The Life and Adventures of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul Jones. John S. C. Abbott

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СКАЧАТЬ for Scotland, as a passenger, on board the brigantine John, under the command of Captain Macadam. On the passage the yellow fever broke out. Both the captain and the mate of the ship died. They were left in the middle of the stormy Atlantic, with none of the crew capable of navigating the ship. Fortunately for all, John Paul assumed the command. The whole crew gratefully recognized his authority. Be it remembered that he had not yet finished his twentieth year. He brought the ship safe into port. The owners, Messrs. Currie, Beck & Co., in recompense of the great service he had rendered them, at once gave him command of a ship both as captain and supercargo. In their employment he sailed for two voyages.

      On one of these voyages, Captain Paul was accused of whipping, with undue severity, an insubordinate sailor, by the name of Mungo Maxwell. But a legal investigation absolved him from all blame. The accusation, and the trial which was prolonged through six months, caused Captain Paul great annoyance. The following letter to his mother and sisters reveals his feelings, and much of his character, at that time. He was then but twenty-five years of age.

      “London, 24th September, 1772.

      “My Dear Mother and Sisters,

      “I only arrived here last night from the Grenadas. I have had but poor health during the voyage. My success in it not having equalled my first sanguine expectations, has added very much to the asperity of my misfortunes, and, I am well assured, was the cause of my loss of health. I am now, however, better, and I trust Providence will soon put me in a way to get bread, and, which is far my greatest happiness, to be serviceable to my poor but much valued friends. I am able to give you no account of my future proceedings, as they depend upon circumstances which are not fully determined.

      “I have enclosed to you a copy of an affidavit made before Governor Young, by the Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of Tobago, by which you will see with how little reason my life has been thirsted after, and, which is much dearer to me, my honor, by maliciously loading my fair character with obloquy and vile aspersions. I believe there are few who are hard-hearted enough to think I have not long since given to the world every satisfaction in my power, being conscious of my innocence before Heaven, who will one day judge even my judges.

      “I staked my honor, life, and fortune, for six long months, on the verdict of a British jury, notwithstanding I was sensible of the general prejudice which ran against me. But, after all, none of my accusers had the courage to confront me. Yet I am willing to convince the world, if reason and facts will do it, that they have had no foundation for their harsh treatment.

      “I mean to send Mr. Craik a copy, properly proved, as his nice feelings will not, perhaps, be otherwise satisfied. In the mean time, if you please, you can show him that enclosed. His ungracious conduct to me before I left Scotland I have not yet been able to get the better of. Every person of feeling must think meanly of adding to the load of the afflicted. It is true I bore it with seeming unconcern. But heaven can witness for me that I suffered the more on that very account. But enough of this.”

      The Mr. Craik to whom he here refers was a gentleman of property, in whose employment Mr. Paul’s father had formerly been engaged. The whole family were accustomed to look up to him with much reverence. It was perhaps a fault in young Captain Paul that the organ of veneration, as the phrenologists would say, was not, in him, very fully developed. His knees were not supple in bowing before those who were above him in wealth and rank. Mr. Craik had not fancied the independent boy, and was consequently the more ready to believe the charges which were brought against him.

      A rumor reached Mr. Paul, while in the West Indies, that the commercial firm in whose service he was sailing was about to close its operations. This would throw him out of employment. He wrote in the following terms to Mr. Craik, whom as a family friend and patron he highly respected. This letter was written a year before the charge for the maltreatment of Mungo Maxwell was brought against him. It was as follows:

      “St. George, Grenada, 5th August, 1770.

      “Sir,

      “Common report here says that my owners are going to finish their connections in the West Indies as fast as possible. How far this is true I shall not pretend to judge. But should that really prove to be the case, you know the disadvantage I must labor under.

      “These, however, would not have been the case had I been acquainted with the matter sooner, as, in that case, I believe I could have made interest with some gentlemen here to have been concerned with me in a large ship out of London. And as these gentlemen have estates in this and the adjacent islands, I should have been able to make two voyages every year, and should always have had a full ship out and home.

      “However, I by no means repine, as it is a maxim with me to do my best and leave the rest to Providence. I shall take no step whatever without your knowledge and approbation. I have had several very severe fevers lately, which have reduced me a good deal, though I am now perfectly recovered. I must beg you to supply my mother, should she want anything, as I well know your readiness. I hope yourself and family enjoy health and happiness.

      “I am, most sincerely, sir, yours always,

      “John Paul.”

      In 1773, John Paul’s brother died, in Virginia. He died childless, and left no will. John repaired to his brother’s former residence to settle the estate. Here, for some reason which has never been satisfactorily explained, he assumed the surname of Jones, so that he ever afterward became familiarly known as Paul Jones. His subsequent achievements became such, that probably that name will never be obliterated from the memories of men. He had acquired considerable property, which he intrusted to agents at Tobago, and it was all lost.

      Captain Jones, weary of the wandering life of a sailor and its unsatisfactory results, was now disposed to devote his days to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and to study, for which he had very strong predilections. In his letters to his friends he often expressed his desire to enter upon a life of “calm contemplation and poetic ease.” Man proposes, God disposes. The tumultuous career into which he was led, was not one which he would have sought for himself. He was almost forced into it by the state of the times.

      When in the midst of the stormiest scenes, without a family and without a home, he wrote pensively to the Countess of Selkirk, that duty to his country had compelled him “to sacrifice not only his favorite scheme of life, but the softer affections of his heart, and his hopes of domestic happiness.” His letters all indicate that he was a thoughtful man, one who deeply pondered the mystery of this our earthly being, and who made frank acknowledgment of his moral and religious obligations.

      His favorite poet was Thomson; and his “Seasons” he read and re-read. It is not possible that any man of frivolous nature should develop a taste so serious and so elevating. The loss of all his property at Tobago disheartened him, and repelled him from the risks of a commercial life. This probably decided him to settle down as a planter in Virginia, and to remain satisfied with the humble competence of a cultivator of the soil, in a rural home. He wrote to the Hon. Robert Morris:

      “I conclude that Mr. Hewes has acquainted you with a very great misfortune which befell me some years ago, and which brought me into North America. I am under no concern whatever, that this, or any other past circumstance of my life, will sink me in your opinion. Since human wisdom cannot secure us from accidents, it is the greatest effort of human wisdom to bear them well.”

      From the age of thirteen, America had been the country of his adoption. Increasing years but added to his attachment to the principles of liberty which were being developed here. His innate mental constitution revolted from the feudal subserviency which a haughty aristocracy exacted in Europe. When the struggle was commencing between the mother country and these her infant colonies, Mr. Jones, with all the ardor of his nature, espoused the colonial cause. He СКАЧАТЬ