“I am really happy to hear that justice has been rendered, by his majesty, to such distinguished worth and exertion as yours. No less indeed could be expected from such a prince to such a subject. We hear that you are at Cadiz, in order to embark with his excellency Count d’Estaing. This would afford me the greatest pleasure, did not my love of glory give place to my more ardent wish for peace, and that you might have the happiness to carry over the olive branch, to a country that already owes you so much gratitude.
“Humanity has need of peace; but though I was led to expect it from the late speech from the throne, I begin to fear it is yet at some distance. There seems to be a malignity in the English blood, which cannot be cured till, in mercy to the rest of mankind, it is let out, that the disease may not become epidemical. I pray you to present my most respectful compliments to the Count d’Estaing. If the war continues, I hope for the honor of making the campaign under his orders.”
Early in April a solitary ship was seen in the distant horizon. Her approach was watched with the most intense eagerness. She entered the harbor with floating banners and triumphant music and shouts of peace. She conveyed the tidings of the treaty which brought the dreadful war to a close. There were but few Americans in the fleet. Their joy must have been great, that their country had successfully fought the battles of freedom, and had at length escaped from the grasp of the oppressor. We know not with what emotions the French received the tidings which convinced them that the naval campaign in which they had anticipated such great results had proved so serious a failure.
Commodore Jones was weary of war. He ever abhorred those atrocities inevitably involved in what Napoleon I. has called “The science of barbarians.” Just before the sailing of the fleet he thought he saw indications that peace was not far distant. There was quite a sum of money due to him from France, whose remittance he was daily expecting. There was a farm house and an extensive tract of excellent[excellent] land for sale near Newark, New Jersey. It had been valued at forty thousand dollars. But property had so depreciated during the war, and money was so scarce, that it was now seeking a purchaser at ten thousand dollars. Commodore Jones, with his humane feelings, literary taste, and yearnings for the joys of domestic life, was anxious to purchase this property. He wrote accordingly, on the 24th of December, 1782, intrusting the business to his friend John Ross, Esq.
But the money did not come. The purchase was not made. Jones was far away in the harbor of Port Cabello. He had received no response to his letter, and did not even know whether his agent had ever received it. In this uncertainty he again wrote to Mr. Ross, from Port Cabello, on the 16th of March, 1783. After briefly recapitulating the contents of his former letter he added:
“As New York will probably be one of our first naval ports, the proximity of that estate made me more desirous to own it. If, therefore, you should find, on inquiry, that I have been rightly informed, and if you can turn the merchandise in your hands into money, to answer for the purchase, I pray you to act for me as you would for yourself on the occasion.
“We have as yet no certain news from Europe. If the peace should, as I wish it may, be concluded, I wish to establish myself on a place I can call my own, and offer my hand to some fair daughter of liberty. If, on the contrary, Count d’Estaing should come out with fifty sail of the line, copper sheathed, and eighteen thousand troops, I shall have instructions at the greatest military school in the world.”
The satisfaction of Jones, upon the establishment of peace, and the independence of the land of his adoption, appears to have been unqualified. He immediately wrote to a friend:
“The most brilliant success, and the most instructive experience in war could not have given me a pleasure comparable with that which I received, when I learned that Great Britain had, after so long a contest, been forced to acknowledge the independence and sovereignty of the United States of America.”
Nothing can be more evident, in the whole career of Commodore Jones, than that he fought not from the love of war, but to secure for America an honorable peace. Immediately upon the receipt of the intelligence of the treaty, the little squadron weighed anchor, and sailed for Cape Francois, upon the island of San Domingo. After a passage of eight days the cape was reached on the 16th of the month. Here Commodore Jones, though still suffering from an intermittent fever, took leave of his friends, and embarked for Philadelphia. It is manifest that he had commanded warmly the esteem of all his associates, by his upright and noble character. The Marquis de Vaudreuil wrote to Chevalier de la Luzerne, the French minister in America, as follows. The letter was dated at Cape Francois, April 20th, 1783.