Jones appeared in Philadelphia on the 18th of May, 1783. He was still suffering from fever, and his constitution was greatly shattered by the hardships he had experienced. He therefore retired, for the recovery of his health, to the beautiful little Moravian village of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, about sixty miles northwest of Philadelphia, on the banks of the Lehigh river. Here he passed the summer, resting from his toils and employing his time in those literary and scientific studies which ever deeply interested him. His health being much improved, he was appointed on the 1st of November, 1783, an agent of the United States Government to collect the amount of money for prizes taken, in Europe, by vessels under his command. The ships had been sold, and the money had gone into the French treasury, and was not yet paid. The question was full of embarrassing complications. Several years had elapsed since the prizes were captured. The sailors who had taken them were scattered in all parts of the world, and many were dead. Was the distribution of the prizes to be adjudged according to French law, or American law? and these laws were very different. The Bon Homme Richard was a French ship, purchased and armed at the expense of the French court, and entitled to raise alike the French or American flag. What proportion of the prizes she took belonged to France, and what to America? It is manifest that, in carrying claims involving such embarrassments through any court or Congress, there was a fine opportunity for years of diplomatic struggles. It was in the autumn of 1779, that the prizes were taken by the Bon Homme Richard. Four years had since elapsed, and yet nothing had been done toward the settlement of the distribution of the prize-money. There was not another man in the world so well qualified to manage this difficult and delicate business as was Commodore Jones. He was personally familiar with all the facts in the case. By midnight studies he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the naval code of all the European nations. He was well known in the court of France and was very highly esteemed, alike by the monarch, his cabinet officers, and the people. And in addition to all this he was a well-bred gentleman, who scorned all trickery, who would make no claim which he did not honestly believe to be just, and who, while unyielding in his righteous demand, was ever courteous and gentle in his bearing. Even Arthur Lee was one of the committee who recommended to Congress that this all-important commission should be assigned to Commodore Jones. As it was expected that a large sum of money would be placed in his hands, he was required to give bonds, to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars, in pledge of his faithful administration of the trust. It is evidence of the high esteem with which he was regarded by the leading men of the nation, that he found no difficulty in obtaining bondsmen.