Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-12-25

the Alliance. and be demanded restora
ton, a. the shir vas about to saiI foI
America. and he Wlshed to return With
her. His demsnd vas made rather i'm
periously, and Vas refused BY franklin
who was anxious, nevertheless, to &c;
Landais OF his hands. Finally. by the
Intervention of Arthur Lee. who did no,
accept all that was said against Landais
he was again put In command of the Al
liance. His officers and crew had stood
by him, and testified their belief in him
in most emphatic terms.
The Alliance reached Boston in due
time. Landais bad requested court
OF inquiry in advance. and on his ar
rival he FASTENED to meet it. His one
idea was to yindioate his hoZor. and be
was confident that the American court
would quickly acqnit him of the charge
made by Jones and restore his good
name. The hearing the impetuous
Frenchman had requested was given.
bat the result w.s not the one for
which he had looked. the charge
made by Jones had preceded hun. A
strong presumption had been created
against him before bis arrival. He
went before the court with little more
than his own testimony TO overcome it.
It was not enough. With a somewhat
surprising CELEBRITY the court found him
guilty, and passed sentence. which was
instant dismissal from tue service.
Pierre Landais had hurried across the
sea for vindieation, and he found aug
nented dishOnor instead
Whether the finding and sentence
were Just or unjust need now be exam
ined. IIandais's Indignation was mUre
intense than when he bad hastened 10
Paris and vainly demanded an investi-
gatiOa there. He angrily denounced
the Court and all concerned in the case
against him as in league for his d..
stractiOn. This, he said, was the graft
tude for faithful and valuable service.
He had been condemned, not upon evil
dence, but by prejudice. In this he may
have been wrong. but his course while
the accusation was pending, and there
after, certainly was not that of a man
conscious Of his own guilt. 1t was rath-
or that of a brave and honorable man
believing himself greatly wronged. But
If Americans regarded him as false and
craven. his own cOuntrymen did not.
Smarting under sharp sense Of injur,,
he returned to France, TO again enter
her service should suitable opportun-
ity offer. 1t came about At once. He
bad barely landed when the command
of 4 large frigate was offered him. If
others did not believe in him French
men would. Such justice as they could
give he should receive. He promptly
accepted the offer and resumed duty to
his own country. The duty was bravely
performed. as before hs had relin-
Quished it to serve the American cause.
No man in the service of France in the
early days of the Benaparte sway made
a more honorable record than Pierre
Landai3, commander Of the seventy
four-gun friRate Patriot.
But the old Ore still ranked. In
1897, thirty-6ve years after be had FIRST
entered the sea service, Landais again
his command aud left
France for the United States. II he
could not get his rights az a man of
honor, hs would at least have justice in
another sense. He had q claim for prize
money against the American govern
ment. While the Alliance was under
his command she had captured three
EnRlish vessels and taken them as prizes
into harbor in Norway. Their value
vas estimated at $4,000. Tho authori-
lies at the port to whic. they were tax
en, Bergen, having an uncomfortable
fear OF English power, gave up the ves-
Bels ON the demand Of their owners.
But Landais held that be was entitled
10 prize money for their capture, never
lheless. It was no fault of his that they
had been surrendered. He should bo
paid his share Of their value or tho
world should know Why not. So, at tho
age Of &C, the irrepressible Frenchman
to America to begin q
siege Of Congress that ended only
with his life. 1t Was a costly siege to
him, for all his means were exhausted
in conducting it,. aud it was unpr0duct-
i've to the laat. But all his energies
were bent upon it; his whole existence
was bound up with it; he could not be
s0axed off or driven of. Every time
that Congress met, for years and years,
his claim. And there he remained until
Congress adjou urned. dogaing members
luther aud ihilher. presenting petitions,
attention, insisting on CON-
Still imDeriOus and more
:esty and.irasoible than when he had
quarrelled with jones at Brest, he often
gave way TO passion, and rated in round
terms OF suca English a. he could CON-
mand the men who had power to allow
his claim but would not use it. From
his place in the gallery, he watched
them closely day after day, and they in
turn often watched him with a
view to eluding him when pass
i q out. No tgare was more familiar
in Washington il those days than that
of Pierre Land lis. 1t was growing old
and shruukcn. aud even shabby, but
every one knew it. He was the French
man with the grievance, the man Who
hated Paul Joues. and who would not
stop asking for his prize money, which
he never get. II he we're to the fore to
day he would doubtless be called
Drank. Bot he was NO crank when he
brought the Flammnnd to America with
q cargo Of military stores. nor when he
took the Alliance with Lafayette and
his suite to France, crushing a desperate
mutiny on the voyage. nor when he
offered h,s life t. achieve American llb.
erty In the conflict that brought on all
his woes, nor when a leading war ship
of the French nation vas placed under
his command. II Pierre Lendais be-
came crank, it was not till after he haa /
done something worth doing, at all
events.
But il Warrington knew him we'll in
his old days, New York knew him, too.
During the twenty and odd years be-
tween his second coming and bis death,
New York Was his home except when
the sessions of Congress called him to
Warrington 70 present his claim. The
neighborhood 6f Bowling Green was
his daily parade ground. In pleasant
weather much of his time was passed
out Of doors, and there were few on the
streets hs freqaented Who did not recog-
nize Admiral LAndais as he weat by.
At first his appearance was spruce and
neat, but a. his means, brought from
France, became exhausted, his apparel
gradually showed the effect Of wear and
time. He wore TO the last Continent
al uniform. which did not then attract