Gents Mag 1825 part 2 p.430
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Gentleman's Magazine 1825 part 2 p.430
favour of Franklin, Jones was put in command of the American frigate Alliance; and as soon as he was in that situation, found that a Mr. Arthur Lee, a bitter enemy of Franklin, and a M. Landais, had laid various plots to ruin him. Jones, however, got over it, and in his efforts so to do, rests his claim to patronage upon his hostility to the English, and the mischief to be done to them through their commerce, and incursions on their coasts. A greater man than Jones, Napoleon himself, made the attempt with the whole power of France, and that of all the Continent. In the American war, the French, &c. (&c. only) were the mastives engaged with the lion Nero; but in that which followed, they found that they had Wallace to deal with; and we can certainly veture to say, with regard to Jones's preposterous derogations of Great Britain, that Nelson would have punished his presumption by suspension at the yard-arm as a traitor, at the end of a month. The conquest of America by Great Britain was a physical impossibility; and, because this was seen through, they persuaded the French that the subjugation of the parent country was only to burn a fishing town without a garrison, - armies after armies vanquished in Spain, - fleets after fleets destroyed, - the tremendous Napoleon chained upon the rock of St. Helena; - 'and yet nothing can parallel the engagement of Paul Jones with the Serapis!' We really are terrified by this bombastic gorgon's head. But the Americans confess that they never had a naval officer equal in valour and talent to Jones. True; but that man was not an American. God send them as many brave officers and as many blessings as they desire, as long as they have natural feelings towards the glorious land of their fore-fathers. To talk now of the tyranny of Great Britain, is utter nonsense; and had his father, uncle, or brother, or cousin, been in service on board the Serapis, and killed by the fire of the Bon Homme Richard, John Paul Jones would have buried them with funeral honours, and vindicated treason. These, however, are matters of principle; and we should not notice them, if these American narratives did not shew an insuperable propensity to degrade their ancestors, and with such trumpery conquests as that of Paul Jones, - a traitor fighting to prevent being hanged, and canting with the Americans and French under the ostentation of patriotism, to gratify his own ambition. We are forced into these remarks by insulting misrepresentations. Every body knows, that after Rodney set the example of breaking the line, victory attended the English. Paul Jones represents this very circumstance in the following light, viz. that the English did so from ignorance of superior French naval tactics; that is, that they broke the line from ignorance! Clarke's quarto volume of course never had existence. Paul was artfully persuading the French, that they might gain victory by keeping the line of battle; and to support this, he tells some bouncing stories. 'The English, who boast so much of their Navy, never fought a ranged battle on the ocean before the war that is now ended. The battle off Ushant was, on their part, like their former ones, irregular; and Admiral Keppell could only justify himself by the example of Hawke in our remembrance, and of Russell in the last century. From that moment the English were forced to study and to imitate the French in their evolutions. They never gained any advantage when they had to deal with equal force, and the unfortunate defeat of the Count de Grasse, was owing more to the unfavourable circumstances of wind coming a-head four points at the beginning of the battle, which put his fleet into the order of echequier, when it was too late to tack, and of calm and currents afterwards, which brought on an entire disorder, than to the Admiralship or even the vast superiority of Rodney, who had forty sail of the line against thirty, and five three-deckers against one. By the accounts of some of the French officers, Rodney might as well have been asleep, not having made a second signal during the battle, so that every Captain did as he pleased.' P.183.We are acquainted with officers who were in that action. It is true that after Rodney had broken the line, a calm sprung up, and our ships were left in the midst of the enemy, without power on either side to avail themselves of tactics. The french had taken on board the day before a quantity of live oxen for fresh provisions, and had not had time to stow them. When the broadsides commenced, the poor distracted animals on the decks, in their wild motions, baffled all order, and gave that advantage |
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