orced to yield, the French flag was displayed, the command
was given to the French captain, Cottineau, and Jones retained only the
Alliance, an American ship, from which he was allowed, however, to fly
the American flag.

To add to Jones' sorrows de Sartine offered him, through the Duc de
Vauguyan, a French commission to command the Alliance as a letter of
marque. He rejected it with indignation: "My rank from the beginning
knew no superior in the marine of America; how then must I be humbled
were I to accept a letter of marque! I should, my lord, esteem myself
inexcusable were I to accept even a commission of equal or superior
denomination to that I bear, unless I were previously authorized by
Congress, or some other competent authority in Europe." That the
Serapis, the prize for which he had so bravely contended, had been taken
from him, was another of the wrongs which rankled deeply in Jones's
soul.

Jones must have got a great deal of satisfaction, however, from the fact
that he continued defiantly to wave the American flag from the Alliance,
and that he delayed his enforced departure, in spite of great pressure
from the admiral of the Dutch fleet, until December 26, when with the
Alliance he dashed out of the harbor "under his best American colors,"
ran the gauntlet of the British fleet cruising outside, and escaped into
the open sea.

Before leaving the Texel, Jones, on December 17, 1779, wrote Dr.
Bancroft: "I am sure that the strain put upon the relations between
Holland and England must end in rupture between them within this year."

War was indeed declared between England and Holland on December 19,
1780, and in the bill of grievances set forth in the proclamation of a
state of war against Holland, the statement is made: "That, in violation
of treaty, they [the States-General] suffered an American Pirate (one
Paul Jones, a Rebel, and State Criminal) to remain several weeks in one
of their ports."

It is clear, therefore, that Jones's pertinacious stay in the Dutch port
brought about important results.

Another instance of Jones's _sang-froid_ in matters where time was given
for his judgment to come into play, was the way he treated Landais at
the Texel. On his arrival at that port Jones sent to Dr. Franklin
charges against the captain of the Alliance, whom he removed from
command. Whereupon Landais sent Jones a challenge to a duel. Fanning
narrates: "But the latter [Jones], perhaps not thinking it prude