“Take a soldier’s word, madame. Believe an officer whom two great nations esteem, and who has been honored with flattering marks of their approbation of which your majesty will soon receive a direct proof from the United States.[[J]] I am innocent, and if I were guilty I would not hesitate to mke a candid avowal of my fault, and to commit my honor, which is a thousand times dearer to me than life, to the hands of your majesty.”
The admiral closed this letter with expressions of devotion to the service of the empress. He assured her of his readiness to serve her in any way in his power, but added “that if for any reason he could not be employed again during the campaign, he might be permitted to return to France or America.”
The empress received this letter, examined the documents, and became fully convinced of his innocence. She inveighed bitterly against the authors of the calumny, recalled Paul Jones to court, and received him with even more than her usual kindness. But the admiral, having received blow after blow and finding no employment immediately before him, became weary of the country where he had endured so many humiliations. He consequently requested permission to retire. His request was granted. The empress admitted him to an audience of leave, wished him a pleasant voyage, and he left Russia forever. He bore with him letters of high commendation from the most distinguished men in the capital of Russia. He directed his steps first to Warsaw. Here he was received with the highest consideration by the titular king and his court. He spent two months in Warsaw, hospitably entertained by the nobility, and intensely occupied in preparing for the Empress of Russia a journal of his services, from the time he entered the navy of the United States to the campaign of the Black Sea. In a letter to the empress, which accompanied this document, he wrote, under date of Warsaw, Sept. 25, O. S. 1789.
“I owe it to my reputation and to truth to accompany this journal with an abridgment of the campaign of the Liman.[[K]] If you will deign, madame, to read it with some attention, you will observe how little I have deserved the mortifications which I have endured, and which the justice and goodness of your majesty can alone make me forget. As I never offended, in word or speech or thought, against the laws or usages of the strictest delicacy, it would assuredly be most desirable for me to have the happiness of regaining, in spite of the malice of my enemies, the precious esteem of your majesty.”
At Warsaw, the admiral made the acquaintance of, and became the intimate friend of Kosciusko. On the second of November he left Warsaw for Vienna. Here again he was kindly received by those in the highest ranks of society. But in consequence of the sickness of the emperor, he was not favored with an audience. From Warsaw he proceeded to Amsterdam. Kosciusko was at that time deeply engaged in the disastrous conspiracy to liberate Poland from the thraldom of Russia. Sweden was also at war with Russia. There can be no doubt that great efforts were made to enlist the wonderful energies of the admiral, in favor of the two belligerents, against the empress. These efforts were necessarily secret. It is but a glimpse we can get of them. We simply know that the admiral declined all such proffers. From Amsterdam he wrote, under date of December, 1789, to his firm friend President Washington. In that letter he writes:
“Count Segur and myself have frequently conversed on subjects that regard America. And the most pleasing reflection of all has been the happy establishment of the new constitution, and that you are so deservedly placed at the head of the government, by the unanimous voice of America. Your name alone, sir, has established in Europe a confidence that was for some time before entirely wanting in American concerns; and I am assured that the happy efforts of your administration are still more sensibly felt throughout the United States. This is more glorious for you than all the laurels that your sword so nobly won in support of the rights of human nature. In war your fame is immortal, as the hero of liberty. In peace you are her patron, and the firmest supporter of her rights. Your greatest admirers and even your best friends have now but one wish left them—that you may long enjoy health and your present happiness.”
From Amsterdam he went to Hamburg by way of Copenhagen. Toward the close of April, 1790, he crossed the channel to London. “Upon landing,” he writes, “I escaped being murdered.” After a short visit there he went to Paris. His health was feeble. Still he kept up an active correspondence with his numerous distinguished friends all over the continent. His mode of expressing himself, as the reader will have perceived, was peculiar. He was a man of singular frankness and transparency of character. He gave free utterance to his thoughts as they arose. In Paris he again enjoyed the friendship of Lafayette. Nothing special occurred during his residence in Paris.
Early in June, his health began more rapidly to fail. He lost his appetite, and a dropsical affection swelled his legs and expanded his chest. His physician at length warned him that his symptoms were alarming, and advised him to settle his worldly affairs. He sat in his chair as he dictated to the notary his will. After his friends had retired he rose from his chair, went into his bedroom, and probably feeling a little faint threw himself with his face upon his bed, and his feet resting upon the floor. Soon after, the queen’s physician arrived to visit the illustrious patient. He was conducted into the bedroom, where the admiral was found dead. His disorder had terminated in dropsy of the breast.
It was the evening of the 20th of July, 1789. The admiral had reached the age of but forty-five years. His funeral attracted a large concourse of the most distinguished of the residents in Paris. The National Assembly, then in session, passed the following resolve:
“The National Assembly, desirous of honoring the memory of Paul Jones, Admiral of the United States of America, and to preserve by a memorable example, the equality of religious rights, decrees that twelve of its members shall assist at the funeral solemnities of a man who has so well served the cause of liberty.”