The conduct of Captain Pearson of the _Serapis_ on arrival in Texel must be noted because it helps to portray that of his conqueror. When the plate, linen, etc., that had been taken from the _Serapis_ were offered to him by John Paul Jones, he refused to accept it from Jones, but said he would take it if offered by Captain Cottineau of the _Pallas_. “Paul Jones magnanimously overlooked this vulgar subterfuge, and returned it through Cottineau.” In view of this undisputed fact, is it really a slur on Captain Pearson to suppose that he said what he is charged with saying when he surrendered his sword? The British, through their ambassador, demanded that the _Serapis_ and her consort be returned and that the Americans be delivered up as pirates. The Holland court did not yield that far, though they compelled John Paul Jones to go to sea in the face of a blockading squadron, and because the request of the British was refused, war was declared against Holland. And so the victory of the _Bonhomme Richard_ was far-reaching in its effects. To offset the manifest advantages which accrued to the Americans through this fight, and especially to counteract the fear and depression which it occasioned throughout England and Scotland, the British ministry adroitly chose to treat Pearson as well as if he had obtained a victory. He was made a knight, and some London merchants were induced to give him silver plate worth £100. Piercy was promoted, and got silver worth £50. When John Paul Jones heard of Pearson’s luck he said: “He has deserved it; and if I should have the good fortune to fall in with him again, I will make him a lord.” The flight of John Paul Jones from Texel in the _Alliance_ was characteristic of the man, for instead of taking the long route around the north of the British Islands he boldly headed for the narrow Straits of Dover, leaving port in a howling gale. He passed so close to Dover that he counted the warships in the Downs, and he counted those at Spithead also. He sailed from Texel on December 27, 1779, and he reached Corruna on January 16th. It is worth noting that throughout this extraordinary passage he kept the American flag flying. [Illustration: John Paul Jones’s Medal.] On reaching Paris, John Paul Jones was the hero of the day. The American commissioners paid him every honor. The king (Louis XVI) gave him a gold-hilted sword appropriately inscribed and the Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit. When he appeared in the queen’s box at the opera the whole audience rose up to cheer. Later in the evening a laurel wreath was suspended above his head, but he left his seat then--“an instance of modesty which is to this day held up as a model to French schoolboys.”