"'And,' says he, with a kind of contemptuous smile, which he was much
addicted to, 'Gentlemen, you cannot conceive what an additional honor it
would be to all of us, if in cruising a few days we should have the good
luck to fall in with an English frigate of our force and carry her in
with us.... This would crown our former victories, and our names, in
consequence thereof, would be handed down to latest posterity by some
faithful historian of our country.'" Fanning adds in a footnote: "Jones
had a wonderful notion of his name being handed down to posterity."
When the officers remonstrated on the ground that the men were badly
clothed, Jones flew into a rage and ordered them to go to their duty.
He found, however, that he could not, with a mutinous crew, continue his
course effectively, and reluctantly sailed for L'Orient, where he
arrived on February 10, 1780.
VII
SOCIETY IN PARIS
The following year, passed mainly in France, at Paris or L'Orient, was
spent by Jones in trying to collect prize money, secure an important
command, and in society, where he shone more resplendently than ever. He
wrote rather more than his usual large number of letters,--to Franklin,
Robert Morris, the Duchesse de Chartres, Arthur Lee, Dr. Bancroft, and
many others,--in practically all of them urging some one of his warmly
desired projects.
His correspondence with Benjamin Franklin was largely about prize money
and the expense of repairing the Alliance, which he undertook to do
immediately on his arrival at L'Orient. The frugal doctor attempted to
curb, in the matter of expense, the free-handed Jones. The latter had an
enormous respect for Franklin, and it is quite likely that he attempted
to be economical, but he seems to have been less successful in that
direction than in any other. Fanning speaks of the "great and
unnecessary expense" involved in Jones's elaborate alterations, and
narrates how, at a later period, when Jones was in command of the Ariel,
anchored in the harbor at L'Orient, a magnificent spectacle was given on
board for the entertainment of the ladies and gentlemen invited by
Jones. A mock fight between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, in
which vast quantities of ammunition were destroyed, took place. The
vessel was finely carpeted and decorated, a regal banquet was served,
military music played, and in general "neither cash nor pains," says
Fanning, "were spared in order that the scene every way should appear
magnificent." Although the hero never seemed to take account of the
extreme poverty of the infant republic, it is only fair to add that he
spent his own money as freely as any one else's, and that he often
served without pay, a fact continually attested to by himself in his
letters and journals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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