_The Mission to Denmark._
Letter to Mr. Jefferson.—The Marquise de Marsan.—Unfounded Charges and
Vindication.—Flattering Application from Catherine II.—His
Reception at the Polish Court.—Jones receives the Title of
Rear-Admiral.—English Insolence.—Letter of Catherine II.
Just before Mr. Jones left Europe, he transmitted a letter to Congress,
informing them that the piratic regency of Algiers had armed eight war
vessels, carrying from eighteen to thirty-four guns each, which were to
cruise between Cape St. Vincent and the Azores, to capture American
ships. The French minister, M. Soulanges, at Toulon, had ascertained
this fact, and very kindly, immediately communicated it to Mr. Jones. In
writing to Mr. Jefferson upon the subject, the commodore said:
“This event may, I believe, surprise some of our fellow-citizens. But,
for my part, I am rather surprised that it did not take place sooner. It
will produce a good effect, if it unites the people of America in
measures consistent with their national honor and interest, and rouses
them from that ill-judged security, which the intoxication of success
has produced since the revolution.”
One of his most valued lady friends in France, a daughter of Louis XV.,
wrote to him, in deepest affliction. Though a daughter of the king, and
as such enjoying high rank, she was not regarded as a member of the
royal family. The king bestowed a large fortune upon the mother, on the
daughter’s account. The father died when the daughter, who was a great
favorite of his, was very young. The mother then greatly neglected this
child of a royal sire, treating her neither with natural affection nor
justice. This young lady was adopted by the Marquise de Marsan, who
became to her as a mother, and introduced her to the highest society of
the court.
She was very happily married to M. Tellison, a very worthy gentleman,
but without fortune. In this virtuous family, Commodore Jones had found,
in his lonely hours in Paris, a congenial and happy home. The aged
marquise regarded the young hero as her own son. Monsieur and Madame
Tellison treated him with truly fraternal affection. Their little boy
was a great favorite of the commodore, as he fondled him upon his knee,
and lavished caresses upon him.
Man is born to mourn. The day of sorrow came to this united and happy
family. On the 23d of June, 1787, Madame Tellison wrote to Paul Jones,
in New York, informing him of the sudden death of her friend and
protectress, the Marquise de Marsan, and of consequently a great reverse
in their pecuniary condition. Jones, writing to Dr. Bancroft in London,
alluding to this event, said:
“This is also a great grief and loss to me, as I had in that lady a
valuable friend.”
The letter Madame Tellison had written to Mr. Jones, was forwarded to
him by Thomas Jefferson. He immediately wrote to Mr. Jefferson as
follows:
“The letter you sent me, left the feeling author all in tears. Her
friend, her protectress, her introductress to the king, was suddenly
dead. She was in despair. She lost more than a mother. A loss indeed
that nothing can repair; for fortune and favor are never to be compared
to tried friendship. I hope, however, she has gone to visit the king in
July, agreeably to his appointment given to her in the month of March. I
am persuaded that he would receive her with additional kindness, and
that her loss would, in his mind, be a new claim to protection;
especially as he well knows and has acknowledged her superior merit and
just pretensions.
“As I feel the greatest concern for the situation of this worthy lady,
you will render me a great favor by writing a note requesting her to
call on you, as you have something to communicate from me. When she
comes, be so good as to deliver her the within letter, and show her
this; that she may see both my confidence in you and my advice to her.”
The enclosed letter, full of gushing sympathies, was as follows. It was
dated New York, September 4th, 1787.
“No language can convey to the 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 cannot 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. You may safely unbosom yourself to him and ask his advice, which
cannot but be flattering for 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’Artois,[E] his brother, would, on your personal application,
render you good offices by speaking in your favor. I should like it
better, however, if you can do without him.
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Footnote E:
Subsequently Charles X.
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“I am almost without money, and much puzzled to obtain a supply. 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. 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 cannot 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.”
While in New York he heard very ungenerous complaints that his charge
for services in recovering the prize-money was exorbitant. Earnestly
seeking the good-will of his fellow-citizens, these reproaches pained
him. He wrote upon the subject as follows:
“The settlement I made, with the court of France, had first Dr.
Franklin’s, and afterwards Mr. Jefferson’s approbation, in every stage
and article of the business. And I presume it will be found, so far as
depended on me, to merit that of the United States. In France I was
received and treated by the king and his ministers, as a general
officer, and a special minister from Congress. The credit with which I
was honored as an officer, in the opinion of Europe, and the personal
intimacy I have with many great characters at Paris, with my exclusive
knowledge of all circumstances relative to the business, insured me a
success which no other man could have obtained. My situation subjected
me to considerable expense. I went to court much oftener, and mixed with
the great much more frequently than our minister plenipotentiary. Yet
the gentlemen in that situation consider their salary of two thousand
pounds sterling a year as scarcely adequate to their expenses.”
His busy mind was ever fertile in expedients for the public welfare. In
urging upon Congress immediate and effectual measures for the rescue of
the unhappy American captives in piratic and barbaric Algiers, he had
urged the establishment of a fund for that object. He also urged that,
from this fund, a great national hospital should be established, for the
benefit of invalid seamen, on the plan of the renowned Greenwich
Hospital in England, and the still more far-famed Hotel des Invalides in
Paris.
On the 11th of November, Mr. Jones sailed from New York on his mission
to Denmark. Unfavorable weather caused the ship to put into Dover early
in December, 1787. He repaired to London and spent a few days with our
minister at the court of St. James, Honorable John Adams. He proceeded
to Paris, where he arrived on the 11th of the month. For some
unexplained reason he did not wish to have the fact of his arrival
noised abroad. The day after he reached Paris, he had a private
interview with Mr. Jefferson. In this interview he received the
startling and flattering announcement, that the Empress of Russia was
anxious to engage his services as an officer, in the war she was then
carrying on against the Turks. M. Simolin, the Russian ambassador at
Versailles, had been instructed to apply to Mr. Jones, through Mr.
Jefferson, to see if the services of the chevalier could be engaged as
an officer in her navy. While this plan was under consideration, he
called upon several of the French ministers, from whom he met a very
cordial reception.
On the 4th of March, 1788, after a long and fatiguing winter journey,
Mr. Jones reached Copenhagen. He was then but forty years of age. His
health, however, was much impaired by the cares, toil, and exposure of
his stormy life. Soon after his arrival he breakfasted with the
chamberlain of the king of Poland, for the purpose of meeting Mr.
Simolin, the Russian ambassador. He informed Mr. Jones, that in
consequence of the knowledge which the empress had obtained of his
character, she wished him to take command of her fleet in the Black Sea,
and that she would soon make to him advantageous proposals. After the
Russian ambassador had retired, the chamberlain, whose guest the
commodore was, informed him that Mr. Simolin had written to the empress:
“If your Imperial Majesty will confide to Commodore Jones the chief
command on the Black Sea, with _carte blanche_, I will answer for it,
that, in less than a year he will make Constantinople tremble.”
Soon after this he was presented to the royal family, to all of the
corps diplomatique, and to many other distinguished personages _of the
court_. In speaking of his reception by the king, the queen dowager, and
the young prince and princess royal, he wrote:
“The queen dowager conversed with me for some time, and said the most
civil things. Her majesty has a dignity of person and deportment which
become 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 the 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 honor 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 family, the ministers
of state, and foreign ambassadors, was very brilliant.”
Very earnestly Commodore Jones engaged in the object of his mission. He
had a double motive to impel him to make all possible haste. In addition
to the natural desire to close up the business, which had been thus
lingering for years, he was now daily expecting offers of employment
from the Empress of Russia, which it might be greatly for his interest
to accept. The Algerines, those merciless pirates of all seas, were
united with the Turks of Constantinople, in their warfare against
Russia. An opportunity might thus be afforded him to strike a blow for
the liberation of the American captives. This was an object very near
his heart.
There is power in an illustrious name. The achievements of Commodore
Jones were well known at Copenhagen. He had received a golden medal, for
his services, from the Congress of the United States. The king of France
had honored him with a gold-headed sword, and had conferred upon him the
distinguished honor of constituting him a Knight of the Order of
Military Merit. It was also known that he had won the esteem of the most
distinguished men in Paris, and was an honored guest in the highest
circles of the court. These considerations were all elements of power,
of which Mr. Jones very wisely availed himself. In urging the Danish
minister, Count de Bernstorf, to a prompt decision, Mr. Jones wrote
under date of March 24th:
“The promise you have given me of a prompt and explicit decision, from
this court, inspires me with full confidence. I have been very
particular in communicating to the United States all the polite
attentions with which I have been honored at this court. And they will
learn, with great pleasure, the kind reception I have had from you. I
felicitated myself on being the instrument to settle the delicate
national business in question, with a minister who conciliates the views
of the wise statesman with the noblest sentiments and cultivated mind of
the true philosopher and man of letters.”
If any one regards this as excessive in its complimentary tone, as it
certainly appears to be, let him read the next letter to Count
Bernstorf, after a delay of six days, which indicates that he could deal
with other coin besides that of laudation. This letter was dated March
30th.
“Your silence on the subject of my mission from the United States to
this court, leaves me in the most painful suspense; the more so as I
have made your excellency acquainted with the promise I am under, to
proceed, as soon as possible, to St. Petersburg. This being the ninth
year since the three prizes reclaimed by the United States, were seized
upon in the port of Bergen, in Norway, it is to be presumed that this
court has long since taken an ultimate resolution respecting the
compensation demand made by Congress.
“Though I am extremely sensible of the favorable reception with which I
have been distinguished at this court, and am particularly flattered by
the polite attentions with which you have honored me, at every
conference, yet I have remarked with great concern, that you have never
led the conversation to the object of my mission here.
“A man of your liberal sentiments will not therefore be surprised, or
offended at my plain dealing, when I repeat that I impatiently expect a
prompt and categorical answer, in writing, from this court to the Act of
Congress of the 25th of October last. Both my duty, and the
circumstances of my situation, constrain me to make this demand in the
name of my sovereign the United States of America.
“But I beseech you to believe that though I am extremely tenacious of
the honor of the American flag, yet my personal interests in the
decision I now ask, would never have induced me to present myself at
this court. You are too just, sir, to delay my business here, which
would put me under the necessity to break the promise I have made to her
imperial majesty, conformable to your advice.”
To this very decisive communication the minister returned an answer full
of compliments and full of evasions. The king had no money to spare. Yet
he was very desirous of securing the friendship of the United States,
that he might enter into a commercial treaty, which would be of great
benefit to Denmark. Amidst a vast mass of verbiage the commodore was
informed that the king thought it best to defer a final settlement until
the Constitution of the United States was fully established; that a
settlement could only be made with an ambassador invested with
plenipotentiary powers; and that, as the negotiations were commenced
with the United States ministers in Paris, it was not expedient to
transfer the seat of the suspended negociation from Paris to Copenhagen.
In conclusion, he begged Commodore Jones to assure the government of the
United States of the cordial esteem of the king of Denmark, of the
earnest desire of his majesty to form connexions solid, useful and
essential with this country, and to assure the government that when the
proper time came, nothing should be allowed to retard the conclusion of
an amicable settlement of a question, already so far advanced toward a
solution. Under these circumstances, the only thing to be done was to
transfer the business to Mr. Jefferson. This enabled him immediately to
enter upon the service of the Empress of Russia. In his letter, on this
occasion, to Mr. Jefferson, he wrote:
“If I have not finally concluded the object of my mission it is neither
your fault nor mine. The honor 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 rest perfectly satisfied that the
interests of the brave men I commanded will experience in you, parental
affection, and that the American flag can lose none of its lustre, but
the contrary, while its honor is confided to you.
“While I express, in the warm effusions of a grateful heart, the deep
sense I feel of my eternal obligations to you, as the author of the
honorable 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.
“I have not forsaken a country that has had many and disinterested
proofs of my affection. And I can never renounce the glorious title of a
citizen of the United States. It is true that 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, and has no
public employment for my military talents.
“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 that the king thanked me for my attention and civil behavior to the
Danish flag, while I commanded in the European seas; and that his
majesty wished to testify to me his personal esteem.”
It is said that Jones was offered a pension from the Danish government
of fifteen hundred crowns a year. Jones, however, never mentioned this
circumstance to any of his most familiar correspondents. There is no
evidence that he ever received one dollar of this money, but, on the
contrary, much evidence that he never received any.
The commodore repaired to St. Petersburg. He was received by the empress
with more flattering attentions than the court had ever before conferred
upon any stranger. The empress immediately conferred upon him the rank
of rear-admiral. He was detained in the capital, contrary to his wishes,
a fortnight, where he was introduced to the first circles of society,
feasted and caressed. Jones, speaking of this reception, writes to
Lafayette:
“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 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, and to attach grateful and susceptible
minds.”
The attentions which Paul Jones received from the Russian court greatly
annoyed the English in and about St. Petersburg. They still insolently
persisted in stigmatizing a commissioned officer in the American navy as
a _renegade_ and a _pirate_, because, having been born in Scotland, he
had espoused the cause of American liberty.
Tooke, in his life of Catherine II., gives vent to all his bitter
British prejudices. Calling Admiral Jones an “English pirate and
renegado,” he adds, “Jones, not meeting with the consideration he
expected in America, made a tender of his services to the court of St.
Petersburg; and the British officers, applicants for employment, went in
a body to the amount of near thirty to lay down their commissions,
declaring it was impossibly to serve under him, or to act with him in
any measure or capacity.”
We read in an Edinburgh paper of that date the following notice of that
event, probably written by a _Russian_ officer. “Paul Jones arrived here
a few days ago. He is to set out soon, to take command of a squadron in
the Black Sea. I had the satisfaction to see this honest man, while he
was examining one of our dock-yards. He is a well-made man of middle
size; he wears the French uniform with the Cross of St. Louis, and a
Danish order which he received at Copenhagen, where he had the honor to
dine with the king. He has also received, since he came here, one of the
first Orders of Merit in this country, so that it is to be feared that
they will spoil him by making too much of him. The English officers in
the service have presented a memorial to Admiral Greig, refusing to
serve with Jones, and threatening to throw up their commissions. Whether
they will stand to their text, it is difficult to say.”
The empress paid no attention whatever to this petulance. Admiral Jones
treated it with profound contempt. In writing to Lafayette, in reference
to his treatment by the Russian court, he says:
“This was a cruel grief to the English, and I own that their vexation,
which was generally in and about St. Petersburg, gave me no pain.”
The empress with her own hands wrote to the admiral. In her letter she
probably refers, though slightly, to this unmanly opposition of the
English. We give her letter.
“SIR—A courier from Paris has just brought from my envoy in France, M.
Simolin, the enclosed letter to Count Besborodko.[F] As I believe that
this letter may help to confirm to you what I have already told you
verbally, I have sent it, and beg you to return it, as I have not even
made a copy be taken, 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 but that on your side you will
fully justify the opinion which we have formed of you, and apply
yourself with zeal to support the reputation and the name you have
acquired for valor and skill on the element in which you are to serve.
“Adieu. I wish you happiness and health.
“CATHERINE.”
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Footnote F:
Russian Minister for the Home Department.
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