Life and correspondence of John Paul Jones, including his narrative of the campaign of the Liman

II Including His

NARRATIVE

OP THE

CAMPAIGN OF THE LIMAN

JMISS JANETm tAlOR.

^oyS^^

Southern District of New York, ss.

verse, of the said District hath Hpn^Lfl ■ 1- i ^^' ,°^ America, Sherman Conwhereof he claims as SieYor! ftfvtds Sfol^l twU ^ '' ' '''''' ''^ ''^''

pai^n 'o^;- t"e\ W Trot"S-r4';:K^^^^ Jones including his Narrative of the Cam- Janette Taylor." ^ ^''"^^ ^^'^ Manuscripts in the possession of Miss

thi"enrSili:^'i\tlrn/bv"!r" ''''if ^"''^^ ^'^'''' -"''«^' " ^^ Act for to the authors a^d pro^prieS'ofVurT'^ ''^'"^'^ 'I ^■''^'' ^^'^'''' ^"^ Books, And also to an ActSed " An Zf.^^T' ''"""^ '^^ ^""" '^^'^'"' '"entioned." the encouragemen'of Learninir hvl ' ^^PP ?'"«"t^'T ^^^ Act, entitled an Act for to the authors and pJopSS J^,^.h . "■• "^ the cop.es of Maps, Charts, and Books, extending the bene^sTereof to tS* 'rZf'd """^" the tmies therein mentioned, and cal and other prints." th^^f|es.gnmg, engraving, and etching histori-

1 FRED. J. BETTS,

trkofth^ Southern District of New York.

Preface

Paul Jones was an extraordinary man, and was engaged suddenly, after having been in a comparatively humble employment, in a career connected with events which occupied the attention of the civihzed world. Setting aside the services rendered by him to the cause of American freedom, there would be no need of preface or explanation in presenting an account of his life, and selections from the most interesting portions of his correspondence to the public at large ; were it not that several works, professing to do so, have already made their appearance.

The first which the Editor of the present work remembers to have seen, was a shilling pamphlet, exhibited in the windows of the New York retail bookstores, in which was a frontispiece, representing Paul Jones as largo as the frigate he bestrode, shooting a Lieutenant Grubb with a horse-pistol, more grand in its dimensions than any piece of artillery introduced into the picture. This juvenile reminiscence would be hardly worth recalling, were it not that, but the other day, in one of the Southern papers, the writer actually met with a detailed account, purporting to be a biographical sketch of somebody recently dead, who had served under Paul Jones in the Serapis, describing the latter as shooting this Lieutenant Grubb, with the same horse-pistol, aggrandized in the manner above specified. As no Lieu-

PREFACE tenant Grubb ever sailed under the orders of Captain John Paul Jones, and as no such person could, in consequence, have been shot by him, it is evident that an unvarnished and full account of the rear admiral's life ought to be circulated, in regions where such fabulous and monstrous legends obtain, in this age of light, admission into public prints.

Ten years ago, a large quantity of original papers belonging to the legatees of Paul Jones, were sent to this country with a view to their being properly connected and published. They were submitted to the Historical Society of New York. The committee who exammed them, found that they were valuable and interestmg ; but circumstances prevented their publication at the time. Mr. Sherburne, register of the United States navy, opened a correspondence with the owners of these documents, as the Editor of the present work is informed, with the view of preparing a life of Jones ; but, the negotiation failed.

Shortly after, some of the Chevalier's manuscripts, belongmg to his legatees, if they had known how and where to reclaim them, were accidentally found by a gentleman of New York, in a house in the city. They had been left in the custody of its former proprietor From these, with copies of letters and documents on file m the department of state, Mr. Sherburne prepared a volume which was published in 1825.

Some singularly capricious demon, wonderfully ingeluous m producing puzzlmg and painful disorder, seems to have presided over the arrangement of the materials. Ihe appearance of order in some parts of the compilation only makes the general and particular entangle ments more perplexing; and in some places, the

PREFACE. 5

person who connected the documents, having apparently lost himself, goes backwards or leaps forwards, in a style of extraordinary embarrassment, occasioning inextricable confusion.

• From this chaos, a clever writer in Great Britain contrived to select materials for an interesting duodecimo, which was published by Murray in the same year. It contains some errors, and but an inconsiderable portion of the Remains, as the modern phrase is, of the Chevalier Paul Jones. Being not exclusively English in its tenor, it appears to have incurred the censure of some of the British presses. This work has been spoken of in the text as the production of an Englishman. The compiler was not well informed at the time. It was the production of an American.

Within a year past a third life of the Chevalier appeared, which was published in Edinburgh in two duodecimo volumes, and is the best which had been compiled; as it contains selections from many original letters, and, what is of more consequence, a translation of the rear admiral's own narrative of the campaign of the Liman. The Editor of that book, which is the basis, so far as the order of arrangement is generally concerned, of the present, gives in his preface the following account of his materials.

" By his will, dated at Paris on the day of his death, Paul Jones left his property and effects of all kinds to his sisters in Scotland and their children. Immediately on his decease a regular, or rather an official inventory was made of his voluminous papers, which were sealed up with his other effects, till brought to Scotland by his eldest sister, Mrs. Taylor, a few months after his death. They have ever since remained in the custody of his family ; and are now, by inheritance, become the property of his niece. Miss Taylor, of Dumfrie.«. They consist of several bound folio volumes of letters and documents, which are offi-

O PREFAC*:.

cially autlieuticatetl, so far as they are public papers ; lumierous scrolls and copies of letters ; and many private communications, originating in his widely diftiised correspondence in France, Holland, America, and other quarters. There is, in addition to these, a collection of writings of the miscellaneous kind likely to be accumulated by a man of active habits, who had for many years mingled both in the political and fashionable circles, wher(!vcr bechanced to be thrown.

" The Journal of the Campaign of 1788, against the Turks, forms of itself a thick MS. bound volume. This Journal was drawn up by Paul Jones for the perusal of the Empress Catharine II. and was intended for pubUcation if the Russian government failed to do him justice. He felt that it totally failed ; but death anticipated his long contemplated purpose. To this Journal, Mr. Eton, in his survey of the Turkish empire, refers, as having been seen by him. It was, however, only the official report, transmitted by Paul Jones to the admiralty of the Black Sea, that this gentleman could have seen. This singular narrative, which so confidently gives the lie to all the Russian statements of that momentous campaign, is written in French. In the following work the language of the original is as closely adhered to as is admissible even in the most literal translation. Several passages have been omitted, and others curtailed, as they refer merely to technical details, which might have unduly swelled this work, without adding niuch to its interest. Much of the voluminous official cori-espondence which passed between Paul Jones and the other commanders during the campaign is also omitted. These Pieces Justificative s were only intended to corroborate, or elucidate, the narrative ; they are, save in a few instances which are cited, not particularly interesting."

Besides the documents named in the foregoing extracts, the Editor says, he had before him the correspondence of Jones with his relatives in Scotland, from his boyhood to his death. He has made but little use of it, as his extracts from it are few.

The defects of this life are, that it seems to have been created with a view of supplying a requisite number of pages of given dimensions, and that some of the correspondence, is, in consequence, arbitrarily omitted. It is not strictly true, that the language of the original Jour-

PREFACE. 7

nal of the campaign of the Liman is as closely adhered to, as is consistent with Hteral translation ; and as to the passages " omitted and curtailed," the Editor has occupied fully as much space in apologizing for their non-insertion, as would have been taken up by a literal translation of them. He appears not to have understood them. Among the Pieces Justificatives spoken of, there are several worthy of collation with the text, and which throw light upon it, while they support its accuracv. But the cardinal defect of this book is, that though the author seems honestly to strive to justify his hero, (who needed no justification,) whenever it did not interfere with his own monarchical and English prejudices, it is written in a decidedly English tone, uncongenial to the feelings and intellectual associations of the people of this country. His remarks of a political character are often ridiculous in fact, and always unphilosophical in spirit. The Editor of the following sheets, cannot but smile when he perceives on looking over them, that a hasty remark thrown off by him as to the destinies of France, excited by the sneers of this writer, at the tendency of the democratic principle, was prophetic, and must have been fulfilled ere it was printed, to the great consolation of the spirit of Jones, if mortal " blazon" may be to ears not " of flesh and blood."

Miss Janette Taylor, a niece of Admiral Jones, arrived in this country some months ago, having in her possession original copies of all the documents which were before the Editor of the biography above commented upon, with others which were not. Though a considerable portion of them had been anticipated in the various publications mentioned, it was evident that

8 PREFACE.

there was no single work of a proper and satisfactory character, from which Americans might gather for themselves what is to be known of the private and public life of one, who must for ever be chronicled as among the first in courage and ability, as well as in point of time, of the heroes who have made the stars and stripes respected upon the ocean; one too, whose chivalric, daring, and independent character, calumny has been aided in assailing, by seeming mystery and prolific romance.

From the manuscripts in Miss Taylor's possession, the present compilation has been made. Public documents have been referred to occasionally, and in two or three instances, Sherburne's Collection has been cited, where the Editor had not certified copies before him. This work has no literary pretensions; and cannot legitimately come, as a literary production, under the examination of critics. It claims only to be the most full and authentic of its kind. Many oflicial letters have of necessity been rejected, the substance and even the phraseology of which is repeated in others ; and in some instances, it is perceived, on looking over the sheets, that the latter misfortune has been incurred.

When it is added, that Miss Taylor is only responsible for the authenticity of the correspondence quoted from or inserted, and in no wise for the casual observations of the compiler, all has been stated that is necessary in this preface. It is believed, that the pledge given in the notice to those who may have subscribed for the book has been redeemed.

New York, September 23, 1830.

PAUL JONES.