June, 1788, and another still more
complete on the 27th. "It was I," he says,
"who chased ashore two of the large
Turkish galleys before the flotilla was
ready to fire a shot. It was I who gave
Suwarrow the idea of establishing a
battery and breastworks on the isthmus of
Kimbourn. It was I who saved Cherson
and Kimbourn, and made the enemy in
their terror lose nine vessels of war in a
precipitate flight. It was I who towed the
floating batteries and boarded the Turkish
galleys in advance of the line, whilst
gentlemen, since over-rewarded, remained with
the stragglers at the tail of their regiments,
sheltered from danger. I alone," he
continued, "was neither promoted or rewarded;
while my enemies and rivals reaped all the
honour, though they merited rather to have
been punished for having burnt nine armed
prizes with their crews, which were
absolutely in our power, having previously
run aground under our guns." The bold
writer ends with honest indignation: "In
fine, time will teach you, my lord, that I
am neither a mountebank nor a swindler,
but a man true and loyal. I rely upon the
attachment and friendship which you
promised me. I rely upon it, because I feel
myself worthy of it. I reclaim your
promise, because you are just, and I know you
are a lover of truth." But it was of no
avail. The intriguers conquered, and finally
Paul Jones left Russia in disgust.

Returning to Paris, Paul Jones,
indefatigable as ever, wrote to the American
government, announcing his wish to
embark in the French fleet of evolution, to
acquire a wider knowledge which might
make him more worthy of serving his
adopted country. At Paris, Paul Jones
seems to have been honoured and courted.

Paul's American biographer has taken
due care to preserve and publish many
fantastically sentimental love letters and
love verses written by him. In one of his
letters Paul says: "I am extremely sorry
that the young English lady you mention
should have imbibed the national hatred
against me. Many of the first and fairest
ladies of that nation are my friends.
Indeed, I cannot imagine why any fair lady
should be my enemy, since, upon the large
scale of universal philanthropy, I feel
acknowledged to bend before the sovereign
power of beauty. The English nation may
hate me, but I will force them to esteem
me too."

This somewhat Gasconading manner
characterised all the despatches and letters of
Paul Jones, about whom it must be allowed
there was a little theatrical self-consciousness.
The latter part of the life of the
chevalier was spent in Holland and France.
He died in Paris, of water on the chest, in
1792; although a Calvinist, his funeral was
attended by a deputation of the National
Assembly, and an oration was pronounced
over his grave. The last will of Paul
Jones describes him, as found by the two
notaries employed, in a parlour on the first
story above the entry in Tournon-street,
in the house of M. Daubergue, tipstaff of
the Third Precinct. He was sitting in
an easy chair, sick in body, but was of
sound mind, memory, judgment, and
understanding. He left all his property to
his two sisters. In 1851 the remains of
Paul Jones were removed from Paris, and
sent to America in the United States
frigate, St. Lawrence, to be interred in the
Congress Cemetery at Washington.

In looking over some government
documents relating to Paul Jones, Colonel
Sherburne, his biographer, discovered that
on the eve of his return to America Paul
Jones had paid into the hands of Mr.
Jefferson, then minister in France, the sum
of fifty thousand dollars—prize money due
to the officers and men of the American
squadron that had served in Europe.
This sum was kept lying by from 1799
till 1839, when, after advertisements in the
papers, various claimants came forward and
received their shares, but without the
thirty-seven years of interest properly due.
It has been often wondered at why the
American government never named a ship
in honour of the memory of Paul Jones.
It appears, however, that in 1834, Congress
did vote a large sum of money for the
building of a frigate to be called the Paul
Jones; but the vessel was never built.

That Paul Jones was a captain of great
courage, promptitude, and energy, there
can be no doubt; but whether he could
have manoeuvred a fleet, and conducted
more extended enterprises, is doubtful.
His enemies always held that he was only
useful as a sort of guerilla captain at
sudden dashes, and touch-and-go attacks.
The really great men of America and France,
however, thought otherwise. Washington,
delighted at the capture of one of
England's crack frigates, wrote to Jones, speaking
of the action as "the admiration of all
the world." Lafayette was eager to crowd
Jones's vessels with marines, to collect
under his flag every available vessel, and
to give him carte blanche to harass the