Commodore Paul Jones 19
"The minister desired to see me at Versailles to settle future plans
of operation, and I attended him for that purpose. I was told that the
Indien was at the Texel completely armed and fitted for sea; but the
Prince de Nassau was sent express to Holland, and returned with a very
different account. The ship was at Amsterdam, and could not be got
afloat or armed before the September equinox. The American
plenipotentiaries proposed that I should return to America; and, as I
have repeatedly been appointed to the chief command of an American
squadron to execute secret enterprises, it was not doubted but that
Congress would again show me a preference. M. de Sartine, however,
thought proper to prevent my departure, by writing to the
plenipotentiaries (without my knowledge), requesting that I might be
permitted to remain in Europe, and that the Ranger might be sent back
to America under another commander, he having special services which
he wished me to execute. This request they readily granted, and I was
flattered by the prospect of being enabled to testify, by my services,
my gratitude to your Majesty, as the first prince who has so
generously acknowledged our independence.
"There was an interval of more than three months before the Indien
could be gotten afloat. To employ that period usefully, when your
Majesty's fleet was ordered to sail from Brest, I proposed to the
minister to embark in it as a volunteer, in pursuit of marine
knowledge. He objected to this, at the same time approved of a variety
of hints for private enterprises, which I had drawn up for his
consideration. Two gentlemen were appointed to settle with me the
plans that were to be adopted, who gave me the assurance that three of
the best frigates in France, with two tenders, and a number of troops,
should be immediately put under my command, to pursue such of my own
projects as I thought proper; but this fell to nothing, when I
believed that your Majesty's signature only was wanting.
"Another armament, composed of cutters and small vessels, at L'Orient,
was proposed to be put under my command, to alarm the coasts of
England and check the Jersey privateers; but happily for me this also
failed, and I was saved from ruin and dishonour, as I now find that
all the vessels sailed slow, and their united force is very
insignificant. The minister then thought fit that I should return to
Brest to command the Lively, and join some frigates on an expedition
from St. Malo to the North Sea. I returned in haste for that purpose,
and found that the Lively had been bestowed at Brest before the
minister had mentioned that ship to me at Versailles. This was,
however, another fortunate disappointment, as the Lively proves, both
in sailing and equipment, much inferior to the Ranger; but, more
especially, if it be true, as I have since understood, that the
minister intended to give the chief command of an expedition to a
lieutenant, which would have occasioned a very disagreeable
misunderstanding; for, as an officer of the first rank in the American
marine, who has ever been honoured with the favour and friendship of
Congress, I can receive orders from no inferior officer whatever. My
plan was the destruction of the English Baltic fleet, of great
consequence to the enemy's marine, and then only protected by a single
frigate. I would have held myself responsible for its success had I
commanded the expedition.
"M. de Sartine afterward sent orders to Count D'Orvilliers to receive
me on board the fleet agreeably to my former proposal; but the order
did not arrive until after the departure of the fleet the last time
from Brest, nor was I made acquainted with the circumstance before the
fleet returned here.
"Thus have I been chained down to shameful inactivity for nearly five
months. I have lost the best season of the year, and such
opportunities of serving my country and acquiring honour as I can not
again expect this war; and, to my infinite mortification, having no
command, I am considered everywhere an officer cast off and in
disgrace for secret reasons.
"I have written respectful letters to the minister, none of which he
has condescended to answer; I have written to the Prince de Nassau
with as little effect; and I do not understand that any apology has
been made to the great and venerable Dr. Franklin, whom the minister
has made the instrument of bringing me into such unmerited trouble.
"Having written to Congress to reserve no command for me in America,
my sensibility is the more affected by this unworthy situation in the
sight of your Majesty's fleet. I, however, make no remark on the
treatment I have received.
"Although I wish not to become my own panegyrist, I must beg your
Majesty's permission to observe that I am not an adventurer in search
of fortune, of which, thank God, I have a sufficiency.
"When the American banner was first displayed I drew my sword in
support of the violated dignity and rights of human nature; and both
honour and duty prompt me steadfastly to continue the righteous
pursuit, and to sacrifice to it not only my own private enjoyments,
but even life, if necessary. I must acknowledge that the generous
praise which I have received from Congress and others exceeds the
merit of my past services, therefore I the more ardently wish for
future opportunities of testifying my gratitude by my activity.
"As your Majesty, by espousing the cause of America, hath become the
protector of the rights of human nature, I am persuaded that you will
not disregard my situation, nor suffer me to remain any longer in this
unsupportable disgrace.
"I am, with perfect gratitude and profound respect, Sire, your
Majesty's very obliged, very obedient, and very humble servant,
"J. Paul Jones."
This letter, at once dignified, forceful, respectful, and modest, was
inclosed to Dr. Franklin with the request that it should be delivered
to the king. The deference paid to Franklin's opinion, the eager
desire to please him, the respect in which he held him, is not the
least pleasing feature of Jones' character, by the way. The letter in
question was withheld by Franklin with Jones' knowledge and
acquiescence, and the king, it is probable, never saw it. There was,
in fact, no necessity for its delivery, for the appeals, prayers, and
importunities had at last evoked a response. The minister, worn out by
the persistence of Jones, determined, since none of the French naval
vessels were available, to buy him a ship and assemble a squadron and
send him forth.
The inquiry naturally arises why the French Government should care to
go to the trouble and expense of doing this. Before the war was
declared their action was understandable, but afterward the then
operating cause disappeared. Yet there was another reason aside from
the fact that M. de Sartine was willing to keep his promise if he
could, and that was this:
It was not the custom to harry, plunder, and ravage the seacoasts in
the wars between France and England. Military or naval forces were the
sole objects of attack, and by a specific though unwritten law of
custom, the efforts of the rival combatants were confined to ships of
war, fortifications, and armies, and, of course, to merchant vessels
belonging to the enemy. The peaceful seashore towns were generally let
alone unless the inhabitants in exposed localities provoked
retaliation by aggression--a thing they usually took good care not to
do. To introduce the practice would be unfortunate and nothing would
be gained, by France especially. The King of France, however, was more
than willing to have the coasts of his neighbor ravaged, if no
retaliation on his own unprotected shores were provoked thereby. No
convention of any sort, expressed or understood, existed between Great
Britain and the United States which would prevent such action on the
part of the Americans. Great Britain was making a bloody ravaging
warfare on the coasts of North America, and, never dreaming of
reprisal, paid no attention whatever to this law of war, save when it
suited her to do so, on our seaboard. Franklin and the commissioners
wisely realized that the only way to stop this merciless and brutal
burning and plundering was to let the enemy experience the thing
himself. They were therefore in entire accord with the desire of the
French king. To produce the result he would furnish the squadron, they
the flag. It was a charming arrangement from the king's point of view.
Consequently the reason for the encouragement given Jones is apparent,
and the determination of the minister is therefore explained and
understood.
Jones received word early in November through the commissioners, with
a solemn assurance from De Sartine, that a suitable ship would be
purchased for him at the expense of France and a squadron assembled
under his supreme command. Let those who would reproach Jones for his
part in this plan remember that (as in his previous cruise) he only
carried out the orders of Franklin. There was no sentimental nonsense
about the old Quaker. He knew what was the best remedy for the
deplorable conditions in America, and he grimly prepared to apply it.
He had no illusions in the premises at all; it was a pure matter of
business, and with sound policy he so treated it. Jones' appeals, be
it understood, were only for a ship or ships and an opportunity to get
into action with the enemy. His orders were outside of his control.
All he had to do as a naval officer was to carry them out to the best
of his ability when he received them. Therefore a censure of Jones is
a censure of Franklin.
It was first designed to employ Jones and his proposed squadron for a
descent upon Liverpool, for which purpose five hundred men from
Fitzmaurice's Irish regiment were to be taken on the ships. Pending
the assembling of the squadron, and while Jones was busily engaged in
seeking for a proper vessel for himself in various French ports,
Lafayette arrived from America, and sought the command of the land
forces of the proposed expedition. His desire was a notable tribute to
the sailor, by the way. The change was most agreeable to Jones, to
whom, of course, the reputation and abilities of Lafayette were well
known, and who would naturally prefer association with such a
distinguished man in the undertaking, but, as usual, there were delays
on the part of the minister.
Jones traveled about from port to port, looking at different ships
which it was proposed to purchase for him. The minister offered him
the Duc de Broglie, a large new ship lying at Nantes, capable of
mounting sixty-four guns. He inspected her, and would have taken her
gladly, but he felt utterly unable properly to man such a large ship,
and he was reluctantly compelled to dismiss her from consideration.
There was also at Nantes a smaller ship, the Ariel, of twenty guns,
which had been captured from the English, which he was willing to
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