Commodore Paul Jones 16

Commodore Paul Jones 16

"London, _August 4, 1789_.

"_Monsieur le Chevalier Paul Jones, à Paris_.

 

"Sir: I received the letter you wrote to me at the time you sent off

my plate, in order for restoring it. Had I known where to direct a

letter to you at the time it arrived in Scotland I would then have

wrote to you; but, not knowing it, nor finding that any of my

acquaintance at Edinburgh knew it, I was obliged to delay writing till

I came here, when, by means of a gentleman connected with America, I

was told M. le Grand was your banker at Paris, and would take proper

care of a letter for you; therefore, I inclose this to him.

 

"Notwithstanding all the precautions you took for the easy and

uninterrupted conveyance of the plate, yet it met with considerable

delays: first at Calais, next at Dover, then at London; however, it at

last arrived at Dumfries, and I dare say quite safe, though as yet I

have not seen it, being then at Edinburgh.

 

"I intended to have put an article in the newspapers about your having

returned it; but before I was informed of its being arrived, some of

your friends, I suppose, had put it in the Dumfries newspaper, whence

it was immediately copied into the Edinburgh papers, and thence into

the London ones. Since that time I have mentioned it to many people of

fashion; and, on all occasions, sir, both now and formerly, I have

done you the justice to tell that you made an offer of returning the

plate very soon after your return to Brest; and, although you yourself

was not at my house, but remained at the shore with your boat, that

yet you had your officers and men in such extraordinary good

discipline that your having given them the strictest orders to behave

well, to do no injury of any kind, to make no search, but only to

bring off what plate was given them; that in reality they did exactly

as ordered, and that not one man offered to stir from his post on the

outside of the house, nor entered the doors, nor said an uncivil word;

that the two officers stayed not a quarter of an hour in the parlour

and butler's pantry, while the butler got the plate together, behaved

politely, and asked for nothing but the plate, and instantly marched

their men off in regular order; and that both officers and men behaved

in all respects so well that it would have done credit to the best

disciplined troops whatever.

 

"Some of the English newspapers at that time having put in confused

accounts of your expedition to Whitehaven and Scotland, I ordered a

proper one of what had happened in Scotland to be put in the London

newspapers, by a gentleman who was then at my house, by which the good

conduct and civil behaviour of your officers and men was done justice

to, and attributed to your order, and the good discipline you

maintained over your people.

 

"I am, sir, your most humble servant,

 

"Selkirk."

 

 

It is a handsome acknowledgment, but I note with great pleasure the

sailor writes better than the peer!

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

STANDING AND WAITING.

 

 

The Ranger and her prizes arrived at Brest at a propitious time, both

for the fortunes of Jones and for those of his adopted country as

well. The secret treaty of alliance between the confederated colonies

and France had been signed on February 6th. The plenipotentiaries from

the United States had been publicly received at Versailles on March

23d. On the same day the French ambassador left England, and the

English ambassador, Lord Stormont, left France. The fleet of D'Estaing

put to sea from Toulon a fortnight later. In two weeks the English

fleet followed to American waters. The attempt was made on the part of

the French to execute the brilliant strategic plan which Jones had

devised, although, of course, the delay had rendered the effort

fruitless.

 

The successful cruise of the Ranger, the rich captures she had made,

the daring enterprises she had undertaken, the boldness and audacity

of her commander in venturing with a little vessel of such trifling

force into the very midst of the three kingdoms, and the brilliancy of

his capture of a war vessel of nominally superior, and at least really

equal, force, in a fair and open yardarm to yardarm fight, a thing to

which the French navy was not accustomed, awakened the greatest

admiration, and Paul Jones found himself in that most congenial of

positions to him--and to almost any other man--of being the observed

of all. On this expedition, his first real opportunity, he had

demonstrated that he possessed an ability to plan, and a courage to

carry out his conceptions, which put him in the front rank of the sea

officers of his day. With one single vessel, laboring under every

disadvantage conceivable, he had done what no European power or

combination of powers had been able to accomplish in centuries, with

all their resources at command. He had terrorized the whole English

seaboard, and filled the United Kingdom with uneasiness and unrest.

 

The gallant men who had gone before him and accomplished so much with

the Reprisal, the Revenge, and the others, had a worthy successor and

superior in this little Scots-American, who, as a citizen of the

world, in love with humanity, drew his sword for the cause of freedom.

The French admired him, the English hated him. The American prisoners

immediately felt the effect of his captures by the general

amelioration of their unhappy condition, and Franklin at last realized

that he had a man at hand upon whom he could depend to further his

bold designs. When the news reached America, it was received with

great joy, and the Naval Committee and the Congress generally knew

they had made no mistake in sending Jones to Europe. The young navy

looked to him with hope. His exploits were detailed and amplified in

the cafés and on the boulevards of Paris, and were related with

approbation even within the sacred confines of the court. He was the

hero of the hour.

 

But there is a homely maxim exemplified by frequent experience that

"Fine words butter no parsnips." It was true in this instance

undoubtedly, and Jones learned that there was no necessary connection

between glory and bread and butter. He was unable to procure actually

necessary supplies for his crew. All the vessels of the Continental

navy went to sea undermanned, ill-provided, and inadequately

provisioned, and the ship's purser, as a rule, had no money. The

seamen had not received their wages--no money at all, in fact, except

that which Jones himself had advanced out of his own pocket. With the

sanction of the Marine Committee he had made himself responsible for

the regular payment of the wages of the men. His pocket was now empty,

the last guineas having been given to the Irish fishermen

aforementioned. His own resources were always drawn upon freely for

the good of the service and his men; now they were entirely exhausted.

His provisions had been consumed, he did not know where to get any

more. In addition to his own people he had several prizes and over two

hundred prisoners who had to be cared for, and who were a healthy and

hungry lot.

 

When he arrived in France he had been authorized to draw upon the

commissioners to the extent of twelve thousand livres, with the

caution not to avail himself of the permission unless it were

imperatively necessary. With great prudence, and by the exercise of

rigid economy, he had avoided any inroad on the depleted and overtaxed

fund of the commissioners. Something, however, had to be done in this

instance, and without securing another authority, for which, indeed,

time was wanting, so pressing were his needs, he made drafts upon the

commissioners in the sum of twenty-four thousand livres, about five

thousand dollars.

 

Meanwhile he subsisted his crew and prisoners through the generosity

of the French naval authorities at Brest, which he secured by the

pledge of his own private personal credit. The draft was dishonored.

Certainly the commissioners were embarrassed almost beyond endurance

by the demands upon them from every side, but this was a matter to

which they should have given attention if it were humanly possible,

for they were the only resource that Jones had. His condition was

simply desperate. He knew not what to do nor where to turn. The

following extract of a letter to the commissioners on the 27th of May

exhibits his painful position:

 

 

"Could I suppose that my letters of the 9th and 16th current (the

first advising you of my arrival and giving reference to the events of

my expedition; the last advising you of my draft in favour of Monsieur

Bersolle, for twenty-four thousand livres, and assigning reasons for

the demand) had not made due appearance, I would hereafter, as I do

now, inclose copies. Three posts have already arrived here from Paris

since Comte d'Orvilliers showed me the answer which he received from

the minister, to the letter which inclosed mine to you. Yet you remain

silent. M. Bersolle has this moment informed me of the fate of my

bills; the more extraordinary as I have not yet made use of your

letter of credit of the 10th of January last, whereby I then seemed

entitled to call for half the amount of my last draft, and I did not

expect to be thought extravagant when, on the 16th current, I doubled

that demand. Could this indignity be kept secret I should disregard

it; and, though it is already public in Brest and in the fleet, as it

affects only my private credit I will not complain. I can not,

however, be silent when I find the public credit involved in the same

disgrace. I conceive this might have been prevented. To make me

completely wretched, Monsieur Bersolle has now told me that he now

stops his hand, not only of the necessary articles to refit the ship,

but also of the _daily provisions_. I know not where to find

to-morrow's dinner for the great number of mouths that depend on me

for food. Are then the Continental ships of war to depend on the sale

of their prizes for a daily dinner for their men? 'Publish it not in

Gath.'

 

"My officers, as well as men, want clothes, and the prizes are

precluded from being sold before farther orders arrive from the

minister. I will ask you, gentlemen, if I have deserved all this.

Whoever calls himself an American ought to be protected here. I am

unwilling to think that you have intentionally involved me in this

dilemma, at a time when I ought to expect some enjoyment.

 

"Therefore I have, as formerly, the honour to be, with due esteem and

respect, gentlemen, yours, etc."