Beschreibung:

JONES, John Paul (1747-1792), American naval officer . Autograph letter signed ("Paul Jones") to "His Excellency Thomas Jefferson Esqr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of France," L'Orient [France], 24 August 1785. 2 full pages, 4to, minor spotting, otherwise in fine condition. DOCKETED BY JEFFERSON at top of first page "To T. Jefferson Min. Plen: 24 Aug. 1785," and with his initials ("T.J.") at end of text. AMERICANS IN PARIS: JOHN PAUL JONES, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THOMAS JEFFERSON A fine letter in which Jones and Jefferson continue their efforts to recover from the French government significant prize money due to America for ships captured by Jones during the late war. The French authorities had atempted to deflect the claim by asserting that the vessels had been largely manned by French citizens, which Jones vigorously disputes, telling the American minister in Paris (who later lauded Jones as "the principal hope of America's future efforts on the ocean") that the Alliance , one of his command, was manned exclusively by American sailors. "I yesterday received the letter you did me the honor to write... mentioning the difficulty made by the Marechal de Castries [Minister of the Marine]...and that you had removed that Difficulty by your Answer. I am exceedingly sensible of the favor you do me by your attention to my situation here; and it gives me great concern that it is not in my Power, at present, to send you the Roll [muster roll] you ask for of the crew of the Alliance . The Rolls were, in the proper time sent to Court, and put into the hands of Mr. de Sartine, by Mr. Genet first Commis of foreign Affairs, the Certificate of which I have among my Papers at Paris; and the Marechal de Castries might remember that I showed him and that he read that Certificate. Those Rolls, however, have been mislaid or lost in the Bureau. Copys of them were sent at the same time, to Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin, who, I suppose, put them into the hands of Mr. Le Roy de Chaumont; but, since my return, I never could obtain any account of them. A third set of the Rolls I carried with me to America, and, before I embarked in the French fleet at Boston, I put them into the hands of Mr. Secretary Livingston; and they were sealed up among the Papers of his Office when I left America." "It is, however, impossible that any legal demands should be made on you for French subjects in consequence of your engagement to the Marechal. The Alliance was manned in America, and I never heard of any person's having served on board that Frigate who had been born in France, except the Captain, who, as I was informed, had in America abjured the Church of Rome, and been naturalized. I have made all the inquiry I have been able here respecting the expedition you mentioned in a former Letter; but I have not obtained much satisfaction. I propose to go to Brest." The Alliance was a 36-gun American warship named to commemorate the Franco-American alliance of 1778. It sailed with Jones's flagship, the famous Bonhomme Richard , though it was not present for Jones's epic victory over the British warship the Serapis on 23 September 1779. After some months' negotiations, the French authorities agreed to the American claims. Jefferson thought very highly of Jones, and at his suggestion, Jones was made a Rear Admiral in the Russian Navy in 1785 and served under Prince Potemkin against the Turks. LETTERS OF THIS GREAT EARLY AMERICAN NAVAL FIGURE ARE EXTREMELY SCARCE.