The Irish standard., 1905-04-22
After Century Of Neglect the Great Naval
Hero is to Receive Fitting Honor
From His Country.
Prejudice That Has Existed Against Him and
His Memory Due to the Effect of
English Sentiment.

Inc report OF Ambassador Porter at
Paris, who for the past six years has
been searching for the body of John
Paul Jones, the famous American ma
val fighter, of the finding of the body
in the old st. Louis cemetery in Paris,
has reached the state department,
says the New York Sun. Mr.. Porter
characterized the Identification of the
body as complete in every particu-
lar" The body will be placed in a
suitable coffin and deposited in re.
ceiving vault in an American church
in Paris to await decision as to the
transportation of the remains to the
United States. 1t is probable that a
battleship will be sent to France to
bring the body back.
The search for the remains of the
famous American sailor was first be-
gun many years ago. Ambassador Por:
ter was one of the first to take an
active interest in the search, and 1t
has been greatly due to his efforts
that the project became successful.
Ambassador Porter has been aided
by society in Paris which is interest
ed In such researches. A man named
Ricaudy in Paris became interested in
the finding of the body of John Paul
Jones, and 1t was he who found that
the body mad been buried in the old
st. Louis cemetery. Permission was
obtained from the Partisan authorities
to tunnel under the house standing on
the site of the cemetery. A number of
| caskets were found, and n few weeks
ago the searchers were jubilant over
the discovery of a leaden coffin, such
a one as Jones was buried in. 1t turned
out, however, to be the body of a
Frenchman The search was contin.
ued and the genuine casket and body
were discovered.
Many bills have been introduced in
congress for the appropriation of mon.
ey to conduct the search. All of therk
failed to pass. The first was intro.
duced by Senator Penrose two years
ago.
After more than century of neg:
lect and injustice 1t now appears that
the memory of John Paul Jones, the
first and perhaps the greatest of the
great figures in American naval his
ory, is to receive fitting honor from
the country he served so we'll. Those
qualified to judge are strongly of the
opinion that the search which Am
bassador Porter has conducted for five
years, in the face of disheartening OBJ
stacles and at his own personal and
very heavy expense, has resulted sue
cessfully and that the remains Of the
great American naval officer have at
last been discovered.
Those who have given study to the
career of John Paul Jones attribute
the prejudice that has been more or
less active against him and against his
memory, even in this country, to the
effect of English sentiment. To the
English of the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century, John Paul
Jones was ever pirate. There al
ways has been in this country, these
writer's point out, certain element
ready to accept English verdicts even
when they affected American honor
and the fame of American patriots.
Statesmen of the John Adams type In
New England turned up their noses at
Jones as an adventurer-as a "for-
eigner." This charge Of being for
eigner," moreover, was made at time
in American history when hardly any
body on the American continent, bar
ring the red Indians, could go back a
generation without running into for
eign ancestors. AS to his being an ad-
venturer 1t may be said that at the
time the war of the Revolution broke
out John Paul Jones was exactly what
George Washington described himself
to be, "a planter down in Virginia" 1t
| was from his Fredericksburg planta-
ton that he went and rendered his
services to the cause of American lib
| erty.
On Just what grounds the English