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other men, but fretting at the cold obstructions which
were put before him by the rules and habits of
society in his own country, and also perhaps at the
notoriety of his ignoble origin; and therefore pre-
ferring to lose himself in an American forest, where,
if he did not gain any distinction, he would not at
least be esteemed as lower than his personal merit
warranted. Had the colonies been in a state of
tranquillity, Jones would probably have spent the
remainder of his days as a simple colonist, or perhaps
gone back to sea to escape the monotony of a life
but little suited to his faculties. The country, how-
ever, was now in a state of high effervescence, which
was every day increasing, and which called forth the
energies, such as they were, of every individual
among them, either on the one side or the other.
Great dissatisfaction had for a long period been pre-
valent respecting the measures of the British govern-
ment in reference to the colonies, and in the specula-
tions of the colonists with regard to the steps neces-
sary to be taken for counteracting these measures
Jones found the tedium of his retirement wonderfully
relieved. Open resistance was no sooner proposed
than he found that he had mistaken the natural bent
of his genius, which was much more turned towards
action than solitary speculation; and when congress,
in the close of the year 1775, began to equip a naval
force to assist in asserting American independence,
he stepped boldly forward to offer his service. He
was at once appointed to be first lieutenant aboard
the Alfred, one of the only two ships belonging to
the congress; and in that capacity hoisted with his
own hands for the first time the flag of independent
America. In the course of a few months, by his
activity and success, he gained the entire confidence
of the marine committee, and from the hands of the
president received a captain's commission. In the
end of the year 1777 he was sent to France in com-
mand of the Ranger, a new sloop of war, with des-
patches containing an account of the victory obtained
by the colonists at Saratoga. As a reward for the
important services he had already rendered to the
Americans, it was ordered that he should be pro-
moted to the command of the Indian, a fine frigate
built for the congress at Amsterdam, the Ranger
at the same time acting under his orders; but the
American commissioners at Paris, from motives of
policy, assigned the Indian over to the King of
France. Captain Jones, of course, remained in
command of the Ranger, with which he convoyed a
fleet of merchantmen to Quiberon Bay, and there,
from the French commandant, received the first salute
that had ever been given to the American flag.
Highly indignant at the resolution taken by the
British government to treat every colonist who
supported congress in their aims at independence as
traitors, and emulous of the exploits of some British
seamen on the American coast, Jones soon after
entered the Irish Channel, and on the night of the
22d of April came to anchor in the Solway Firth,
almost in sight of the trees which sheltered his native
cottage. The place must have awakened many
strange associations, but they were of no friendly
import. With thirty-one volunteers he sailed in
two row-boats for the English side of the firth, with
intent to burn the shipping (upwards of 200 sail) in
the harbour of Whitehaven. This bold and hazardous
project he had certainly executed if the receding
tide had not retarded his progress so much, that the
day began to dawn before he reached the shore; as
it was, he could scarcely have failed had he been
seconded by his followers. The smaller of the boats
he sent to the north of the port, to set fire to the
ships, whilst he himself passed southwards to secure
the fort. The morning was cold, and the sentinels,
unsuspicious of the approach of an enemy, were in
the guard-room; a circumstance of which Jones knew
well how to take advantage. Climbing up by the
shoulders of one of his men, he crept through one
of the embrasures, and was promptly followed by
all his company. Making fast the door of the
guard-room, he spiked every gun on the fort,
thirty-six in number, and, without having hurt a
single individual, proceeded to join the party who
had it in charge to burn the ships. A false alarm
had deterred this party from executing their orders.
Jones, however, proceeded to fire the ships within
his reach; but the inhabitants were by this time
alarmed, and hasting to the protection of the port;
and he was compelled with his small party to retreat,
after having set fire to three ships, one of which only
was totally destroyed. This achievement cannot be
denied the praise of singular daring; yet there is
something so unnatural in making war upon one's
native land, and especially one's native city, improv-
ing all the knowledge and the associations of early
years for the purposes of destruction, that every
generous mind revolts at the idea, and cannot award
the praise which, it may be admitted, would other-
wise be due to the undertaking. But this attempt
was only the first exploit which signalized the 22d
of April. Early in the forenoon he landed with a
part of his crew at St. Mary's Isle, on the Galloway
coast, the beautiful residence of the Earl of Selkirk,
whom he hoped to have surprised, and carried off a
prisoner to America, that he might serve as a hostage
for the security of such of the colonists as should fall
into the hands of the British. Happily for his lord-
ship he was not at home, and Jones, as he approached
the house, and learned that there were only ladies
within it, wished to return to his ship without farther
procedure; but his followers had no such exalted
ideas. In venturing upon an undertaking so hazard-
ous, they were influenced by the hope of plunder,
which, being now in view, they refused to relinquish.
He succeeded, however, so far, that they agreed to
offer no violence to any one, that they should not
enter the house, and that the officers, having made
their demand, should accept of what might be put
into their hands without further inquiry. These
stipulations were punctually fulfilled; but the inmates
of the house were not aware of them, and, terrified
for their lives, were glad to redeem them by deliver-
ing up the whole family plate, which was carried off
in triumph by the sailors, who neither understood
nor cared for the discredit which it brought upon
their intrepid commander and the cause they served.
The circumstance was, as he probably foresaw, im-
proved with great effect to his disadvantage. To
heighten the odium of the affair, it was industriously,
but most falsely, given out that the father of Jones
had been gardener to the Earl of Selkirk, and that
it was from this circumstance he had learned all the
localities of the estate, which enabled him to com-
mit the robbery without danger either to himself
or his marauding crew. Not one of Jones' relations
had ever been in the service of Lord Selkirk; and
he showed that he had a spirit far above the mean-
ness imputed to him, by buying the whole of the
articles from the captors, who claimed them as their
right by the usages of war, and, at a subsequent
period, restoring them, in their original packages,
to the noble owner. In a correspondence which
was carried on between Jones and Lady Selkirk
relative to the affair, her ladyship most gratefully
acknowledged the generosity and the integrity of his
character.
But these exploits on shore did not exhaust the