Shortly after his appointment Franklin sent his grandson to Lee, with a note requesting Lee to send to him such papers belonging to the embassy as were in his possession. Lee insolently replied that he had "no papers belonging to the department of minister plenipotentiary at the court of Versailles;" that if Franklin referred to papers relating to transactions of the late joint commission, he had "yet to learn and could not conceive" by what reason or authority one commissioner was entitled to demand custody of them. Franklin replied temperately enough that many of them were essential to him for reference in conducting the public business, but said that he should be perfectly content to have copies. The captious Lee was still further irritated by this scheme for avoiding a quarrel, but had to accede to it. *** To John Paul Jones Franklin stood in the relation of a navy department. The daring exploits of that gallant mariner form a chapter too fascinating to be passed by without reluctance, but limitations of space are inexorable. His success and his immunity in his reckless feats seem marvelous. His chosen field was the narrow seas which surround Britain, which swarmed with British shipping, and were dominated by the redoubtable British navy as the streets of a city are kept in order by police. But the rover Jones, though always close to his majesty's coasts, was too much for all his majesty's admirals and captains. He harried these home waters and captured prizes till he became embarrassed by the extent of his own success; he landed at Whitehaven, spiked the guns of the fort, and fired the ships of the fleet in the harbor beneath the eyes of the astounded Englishmen, who thronged the shore and gazed bewildered upon the spectacle which American audacity displayed for them; he made incursions on the land; he threatened the port of Leith, and would undoubtedly have bombarded it, had not obstinate counter winds thwarted his plans; he kept the whole British shores in a state of feverish alarm; he was always ready to fight, and challenged the English warship, the Serapis, to come out and meet him; she came, and he captured her after fighting so desperately that his own ship, the famous Bon Homme Richard, named after Poor Richard, sank a few hours after the combat was over. [Illustration]