“Take a soldier’s word, madame. Believe an officer whom two great nations esteem, and who has been honored with flattering marks of their approbation of which your majesty will soon receive a direct proof from the United States.[J] I am innocent, and if I were guilty I would not hesitate to mke a candid avowal of my fault, and to commit my honor, which is a thousand times dearer to me than life, to the hands of your majesty.” ----- Footnote J: He refers to the gold medal ordered to be struck by Congress. ----- The admiral closed this letter with expressions of devotion to the service of the empress. He assured her of his readiness to serve her in any way in his power, but added “that if for any reason he could not be employed again during the campaign, he might be permitted to return to France or America.” The empress received this letter, examined the documents, and became fully convinced of his innocence. She inveighed bitterly against the authors of the calumny, recalled Paul Jones to court, and received him with even more than her usual kindness. But the admiral, having received blow after blow and finding no employment immediately before him, became weary of the country where he had endured so many humiliations. He consequently requested permission to retire. His request was granted. The empress admitted him to an audience of leave, wished him a pleasant voyage, and he left Russia forever. He bore with him letters of high commendation from the most distinguished men in the capital of Russia. He directed his steps first to Warsaw. Here he was received with the highest consideration by the titular king and his court. He spent two months in Warsaw, hospitably entertained by the nobility, and intensely occupied in preparing for the Empress of Russia a journal of his services, from the time he entered the navy of the United States to the campaign of the Black Sea. In a letter to the empress, which accompanied this document, he wrote, under date of Warsaw, Sept. 25, O. S. 1789. “I owe it to my reputation and to truth to accompany this journal with an abridgment of the campaign of the Liman.[K] If you will deign, madame, to read it with some attention, you will observe how little I have deserved the mortifications which I have endured, and which the justice and goodness of your majesty can alone make me forget. As I never offended, in word or speech or thought, against the laws or usages of the strictest delicacy, it would assuredly be most desirable for me to have the happiness of regaining, in spite of the malice of my enemies, the precious esteem of your majesty.” ----- Footnote K: It was near the mouth of the river Liman that all these naval battles were fought. -----