To add to his embarrassments he found that Landais had left the Alliance in the most deplorable condition, totally unfit for service without extensive repairs. She was an admirable ship in model and construction, and was remarkable for her sailing qualities. But, through sheer negligence and general demoralization, nearly everything was in a ruinous condition. The sails were worn out. The cables had gone to decay. Her battery was in a condition unfit for action, and her small arms quite out of order. Most of the powder had either become damaged by leakage, or rendered unfit for use by neglecting to turn the kegs. The officers were all quarrelling with each other, and the men insubordinate. Intemperance and the want of cleanliness, with the total absence of discipline, had struck down many of the crew with epidemical diseases. Commodore Jones made the most vigorous efforts to prepare the Alliance for sea; and he promised the government that he would leave, at all hazards, as soon as the wind would serve. But before he sailed he enjoyed the great gratification of learning that Dr. Franklin had succeeded in obtaining the liberation of all the American prisoners in England, by exchanging for them the prisoners Commodore Jones had captured. He also had the happiness of grasping the hand, at the Texel, of Captain Cunningham, who, by the energies of Commodore Jones, had been rescued from the most dreadful bondage. CHAPTER VIII. _Commodore Jones at Court._ Offer of a Privateersman.—Indignant Reply.—The Renown of Commodore Jones.—Successful Retreat.—Cruise through the Channel.—Poetic Effusion.—Enters Corunna.—Letter to Lafayette.—Embarrassed Finances of Franklin.—Intrigues of Landais.—His Efforts to Excite Mutiny.—Testimony against him.—Commodore Jones at Court. It was indeed running the gauntlet, for Commodore Jones, with a frigate of but thirty-four guns, and in poor sailing trim, to escape from the Texel, and run down the German Ocean, through the English Channel and the Straits of Dover, to some French port, when the whole available force of the British navy was on the lookout for him, with twelve men-of-war cruising before the mouth of the harbor. It would seem that, under those circumstances, escape were impossible. Just before sailing, the French minister, M. de la Sartine, offered Commodore Jones, through the Duke de Vauguyon, a commission as captain of a privateersman, which several gentleman of wealth had fitted out, in the best possible manner, to enrich themselves by preying upon British commerce. This assumption that Commodore Jones was a mere adventurer, guided by the love of money, he regarded as an insult. In indignant terms he rejected the offer. Under date of December 13th, he wrote to the duke, as follows: