Spain soon followed France; and, before long, Holland took the same course. Largely aided by French fleets and troops, the Americans vigorously maintained the war against the armies which England, in spite of her European foes, continued to send across the Atlantic. But the struggle was too unequal to be maintained by Great Britain for many years; and when the treaties of 1783 restored peace to the world, the independence of the United States was reluctantly recognized by their ancient parent and recent enemy. FIRST VICTORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY A.D. 1779 ALEXANDER SLIDELL MACKENZIE American naval officers look back with intensest pride to Paul Jones, their earliest hero, the founder of those high traditions which have done so much to raise the navy to its present standard of efficiency. Decatur, Perry, Farragut, Dewey, these and a thousand others of their kind, have but followed the lead of Paul Jones, have learned their deepest lesson in the thrill that came to each of them in boyhood on hearing that proud defiance hurled at the ancient mistress of the seas, "I have not yet begun to fight." Although much greater sea-battles, in point of numbers of both ships and men engaged, are recorded in history, yet this, the first naval engagement by an American vessel, is counted among the most famous of all on account of its stubbornness. The child was matched against the parent; an American vessel against a British, the latter far the stronger. The combat was mainly between the Bonhomme Richard, Jones' ship, with forty guns, many of them unserviceable, and the British ship, Serapis, of superior armament, as shown below. John Paul Jones, commonly known as Paul Jones, was born in Scotland in 1747, the son of John Paul, a gardener. He emigrated to Virginia, and, assuming the name of Jones, became first lieutenant (1775) in the American navy. When in 1778 France joined the colonies against England, Jones, who had already performed several noteworthy exploits, was in that country. Through the influence of Franklin an old merchant vessel, the Duc de Duras, was converted into a ship-of-war and, with four others, placed under the command of Jones. In honor of Franklin he named the Duras "Poor Richard," and, in compliment to the French language and people, she was called the Bonhomme Richard, the French colloquial equivalent.