HE A PIRATE?--FAREWELL.
Paul Jones was a small, slender man, somewhat under the middle stature1, or about five feet five inches in height. As is frequently the custom with seamen2, who pass much of their lives between decks, his shoulders were slightly rounded, and at first glance he seemed smaller than he was. In physique he was active and graceful3, well proportioned and strong. Many portraits of him exist, some of them gross caricatures, representing him as the proverbial pirate of early days clad in fantastic costume, his belt bristling4 with pistols and knives, and depicting5 him in the act of slaying6 some terrified and helpless sailor; but it is from such representations as the painting by Peale,[56] the bust7 by Houdon, the naval8 medal, and the miniature by the Countess de Lavendahl, that we get a correct idea of his appearance. His features were regular; his nose was straight, prominent, and slightly enlarged at the tip; his lips were elegantly curved. His head was well proportioned, and set firmly upon his shoulders; in spite of his stoop he held it erect9, which gave him an intent, eager expression. His large black eyes were set deep in their sockets10 under heavy, arched eyebrows11; in moments of action they sparkled with fire and passion. His hair was black and plentiful12, and the darkness of his complexion13 had been intensified14 by years of exposure to wind and weather. His hands and feet were small and of good shape. He was always particular in his dress, which was of material as rich and in cut as elegant as his means permitted. Without being handsome, therefore, he was a man of distinctly striking and notable appearance in any society.
His habitual15 expression was thoughtful and meditative16. His face was the face of a student rather than that of a fighter. As it looks out at us from the canvas of the past in Peale's portrait, there is a little touch of wonder and surprise in the soft, reflective eyes. The mystery of life is there. We feel that the man is speculating upon us, measuring us, wondering who and what we are. There is a gentle gravity about the face which is most attractive. In the profile on the medal and in the Houdon bust other qualities predominate. You catch a glimpse of the proud, imperious, dashing sailor in the uplifted poise17 of the head, the tense, straight line of the lips, and the firm, resolute18 chin; and there is a suggestion of humor, grim enough, in the whole face. The Countess de Lavendahl apparently19 depicts20 him in the role of a lover, fashionably attired21 and arrayed for conquest. In each of these representations we have the broad, splendid brow which typifies the mind that was in him. It is probable that these different portraits were each good likenesses, and that each artist, in accordance with his insight, wrought22 into his presentment what he saw in the man.
A man of abundant self-confidence, he was not easily embarrassed, and we find him at home as well in the refined and cultivated colonial society of North Carolina as upon the decks of a ship manned by the rudest and roughest of men. He bears himself with easy dignity at the courts of Russia and France, and is not discomfited23 in the presence of king, queen, or empress. His manners were easy and polite. There was a touch of the directness of the sailor and the fighter in his address, I doubt not, but his behavior was certainly that of a gentleman--quiet, dignified24, somewhat haughty25, but pleasing. This is established by the testimony26 of those who knew him, including the Englishwoman mentioned above; by traditions which have come down to us; by the fact that he was admitted into the most exclusive circles in various courts of Europe, and that he retained the place which had been accorded him through years of acquaintanceship. He has been called low, brutal27, common, and vulgar, but such accusations28 are incompatible29 with the position he occupied. He might have been received, of course, but he never would have been not merely tolerated, but admired and sought after, if the charges were correct.
In saying this, I do not wish to be understood as being oblivious31 of his faults. As occasion has demanded, I have not hesitated to call attention to them. He was irritable32 and impatient, captious33 and quarrelsome, at times variable and inconsistent. We find him addressing a superior at one time in terms that are almost too respectful, and in his next communication writing with a blunt frankness of a superior to an inferior. This frequently caused him trouble, inasmuch as he usually had to deal with men who were his superiors in birth and station, though not to be compared with him in talents and education. The limitations of his humble34 origin account for this variant35 attitude to the world's so-called great.
His great fault was his vanity. It was a weakness, like some of his other qualities, colossal36. It manifested itself in every way that vanity can manifest itself. No defense37 can be uttered. We recognize the fact and note it with pain, but in the presence of his great qualities pass it by, after calling attention to the strange fact that other and more famous sailors, including the greatest man who ever fought a ship or squadron, Lord Nelson, were under the spell of the same weakness--and other greater weaknesses. No character in history is without weakness. There was but One who manifested no weakness, not even on a cross.
His mind was a well-furnished one. From boyhood he had cultivated the studious habit with which he was endowed in large degree, with the assiduity and perseverance38 of a Scotsman. He was thoroughness itself; whatever he attempted he did so well that he usually left nothing further to be desired. His brain was alert and active. He was quick-witted, and not devoid39 of humor, although there is always a touch of sternness in his persiflage40. His letters fall into two classes. When he wrote under pressure of strong emotion or excitement, he expressed his personality with his pen as adequately as he did in his actions; his remarks were short, sharp, direct, logical, and in good taste; his style was vigorous and perspicuous. On the other hand, he frequently descended42, especially when addressing women, into verbosity43, and verbosity of that most intolerable species known as fine writing--witness his letter to Lady Selkirk. As a phrase maker44 many of his sentences ring with his spirit. "I do not wish to have command of any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way"; "I have not yet begun to fight"; "I have ever looked out for the honor of the American flag"; "I can never renounce45 the glorious title of a citizen of the United States," are some of his sayings which have passed into history, and might appropriately serve for inscriptions46 on the four sides of his monument, when a too tardy47 people pay him the honor of erecting48 one.[57]
He spoke49 French well and wrote it better. He found no difficulty in making himself understood in France, and that language was used entirely50 in his Russian campaign. In an age when everybody scribbled51 verse he wrote poetry which is creditable to him. It has been remarked that it was much better verse than Nelson wrote. Like many other naval officers of that day, he played the flute52 and had a taste for music. He was undoubtedly53 a member of the Presbyterian Church by baptism in infancy54, and although, so far as is known, he was not actively55 in communion with any religious organization during his life, he was in no sense an irreligious man. "They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters," who see "the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep," are rarely ultimately indifferent to religion. They are superficially careless, perhaps, but they are neither skeptics nor atheists.[58] Nothing could be sweeter and more gentle than his letters to his sisters with their unequivocal recognition of the Power above which shapes our ends.
In a day when seamen--and no less the naval officer than the merchantman--considered a capacity for picturesque56 and plentiful profanity a mark of professional aptitude57, he was distinguished58 by refraining from oaths and curses. Mark the words: "Do not swear, Mr. Stacy--in another moment we may all be in eternity--but let us do our duty." Uttered in the heat of action, and in a critical moment, the sentence is as rare as it is beautiful, and it somehow reminds me of the dying words of Nelson in the cockpit of the Victory. He was clean-mouthed and clean-hearted. I do not wish to say that he was immaculate, a saint, or anything of that sort, but there is no man of similar upbringing, who lived in his day, and under such circumstances, whose life appears to be cleaner. There is a total absence of sensuality in his career. In over thirteen hundred letters which have been examined, there is not a coarse or indelicate allusion59; no double entendre ever sullies his pages, and the name of no woman is mentioned save in terms of respect. It is probable that his amour with Madame de Telison passed the bounds of Platonic60 friendship or romantic admiration61, and it is possible that they did have a child; but even this is by no means certain, and the conclusion may do him an injustice62.
When one remembers that from a tender age he was deprived of those gentle restraints imposed by pious63 and loving family ties, his character is remarkable64. I have observed in much experience with men that when the check put upon humanity by the Church, by association with good women, and by keeping in touch with law-abiding65 society is removed, and men are assembled far from these things in camps or ships, where the principal requirement is a stern obedience66 to law, and the atmosphere strictly67 masculine, they are apt to think, say, and do things to which they would never descend41 under ordinary circumstances. Jones had been a sailor--an apprentice68 boy at that--at twelve years of age; for sixteen years thereafter he had never been off blue water for more than a few months. Five years of that time he had been on a slaver, beginning as third mate at sixteen and quitting as chief mate at twenty-one, and of all the degrading, brutal influences to which humanity could be subjected there was nothing that equaled the horrors of a ship in the slave trade. The tough moral fiber69 of the Scotsman stood him in good stead here, for the thing which with a boy's indifference70 he could countenance71, he could not endure as a man.
And this brings us to another of his qualities, which awakens72 our interest--his intense love of liberty. Probably it began with the slave trade; at any rate, it was always and everywhere present with him. Practically his first military effort was an attempt to set free American prisoners, and his last commission from the United States was the appointment to effect the release of the unfortunate Americans held by the Barbary States. Thus he fought not merely for the establishment of civil liberty and national independence, but with an eye single to the individual prisoner, and his spirit was sufficiently73 catholic to make him kindly74 disposed even when the prisoners were trophies75 of his prowess. His pleading at L'Orient, when he was left with the dishonored draft, mutinous76 crew, and over one hundred prisoners, was as much for those Englishmen whom the fortune of war had thrown into his power as for his own people.
Like most men of fierce passions and quick temper, he did not long cherish animosities. He was not a good hater, and this very quality sometimes led him into mistaken kindness. He was a humane77 man, in no sense the cruel and bloodthirsty warrior78 of popular imagination. He is thankful, for instance, after the descent on Whitehaven, that there was no loss of life on either side, and we have no reason to doubt the genuineness of his outburst of gratitude79 when peace was declared, although it left him without occupation.
He had a good head for business also. In spite of his roving life he succeeded in amassing80 considerable property, and his success as a trader before he entered the naval service had been better than the average. In fact, his merchant services resulted in an unbroken line of testimonials not only to his capacity but to his probity81 and trustworthiness as well. As a negotiator or diplomatist he was open, straightforward84, persistent85, and unusually successful. A solid foundation of good qualities must have been laid by his homespun mother in those twelve years in which she watched over and shaped the future character of the boy.
While he was too much of a wanderer ever to form those deep and abiding social ties which are the delight of old age and reflection--though to youth matters of indifference--yet his various duties brought him into intimate association with great men all over the world, and there is a universal testimony from them as to his worth. They were not blind to his faults, but they saw the worthiness82 of the man beneath them. Franklin, the keen philosopher and diplomat83, who knew him best, esteemed86 him most; but Robert Morris, the incorruptible financier; Thomas Jefferson, the great Democrat87; Gouverneur Morris, the accomplished88 man of the world; John Adams, the shrewd statesman; and Washington, the first of them all, esteemed and admired him, and considered themselves honored in his friendship. Richard Dale, his great subordinate, who had been with him in times that tried men's souls, entertained the most devoted89 feelings of attachment90 toward him, and Cooper, who knew Dale personally, tells us that to the day of his death he never lost his affectionate regard for his old captain. The terms of their intimacy91 when not on duty permitted Dale to address Jones by the friendly name of Paul, and Cooper chronicles the peculiar92 tenderness with which he uttered the word in his old age.
Among the French who respected and admired him, the gallant94 and impetuous Lafayette is pre-eminent. That warm-hearted representative of the haute noblesse of France sought opportunities for service with the commodore, and never failed to express his affection for him in the most unequivocal words. Among others were Rochambeau, the soldier; Malesherbes, the great advocate, defender95 of his king; the Baron96 de Viomenil, who led the French assaulting column at Yorktown; and Admirals d'Orvilliers, de Vaudreuil, and d'Estaing. Among other foreign friends were van der Capellen, the Dutch statesman and diplomat and friend of America; of Russians, Krudner and Grimm; and the immortal98 Kosciusko, of Poland. His acquaintance with these men was no mere30 passing contact, but was intimate and personal; and his relations in most instances were not temporary and casual, but lasting99 and permanent. Laughton, the English authority in naval history, in his famous sketch100 entitled "Paul Jones, 'the Pirate'"[59] says that Jones' moral character may be summed up in one word--detestable! He calls him a renegade and a calculating liar93, incapable101 of friendship or of love, and says that, "Whenever his private actions can be examined, they must be pronounced to be discreditable; and as to many others that appear to be so, there is no evidence in favor except his own unsubstantial and worthless testimony." It is not an indictment102 against Jones alone that Professor Laughton so lightly writes, but against the great men who, with infinitely103 better opportunities for observation than any of his biographers have enjoyed, have not been slow to call him their friend. Is it to be conceived for a single moment that Franklin, Jefferson, Lafayette, the Morrises, or any of the others, would have associated with, corresponded with, and publicly praised a vulgar blackguard? Would such a man, however successful, have been admitted to any society whatsoever104? Or, having in the first flush of joy at the news of his tremendous victory been so admitted, could such a man have retained his position for thirteen years--until he died, in fact? Nonsense! He looked like a gentleman; he wrote like a gentleman; whenever his words have been recorded we find he spoke like a gentleman, and he certainly fought like one.
Never was a man so calumniated105. His actions were so great that intense interest was felt in his career from the day of his arrival in Europe, and after his death quantities of sketches106 of him appeared, many of which are still extant. They are of the chap-book order--the dime107 novel of the day--and usually contain an awe-inspiring picture, and relate a tale in which smuggling108, gambling109, falsehood, theft, rape110, murder, and everything else that is vile111, are included. Laughton seems to have arrived at his estimation of Jones by accepting these scandalous tales as authentic112, and building his biography of material culled113 from these disgraceful and discredited114 sources. No man can conceal115 his real character for any great length of time, especially a man in official station, who lives in the white light of public criticism. If Jones were the creature that Laughton describes him, it would appear somewhere in some serious page of his own. He was a most voluminous correspondent--Philip II was not a more indefatigable116 letter writer than he--and he spoke of the subjects under discussion with a sailor's frankness. Why is it that none of these things are evident? He was foolish sometimes, but never base. It is too late to write down in a few careless words the great men who entertained so high an opinion of the commodore. But Professor Laughton is not alone in his opinions. Indeed, his conclusions appear to represent a general English sentiment. So great a novelist as the gentle Thackeray calls Jones a traitor117, and the popular opinion even in this day does not seem to have changed. In the current number of the London Academy[60] he is again called a "pirate." Let us settle this question at least.
What is a pirate? Says President Woolsey: "Piracy118 is robbery on the sea, or by descent from the sea upon the coast, committed by persons not holding a commission from, or at the time pertaining119 to, any established state. It is the act (1) of persons forming an organization for the purpose of plunder120, or with malicious121 intent; but who, inasmuch as such a body is not constituted for political purposes, can not be said to be a body politic122; (2) of persons who, having in defiance123 of law seized possession of a chartered vessel124, use it for the purpose of robbery; (3) of persons taking a commission from two belligerent125 adversaries126. The reason for ranking these latter among pirates is that the animus127 furandi is shown by acting128 under two repugnant authorities. It has been held by some that a vessel which takes commissions even from two allies is guilty of piracy, but others regard such an act only as illegal and irregular."[61]
Chancellor129 Kent calls piracy "robbery, forceful plunder, or murder by marauders on the high seas in the spirit and intent of universal hostility130." The Century Dictionary defines it as follows: "Specifically in the law of nations, the crime of depredations131 or willful and aggressive destruction of life and property, committed on the seas by persons having no commission or authority from any established state. As commonly used, it implies something more than a simple theft with violence at sea, and includes something of the idea of general hostility to law."
By any of these definitions can Paul Jones be called a pirate? It will be readily seen that the charge hangs upon the question as to whether Jones held a commission from an established state. In fact, the determination of that point settles the matter. He was regularly commissioned a captain in the navy of the United States, as we have seen.[62] Was the United States an established power, a sovereign state? The United States began to be with the Declaration of Independence. To quote Woolsey again: "The sovereignty of a state dates from its de facto existence, and does not depend upon its recognition by foreign powers. Thus the sovereignty of the United States was complete from July 4, 1776, not 1782, when the English Government recognized, not granted, its independence." If the United States had not a legal existence as a sovereign power competent to wage war, and therefore to issue commissions to naval officers, until the treaty of peace, England would have granted independence thereby132, instead of which she recognized a long-accomplished fact. Moreover, the British Government, long before peace was declared, had conceded belligerent rights to the revolted colonies, after much protestation. But necessary privileges of belligerency are those of raising forces and commissioning officers whose status as individual belligerents133 is determined134 by the recognition. None of the American prisoners taken from time to time were hanged as rebels or traitors135, nor would such action have been permitted by the British people, if it had been seriously entertained by the king. Even if they had captured Paul Jones, the English, in all their fury, would not have dared to treat him as a pirate. Upon the point of law there is no justification136 for the charge. Paul Jones' commission was as valid137 a document as any under which a naval officer ever sailed. The sovereignty of the United States had been recognized long before the termination of the war by France, Spain, and Holland, and Frederick the Great, by opening the port of Dantzic to American ships, had practically committed himself to that side; although the failure of any or all of these to do so would not have abrogated138 our de facto existence as a nation.
But, turning from the subject of the commission as established, let us examine the other phases involved in the charge. Piracy consists of murder and robbery in a spirit of universal hostility toward humanity (the animus furandi of Woolsey's paragraph). Jones directed his attacks at England alone. There was no killing139 unless in open combat; no robbery except by taking ships and property in open warfare140, and surely Jones' conduct with regard to Selkirk's plate was not that of a robber or a pirate! By the law of nations a pirate, whatever his nationality, is subject to the jurisdiction141 of any country. Thus, an English pirate caught by the French Government, or a French pirate caught by the English Government, would be summarily dealt with without the slightest reference to the country of his nationality. If Jones had been a pirate France would either have made short work of him, or else have incurred142 the odium of humanity as an abettor of piracy.
His acts were not those of an irresponsible person or a body of people who sent him forth143 with malicious intent, but were undertaken for distinctly political purposes at the instance of an undoubted body politic. These purposes were: (1) The protection of our coasts by showing the vulnerability of the coasts of England. (2) The stoppage of the ravages144 on our seaboard, by demonstrating some of their horrors in the land of the ravagers. (3) The securing of prisoners by which the principle of exchange should be established, and thus our citizens released from a captivity145 in which they were treated with scant146 regard to the laws of humanity. (4) The breaking up of the enemy's commerce and the impairment of his material resources, so that the burden of consequences would induce him to end the war and recognize our independence. (5) The making of a diversion in the north which would facilitate the proposed grand operations of the French and Spanish fleets in the south. These are legitimate148 motives149 in the highest sense. They are of the deepest importance, and they constitute a brief catalogue of his accomplishments150. Add to the list the shattering of British prestige by his hard and successful fighting, and mention the way he contrived151 to force the Netherlands finally to declare for the United States, and we have a catalogue of achievements of which any one might be proud.[63]
There was no thought in Jones' mind of private gain. Prize money had accrued152 from captures from time immemorial, but Jones was ambitious of distinction, and as anxious to worthily153 serve his country as Farragut or Sampson, and the question of prize money was purely155 a minor156 one with him. If gain had been his object, a privateering commission which he was urged to accept in France--and which he could undoubtedly have received in America--but which he rejected with disdain157, would have given him greater opportunity than he ever enjoyed of acquiring wealth. His whole career, in fact, shows him to have been absolutely indifferent to money. He never hoarded158 or amassed159 it, and, though he received large sums from time to time, he usually spent it in generous profusion160 as fast as it came in. Had professional advancement161 been his sole desire, he would have accepted the rank of Capitaine de Vaisseau--that is, a captain of a ship of the line--which d'Orvilliers had offered to procure162 for him, from which he might have progressed to the highest naval rank, instead of which he chose to remain in command of the petty little Ranger163. How Laughton can deny his enthusiasm for America when, with but little hope of reward, he periled165 his liberty and his life in her service, and absolutely refused under any circumstances to withdraw from that service, I fail to understand.[64]
He did not, in defiance of law, charter a vessel for the purpose of waging private war. On the contrary, his ship was provided by the French king, and commissions for those officers who had not been commissioned directly by Congress, as had Jones himself, were issued by Franklin, who possessed166 the unquestioned power to do this by the specific action of Congress. Indeed, such was Franklin's power, that when he displaced Landais from his command he did not hesitate to overrule a commission issued by Congress under circumstances of peculiar importance, and he was upheld by that body when his action was called in question.
Nor did Jones take a commission from two belligerent adversaries--that is, he had no commission from England which he threw up to accept that of the United States. He had never served in the English navy in any capacity. There were officers in the United States land service who had held English commissions and yet accepted American commands, but Jones was not one of them. He had never, until he entered the Russian service, sailed under any commission save that of the United States, and one of the noblest acts of his life was his indignant repudiation167 of a French letter of marque when his acceptance of it was considered the only way of saving his head. Nothing could induce him to declare the Alliance a French ship in those hazardous168 moments in the Texel when he was menaced by the Dutch fleet on one side and the English fleet on the other, nor would he even temporarily hoist169 the French flag on that ship. He did not even commit the so-called illegal and irregular act of accepting a commission from two allies, for he refused a French commission again and again. This certainly constitutes a clear and overwhelming refutation of the charge of piracy. Indeed, on the question of piracy, Jones' own ingenious comment is not without interest. Laughton has called attention to it in the following words:
"Paul Jones strongly objected to the word as applied170 to himself; he had, he said, looked in the dictionary and found the definition of pirate to be 'an enemy against mankind.' Now, he was not the enemy of mankind, but only the enemy of England. With a tu quoque argument, not wanting in ingenuity171, he urged that, as England was then at war with the whole of America, the greater part of Europe, and much of Asia, not to speak of a part of Africa, she, in point of fact, came as near being the enemy of mankind as could well be conceived--that England was therefore the pirate, not Paul Jones."
Why was it that the English called him a pirate, put a price on his head, and attempted to compass his death or capture by private hands? Why was it that he evoked172 such widespread animosity, and became the object of a hatred173 which has not exhausted174 itself to this day? Surely not because he had been a British subject! All who fought on the American side had been British subjects. Jones had removed to America and had determined to settle there before the war broke out. Why should any one attempt to insinuate175 that the same feelings which actuated Adams, Washington, and Patrick Henry did not operate to make him espouse176 the colonial cause? He was as fond of freedom as they, and as anxious to promote it.
Many of the most distinguished colonists177 were not only British subjects, but they had worn the king's uniform, fought under the king's flag, and eaten the king's bread; as, for instance, the great Washington. Richard Montgomery, an Irishman, who laid down a life valuable to his adopted country when he fell in the assault on Quebec, had been a British officer; and there were many others, some of whom, like the traitor Charles Lee and the worthless Gates, were actually half-pay officers in the British army when they entered the American service!
Among the naval officers, the heroic Biddle, who matched the little Randolph, of thirty-two small guns, against the huge line of battle ship Yarmouth, and fought until his ship was blown to pieces, and he and all his crew were lost except four men, had been a midshipman in the British navy with Nelson. Stout178 old John Barry, who commanded the Alliance when he captured the Atlanta and the Trepassy, and fought the last action of the war by beating the frigate179 Sibylle, of superior force, was an Irishman.[65] The most bigoted180 Englishmen to-day speak of those men with respect which they will not accord to Jones. Why is this?
The reason for the strange exception lies in the brilliant success with which he cruised and fought. The English claimed and exercised an absolute and practically undisputed supremacy181 on the high seas. Their arrogant182 navy for more than a hundred years had been invincible183. In single ship actions they had always conquered. No enemy had landed on their shores for over a century. They could stand being beaten on land--they were accustomed to it. With few notable exceptions England does not produce great soldiers--Carlyle feelingly refers to the average English commander as a "wooden hoop184 pole wearing a cocked hat"[66]--but such a line of sailors as had sprung from their shores has never been equaled in the history of the world. Such sea leadership and such sea fighting has never been exceeded, or even equaled, by any nation.[67]
The capture of the Serapis was a trifling185 circumstance; it did not impair147 the naval efficiency or abridge186 the maritime187 supremacy of England an appreciable188 degree; but it had a moral significance that could not be misunderstood by the nations of the world. They saw and approved.[68] English ships had been beaten in fair fight, in one instance by a ship of equal, and in the other instance of inferior, force. The English coasts, in spite of swarms189 of great ships of the line, had been shown to be as vulnerable as any other.[69] The affront190 had been to her pride, and never since the days that brave old Tromp--gallant Dutchman, for whose character I have the greatest admiration--swept the narrow seas with a broom at his masthead, and actually entered the Thames under that same provoking emblem191, had England suffered such naval humiliation192. The English cheek tingles193 still from the blow dealt upon it by the hot-handed sailor. Naturally, they did not love Paul Jones. The hatred, which after a hundred years still rankles194, is evidence of what they feel--and what he did! As for us, we love the bold little captain for the enemies he has made.
It has been stated by unthinking people that the Bon Homme Richard was a privateer or a letter of marque: in one case an armed vessel owned by private individuals and authorized195, under certain restrictions196, to cruise at private expense to prey197 upon the commerce of the enemy; in the other case, an armed vessel engaged in trade, but possessing the right to capture ships of the enemy should she happen to fall in with them. There is nothing disgraceful about either of these commissions, though, to be sure, their essence consists in making war for individual gain. The Bon Homme Richard was purchased and converted into a man-of-war by the French Government, and then loaned to the American Government for the time being. De Chaumont acted only as the representative of the king--that is, of the Government. There was no question of individual gain in the matter. The money for the sale of the prizes was received, and the share of Jones was paid, by the French Government. Therefore it was a Government ship, not a private vessel. France and the United States were allies in a war against England when she was commissioned, and the transaction was customary and legitimate. The Bon Homme Richard was as bona fide an American man-of-war as the Constitution. Of course, there could be no exception to the status of the Ranger or any of the earlier ships in which Paul Jones sailed.
I have considered the personal character and professional status of Paul Jones, now let me say a few words as to his qualities as an officer. Here at last we reach a field in which there is practically little disagreement. First of all, he was a thorough and accomplished seaman198. His experiences had been many and varied199. His handling of the Providence200 in the Gut154 of Canso, of the Alfred along the coast of Cape97 Breton, his splendid seamanship in the Ariel in the terrific gale201 off the Penmarques, his daring passage of the Baltic amid the winter gales202 and ice, not to speak of the way he maneuvered203 the Richard in the battle with the Serapis, all tell the same story of skill and address. Not only did he understand the sailing of ships, but he acquired no small familiarity with the principles of naval architecture. Witness his remodeling of the Alliance, the improvements he introduced in the America, and the skillful way he managed the launching of that ship. Some of his suggestions were radical204, and some of the principles he laid down were embodied205 in shipbuilding by naval architects until the advent206 of the ironclad age.
He was a stern disciplinarian, and usually managed to work his very indifferent crews into something like fair shape. In none of his commands did he have a first-class crew of American seamen, such as the 1812 frigates207 exhibited. His sway on his ships was absolute. His officers were generally creatures of his own making (Simpson being an exception), and completely under his domination; with few exceptions, like Dale, whom he loved and respected, they were poor enough. In his passionate208 impatience209 with their stupidity or inefficiency210, he sometimes treated them with great indignity211, even going to the length of kicking them out of the cabin when they displeased212 him.[70] He was a fierce commander, who brooked213 no interference, needed no suggestions, and had no tolerance214 for ignorance and incapacity. Notwithstanding all this, he was a merciful captain in an age in which the gospel of force, punctuated215 by the cat-o'-nine-tails, was the only one in vogue216 on ships of war. He resorted but rarely to the practice of flogging, and in comparison with most commanders of the period his rule was not intolerable. He did not, however, inspire affection in his crews; they respected his talents, trusted to his skill, and admired his courage, but nothing more. His men were drilled and exercised incessantly217, and target practice was had as frequently as the poverty of his supplies permitted. His ships were all notably218 clean and orderly.
As a commander we may consider his achievements from three points of view: as a strategist, as a tactician219, and as a fighter. Strategic operations tend to bring you where sound policy dictates220 you should be, while tactical maneuvers221 refer to the manipulation of your force at the point of contact. A man may be a brilliant strategist and a poor tactician, or the reverse; or he may be both, and yet not be a hard, determined fighter. Jones was all three in large measure. His strategic conceptions were excellent. His successful destruction of the fishery industry at Canso, and his attempt upon the coal fleet in the Alfred; the brilliant plan which would have resulted in the capture of Lord Howe by d'Estaing if it had been carried out in time; the project he conceived for taking the homeward-bound East Indiamen by capturing St. Helena as a base of attack, and the other enterprises he urged upon the French Government indicate these things; but the conception which lifted him above the ordinary sea officer was his acute realization222 of the great principle that should regulate commerce destroying, which is one of the legitimate objects of warfare, and merciful in that it tends to end the conflict, and is aimed at property rather than life.
His idea was that, to be successfully accomplished, it could not be committed to the cruiser or commerce destroyer, but that attacks on centers of trade must be made by forces sufficiently mobile to enable them to cover great distances rapidly, and sufficiently strong to defeat any reasonable force, and then crush the enemy's commerce at vital points. A single ship may catch a single ship upon the high seas, or from a fleet in convoy223 perhaps cut out two or three; but a descent upon a great body of shipping224 in a harbor--unprotected as were the harbors of those days--would result in an infinitely greater loss to the enemy. Mahan has demonstrated that the necessary preliminary to the destruction of the enemy's commerce is to batter225 his navy to pieces--then it is at one's mercy. So far as I know, Jones is the only sailor of his day, or of many subsequent days in any navy, who had a glimmer226 of an idea in this direction; and, without detracting from Mahan's originality227, in a limited sense Jones forestalled228 him. Mahan, indeed, gives him full credit for his genius on this very point.
The beginning of strategy is to determine the vital point at which to aim, and Jones began well. He tried to carry out his idea of commerce destroying with the Ranger in the Irish Channel, and he came near enough to success to demonstrate the absolute feasibility and value of his conception, given adequate force to carry it out. He had a greater force, of course, under his partial command in his famous cruise in the Bon Homme Richard, but the peculiar constitution of that squadron, which was an assemblage of co-operative ships rather than a compact body responsive and obedient to one will, also prevented him from carrying out his plans. Suppose, for instance, that the Alliance had obeyed his orders, and that the Vengeance229, the Cerf, and the privateers had remained with the Pallas under his command, and that all had been well officered and manned! He would have taken the Serapis in half an hour or less, and the great Baltic fleet, worth millions of dollars, would have been at his mercy. What he attempted at Leith he could have carried out at Newcastle and Hull230.
The largest force under his command was the Russian squadron in the Liman. He chose his admirable position there with an eye to its strategic possibilities, and it was due to him, and not to the trained and veteran soldier Suvorof, that the fort was placed on Kinburn Point, which practically determined the fate of Otchakoff, since it prevented the Turks from re-enforcing their fleet, and kept them from escaping after Jones had defeated them. Fortune never gave him an opportunity, but it can not be doubted from what he did accomplish with an inferior force that if he had been given a chance he would have made a name for himself as a sea strategist not inferior to that of Nelson or Sampson.
As a tactician he was even more able--perhaps because he enjoyed better opportunities. It was seamanship and tactics which enabled him to escape from the Solebay, and it was seamanship and tactics by which he diverted the Milford from the pursuit of his prizes and insured their safety. His tactics when he fought the Drake were admirable. In his famous battle with the Serapis they were even more striking. One never ceases to wonder how he succeeded in maneuvering231 his slow, unwieldy ship so as to nullify the greater speed and gun power of the Serapis. His action in laying the Bon Homme Richard aboard the English frigate was the one chance that he had of success, and he made that chance himself.
His tactics in the Liman were even higher than elsewhere. It was he who so maneuvered the boats of the flotilla on June 17th as to precipitate232 the flight of the Turks; it was he who again, on June 28th and 29th, so placed his ships that he drove the Turks from their stranded233 flagships. It was he who dispatched the flotilla to clear the right flank, which would have enabled the Russians to take possession of the two frigates if Nassau had not foolishly burned them. It was he who, by his splendid disposition234 of his ships and the battery on the point, forced the Turkish ships to take ground upon the shoals, in their attempt to escape, where Nassau destroyed them. On the other hand, he was never reckless. He coolly calculated chances and judiciously235 chose the right course, and he was happy in that the right course was usually the bold and daring one.
In the third capacity of an officer, there is no question as to his willingness and ability to fight. No one ever called him a coward. He certainly exhibited the very highest reach of physical bravery. It was not the courage of the braggart236, for he was not continually thrusting it in the face of people on all occasions. Having established his reputation, he was content to rest upon it, and did not seek opportunity--which he did not need--for further demonstration237. Nothing could surpass the personal courage and determination with which he fought his ships. Unlike most commanders, who confine their efforts to direction, he labored238 and fought with his own hands.
We find him heading the boarders on the forecastle of the Richard, and, pike in hand, repelling239 those from the Serapis; he assists in lashing240 the two ships together; he takes personal command of the quarter-deck guns, one of which, with the assistance of a few resolute souls, he dragged across the deck from the unengaged side. When the Ariel was drifting in deadly peril164 upon the Penmarques, with his own hand he heaves the lead. At Kinburn, after repeated efforts to get the galley241 fleet to move, he leads it forward himself. To ascertain242 the depth of water, he goes in a small boat under the walls of Otchakoff, within easy range of the cannon243. He takes his barge244 on the Liman in the midst of the hottest engagement, and rows about through the contestants245. When the assault is made on the flotilla under the walls of that town, he leads in person, and captures two gunboats by boarding. At Whitehaven, alone he confronts a mob and keeps them in check until the fire which he started himself has gained sufficient headway. The bullying246 of the Dutch admiral in the Texel can not move him a single foot.
While he did not always exhibit the same amount of moral courage, yet in some very interesting situations he showed that he possessed it in large measure. His physical courage was, of course, natural. His moral courage seems to have arisen in part from an absolute confidence in his own ability and an habitual reliance upon the accuracy of his own judgment247. He showed this moral courage when, at the peril of his commission, he assumed the responsibility of piloting the Alfred to her anchorage in the Bahama expedition. He showed it particularly when, after assuming the proper position demanded by good strategy in the opening of the Liman campaign, he refused to be moved from it by the representations of such fire eaters as Nassau and Alexiano. His declining to hoist the French flag, or to sail under a French letter of marque, were evidences of this quality, and he showed it again by sending a present to Louis XVI in the dark days of the Revolution, when respect to the king in his hours of humiliation marked a man immediately.
On the other hand, he showed a sad lack of moral courage if de Ségur's statement be true that he found him, pistol in hand, in his apartments in St. Petersburg, apparently contemplating248 suicide. Moral courage is perhaps a more universal requisite249 for true greatness of character than any other virtue250, and he did not rise in this sphere quite to the height he attained251 in the others. In other words, he was greater as a commander and as an officer than as a man.
As a commander he made mistakes. What commander did not? His quickness to imagine or to resent a slight was marred252 by too great a willingness to forgive. His treatment of the mutinous Simpson was entirely too gentle and forgiving for the maintenance of that discipline necessary to the welfare of the service. It was certainly a mistake to yield to Landais' importunities and leave the advantageous253 situation off Limerick, and, as I have stated, the excuse was worse than the action. His failure to keep his promise to his men after leaving Corunna in the Alliance was a more serious blunder. There are few professions in which the word of an officer is so implicitly254 relied upon by his inferiors as in the naval service. The lives of the crew are so entirely in the hands of the officers that without confidence the situation is impossible. His extravagant255 outfitting256 of the Alliance was also a wrong to Franklin under the circumstances. His method of dealing257 with the mutiny on the Alliance and with Landais' successful attempt to get command of her was weak, and can only be explained by the postulation258 that he did not really desire to get possession of her; but even the explanation leaves him in a bad position. His dawdling259 at L'Orient is also censurable260. This, however, is a small catalogue in view of what he attempted and accomplished. Otherwise in his campaigns and in his military life he made no blunders.
He has been severely261 censured263 for choosing localities with which he was familiar from childhood as the scene of his military operations. The war of the Revolution was practically a civil war, with all the rancorous passions attendant thereon superadded to those ordinarily engendered264 in conflict. In America, friend met friend in deadly hatred, and not one royalist or rebel hesitated to use his local knowledge for the advancement of his cause. In accordance with his duty, by his oath as an officer, Jones was bound to put all the information as well as the ability he possessed at the services of the country under whose flag he fought. He was not born at Whitehaven, and, while he had sailed from the port many times, he had no special attachment for the place and people which comes from long association in society and business. When he made his famous descent upon the place it was seven years since he had set foot in it. At any rate, he was only doing in England what other people on both sides were doing in America without censure262, and he was doing it with so much more respect to the laws of civilized265 warfare, and with so much more mercy, that there is no comparison between his forays and those, let us say, of Lord Dunmore, for instance, or Mowatt at Portland. The journal of an officer of the Serapis, who was killed in the action, was found after the battle was over. He had been under Dunmore's command in Virginia at the outbreak of the Revolution, and such a tale of maraudings, accompanied by destruction of property, murdering, and outraging266 of women as the volume contained would have been incredible had it not been confirmed by the statement of hundreds of witnesses in America. None of this kind of warfare was waged where Jones commanded.
A century and a decade, lacking two years, have elapsed since the lonely little commander entered upon his long, long rest; and the country whose first banner was hoisted267 by his hands at the masthead of the Alfred, whose permanent standard was flung to the breeze by the same hands from the truck of the Ranger, whose ensign was first saluted268 by one of the greatest powers of the world through his address and determination, whose flag was made respectable in the eyes of the world by the desperate gallantry with which he fought under it, which alone among the powers that sailed the sea through him demonstrated its ability to meet successfully the Mistress of the Ocean, has done nothing to perpetuate269 the memory of this founder270 of the Republic and rescue him from oblivion. The place of his grave is known, but squalid tenements271 and cheap stores have been erected272 over his remains273. Commerce, trade, and traffic, restless life with its passions, noble and ignoble274, flows on above his head, and it is probable that so it will be until the end of time. "So runs the world away!"
It is all so mournful in some strange way. In spite of his glory and his heroism275, in spite of his strenuous276 life and his strugglings, the note that lingers in my mind as I write these concluding words is one of sadness. I read of hopes that brought no fruition; of plans made and abandoned; of opportunities that could not be embraced; of great attempts frustrated277 by inadequate278 means; of triumphs forgotten. I see a great life that might have been greater, a man of noble qualities marred by petty faults, and yet I love him. I can not tell why exactly, but the words of Solomon come into my mind as the vision of the little captain appears before me, dying alone of a broken heart, fretted279 away--Vanitas vanitatem.
And yet he did not live in vain, and his exploits shall live forever in the minds of his countrymen. So long as we possess that masculine virility280 which is the heritage of a great nation whose rugged281 coasts are washed by thousands of leagues of beating seas; so long as the beautiful flag we love waves above the mighty282 Republic, which, true to the principles of its founders283, stands in every quarter of the globe for freedom of person, for liberty of conscience, for respect to law, so long shall the story be told of the little captain from the far land who loved these things, and who fought so heroically to establish and to maintain them.
The End
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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depicting
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| 描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述 | |
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slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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depicts
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| 描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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captious
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| adj.难讨好的，吹毛求疵的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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variant
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| adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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persiflage
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| n.戏弄；挖苦 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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verbosity
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| n.冗长，赘言 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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erecting
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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fiber
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| n.纤维，纤维质 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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76
mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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77
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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78
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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79
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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80
amassing
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 ) | |
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81
probity
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| n.刚直；廉洁，正直 | |
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82
worthiness
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| 价值，值得 | |
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83
diplomat
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| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
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84
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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85
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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86
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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87
democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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88
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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89
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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90
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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91
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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92
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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93
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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94
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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95
defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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96
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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97
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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98
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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99
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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100
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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101
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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102
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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103
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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104
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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105
calumniated
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| v.诽谤，中伤( calumniate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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107
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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108
smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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109
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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110
rape
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| n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸 | |
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111
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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112
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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113
culled
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| v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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115
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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116
indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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117
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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118
piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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119
pertaining
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| 与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to) | |
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120
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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121
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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122
politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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123
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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124
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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125
belligerent
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| adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者 | |
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126
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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127
animus
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| n.恶意；意图 | |
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128
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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129
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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130
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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131
depredations
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| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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132
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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133
belligerents
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| n.交战的一方（指国家、集团或个人）( belligerent的名词复数 ) | |
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134
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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135
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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136
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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137
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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138
abrogated
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| 废除（法律等）( abrogate的过去式和过去分词 )； 取消； 去掉； 抛开 | |
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139
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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140
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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141
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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142
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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143
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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144
ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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145
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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146
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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147
impair
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| v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少 | |
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148
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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149
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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150
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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151
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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152
accrued
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| adj.权责已发生的v.增加( accrue的过去式和过去分词 )；（通过自然增长）产生；获得；（使钱款、债务）积累 | |
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153
worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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154
gut
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| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
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155
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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156
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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157
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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158
hoarded
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| v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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159
amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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161
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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162
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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163
ranger
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| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
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164
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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165
periled
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| 置…于危险中（peril的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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166
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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167
repudiation
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| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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168
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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169
hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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170
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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171
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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172
evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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173
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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174
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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175
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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176
espouse
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| v.支持，赞成，嫁娶 | |
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177
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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179
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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180
bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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181
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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182
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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183
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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184
hoop
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| n.（篮球）篮圈，篮 | |
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185
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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186
abridge
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| v.删减，删节，节略，缩短 | |
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187
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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188
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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189
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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190
affront
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| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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191
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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192
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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193
tingles
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| n.刺痛感( tingle的名词复数 )v.有刺痛感( tingle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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194
rankles
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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195
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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196
restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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197
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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198
seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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199
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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200
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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201
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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202
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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203
maneuvered
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
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204
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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205
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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206
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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207
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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208
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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209
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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210
inefficiency
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| n.无效率，无能；无效率事例 | |
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211
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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212
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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213
brooked
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| 容忍，忍受（brook的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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214
tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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215
punctuated
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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216
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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217
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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218
notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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219
tactician
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| n. 战术家, 策士 | |
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220
dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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221
maneuvers
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| n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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222
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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223
convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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224
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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225
batter
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| v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员 | |
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226
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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227
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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228
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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229
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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230
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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231
maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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232
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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233
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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234
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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235
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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236
braggart
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| n.吹牛者；adj.吹牛的，自夸的 | |
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237
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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238
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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239
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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240
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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241
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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242
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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243
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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244
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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245
contestants
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| n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 ) | |
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246
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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247
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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248
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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249
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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250
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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251
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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252
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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253
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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254
implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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255
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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256
outfitting
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| v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的现在分词 ) | |
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257
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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258
postulation
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| n.假定；公设 | |
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259
dawdling
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| adj.闲逛的，懒散的v.混（时间）( dawdle的现在分词 ) | |
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260
censurable
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| adj.可非难的，该责备的 | |
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261
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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262
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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263
censured
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
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264
engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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265
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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266
outraging
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的现在分词 ) | |
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267
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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268
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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269
perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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270
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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271
tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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272
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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273
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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274
ignoble
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| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
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275
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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276
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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277
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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278
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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279
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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280
virility
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| n.雄劲，丈夫气 | |
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281
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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282
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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283
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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