ntly than ever. He
wrote rather more than his usual large number of letters,--to Franklin,
Robert Morris, the Duchesse de Chartres, Arthur Lee, Dr. Bancroft, and
many others,--in practically all of them urging some one of his warmly
desired projects.

His correspondence with Benjamin Franklin was largely about prize money
and the expense of repairing the Alliance, which he undertook to do
immediately on his arrival at L'Orient. The frugal doctor attempted to
curb, in the matter of expense, the free-handed Jones. The latter had an
enormous respect for Franklin, and it is quite likely that he attempted
to be economical, but he seems to have been less successful in that
direction than in any other. Fanning speaks of the "great and
unnecessary expense" involved in Jones's elaborate alterations, and
narrates how, at a later period, when Jones was in command of the Ariel,
anchored in the harbor at L'Orient, a magnificent spectacle was given on
board for the entertainment of the ladies and gentlemen invited by
Jones. A mock fight between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, in
which vast quantities of ammunition were destroyed, took place. The
vessel was finely carpeted and decorated, a regal banquet was served,
military music played, and in general "neither cash nor pains," says
Fanning, "were spared in order that the scene every way should appear
magnificent." Although the hero never seemed to take account of the
extreme poverty of the infant republic, it is only fair to add that he
spent his own money as freely as any one else's, and that he often
served without pay, a fact continually attested to by himself in his
letters and journals.

Jones's lack of success, in spite of his energetic attempts in
collecting at this time the prize money, about which there were many
annoying technicalities, increased the discontent of his crew, and
prepared the way for the seizure of the Alliance by the mad Landais.
Arthur Lee, formerly one of the American commissioners in Europe, had
always been hostile to Jones and unsympathetic with Dr. Franklin and
with the revolutionary party generally; to such a degree, indeed, that
he was accused, not unjustly, of treachery to the cause of American
independence. At the time that the Alliance was at L'Orient, Lee was
waiting an opportunity to return to America. Captain Landais, who had
been deprived of the command of the Alliance by order of Benjamin
Franklin, then the sole representative of the U