“I wish to know exactly the behavior of my people, as I am determined to punish them if they exceed their liberty. I have the honor to be, with much esteem and with profound respect, “Madam, yours, etc., “JOHN PAUL JONES.” CHAPTER IV. _Captain Jones at Nantes and at Brest._ Correspondence with Lord Selkirk.—Terrible Battle with the Ship Drake.—Capture of the Ship.—Carnage on board the Drake.—Generosity to Captured Fishermen.—Insubordination of Lieutenant Simpson.—Embarrassments of Captain Jones.—Hopes and Disappointments.—Proofs of Unselfish Patriotism.—Letter to the King of France.—Anecdote of Poor Richard. The letter of Paul Jones to the Countess of Selkirk was published widely throughout England, and attracted much attention. Dr. Franklin wrote to Captain Jones from Paris: “It was a gallant letter, and must give her ladyship a high opinion of your generosity and nobleness of mind.” The plate fell into the hands of the prize agents. After much difficulty and considerable delay, Captain Jones succeeded in purchasing it, though at a price above its real value. He then returned it to Lord Selkirk, himself defraying all the expenses of transportation. Lord Selkirk, in acknowledging its receipt, from London, under date of August, 1789, wrote: “Notwithstanding all the precautions you took for the easy and uninterrupted conveyance of the plate, yet it met with considerable delays, first at Calais, next at Dover, then at London. However, it at last arrived at Dumfries. I intended to have put an article in the newspapers about your having returned it. But before I was informed of its being arrived, some of your friends, I suppose, had put it into the Dumfries newspaper, whence it was immediately copied into the Edinburgh papers, and thence into the London ones. Since that time I have mentioned it to many people of fashion.