JONES. 



261 



involved in a variety of troubles, for want of means 

 to support them, pay his crew, and refit his ship. 

 After many delays and vexations, Jones sailed from 

 the road of St Croix, August 14, 1779, with a 

 squadron of seven sail, designing to annoy the coasts 

 of England and Scotland. The principal occurrence 

 of this cruise was the capture of the British ship of 

 war Serapis, after a bloody and desperate engage- 

 ment, off Flamborough head, September 23, 1779. 

 The Serapis was a vessel much superior in force to 

 Jones' vessel, the Bon Homme Richard, which sank 

 not long after the termination of the engagement. 

 The sensation produced by this battle was unex- 

 ampled, and raised the fame of Jones to its acme. 

 In a letter to him, Franklin says, " For some days 

 after the arrival of your express, scarce any thing 

 was talked of at Paris and Versailles, but your cool 

 conduct and persevering bravery during that terrible 

 conflict. You may believe that the impression on my 

 mind was not less strong than on that of the others. 

 But I do not choose to say, in a letter to yourself, all 

 I think on such an occasion." His reception at Paris, 

 whither he went on the invitation of Franklin, was 

 of the most flattering kind. He was every where 

 caressed ; the king presented him with a gold 

 sword, bearing the inscription. Vindicati marts 

 Ludovicus XVI. remuneratur strenuo vindici, and 

 requested permission of congress to invest him 

 with the military order of merit an honour never 

 conferred on any one before who had not borne arms 

 under the commission of France. In 1781, Jones 

 sailed for the United States, and arrived in Philadel- 

 phia, February 18 of that year, after a variety of 

 escapes and rencounters, where he underwent a sort 

 of examination before the board of admiralty, which 

 resulted greatly to his honour. The board gave it as 

 their opinion, " that the conduct of Paul Jones merits 

 particular attention, and some distinguished mark of 

 approbation from congress." Congress passed a 

 resolution, highly complimentary to his " zeal, pru- 

 dence, and intrepidity." General Washington wrote 

 him a letter of congratulation, and he was afterwards 

 voted a gold medal by congress. From Philadelphia 

 he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to superin- 

 tend the building of a ship of war, and, while there, 

 drew up some admirable observations on the subject 

 of the American navy. By permission of congress, 

 he subsequently went on board the French fleet, 

 where he remained until the conclusion of peace, 

 which put a period to his naval career in the service 

 of the United States. He then went to Paris, as 

 agent for prize-money, and, while there, joined in a 

 plan to establish a fur trade between the north-west 

 coast of America and China, in conjunction with a 

 kindred spirit, the celebrated John Ledyard. In Paris, 

 he continued to be treated with the greatest distinc- 

 tion. He afterwards was invited into the Russian 

 service, with the rank of rear-admiral, where he was 

 disappointed in not receiving the command of the 

 fleet acting against the Turks in the Black sea. He 

 found fault with the conduct of the prince of Nassau, 

 the admiral ; became restless and impatient ; was 

 intrigued against at court, and calumniated by his 

 enemies; and had permission, from the empress Catha- 

 rine, to retire from the service with a pension, which 

 was never paid. He returned to Paris, where he 

 gradually sunk into poverty, neglect, and ill health, 

 until his death, which was occasioned by jaundice 

 and dropsy, July 18, 1792. His last public act was 

 heading a deputation of Americans, who appeared 

 before the national assembly to ofter their congratu- 

 lutions on the glorious and salutary reform of their 

 government. This was before the flight of the king. 

 Jones was a man of signal talent and courage ; he 

 conducted all his operations with the most daring 



boldness, combined with the keenest sagacity in cal. 

 culating the chances of success and the consequences 

 of defeat. He was, however, of an irritable, impe- 

 tuous disposition, which rendered him impatient of 

 the authority of his superiors, while he was, at the 

 same time, harsh in the exercise of his own ; and he 

 was deficient in that modesty which adorns great 

 qualities and distinguished actions, while it disarms 

 envy and conciliates jealousy. His early education 

 was of a very limited kind. It terminated when he 

 went to sea, at the age of twelve ; but he supplied 

 its defects by subsequent study, so as to enable him- 

 self to write with fluency, strength, and clearness, 

 and to sustain his part respectably in the polished 

 society into which he was thrown. In his letters, he 

 inculcates the necessity of knowledge for naval offi- 

 cers, and intimates that he had devoted " midnight 

 studies " to the attainment of that information which 

 he deemed requisite in his situation. His memorials, 

 correspondence, &c., are quite voluminous. He also 

 wrote poetry, and, in Paris, was a great pretender to 

 ton, as a man of fashion, especially after his victory 

 over the Serapis, which, of course, gave him great eclat 

 amongst the ladies of the French capital. At this 

 period, he is described by an English lady then resi- 

 dent at Paris, as " a smart little man of thirty-six ; 

 speaks but little French, and appears to be an extra- 

 ordinary genius, a poet as well as a hero." An 

 account of his life has been written by J. H. Sher- 

 burne (Washington, 1828). A memoir of him wa3 

 also recently published by Messrs Oliver and Boyd, 

 Edinburgh ; and Mr Allan Cunningham has made 

 him the subject of a romance. 



JONES, JOHN, an American physician, was born 

 at Jamaica, Long Island, in 1729. After receiving 

 his education at a private school in the city of New 

 York, he commenced the study of medicine, under 

 doctor Thomas Cadwalader, and afterwards visited 

 Europe, to improve his professional knowledge. He 

 obtained the degree of doctor of medicine from, the 

 university of Rheims, and, having subsequently spent 

 some time at Leyden, concluded his medical tour by 

 a visit to Edinburgh. Returning to America, Doctor 

 Jones settled in New York, where he was speedily 

 introduced to an extensive practice, and acquired 

 particular reputation as an operator. When medical 

 schools were instituted in the college of New York, 

 Doctor Jones was appointed professor of surgery, 

 upon which branch he delivered several courses of 

 lectures, diffusing a taste for it among the students, 

 and explaining improvements as practised in Europe, 

 of which the American faculty were hitherto ignorant. 

 Having for a considerable time been afflicted with 

 asthma, he embarked for London, where he expe- 

 rienced some alleviation of his complaint. He 

 returned to his native country at a crisis when she 

 required the exertions of all her citizens. In the 

 year 1775, he published his Plain Remarks upon 

 Wounds and Fractures a work particularly useful 

 to the country at that period. Many persons had 

 been of necessity chosen to act as surgeons hi the 

 continental army, who were ignorant of the recent im- 

 provements in the profession, and found in this work 

 a valuable assistant. When the British troops took 

 possession of New York, doctor Jones, notwithstand- 

 ing the assurances of protection from the royal 

 commander, retired into the country, relinquishing 

 his lucrative practice in the city. He was soon after 

 chosen to a seat in the senate of New York, and 

 subsequently entered the medical department of the 

 army. The hardships of a military life injured his 

 delicate health, and obliged him to abandon the ser- 

 vice, for his private practice. Having fixed his 

 permanent residence at Philadelphia, he was elected, 

 in 1780, one of the physicians of the Pennsylvania 



