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and invest him with the command thereof as soon as possible. We hope you may not delay this business one moment, but purchase, in such port or place in Europe as it can be done with most convenience and despatch, a fine fast-sailing frigate or larger ship. Direct Captain Jones where he must repair to, and he will take with him his officers and men towards manning her. You will assign him some good house or agent to supply him with every thing necessary to get the ship speedily and well equipped and manned,— somebody that will bestir themselves vigorously in the business, and never quit it until it is accomplished.

"If you have any plan or service to be performed in Europe by such a ship, that you think will be more for the interest and honour of the States than sending her out directly, Captain Jones is instructed to obey your orders; and, to save repetition, let him lay before you the instructions we have given him, and furnish you with a copy thereof. You can then judge what will be necessary for you to direct him in,-and whatever you do will be approved, as it will un

doubtedly tend to promote the public service of

this country.

"You see by this step how much dependence Congress place in your advices; and you must make it a point not to disappoint Captain Jones's wishes and expectations on this occasion.

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"Congress have thought proper to authorize

the Secret Committee to employ you on a voy

age in the Amphitrite, from Portsmouth to Carolina and France, where it is expected you will be provided with a fine frigate; and as your present commission is for the command of a particular ship, we now send you a new one, whereby you are appointed a captain in our navy, and of course may command any ship in the service to which you are particularly ordered. You are to obey the orders of the Secret Committee, and we are, Sir, &c.

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"As soon as these instructions get to hand, you are to make immediate application to the proper persons to get your vessel victualled and fitted for sea with all expedition. When this is done, you are to proceed on a voyage to some convenient port in France; on your arrival there,

apply to the agent, if any, in or near said port, for such supplies as you may stand in need of. You are at the same time to give immediate notice, by letter, to the Honourable Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, Esquires, or any of them at Paris, of your arrival, requesting their instructions as to your further destination; which instructions you are to obey as far as it shall be in your power.

"You are to take particular notice, that whilst on the coast of France, or in a French port, you are, as much as you conveniently can, to keep your guns covered and concealed, and to make as little warlike appearance as possible. Wishing you," &c. &c.

With these credentials and instructions, Jones sailed for Europe in command of the Ranger, in high spirits, expecting to be the first messenger of what he calls "the joyful and important news of Burgoyne's surrender." He reached Nantes early in December, having captured two brigantines on the voyage, laden with fruit and wine.

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CHAPTER III.

Ir must be owned that Captain Jones at no time slipped any opportunity of bringing himself forward, and placing his services in a fair light. Though he indeed claimed no more than was his due, he never, through false delicacy, withdrew his merits into the shade. "It is civil cowardice," says the Spectator's modest friend, Captain Sentry, "to be backward in asserting what you ought to expect, as it is military fear to be slow in attacking when it is your duty." His first act, on reaching France, was to write to the Commissioners, to whom he was now to look for orders, and also for patronage. "I yesterday," he says, " enclosed you copies of two letters which I wrote you previous to my departure from Portsmouth, together with a plan which I drew up at Philadelphia, on the regulation and equipment of our infant navy. It is my first

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