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REVOLUTIONARY WAR]. JONES, John Paul (1747-1782). Autograph letter signed TO ROBERT MORRIS Brest, France, 14 November 1778. 2 pages, 4to, integral blank, on paper watermarked "D. & C. Blau, with Morris's bold endorsement "Brest 14 Nov r. 1778 Jn o Paul Jones Esq r, relative to Capt. Simpson." In exceptionally fine, near mint condition.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR]. JONES, John Paul (1747-1782). Autograph letter signed TO ROBERT MORRIS Brest, France, 14 November 1778. 2 pages, 4to, integral blank, on paper watermarked "D. & C. Blau, with Morris's bold endorsement "Brest 14 Nov r. 1778 Jn o Paul Jones Esq r, relative to Capt. Simpson." In exceptionally fine, near mint condition. JONES WAITS FOR THE Bonhomme Richard: "A LITTLE TIME WILL SHEW THE TRUTH..." John Paul Jones writes to Morris, chairman of the Congressional Committee for foreign affairs and since their first meeting in 1776 one of Jones's strongest allies. He wrote Morris just the day before, but takes up his pen again to report important news about a failed French naval expedition Jones had proposed: "As I had but a few days to prepare my packet of yesterday, I fear that some of the papers have not been exactly copied, particularly my letters to and from the Commissioners. I hope however to be forgiven, as I have at present no clerk and had not time to read them over. The enclosed papers, which I then omitted, will perhaps serve to explain some circumstances." "I forgot to tell you that the expedition from [Saint Malo, Brittany] failed; and that the actors in it returned with very little Credit, having done the Enemy very inconsiderable damage." But he has turned the defeat to good use, as he explains cryptically: "Means have been found to let a great personage [probably King Louis XVI] know that if the execution had been as it was first proposed, entrusted to the person who gave the Plan [Jones] would have held himself responsible for its success. I am persuaded that that person had such intelligence that he knew exactly where, and at what time, to surprise and take on Hundred Sail of Rich Ships at Anchor; protected only by a single Frigate, in a situation so remote from all other Force, that they could have been carried off with the greatest facility." "But by a letter which I have just now received from un Grand Duc I am told that giving the chief command to the person who planned the Enterprise, would have been contrary to the Rules of the Marine. He affirms however that the person is in very high favor and esteem with the Minister [of the Marine], who is determined to pursue the plan last adopted. A little time will shew the truth." In closing, he promises Morris that "I shall not...deny myself the pleasure of giving you agreeable information." In fact, the opportunity for which Jones had waited for many months was about to materialize. Not long after this letter, Jones took an option to buy the Duc de Duras , an aging East Indiaman. By the end of December the unprepossessing frigate had been refitted and rechristened the Bonhomme Richard in honor of the "Poor Richard" of America's minister to France, Benjamin Franklin Under Jones's mercurial command, it would engage and capture the British Serapis in September 1779, after an epic contest in which Jones, when asked if he had lowered his flag in surrender, legendarily replied "I have not yet begin to fight!"