, 93 
 
 - Dorothy, 85 
 Hancock, John, 50 
 Hannibal, 401 
 Harris, Sir R., 396 
 Harrison, Benjamin, 43 
 Hazard, Capt., 53 
 
 Hewes, Joseph, 36, 43, 49, 60, 
 74. 75. J 37> H9. 201 2 5> 2o6 
 
 219, 222 
 
 Hill, Chas., 93, 131, 132 
 Hineman, Capt., 61 
 Hood, Sir Samuel, 332 
 
 - Midshipman, 333 
 Holstein, Duke of, 404 
 Hopkins, Commander of Fleet, 
 
 5i. 52, 177 
 
 - Capt., 316 
 
 Houdetot, Comtesse d , 67, 299 
 Houdon, M., 180, 404 
 Houge, Baron de la, 343 
 Howe, Lord, 57 
 Hurst, Granville, 36 
 
422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jefferson, Thos., 38, 61, 108, 335, 
 
 339. 34. 342, 344, 345- 347, 
 
 381, 389, 404 
 Jeremiah, Anthony, 240 
 Johnson, Capt., 180 
 Jones, John Paul, 9 et seq. 
 Joseph II (Austria), 396 
 
 Kalb, Baron de, 71 
 
 Kersaint, Capt. de, 40, 42, 341 
 
 Kidd, Capt., 174 
 
 Kilby, John, 222, 225, 226 
 
 Knox, Gen., 77 
 
 Kosciusko, 394 
 
 Kreuss, 359 
 
 Krudener, Baron, 348, 396 
 
 - Madame, 395 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis de, 71, 72, 
 
 73- 77. 7 8 83, 99. 101, 134. 
 214, 215, 224, 324, 344, 352, 
 
 353, 42, 43, 40 6 
 
 - Mme. dc, 102, 114 
 Lamballe, Princesse de, 114, 117, 
 
 118, 207, 418 
 
 Lambesec, Prince de, 118 
 Landais, Pierre, 214, 216, 217, 
 223, 224, 228, 230, 231, 233, 
 248, 261, 271, 272, 274, 275, 
 276, 277, 278, 305, 306, 307, 
 308, 309, 310, 318, 319 
 Langdon, Gov., 83 
 
 - Mary, 85, 86, 87 
 Le Bel, 102, 103 
 
 Lee, Arthur, 95, 120, 121, 122, 
 123, 124, 130, 169, 170, 171, 
 173, 204, 305, 306, 309, 310, 
 318, 320, 321, 344 
 
 Leopold II, 396 
 
 Ligne, Prince de, 355, 356, 375, 
 376 
 
 Linthwaite, Midshipman, 241 
 
 Littlepage, Chevalier, 342, 345, 
 
 375, 376, 392, 393 
 Livingston, Mme., 335, 336 
 Livingstone, Philip, 43 
 Livoncourt, de, 278 
 Lloyd s, 331 
 
 Louis Philippe, 284, 285, 334 
 Louis XIV, 41, 202, 330, 409 
 Louis XV, 102, 103, 105 
 Louis XVI, 105, 109, 164, 207, 208, 
 
 2 9, 3 r 9 335. 401 > 402, 416 
 
 Lunt, Sailing Master, 225, 229, 
 
 276, 318 
 Luzerne, Chevalier de la, loo, 
 
 322, 327 
 
 Macadam, Capt., 24 
 Macau lay, 400 
 
 Macbean, Duncan, 32, 33, 59, 60 
 Macduff, Jean, 10, n 
 Mackenzie, 135 
 Malesherbes, 100, 330 
 Marcereau, M. de, 155, 282 
 Marie Antoinette, 100, 113, 114, 
 
 227, 228, 396 
 Marron, P. H., 415 
 Marsan, Mme. de, 102, 106, 108, 
 
 114, 294, 299 
 
 Martigne, Chevalier de, 326 
 Maurepas, Comte de, 166, 311 
 Mawey, Stuart, 33 
 Maxwell, Gov. of Bahamas, 9, 176 
 
 Mungo, 24, 25, 27, 382 
 
 Mayrant, John, 225, 240, 249, 
 
 250, 255, 256, 276, 279, 280, 
 
 281, 282, 337 
 
 - Josephine, 74 
 Mease, Purser, 241 
 Mirabeau, 100, 330 
 Montespan, Mme. de, 41 
 Montmorin, Comte, 391 
 Mordwinoff, Admiral, 361, 379 
 Morgan, 174 
 
 - Gen., 59 
 Morlaix, Comte de, 189 
 
 Comtesse, 189 
 
 Morris, Robert, 42, 56, 76, 77, 
 90, 321, 324, 326, 413 
 
 - Gouverneur, 117, 403, 410, 
 411, 413, 414 
 
 Morton, Countess of, 145 
 
 Napoleon, 114, 405 
 
 Naraschkin, 359 
 
 Nassau, Prince of, 25, 194, 342, 
 3 6l 3 6 3> 3 6 4. 3 6 5. 367. 3 68 , 
 3 6 9. 37, 37 i. 372, 373, 374- 
 375. 376, 379, 382, 388, 393 
 
 Necker, 118 
 
 Nelson, Lord, 12, 405, 417 
 
 Nesbitt, 144 
 
 Neufville & Co., 276 
 
 Nolte, Peter, 246 
 
 North, Lord, 204, 224 
 
INDEX 
 
 423 
 
 Orange, Prince of, 267 
 Orleans, Due d , 100, 117, 118, 
 
 I 19, 211, 398, 407 
 
 Orloff, Comte d , 362 
 
 Orvillers, Comte d , 126, 143, 
 
 157, 158, 161, 163, 165, it>8, 
 
 194, 195, 201, 272 
 Ossory, Lady, 398 
 
 Paine, Tom, 401, 402 
 
 Parke, Betty, 34 
 
 Parker, Lieut., 36, 37 
 
 Pasha, Capt., 367, 368, 369, 370, 
 
 37 . 372, 373. 378 
 Paul, John, 9, 10, u, 12 
 
 - William, 12 
 
 - Mary Ann, 12 
 
 - Elizabeth, 12 
 
 - Janet, 12 
 
 - Jean, 13 
 
 - Archduke, of Russia, 388, 
 404 
 
 Pearson, Capt. Richard, 178, 237, 
 245, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 
 254. 2 59 286, 311, 336 
 
 Peck, Mr., 316 
 
 Penthievre, Due de, 117 
 
 - Marie Adelaide de Bourbon, 
 40, 117 
 
 Peter the Great, 365, 404 
 
 Philippe, 408 
 
 Pierce, Augusta, 85 
 
 Pindar, 316 
 
 Pinkham, Lieut., U.S.N., 13 
 
 American Minister, 407 
 Pocahontas, 174 
 Poix, Prince de, 99 
 Poland, King of, 376 
 Pompadour, Mme. de, 102, 103, 
 
 104, 105 
 Potemkin, Prince, 25, 113, 345, 
 
 352, 353. 354. 355. 35^, 357. 
 
 35 8 > 3 6 3 37 i. 374. 375. 37 6 . 
 
 377. 378. 379. 3i. 387, 388, 
 
 389, 43 
 Potter, Midshipman, 251, 253, 
 
 27Q, 280, 337 
 
 Powers, Midshipman, 151, 156 
 Prince Royal of Denmark, 343 
 Princess Royal of Denmark, 343 
 
 Randall, Arthur, 245 
 Repuin, Prince de, 375 
 Revere, Paul, 83 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 180 
 
 Reynst, de, 267 
 
 Ribas, Brigadier, 361, 366 
 
 Riemersma, 267 
 
 Rions, d Albert, 341 
 
 Roberdeau, Capt. de, 203, 228, 
 
 229 
 
 Rochefoucauld, Due de la, 197 
 Ross, Mr., 86 
 
 Saltonstall, Dudley, Capt., 50, 
 
 65, 74. 76, 77. 78 
 Samoilov, Gen., 375 
 Sartine, de, 194, 197, 198, 199, 
 
 200, 201, 203, 204, 205, 208, 
 
 209, 217, 224, 269, 271, 274, 
 
 278, 312, 390 
 Savoie, Adelaide de, 103 
 Sayre, S., 173 
 
 Schweighauser, 166, 168, 169 
 Seavey, Helen, 84, 85 
 S6gur, Comte de, 342, 345, 355, 
 
 357 382, 388, 391, 393, 397 
 Selkirk, Earl of, 9, 137, 138, 139, 
 
 140, 143, 144, 145, 146, 148, 
 
 176, 181, 182, 298 
 - Countess, 35, 102, 137, 138, 
 
 139, 142, 144, 145, 177, 417 
 Sergeant, Nathan, 154, 155 
 Simolin, Baron, 339, 342, 345, 
 
 348, 354. 3^0 
 Simoneau, 414, 415 
 Simpson, Lieut., 124, 125, 164, 
 
 165, 170, 171, 172, 173, iqi, 
 
 2OI 
 
 Smith, Capt. John, 174 
 Starbuck, O., 153 
 Stewart, Archibald & Co., 59 
 Suwarrow, Gen. P., 113, 363, 
 364, 370, 406 
 
 Taylor, Mrs. 411, 416 
 
 Telusson, Aime de, 102, 105, 
 
 106, 107, 109, no, in, 1 12, 
 
 113, 114, 288, 290, 293, 294, 
 
 298, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 
 
 3 I2 > 3 2 9 337. 339. 397. 399, 
 
 407, 411, 416, 418 
 Thackeray, 189 
 Theresa, Maria, 396 
 Thevenard, de, 309 
 Thompson, David, 8r 
 Thornton, 122, 124, 130 
 Thouvenot, Chevalier de, 112, 294 
 
424 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Tiercelin, de, Mile., 104 
 
 - M. de, 104, 105 
 Tooke, 358, 360, 397 
 Tourzel, Mme. de, 117 
 
 Van der Huyt, 106 
 
 Vandhal, Comtesse de la 106, 
 
 179, 180, 294, 295, 302 
 Van Dyke, Nicholas, 43 
 Vaudreuil, Marquis de, 327, 400 
 Vauguyon, Due de la, 100, 265, 
 
 267, 278 
 Vergennes, Comte de, 311 
 
 Wallingford, Lieut., 131, 132, 
 
 35. I5 1 J 54 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 351, 398 
 Washington, George, 45, 73, 77, 
 
 78, 83, 216, 305, 309, 319, 320, 
 
 322, 324, 381, 394 
 
 Wayne, Anthony, Gen., 78, 320, 
 
 321 
 
 Weibert, Col., 230 
 Weller, "Sam," 183 
 Wells, Jonathen, 134 
 Wemyss, Ladv, 398 
 Wentworth, Gov., 83 
 Whipple, Capt., 53/192 
 Wilkes, John, 173 
 Wills, Nathaniel, 151 
 Wright, J. B., 237 
 
 Yorke, Sir Joseph 122, 261, 262, 
 
 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 333 
 Young, Gov., 26 
 Younger, Mr., 15, 22 
 
 Zouboff, 388 
 
 Richard Clay &- Sons, Ljuiited, London ana 
 
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