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

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      PAUL JONES RAISING FIRST AMERICAN FLAG.

      Nearly the whole British fleet, sent to operate against the colonies, was in the Delaware. It had abundant supplies for the British army, which, almost without hindrance, was ranging the country, plundering and burning. The plan proposed was, that Count d’Estaing, with the superior force which he had under his command, should fall suddenly upon the British fleet under Lord Howe, and destroy it, or, at least block it up in the Delaware, with all the transport ships under its convoy. This could then have easily been done.

      But unfortunately the fleet, instead of being fitted out at Brest, on the Atlantic coast, whence it could have a speedy voyage across the Atlantic, was got ready at Toulon, a Mediterranean port, requiring a much longer voyage. Just before the fleet arrived, Lord Howe, aware of his danger, had effected his escape. In those days the French fleet could have arrived almost as soon as the intelligence of the alliance had reached these shores. In a letter to M. De Sartine, the French Minister of Marine, Captain Jones subsequently writes:

      “Had Count d’Estaing arrived in the Delaware a few days sooner, he might have made a glorious and most easy conquest. Many successful projects may be adopted from the hints which I had the honor to draw up. And if I can furnish more, or execute any of those already furnished, so as to distress and humble the common enemy, it will afford me the truest pleasure.”

      Captain Jones, on his voyage from Nantes to Brest, convoyed some American merchant vessels as far as Quiberon Bay. Thence they were to be convoyed to America by a French fleet, commanded by Admiral La Motte Piquet. Here, for the first time, the Stars and Stripes of our Union received the honor of a national salute. John Paul Jones managed the somewhat delicate affair with the instincts of a gentleman, and the sensitiveness of an accomplished naval officer, conscious that the honor of the infant nation was, in some degree, intrusted to his guardianship. I give the interesting event in his own words. In a letter to the Marine Committee, dated February 22, 1778, he writes:

      “I am happy in having it in my power to congratulate you on my having seen the American flag, for the first time, recognized in the fullest and completest manner by the flag of France. I was off their bay the 13th instant, and sent my boat in, the next day, to know if the admiral would return my salute. He answered that he would return to me, as the senior American Continental officer in Europe, the same salute which he was authorized, by his court to return to an admiral of Holland, or any other republic; which was four guns less than the salute given. I hesitated at this, for I had demanded gun for gun.

      “Therefore I anchored in the entrance of the bay, at a distance from the French fleet. But, after a very particular inquiry, on the 14th, finding that he had really told the truth, I was induced to accept of his offer, the more so as it was, in fact, an acknowledgment of American independence. The wind being contrary and blowing hard, it was after sunset before the Ranger got near enough to salute La Motte Piquet with thirteen guns, which he returned with nine. However, to put the matter beyond a doubt, I did not suffer the Independence to salute till next morning, when I sent the admiral word that I would sail through his fleet in the brig, and would salute him in open day. He was exceedingly pleased, and he returned the compliment also with nine guns.”

      The Independence here alluded to, it is said, was a privateer which had been fitted out to sail under the orders of Captain Jones. His sailing through the French fleet was characteristic of the man, as he fully appreciated, at this time, the importance of this interchange of national courtesies, and the importance that it should be so emphatically done that there could be no denial of it. Thus he who first raised the American Pine-Tree flag to the topmast of the Alfred, and who first unfurled the national banner from the Ranger, now enjoyed the honor of being the first to secure for that flag a national salute. The times have changed. The infant republic has become one of the most powerful nations on the globe. There is no Government now which hesitates to return, in salute of our national banner, gun for gun.gun.

      On the 10th of April, Captain Jones, in the Ranger, sailed from Brest. It was his intention to strike a blow first upon some unprotected point on the south side of England. It was indeed a bold and chivalric movement for the little Ranger, with her eighteen guns, to plunge into the very heart of the British Channel, which was crowded with the massive seventy-fours of Britain’s proud navy. England was discharging the broadsides of her invincible fleet upon our defenceless towns, and was landing her boats’ crews to apply the torch to our peaceful villages. Not a fishing-boat could leave a cove without danger of capture and the imprisonment of all the crew.

      Little did the British Government imagine that any commander of an American vessel would have the audacity to approach even within sight of her shores. It was the main design of Captain Jones to punish England for the atrocities she was so cruelly perpetrating upon us—and to punish her in kind. On the 10th of August he launched СКАЧАТЬ