whose letters had been sent him, wrote the States-General an able
letter. He inclosed a copy of his commission from the United States
government, and then argued that the United States was a "sovereign
power" and entitled to issue such a commission. He pointed out that the
sovereignty had been recognized by France and Spain, and that
belligerent rights had been recognized by Prussia and by Russia. Only
one of Sir Joseph's charges he admitted to be true,--that he was a
Scotchman, but he denied the inference made from it,--that he was a
"state criminal." He wrote: "It cannot have escaped the attention of
Your High Mightinesses that every man now giving fealty to the cause of
American Independence was born a British subject." If he were a "state
criminal," then, he argued, General Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and
all other American patriots were also "state criminals."
Soon after this letter was received the States-General passed a
resolution declining to "consider any question affecting the validity of
Paul Jones's commission or his status as a person." They declined
likewise "to do anything from which it might lawfully be inferred that
they recognized the independence of the American colonies." They also
resolved that Paul Jones should be asked to leave their port, but not
until the wind and weather should be favorable. They had refused,
therefore, to consider Jones as a pirate, or to deliver up his prizes.
Paul Jones's plan was not to admit that a favorable wind had arisen
until the last possible moment. He did not wish to be taken by the
strong British fleet waiting for him outside the harbor, and he desired,
as he said, in order to provoke war between Holland and England, "to try
the patience of the English party to the last bit of strain it would
bear by keeping my anchorage in Dutch waters on plea of distress, and at
the same time I wished to be ready for instant departure the moment I
saw that the plea of distress could no longer be plausibly held."
The French Minister of Marine, de Sartine, however, fearing that
ultimately the pressure would be so great that the squadron would be
compelled to depart and thus fall into the clutches of the British,
demanded that the French flag, which naturally commanded greater respect
from Holland than the flag of the United States, should be displayed.
Benjamin Franklin agreed with the French minister, but Jones
protested:--
"In vain I expostulated with them that by accepting the shelter of the
French flag I should do exactly of all things what 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."
Jones was forced to yield, the French flag was displayed, the command
was given to the French captain, Cottineau, and Jones retained only the
Alliance, an American ship, from which he was allowed, however, to fly
the American flag.
To add to Jones' sorrows de Sartine offered him, through the Duc de
Vauguyan, a French commission to command the Alliance as a letter of
marque. He rejected it with indignation: "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 authorized by
Congress, or some other competent authority in Europe." That the
Serapis, the prize for which he had so bravely contended, had been taken
from him, was another of the wrongs which rankled deeply in Jones's
soul.
Jones must have got a great deal of satisfaction, however, from the fact
that he continued defiantly to wave the American flag from the Alliance,
and that he delayed his enforced departure, in spite of great pressure
from the admiral of the Dutch fleet, until December 26, when with the
Alliance he dashed out of the harbor "under his best American colors,"
ran the gauntlet of the British fleet cruising outside, and escaped into
the open sea.
Before leaving the Texel, Jones, on December 17, 1779, wrote Dr.
Bancroft: "I am sure that the strain put upon the relations between
Holland and England must end in rupture between them within this year."
War was indeed declared between England and Holland on December 19,
1780, and in the bill of grievances set forth in the proclamation of a
state of war against Holland, the statement is made: "That, in violation
of treaty, they [the States-General] suffered an American Pirate (one
Paul Jones, a Rebel, and State Criminal) to remain several weeks in one
of their ports."
It is clear, therefore, that Jones's pertinacious stay in the Dutch port
brought about important results.
Another instance of Jones's _sang-froid_ in matters where time was given
for his judgment to come into play, was the way he treated Landais at
the Texel. On his arrival at that port Jones sent to Dr. Franklin
charges against the captain of the Alliance, whom he removed from
command. Whereupon Landais sent Jones a challenge to a duel. Fanning
narrates: "But the latter [Jones], perhaps not thinking it prudent to
expose himself with a single combatant, who was a complete master of the
smallsword, declined." In the second edition of his memoir Fanning said
that Jones accepted Landais's challenge, but insisted on substituting
pistols, with which he was an expert, for swords, a proposition which
Landais refused.
Although again on the sea and free from the irritations of the Texel,
Jones, when he had eluded the British fleet, found plenty of other
things to annoy him. He had fortunately transferred many of his
trustworthy men from the Serapis to the Alliance, but there were enough
of the latter ship's old officers and men to divide the crew into two
hostile camps. The discontent at the delay over payment of wages and
prize money had deepened. Although the crew was large, fierce in temper,
and at first very anxious to look for further prizes, they yet, after
the cruise had continued for some time without success, refused to
continue unless they were paid. Jones, in order to induce them to embark
from Corunna, Spain, where the Alliance had put in for repairs and
provisions, promised that he would sail immediately for L'Orient, where
they should receive their prize money. As soon as he was again at sea,
however, Jones informed his officers that he intended to make a further
cruise of twenty days. Fanning, one of the officers, quotes Jones:--
"'And,' says he, with a kind of contemptuous smile, which he was much
addicted to, 'Gentlemen, you cannot conceive what an additional honor it
would be to all of us, if in cruising a few days we should have the good
luck to fall in with an English frigate of our force and carry her in
with us.... This would crown our former victories, and our names, in
consequence thereof, would be handed down to latest posterity by some
faithful historian of our country.'" Fanning adds in a footnote: "Jones
had a wonderful notion of his name being handed down to posterity."
When the officers remonstrated on the ground that the men were badly
clothed, Jones flew into a rage and ordered them to go to their duty.
He found, however, that he could not, with a mutinous crew, continue his
course effectively, and reluctantly sailed for L'Orient, where he
arrived on February 10, 1780.
VII
SOCIETY IN PARIS
The following year, passed mainly in France, at Paris or L'Orient, was
spent by Jones in trying to collect prize money, secure an important
command, and in society, where he shone more resplendently than ever. He
wrote rather more than his usual large number of letters,--to Franklin,
Robert Morris, the Duchesse de Chartres, Arthur Lee, Dr. Bancroft, and
many others,--in practically all of them urging some one of his warmly
desired projects.
His correspondence with Benjamin Franklin was largely about prize money
and the expense of repairing the Alliance, which he undertook to do
immediately on his arrival at L'Orient. The frugal doctor attempted to
curb, in the matter of expense, the free-handed Jones. The latter had an
enormous respect for Franklin, and it is quite likely that he attempted
to be economical, but he seems to have been less successful in that
direction than in any other. Fanning speaks of the "great and
unnecessary expense" involved in Jones's elaborate alterations, and
narrates how, at a later period, when Jones was in command of the Ariel,
anchored in the harbor at L'Orient, a magnificent spectacle was given on
board for the entertainment of the ladies and gentlemen invited by
Jones. A mock fight between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, in
which vast quantities of ammunition were destroyed, took place. The
vessel was finely carpeted and decorated, a regal banquet was served,
military music played, and in general "neither cash nor pains," says
Fanning, "were spared in order that the scene every way should appear
magnificent." Although the hero never seemed to take account of the
extreme poverty of the infant republic, it is only fair to add that he
spent his own money as freely as any one else's, and that he often
served without pay, a fact continually attested to by himself in his
letters and journals.
Jones's lack of success, in spite of his energetic attempts in
collecting at this time the prize money, about which there were many
annoying technicalities, increased the discontent of his crew, and
prepared the way for the seizure of the Alliance by the mad Landais.
Arthur Lee, formerly one of the American commissioners in Europe, had
always been hostile to Jones and unsympathetic with Dr. Franklin and
with the revolutionary party generally; to such a degree, indeed, that
he was accused, not unjustly, of treachery to the cause of American
independence. At the time that the Alliance was at L'Orient, Lee was
waiting an opportunity to return to America. Captain Landais, who had
been deprived of the command of the Alliance by order of Benjamin
Franklin, then the sole representative of the United States in France,
and who had likewise been ordered by the doctor to report to the Marine
Committee on the charge of infamous conduct, planned to take the
Alliance from Jones, and was supported in the attempt by Lee, who
contended that neither Franklin nor Jones could deprive Landais of a
command given him by Congress. Lee's desire to take the ship from Jones
was augmented by the latter's refusal to make room for the
ex-commissioner's many effects, including two fine coaches,--space which
was much needed for the accommodation of supplies for Washington's army.
Lee and Landais consequently encouraged the discontent among the crew of
the Alliance, and one day, June 13, when Jones was on shore at L'Orient,
Landais went on board the ship, and, supported by his old officers and
by Lee, took possession. When Jones heard of it he was very angry, and
acted, according to Fanning, "more like a madman than a conqueror;" but,
as usual, his anger was quickly controlled and the definite steps he
took in the affair were marked by great moderation. The commandant of
the defenses at L'Orient had received orders from the French government
to fire on the Alliance, if Landais should attempt to take her out of
the harbor; and it seems he would have obeyed and probably sunk the
ship, had not Jones himself interfered, and induced him to stay his
hand. In a letter to Franklin, Jones said:--
"Your humanity will, I know, justify the part I acted in preventing a
scene that would have made me miserable the rest of my life."
Jones was probably not over sorry to lose the Alliance. There was
nothing very thrilling in the prospect of carrying supplies to America,
and Jones at that time hoped fervently to get hold of the Serapis and
other ships and make another warlike cruise against the coast of
England. So Landais sailed away with the Alliance, but to his own ruin,
as the clear-sighted Jones had predicted in a remarkable letter written
a short time before the ship sailed to a mutinous officer on the
Alliance. On the voyage Landais's eccentricity caused his friend Lee to
put him under arrest, and on the arrival in America, a court of inquiry
found him unfit for command, and he never again burdened the service.
Jones was left at L'Orient with the little Ariel, armed with eighteen
twelve-pounders and four six-pounders, a ship loaned by the king to Dr.
Franklin, and with high hopes, as usual, of more glorious opportunities.
But many months intervened before he sailed again,--a time he devoted to
business and society. As Jones and his interesting midshipman Fanning
separated at the end of this period, the latter's final impressions of
his captain may here be given:--
"Captain Jones was a man of about five feet six inches high, well shaped
below his head and shoulders, rather round shouldered, with a visage
fierce and warlike, and wore the appearance of great application to
study, which he was fond of. He was an excellent seaman and knew naval
tactics as well as almost any man of his age; but it must be allowed
that his character was somewhat tinctured with bad qualities ... his
courage and bravery as a naval commander cannot be doubted. His
smoothness of tongue and flattery to seamen when he wanted them was
persuasive, and in which he excelled any other man I was ever acquainted
with.... His pride and vanity while at Paris and Amsterdam was not
generally approved of."
Fanning has many anecdotes to relate in regard to Jones's affairs of
gallantry of an humble character. Several of Jones's biographers have
dwelt upon the gorgeous and aristocratic nature of the hero's amours.
Fanning has the solitary distinction of narrating the other side. Jones,
indeed, was a good deal of a snob, but he was broadly appreciative of
the fair sex. He probably was never deeply in love with anybody,
certainly not with any woman of humble character. Of such his
appreciation was of a simple and earthly kind.
Although Jones seems to have had no intimate friends, with possibly one
exception, there certainly was about him a very strong charm, which made
him a favorite in good society. He had a flattering tongue, a ready wit,
and a gallant manner. Of Jones's attractions Benjamin Franklin once
wrote to a woman:--
"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 compliant deference with 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."
Mr. Varnum of Rhode Island, who met Jones only in connection with public
business, said of him:--
"I confess there was a magic about his way and manner that I have never
before seen. Whatever he said carried conviction with it."
Even more sensible of Jones's charms than the men were the women, who
were universally dazzled by the brilliant hero. Miss Edes-Herbert, an
Englishwoman living in Paris, writes, among other flattering things
about him:--
"Since my last, the famous Paul Jones has dined here and also been
present at afternoon teas. If I am in love with him, for love I may die,
I am sure, because I have as many rivals as there are ladies."
She records that Jones wrote verses for the ladies extempore, and gives
a sample, the sentiments of which are as characteristic of the
declamatory century as of the naively vain Jones:--
"Insulted Freedom bled,--I felt her cause,
And drew my sword to vindicate her laws,
From principle, and not from vain applause.
I've done my best; self-interest far apart,
And self-reproach a stranger to my heart;
My zeal still prompts, ambitious to pursue
The foe, ye fair, of liberty and you:
Grateful for praise, spontaneous and unbought,
A generous people's love not meanly sought;
To merit this, and bend the knee to beauty,
Shall be my earliest and latest duty."
Many of Jones's flowery letters to distinguished women are preserved. On
one occasion he wrote to a certain countess, informing her that he was
composing a secret cipher for a key to their correspondence, and added:
"I beseech you to accept the within lock (of hair). I am sorry that it
is now eighteen inches shorter than it was three months ago."
The only case in which Jones's affections seem to have reached beyond
good nature, common kindness, or gallantry, to the point of love, was
that of Aimee de Thelison. She was the natural daughter of Louis XV.,
and this fact no doubt greatly heightened her interest in the eyes of
the aristocratic Jones. She was a person of beauty and charm, and felt
deep love for Jones. His love for her was of a cool character, which did
not interfere with any of the enterprises taking him so frequently away
from Paris. His letters to her are with one exception hardly love
letters. The warmest words in that exception are:--
"The last French packet brought no letter to me from the person whose
happiness is dearer to me than anything else.... Your silence makes even
honors insipid."
It was while Jones was waiting thus gayly to sail for America, that the
king of France bestowed upon him, in recognition of his services to the
common cause, the Royal Order of Military Merit and a gold-mounted sword
of honor, and made him Chevalier of France. It was, as Jones himself
frequently wrote, a singular honor, he being the first alien to be made
a French chevalier; and Jones prized this favor from a king more than he
would the gift of a million dollars. The gold sword also pleased him
deeply, and he asked the countess to whom he had sent the lock of hair
to keep it for him, lest he lose it. He wrote of this gift:--
"His Majesty ordered a superb sword to be made for me, which I have
since received, and it is called much more elegant than that presented
to the Marquis de la Fayette."
VIII
PRIVATE AMBITION AND PUBLIC BUSINESS
Benjamin Franklin, knowing the value of the supplies to Washington's
army, had implored Jones to embark several months before the little
Ariel actually set sail, October 8, 1780. But Jones, hoping for an
important command in Europe, and delayed by business in connection with
fitting out his ship, and perhaps by the gayeties he was engaged in at
Paris, did not show much concern over General Washington's distress.
When he finally did sail, he encountered a terrible storm, and it was
only the best of seamanship which enabled him to avoid shipwreck. As it
was, he was compelled to put back for repairs to L'Orient, where, in a
series of letters, he manoeuvred in vain for the loan of the fine ship
Terpsichore.
It was not until December 18 that the Ariel got under way again for
America. The voyage was uneventful, with the exception of a night
battle with a British privateer sloop of inferior force. Jones cleverly
concealed his greater strength, and thus lured the Englishman to engage.
After a ten-minute fight, the Triumph struck its colors, but, when the
Ariel ceased firing, sailed away and escaped, to Jones's exceeding
mortification.
"The English captain," he wrote in his journal, "may properly be called
a knave, because after he surrendered his ship, begged for and obtained
quarter, he basely ran away, contrary to the laws of naval war and the
practice of civilized nations."
Paul Jones, when he arrived in Philadelphia, the 18th of February, 1781,
was thirty-three years old and had actively served in the United States
navy for five years and five months. He never fought another battle
under the United States flag; indeed, with the exception of his
distressing experiences in Russia, he never fought again under any flag.
But to his dying day he did not cease to plan great naval deeds and to
hope for greater opportunity to harass the enemy--any enemy. In view of
his great ambition and ability, circumstances allowed him to accomplish
little. He had only one opportunity, and the way he responded made him
famous; but though it brought him honor it did not satisfy him, and the
rest of his life was a series of disappointments. His bitterness grew
apace, and before he died he was a genuinely pathetic figure.
Soon after Jones's arrival at Philadelphia, the Board of Admiralty
required him to give "all the information in his power relative to the
detention of the clothing and arms in France intended for Washington's
army;" and a series of forty-seven questions, on the subject not only of
the delay but also on matters connected generally with his cruises, were
submitted to him. He attributed, with probable justice, the instigation
of this investigation to his enemy Arthur Lee, whom he desired in
consequence to challenge to a duel. He was dissuaded, however, from this
step, as well as from the publication of a paper he had written called
"Arthur Lee in France," in which he made a circumstantial charge
against Lee of "treason, perfidy, and the office of a spy," by some of
his distinguished friends, including Morris and Livingston.
Without either the duel or the publication of the paper, Jones was,
however, completely vindicated. He answered the questions with clearness
and skill, to the complete satisfaction of the board, which recommended
that Congress confer on the hero some distinguished mark of approbation.
A committee was appointed to question Jones personally, and the
impression he made upon it is another proof of the remarkable suavity,
plausibility and magnetism of the man. One of the examining committeemen
wrote:--
"From his beginning no one thought of disputing him. Toward the end we
seldom ventured to ask him any questions. He made himself master of the
situation throughout. At the end the committee felt honored by having
had the privilege of listening to him."
On the committee's recommendation Congress, which had already on Jones's
arrival resolved "that Congress entertain a high sense of the
distinguished bravery and military conduct of John Paul Jones, Esq.,
captain in the navy of the United States, and particularly in his
victory over the British frigate Serapis," gave Jones a further vote of
thanks, "for the zeal, prudence, and intrepidity with which he has
supported the honor of the American flag; for his bold and successful
enterprises to redeem from captivity the citizens of these States who
had fallen under the power of the enemy, and in general for the good
conduct and eminent services by which he has added lustre to his
character and to the American arms."
Soon after, the intrepid man to whom were given so many testimonials and
so few satisfactory commands received an appreciative letter from
General Washington, who, after stating his satisfaction with Jones's
explanation of the delay of the supplies, said:--
"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 in several of our officers have not, however, been wanting.
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 favor which can only be
obtained by a long and honorable service or by the performance of some
brilliant action."
It now seemed to Jones a favorable opportunity to improve his rank, and
on May 28 he sent a memorial to Congress reiterating his claims to stand
above the captains who had been unjustly put ahead of him. He failed,
probably on account of the political influence wielded by the captains;
but in the way of compensation he was appointed commander of the new
vessel then building at Portsmouth, a seventy-four, called the America,
the only ship of the line owned by the States,--a "singular honor," as
he expressed it. John Adams, who had at one time been unfriendly to
Jones, looking upon him as "a smooth, plausible, and rather capable
adventurer," wrote him, _a propos_ of this appointment:--
"The command of the America could not have been more judiciously
bestowed, and it is with impatience that I wish her at sea, where she
will do honor to her name."