PRIZE AGENT IN FRANCE AND DENMARK--LAST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES--A
BLOT ON THE ESCUTCHEON--FAMOUS PASSAGE OF THE BALTIC.
On the 10th of November Jones sailed from Philadelphia to Havre in the
packet Washington. Being detained by contrary winds, however, he put
into Plymouth on the 30th of November, his first visit to England,
save as an enemy, for many years. He there left the ship and went to
London for a conference with Adams, the minister, who informed him
that his dispatches for Franklin probably contained instructions for
concluding the commercial treaty with England, and advised him to
hasten. He therefore repaired immediately to Paris, where he arrived
on the 4th of December. He was most kindly received by the Maréchal de
Castries, the new Minister of Marine, and by the king and queen.
Society, too, welcomed him with open arms. He immediately set about
the task which had been allotted to him, with his characteristic
energy. For a year and a half he successfully combated the various
efforts of the French Government to make deductions from the amount
realized from the sale of the prizes on one pretext or another, and on
the 23d of October, 1784, de Castries at last approved of the account.
There were further delays, as usual, and the matter dragged until
January, 1785, when he wrote to de Castries as follows:
"From the great number of affairs more important that engage your
attention, I presume this little matter which concerns me, in a small
degree personally, but chiefly as the agent of the brave men who
served under my orders in Europe, may have escaped your memory. My
long silence is a proof that nothing but necessity could have
prevailed on me to take the liberty of reminding your Excellency of
your promise."
As usual, his persistence at last received its reward in the shape of
an order on the Royal Auditor at L'Orient for the money. He set out
for L'Orient in July, and there stirred up a further nest of troubles,
which, however, he managed to triumph over by the display of his usual
qualities, and at the end of September, 1785, the account, amounting
to one hundred and eighty-one thousand livres, etc., was paid to
him.[39] He charged no commission for collecting this money, but his
expenses for the period of his sojourn in France were placed at the
large sum of forty-eight thousand livres; to this was added thirteen
thousand livres as his share of the prize money, making a total of
sixty-one thousand livres, which he appropriated to himself. After
paying certain persons then living in France who were entitled to
share in the prize money, he turned over to Thomas Jefferson, who had
succeeded Franklin, the sum of one hundred and twelve thousand livres,
to be returned to the United States for the use of the officers and
men entitled to participate in the distribution.
The charges that he made for his personal expenses were certainly very
large, but there is not the slightest reason to infer, as has been
insinuated, that he falsified the account--every reason to think the
contrary, in fact. I have no doubt that he actually spent all that he
claimed to have done--probably more, for he was as apt to spend as he
was to fight--but the amount is greatly in excess of what should have
been properly expended, or at least charged against the total for
legitimate living expenses. As I have stated, however, he was
supremely indifferent to money, his own or other people's, and it
passed easily through his hands; although, so far as is known, he
avoided debts and promptly paid his bills. He had great ideas as to
the exalted nature of his position and the dignity of the country he
represented, and he did not stint himself in anything. It was an
expensive court, and he ruffled it royally with the best. He moved as
an equal in an extravagant and gay society, and he allowed no
considerations as to economy to restrain him from standing among the
freest and highest. We need not censure him too severely in the
premises, for the account was afterward investigated by Congress and
his expenditures approved.
During his long stay in France the fertile mind of the chevalier was
busied with various projects to advance his fortunes, among which was
a design which he conceived in conjunction with the famous navigator
and explorer Ledyard, who had gone around the world with the more
famous Captain Cook. The two men proposed to engage in the fur trade
in the then comparatively unexplored and unknown waters of the Pacific
Ocean. The affair assumed a considerable state of forwardness, but was
finally dropped on account of lack of necessary funds, the expenses
proving much greater than either of the projectors had imagined they
would be. In view of the vast fortunes which have been made
subsequently in pursuance of this very idea, the conception throws an
interesting light upon the keen business quality of the commodore's
mind.[40] As a light relaxation he had his bust made by the celebrated
sculptor Houdon, copies of which he presented, with wide generosity,
to a number of his friends. The bust was made at the instance of the
French Masonic lodge of Three Sisters, of which he was an honored
member.
Early in 1787, upon the advice of Jefferson, he determined to repair
to Denmark to see what he could do to further the payment of the claim
for indemnity, amounting to forty thousand pounds, caused by the
delivery of the prizes of his famous squadron to the English at
Bergen. He had reached Brussels on his journey to Copenhagen when he
decided to return to America for two reasons: In the first place,
Jefferson had no authority to approve the account of the commodore in
the matter of prize money recently received from France. He had simply
acted as a medium of transmittal of the balance handed him to the
United States. The Treasury Board of Audit, to which the account and
the accompanying balance had been submitted, strongly disapproved of
the large item covering personal expenses, and Jones, when he heard
their views, felt it incumbent upon him to return to America
immediately to insure the acceptance of his statement and the
adjustment of the account. In the second place, another motive for his
return was on account of lack of funds. He had expected to receive at
Brussels remittances from some investments in bank stock in the United
States to enable him to proceed to Copenhagen, but they were not
forthcoming. It would appear that he had spent all of his prize money,
etc., which indicates his careless extravagance in monetary
matters.[41] Accordingly, he abandoned his Danish trip for the time,
and returned to the United States in the spring of 1787.
His explanations of his personal expenditures, while they may not have
convinced the auditors, were apparently satisfactory to Congress, to
which the matter had been referred, for his accounts were soon
approved, and Congress did him a singular honor in passing the
following resolutions, which certainly could never have been adopted
if there had been in the minds of any of the members the least cloud
upon his financial reputation:
"_Resolved_, That a medal of gold be struck, and presented to the
Chevalier Paul Jones in commemoration of the valor and brilliant
service of that officer in the command of a squadron of American and
French ships under the flag and commission of the United States, off
the coast of Great Britain, in the late war; and that the Honourable
Mr. Jefferson, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at the
court of Versailles, have the same executed with the proper devices."
The fact that eight years had elapsed since the event commemorated
shows that this action of Congress was not the result of any sudden
enthusiasm, but was deliberate and therefore more valuable. In
addition to this unique tribute to his worth and services, the same
august body addressed the following personal letter to the king, Louis
XVI:
"Great and beloved Friend: We, the United States, in Congress
assembled, in consideration of the distinguished mark of approbation
with which your Majesty has been pleased to honour the Chevalier John
Paul Jones, as well as from a sense of his merit, have unanimously
directed a medal of gold to be struck and presented to him, in
commemoration of his valour and brilliant services while commanding a
squadron of French and American ships, under our flag and commission,
off the coast of Great Britain in the late war.
"As it is his earnest desire to acquire knowledge in his profession,
we cannot forbear requesting your Majesty to permit him to embark in
your fleets of evolution, where only it will be probably in his power
to acquire that knowledge, which may hereafter render him most
extensively useful.
"Permit us to repeat to your Majesty our sincere assurances that the
various and important benefits for which we are indebted to your
friendship will never cease to interest us in whatever may concern the
happiness of your Majesty, your family, and people. We pray God to
keep you, our great and beloved friend, under his holy protection.
"Done at the City of New York, the sixteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1787, and of our sovereignty and independence the
twelfth."
This was presumably a reply to the official communication of De
Sartine which has been cited before. So far as I know, Jones remains
to this day the only officer so commended. Before this action of
Congress he had written the following letter to Jay, the Secretary of
State, which may have suggested the official letter to the French
king:
"... My private business here being already finished, I shall in a few
days re-embark for Europe, in order to proceed to the court of
Denmark. It is my intention to go by the way of Paris, in order to
obtain a letter to the French Minister at Copenhagen, from the Count
de Montmorin, as the one I obtained is from the Count de Vergennes. It
would be highly flattering to me if I could carry a letter with me
from Congress to his most Christian Majesty, thanking him for the
squadron he did us the honour to support under our flag. And on this
occasion, sir, permit me, with becoming diffidence, to recall the
attention of my sovereign to the letter of recommendation I brought
with me from the court of France dated 30th of May, 1780. It would be
pleasing to me if that letter should be found to merit a place on the
journals of Congress. Permit me also to entreat that Congress will be
pleased to read the letter I received from the Minister of Marine,
when his Majesty deigned to bestow on me a golden-hilted sword,
emblematical of the happy alliance, an honour which his Majesty never
conferred on any other foreign officer. . . .
"It is certain that I am much flattered by receiving a gold sword from
the most illustrious monarch now living; but I had refused to accept
his commission on two occasions before that time, when some firmness
was necessary to resist the temptation; he was not my sovereign. I
served the cause of freedom, and honours from my sovereign would be
more pleasing. Since the year 1775, when I displayed the American flag
for the first time with my own hands, I have been constantly devoted
to the interests of America. Foreigners have, perhaps, given me too
much credit, and this may have raised my ideas of my services above
their real value; but my zeal can never be overrated.
"I should act inconsistently if I omitted to mention the dreadful
situation of our unhappy fellow citizens in slavery at Algiers. Their
almost hopeless fate is a deep reflection on our national character in
Europe. I beg leave to influence the humanity of Congress in their
behalf, and to propose that some expedient may be adopted for their
redemption. A fund might be raised for that purpose by a duty of a
shilling per month from seamen's wages throughout the continent, and I
am persuaded that no difficulty would be made to that requisition."
This is the first mention of a matter which had recently come to his
notice, and ever after engaged his attention--the dreadful situation
of the Americans held captive in the Barbary States. The first public
agitation for the amelioration of their unfortunate condition came
from him, and the glorious little struggle by which the United States,
a few years after his death, broke the power of these pirates, and
alone among the nations of the world made them respect a national
flag, had its origin in the love and sympathy of Paul Jones for the
prisoner wherever he might be--a significant fact generally forgotten.
On the 25th of October Congress passed some strong resolutions on the
subject of the failure of Denmark to pay the claim referred to above,
and instructed Jefferson to dispatch the Chevalier Paul Jones to
prosecute the claim at the Danish court, stating, however, that no
final settlement or adjustment must be made without the approval of
the minister. There was a decided difference between the two
commissions with which Congress honored Jones.
In the first instance, in France, he was simply to obtain what had
been actually received by the French Government from the sale of
certain prizes; the amount in question was not in negotiation save for
some allowances or deductions which did not greatly affect the total
one way or the other. In other words, he was simply to collect, if he
could, a just and admitted debt, and, after deducting expenses, divide
it in accordance with a certain recognized principle so far as his own
share, or the share of any one in Europe, was concerned, and remit the
balance to Congress for action. In the second instance, he was charged
with the more delicate and responsible work of pressing a claim for
heavy damages based on the estimated value of prizes which the Danish
Government had illegally returned to their original owners, the whole
transaction on their part constituting an unfriendly and unlawful act,
which could easily be magnified into a _casus belli_. In the first
case he was to collect a bill for forty thousand dollars; in the
second, to secure an admittance of obligation, establish the justice
of a claim for five times the first amount, and force a payment. The
second commission was the more honorable because the more responsible,
and is another proof of the continued and, in fact, increased
confidence in him which was felt by Congress.
The propriety, therefore, of associating him with Thomas Jefferson, by
requiring the approval of the latter to any final settlements, can not
be questioned. It can not be considered in any sense as a reflection
upon Jones. It was the usual and common practice under such important
circumstances to associate several negotiators to conduct the affair.
The action was unfortunate, however, as it was made a pretext by the
Danish Government for delaying the settlement. They had already
compromised their contention of the legality of their action in giving
up the ships by offering to settle with Franklin for ten thousand
pounds, which offer had been refused.
One other incident of his stay in his country--the last visit he was
destined to pay to it, by the way--brings upon the scene for the last
time one of the principal actors in the drama of Jones' life. During
his stay in New York, in the month of October, he was conversing with
a friend while standing on Water Street, when Captain Landais, who had
made his home in Brooklyn since his dismissal from the navy,
approached them. Jones' back was turned, and when Mr. Milligan, his
friend, told him of the advent of the Frenchman, he continued his
conversation without turning around. Landais approached slowly,
wearing a vindictive smile. When a few yards away from the two
gentlemen, he halted, spat upon the pavement, remarked, "I spit in his
face," and passed on. Mr. Milligan asked Jones if he had heard
Landais' remark, and he replied that he had not. Nothing further was
said about the incident at that time. Landais, however, circulated
reports of the meeting derogatory to Jones' character, and in reply
the chevalier published a statement of the occurrence signed by Mr.
Milligan, and added that his respect for the public had induced him to
establish the falsity of Landais' report by the testimony of the only
witness present; he also stated that he should not condescend to take
notice of anything further which might be said or done by his
antagonist. From this circumstance arose the rumor that he had been
publicly insulted--caned, in fact--without resenting it![42]
During this period Jones, as usual, kept up his correspondence,
especially with Madame de Telison, with whom his relations had
evidently reached that intimate point to which I have referred on page
276. On June 23d she advised him of the death of her friend and
protectress at court, the Marquise de Marsan. He wrote immediately,
commending her to Jefferson, and at once dispatched the following
letter to the lady herself:
"New York, _September 4, 1787_.
"No language can convey to my fair mourner the tender sorrow I feel on
her account! The loss of our worthy friend is indeed a fatal stroke!
It is an irreparable misfortune, which can only be alleviated by this
one reflection, that it is the will of God, whose providence has, I
hope, other blessings in store for us. She was a tried friend, and
more than a mother to you! She would have been a mother to me also had
she lived. We have lost her! Let us cherish her memory, and send up
grateful thanks to the Almighty that we once had such a friend. I can
not but flatter myself that you have yourself gone to the king in
July, as he had appointed. I am sure your loss will be a new
inducement for him to protect you, and render you justice. He will
hear you, I am sure; and you may safely unbosom yourself to him and
ask his advice, which can not but be flattering to him to give you.
Tell him you must look on him as your father and protector. If it were
necessary, I think, too, that the Count d'A----, his brother, would,
on your personal application, render you good services by speaking in
your favour. I should like it better, however, if you can do without
him. Mr. Jefferson will show you my letter of this date to him. You
will see by it how disgracefully I have been detained here by the
Board of Treasury. It is impossible for me to stir from this place
till I obtain their settlement on the business I have already
performed; and, as the season is already far advanced, I expect to be
ordered to embark directly for the place of my destination in the
north. Mr. Jefferson will forward me your letters. I am almost without
money, and much puzzled to obtain a supply. I have written to Dr.
Bancroft to endeavour to assist me. I mention this with infinite
regret, and for no other reason than because it is impossible for me
to transmit you a supply under my present circumstances. This is my
fifth letter to you since I left Paris. The two last were from France,
and I sent them by duplicates. But you say nothing of having received
any letters from me! Summon, my dear friend, all your resolution!
Exert yourself, and plead your own cause. You can not fail of success;
your cause would move a heart of flint! Present my best respects to
your sister. You did not mention her in your letter, but I persuade
myself she will continue her tender care of her sweet godson, and that
you will cover him all over with kisses from me; they come warm to
_you both_ from the heart!"
The Count d'A---- referred to was the Count d'Artois, subsequently
King Charles X. Madame de Telison was his natural aunt, and that Jones
should fear any evil consequence to her from her speaking to him is a
hideous commentary on the morals of the times. Mackenzie infers the
possibility that the Marchioness de Marsan was really the mother of
Madame de Telison, and from the assurance that she would have been a
mother to him also, had she lived, he thinks it possible that Jones
might have contemplated marrying his correspondent. The godson was
possibly Jones' own child. Shortly after this, correspondence with
Madame de Telison ceased temporarily. But when Jones finally returned
to France their relations were resumed. Before he died he provided for
her, and she was with him to the end.
On the 11th of November Jones left America for the last time, taking
passage at New York on a vessel bound for Holland. He was landed in
England, however, and after another interview with Adams at London, he
repaired to Paris on the 11th of December, and presented his
dispatches to Jefferson. Jefferson now communicated to him a project
which had been under discussion between himself and de Simolin, the
Russian ambassador at Versailles, looking to a demand for the services
of Jones by the Empress Catherine II of Russia. Some recent disasters
to the Russian fleet in the Black Sea in the war which she had been
waging against the Turks had caused the minister to consider the
possibility of securing the services of the distinguished sea captain.
No definite action was taken by either party at that time, although
Jones, after some persuasion, expressed his willingness at least to
consider the situation. Indeed, the prospects were sufficiently
brilliant to have dazzled any man; but nothing came of the matter
then. Jones had other business to attend to. At the close of January,
1788, he received his credentials from Jefferson, and on the morning
of the 2d of February, the day of his departure for Denmark, he
breakfasted with a Mr. Littlepage, chamberlain to the King of Poland,
and the Russian Minister, who informed him that he had seriously
proposed to his sovereign that Jones be intrusted with the command of
the Black Sea fleet. He had, in fact, written to her as follows:
"That if her Imperial Majesty should confide to Jones the chief
command of her fleet on the Black Sea, with _carte blanche_, he would
answer for it that in less than a year Jones would make Constantinople
tremble."
He also informed the commodore that the empress had been much
impressed with the proposition, and was disposed to look favorably
upon it.
Jones in reply said that he would undertake the command, under certain
conditions, if the empress continued in the same mind, and set out
with high hopes for Copenhagen. He reached that city on the 4th of
March, and was royally received by the king and queen and principal
people of the country; but in spite of every effort he found it
utterly impossible to procure a satisfactory settlement of the claim.
The shuffling Danish Government seized upon the flimsy pretext that he
was not a plenipotentiary, since his powers were limited by the clause
referred to above, and that since Congress had required that
everything be referred to Paris, and final action should be taken at
that point, there was no use negotiating with an agent. Completely
thwarted in his attempts by this unfortunate clause, and having
received a definite summons through Baron Krudner, the Russian
ambassador at Copenhagen, to repair to Russia, Jones transferred the
negotiations to Jefferson at Paris, which was, in fact, all he could
do under the circumstances, and prepared to assume his new
command.[43] On the 8th of April, 1788, he wrote to Jefferson as
follows:
"Sir: By my letters to the Count de Bernstorf, and his excellency's
answer, you see that my business here is at an end. If I have not
finally concluded the object of my mission, it is neither your fault
nor mine; the powers I received are found insufficient, and you could
not act otherwise than was prescribed in your instructions. Thus it
frequently happens that good opportunities are lost when the supreme
power does not place a sufficient confidence in the distant operations
of public officers, whether civil or military. I have, however, the
melancholy satisfaction to reflect that I have been received and
treated here with a distinction far above the pretensions of my public
mission, and I felicitate myself sincerely on being, at my own expense
(and even at the peril of my life, for my sufferings from the
inclemency of the weather, and my want of proper means to guard
against it on the journey, were inexpressible; and I believe, from
what I yet feel, will continue to affect my constitution), the
instrument to renew the negotiation between this country and the
United States; the more so as the honour is now reserved for you to
display your great abilities and integrity by the completion and
improvement of what Dr. Franklin had wisely begun. I have done, then,
what perhaps no other person would have undertaken under the same
circumstances; and while I have the consolation to hope that the
United States will derive solid advantages from my journey and efforts
here, I rest perfectly satisfied that the interests of the brave men I
commanded will experience in you parental attention, and that the
American flag can lose none of its lustre, but the contrary, while its
honour is confided to you. America being a young nation, with an
increasing commerce, which will naturally produce a navy, I please
myself with the hope that in the treaty you are about to conclude with
Denmark you will find it easy and highly advantageous to include
certain articles for admitting America into the armed neutrality. I
persuade myself beforehand that this would afford pleasure to the
Empress of Russia, who is at the head of that noble and humane
combination; and as I shall now set out immediately for St.
Petersburg, I will mention the idea to her Imperial Majesty and let
you know her answer.
"If Congress should think I deserve the promotion that was proposed
when I was last in America, and should condescend to confer on me the
grade of rear admiral from the day I took the Serapis (23d of
September, 1779), I am persuaded it would be very agreeable to the
empress, who now deigns to offer me an equal rank in her service,
although I never yet had the honour to draw my sword in her cause, nor
to do any other act that could directly merit her imperial
benevolence. While I express, in the warm effusion of a grateful
heart, the deep sense I feel of my eternal obligation to you as the
author of the honourable prospect that is now before me, I must rely
on your friendship to justify to the United States the important step
I now take, conformable to your advice. You know I had no idea of this
new fortune when I found that you had put it in train, before my last
return to Paris from America. I have not forsaken a country that has
had many disinterested and difficult proofs of my steady affection,
and I can never renounce the glorious title of _a citizen of the
United States!_
"It is true I have not the express permission of the sovereignty to
accept the offer of her Imperial Majesty; yet America is independent,
is in perfect peace, has no public employment for my military talents;
but why should I excuse a conduct which I should rather hope would
meet with general approbation? In the latter part of the year 1782
Congress passed an act for my embarkation in the fleet of his most
Christian Majesty; and when, a few months ago, I left America to
return to Europe, I was made the bearer of a letter to his most
Christian Majesty requesting me to be permitted to embark in the
fleets of evolution. Why did Congress pass those acts? To facilitate
my improvement in the art of conducting fleets and military
operations. I am, then, conforming myself to the views of Congress;
but the role allotted me is infinitely more high and difficult than
Congress intended. Instead of receiving lessons from able masters in
the theory of war, I am called to immediate practice, where I must
command in chief, conduct the most difficult operations, be my own
preceptor, and instruct others. Congress will allow me some merit in
daring to encounter such multiplied difficulties. The mark I mentioned
of the approbation of that honourable body would be extremely
flattering to me in the career I am now to pursue, and would stimulate
all my ambition to acquire the necessary talents to merit that, and
even greater favours, at a future day. I pray you, sir, to explain the
circumstances of my situation, and be the interpreter of my sentiments
to the United States in Congress. I ask for nothing; and beg leave to
be understood only as having hinted, what is natural to conceive, that
the mark of approbation I mentioned could not fail to be infinitely
serviceable to my views and success in the country where I am going.
"The prince royal sent me a messenger, requesting me to come to his
apartment. His royal highness said a great many civil things to
me--told me the king thanked me for my attention and civil behaviour
to the Danish flag while I commanded in the European seas, and that
his Majesty wished for occasions to testify to me his personal esteem,
etc. I was alone with the prince half an hour. I am, with perfect
esteem, etc."
It is a quaint letter, but not conspicuous for modesty on the part of
the writer. But it is memorable for its passionate and determined
assertion of citizenship, and evidence that his entry into the Russian
service, temporarily, was due not to his own motion, but to the
suggestion of Thomas Jefferson, who highly approved of his acceptance
of the offer of Catherine. Inasmuch as his action has been called in
question, such approbation as that of Jefferson is of great value.
Congress did not confer upon him the desired rank, as should have been
done, and, besides, his statement was not quite correct.
Krudner had offered him the rank of captain commandant, equal to that
of major general in the army, and placed at his disposal one thousand
ducats for the expenses of his journey. He promptly demurred at the
proposed rank of captain commandant, or major general, and refused to
accept the sum offered for his traveling expenses. It was forced upon
him by the insistence of Krudner, however, and he finally received it.
He made no use of it at that time, keeping the money intact, and
intending to return it in case he should find it necessary on his
arrival in Russia to decline the proffered station. He made but few
stipulations with her Majesty's agent before entering upon the journey
to St. Petersburg, and these were that in the service of the empress
he should never be compelled to bear arms against either the United
States or France; that he should be at all times subject to recall by
Congress; and, as we have seen in his letter to Jefferson, he was
particular to assert that under no circumstances would he renounce
"the glorious title of a citizen of the United States." The man of the
world and the disinterested lover of human liberty had long since come
to a local habitation and name, and henceforth he never failed to
assert his citizenship in America.
As he left the court of Denmark and entered upon his journey to Russia
he carried in his pocket a patent for a pension issued to him by the
Danish Government for the sum of fifteen hundred crowns a year, which
was presented to him as an acknowledgment of the "respect he had shown
to the Danish flag while he commanded in the North Sea," etc.!
Curiously enough, the pension is dated the day it was decided to
transfer to Paris the negotiations which he had come to further. The
transaction is a most peculiar one. The coincidence of dates is, to
say the least, unfortunate. The reasons assigned are inadequate, and
the statement of cause is puerile. For a negotiator to accept
pecuniary reward from the person against whom he presses a claim is a
very remarkable thing to do.
It has been urged in justification of his acceptance: First, that he
never received any money from it, for the pension was never paid;
that, however, was a fact which, while it was potential, was not then
actual, and has no bearing upon his acceptance. Second, it has also
been claimed that the pension was given because the Danish Government
supposed such an evidence of appreciation of the qualities of her
appointee would be acceptable to the empress; but if a nice sense of
honor would dictate a refusal of the pension, the bestowal could not
be considered a compliment, therefore the acceptance could not enhance
his reputation. Third, it has been ingeniously surmised that his
acceptance of the pension was for the purpose of committing the Danish
Government to the payment of the claim; but if that were true, he
should have communicated his acceptance and his reasons to Jefferson
at once. The fact that the government absolutely refused to conclude
negotiations with him, and that he was of necessity obliged to permit
the transfer of the negotiations to Paris, takes away some of the
odium which attaches to his action, yet it does not completely clear
him. As the Russian prospect had matured he was more and more desirous
of quitting Denmark, and the transfer of the claim to Paris quite
accorded with his wishes.
This is the most painful incident in his career, and I am extremely
sorry that it occurred. I do not suppose that he realized the
situation quite as it is presented in these pages, or that he imagined
it would have so damaging an effect upon his reputation when it became
known. His valuation of his own services was so high that it was not
difficult to persuade him--or for him to persuade himself--that he was
entitled to a pension, or at least that it was not out of keeping with
his merits. Though how he had ever shown any particular respect for
the Danish flag when he commanded the Bon Homme Richard is a question.
Two circumstances incline me to believe that he was ashamed of it,
however, and that he had no primary intention of making use of it. His
vanity might lead him to treasure it as an evidence of appreciation,
where his sense of honor would restrain him from enjoying it. Of these
two circumstances, the first is that he never mentioned it to anybody
for three years, and he was never chary of letting the news of
evidences of appreciation be disseminated; the second is that he made
no attempt to draw anything on it until he was a sick, worn-out,
broken man, some years after, when he looked at life under different
circumstances and with different eyes. His letter to Jefferson, when
he finally did communicate the news to him three years after, is as
follows:
"The day before I left Copenhagen the Prince Royal had desired to
speak with me in his apartment. His Royal Highness was extremely
polite, and after saying many civil things remarked he hoped I was
satisfied with the attention that had been shown to me since my
arrival, and that the king would wish to give me some mark of his
esteem. 'I have never had the happiness to render any service to his
Majesty!' 'That is nothing; a man like you ought to be excepted from
ordinary rules. You could not have shown yourself more delicate as
regards our flag, and every person here loves you.' I took leave
without further explanation. I have felt myself in an embarrassing
situation with regard to the king's patent, and I have not yet made
use of it, though three years have nearly elapsed since I received
it."
It is all that he could say for himself. I am glad he had the grace at
last to be ashamed. That is the best defense that I can make for him,
and I can only close the reference to this unpleasant incident by
saying again that I am very sorry indeed that it occurred.
About the middle of April, 1788, he set forth for Stockholm, where, on
account of his desire to reach St. Petersburg without delay, he
remained but a few hours, and then pressed on to Grislehamn
(Gresholm), Sweden, the nearest port to the Aland Islands, _via_ which
he hoped to cross the Gulf of Bothnia and reach Russia. The ice,
however, was so thick that he found it impossible to cross the gulf or
even to reach the islands, so he determined to pass through the open
Baltic Sea to the southward. He hired an open boat about thirty feet
long, and, taking a smaller boat in tow, to be used in case of
emergency, he started upon a journey which proved to be one of the
most romantic and adventurous of his whole career. Realizing that in
the severe winter weather prevailing it would be impossible to get
boatmen to attempt the passage, he carefully concealed his destination
from the men whom he had employed to ferry him over.
Having first attempted once more to reach the Aland Islands, and
thence proceed to the Gulf of Finland, and being balked as before by
heavy masses of drifting ice, he started to the southward between the
Swedish shore and the ice floes, which, being driven toward Sweden by
a strong east wind, scarcely left him a sufficient channel to pass in
safety. By nightfall he was nearly opposite Stockholm, and the water
seemed clear enough to seaward for him to attempt to cross. The men,
by this time alarmed for their safety, determined, in defiance of his
orders, to put into Stockholm; but Jones, seizing the helm himself and
drawing his pistols, resolutely commanded them to beat out to sea and
obey his orders under pain of instant death. He was not a man to be
trifled with by a few Swedish boatmen, and by his directions the
terrified men headed the boat offshore. The wind fortunately shifted
to the westward, and during the whole of the long night, in the midst
of a driving snowstorm, they threaded their way through the floating
ice, steering for the Gulf of Finland.
Jones had a pocket compass, and the lantern from his traveling
carriage enabled him to choose the course. He naturally took command
of the boats himself. The next day, baffled again by the ice in an
attempt to land on the north shore of the Gulf of Finland, they
continued to the westward and southward under circumstances of extreme
danger and hardship. The second night was worse than the first. The
wind came in violent squalls, and the cold was intense. The second
boat was crushed in the ice floes, and the men in it rescued with
great difficulty. Their own boat narrowly escaped being crushed
between the huge pieces of ice or swamped in the squalls on several
occasions. Only by Jones' seamanship and rare skill did they avoid one
or the other danger. The men were so terrified as to be helpless
between the storm, the cold, and the thought of the incarnate little
demon who sat grimly in the stern sheets, pistol in hand, and neither
slept nor took rest apparently, and who handled the boat with as much
dexterity as if it had been a toy. One thinks instinctively of the
little bark which could not sink because it carried Cæsar and his
fortunes.
At any rate, after four days of incredible difficulties the passage
was made, and the boat landed at Reval, a Russian port on the southern
shore of the Gulf of Finland. They had sailed in one way and another
about five hundred miles. Those who had known of his departure from
Sweden had no thought but that he and all with him had perished in the
attempt. He was, as he stated to Jefferson, in wretched health, and
the exposure alone might have killed him. That he went on is highly
characteristic of him, and exhibits his entire indifference to
personal hardships. The passage presents a fine evidence of his
audacity. When he determined to do a thing, he never allowed anything
to stop him. Having paid the boatmen for the loss of their boat, and
remunerated them handsomely for their labors, he dismissed them to
return at their leisure, and proceeded to the Russian court, where he
arrived on the fourth day of May. His great reputation, his
adventurous passage, his strange and attractive personality, and the
fact that he stood high in the good graces and enjoyed the favor of
the empress, rendered him an object of universal interest and
attraction.
On the 6th of May he was presented to the empress, who immediately
conferred upon him the rank he coveted, of rear admiral. Catherine
treated him with such distinction that he states in his journal that
"I was overcome by her courtesies (_je me laissai seduire_), and put
myself into her hands without making any stipulation for my personal
advantage. I demanded but one favor, that I should never be condemned
unheard." Poor fellow! It was the one right--not favor, but rights
went by favor then in Russia--which was not accorded him. He little
knew what the future that looked so promising had in store for him,
but for the present everything was most delightful. He remained,
recuperating and preparing for his command, for two weeks, during
which period he was magnificently entertained by the highest nobility
of Russia and the distinguished foreigners in attendance at the court.
Among his papers the cards of many of them are still preserved. There
was one exception to his welcome. The English officers in the service
of Catherine, and they were many in number and high in quality,
affected to describe him as a pirate and a smuggler, and are said to
have threatened to resign in a body rather than serve under his
command. While I have no doubt as to their feelings, I think it
improbable that the threat was ever seriously meant, or that it
reached the ears of the empress, for two reasons: first, it was
apparently never contemplated that Jones should command the Cronstadt
fleet, in which those Englishmen who were highest in rank and
reputation were stationed--he had been designated for the Black Sea
fleet, and specifically called into service to war against the Turks;
and second, it is extremely unlikely that they should have carried
such a threat to the throne, for Catherine was not one whom it was
safe to threaten for a moment. Such an action in all probability would
have resulted in an apology and retraction, or a call for a
resignation. It is most improbable that the English protesters would
have relinquished the honorable and lucrative positions to which they
had attained in the Russian service, with the great opportunities of
advancement and pecuniary reward presented, for such a cause. As a
matter of fact, Englishmen did serve with credit under Jones' command
in the Black Sea, and we hear of no resignations from his squadron
there. The story may have gained currency by the gossipy repetition of
indiscreet remarks about the court, and from the fact that thirty of
the English-Russian officers signed a memorial addressed to Admiral
Grieg, their senior in rank, threatening various things if they were
associated with Jones. It is hardly possible, however, that Catherine
ever saw or heard the petition. At any rate, nothing came of it. Jones
enjoyed the anger of the English--he would not have been human if he
had not--but as for the rest, he snapped his fingers at them. He could
afford to defy them at that hour. He was then in the "high topgallant
of his fortunes." In a letter to Lafayette he writes, apropos of this
feeling:
"The empress received me with a distinction the most flattering that
perhaps any stranger can boast of. On entering into the Russian
service her Majesty conferred on me immediately the grade of rear
admiral. I was detained against my will a fortnight, and continually
feasted at court, and in the first society. This was a cruel grief to
the English, and I own that their vexation, which I believe was
general in and about St. Petersburg, gave me no pain."
As I have said, I have no doubt as to the feelings of the English
officers.
On the 18th of May the admiral left St. Petersburg for Elizabethgrad,
the headquarters of Patiomkine. In addition to the sum recently
received from Krudner, he was provided with an other purse of two
thousand ducats for the expenses of his journey, and his salary was
fixed at eighteen hundred roubles a year.[44] As he started for the
Black Sea, Catherine handed him this letter:
"Sir: A courier from Paris has just brought from my envoy in France,
M. de Simolin, the inclosed letter to Count Besborodko. As I believe
that this letter may help to confirm to you what I have already told
you verbally, I have sent it, and beg you to return it, as I have not
even had it copied, 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 favorably
disposed toward you. I have no doubt 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 you have acquired, for
valor and skill, on the element on which you are to serve.
"Adieu! I wish you happiness and health.
"Catherine."
The letter to Besborodko referred to by Catherine was a request from
Patiomkine that Jones might be induced to come immediately to his
headquarters, that his talents might be employed in the approaching
campaign. Patiomkine promised to to do all in his power to give him an
opportunity for displaying his ability and courage,[45] Jones had
protested against being under anybody; Catherine refused to consider
his protest, hence the reason for her farewell epistle and her
inclosure of Patiomkine's promise to be all that he should be to
Jones. He arrived at Elizabethgrad on the 30th of May and was most
kindly received. But before entering upon the story of his campaign it
will be well to consider the situation of the country in which he
found himself, and the characters of those with whom he was to be
associated in service.
_Note with reference to the Danish pension_.
The most recent biographer of Paul Jones, whose book was issued
simultaneously with this one, makes no mention of the Danish pension,
and states that his reasons for omitting any reference to it were
"because it was never accepted, never paid, and never was intended to
be paid." I am forced to disagree with this statement. Certainly, it
never was paid, though what the Danish government may have intended it
is impossible to say. Probably if Jones had continued in favor in
Russia the pension would have been paid. Certainly the commodore
accepted the pension, and he endeavored to procure its payment, and
estimated it as an asset in the schedule of property which accompanied
his will. See Appendix V, page 473.