Jones did not lack other friends either, for M. Genet, Secretary of
the French Legation at St. Petersburg, and subsequently Minister from
France to the United States--his extraordinary conduct while he
enjoyed that office will be remembered--whose father had been an old
friend of the commodore's, gave him a most cordial and gratifying
letter of introduction to the celebrated Madame Campan, in which he
specifically states the unfounded nature of the charges which had been
made, and, describing the circumstances in which Jones left Russia,
authorized her to correct any rumors to his disadvantage which might
be put in circulation at Versailles. He also consented to act as
Jones' financial representative, and transmitted to him from time to
time such amounts on his pay as he could wrest from the Russian
Government.
CHAPTER XX.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH.
The next year of his life the commodore passed in travel. His
destination when he left Russia was Copenhagen; perhaps he had in mind
the possibility of resuming the negotiations with the Danish
Government on the old claim, and it is possible that his deferred
pension may have had something to do with this intention. He had no
especial place to go; one city was as good as another to him. In his
busy wandering life he had never made a home for himself, and, while
his mind and heart turned with ever more intensity of affection to the
United States, yet he loved America in an abstract rather than a
concrete way. The principles for which the United States stood, and
upon which they were constituted and organized, appealed to him, but
those personal ties which he had formed in his brief sojourn before
the Revolution were weakened by absence or had been sundered by death.
There was no employment for him there, for his country had absolutely
no navy. Besides, he needed rest. He who had fought throughout a long
life for liberty and freedom, for honor and fame, was doomed to
struggle for that last desire for the few remaining years left him.
He traveled leisurely from St. Petersburg to Warsaw, where he was
kindly received at the court of Poland, and where he busied himself
preparing journals of his American service and of the Liman campaign,
copies of which he sent to Catherine. There, too, he met the great
Pole, Kosciusko, and the acquaintance between the veteran sailor and
the old soldier of the Revolution speedily ripened into intimacy.
Sweden had declared war against Russia. Kosciusko, who was the
inveterate enemy of this gigantic empire which finally wrote _finis
Poloniæ_ across the story of his country, would have been most happy
if he could have seen the fleets of Sweden led by so redoubtable a
warrior as Jones. But of course such a proposition was not, and could
not be, entertained by Jones.[50]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account