The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-04-19
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

manderin-chief Of the army and navy
speaks his words of praise Of him
whom some historians call "the great.
est sea fighter Of them ALL"
Some day 1t may be known definite
" whether Americas first admiral
fought for the infant republic from
motives Of pure patriotism or from tho
spur OF ambition. He fought with
nothing less than desperate courage
for the cause which he had espoused,
but there are those things in John
Paul Jones' life which make it seem
that he may have fought because Of
sheer love for fighting and because
the immediate need Of tho struggling
colonies gave opportunity for the &C.
quiring Of that need Of individual
glory which some men claim the soul
Of John Paul Jones craved.
He did his work well; there was no
turning back; there was no let-up in
endeavor. No man whose birthplace
was America and whose hearts love
was fixed on the country of his hearth.
stone fought apparently more soulful.
~ for the cause Of the struggling col.
on1es than did John Paul Jones, tho
alien. For what he did his name will
be held in admiration in the centuries
to come as it has been held in the
century that has passed. It may be
that when more is known about this
man Of mystery tho people will re.
we're his memory as they do that OF
tho known patriots Of the revolution.
coopers View Of His Motives.
James Fenimore Cooper served in
the United States navy. In common
with his fellow sailors Of the old oak
en- frigates he held in first place Of
honor the alien admiral who com.
manded the first, vessel flying the
American flag which compelled ship
OF the supposedly invincible British
navy to strike colors. Yet James Fen,
more Cooper in that greatest of sea
tales, THE Pilot" points John Paul
Jones as a hero rather than as a pa
triot. At the close Of the story Coop
er puts into the mouth of one of his
chief characters, a naval officer, these
words touching the life and motives
of John Paul Jones:
His devotion to America proceed
ed from a desire for distinction, his
ruling passion. His love for liberty
may be the most questionable, for if
ne commenced his deeds in tie cause
OF these free states, they terminated
IN the services Of a despot :
He is now dead, but had he lived
IN times and under circumstances
when his consummate knowledge of
his profession, his cool, deliberate and
even desperate courage could have
been exercised in a regular and we'll
supported navy, and had the habits of
his youth better qualified him to have
borne meekly the honors he acquired
in his age, he would have left behind
him no name in it's lists that would
have descended to the latest posterity
OF his adopted countrymen with great.
er renown" r
1t may be, however, that the Amer.
lean who reveres John Paul Jones
for the blows that he struck for lib.
! erty would prefer to take as the es-'
| sence Of truth the words which Coop
; er put into the mouth of the sailor
In the story The Pilot" John Paul
! Jones stands on English soil and has
met Alice Dunscombe. She upbraids
him for being disloyal to his king
| "The Pilot" answers:
"A man with a soul not to be lin.
tied by the arbitrary boundaries OF
tyrants and hirelings, but one who
| has the right as we'll as the inclination
to grapple with oppression, in whose
name soever it is exercised or in
whatever hollow and specious shape
it POUNDS its claim to abuse our race"
Little Known Of HI. Life.
F; 1t is evident that Cooper's judgment
repudiated the words of his hero. for
the passages quoted first almost I'm.
questionably express the Judgment of
the American novelist on the motives
and character of the first great Amer
lean admiral. #
One of the latest and possibly the
best of the biographers Of John Paul
Jones says that his life was written
In three languages-English, French
and Russian-and that though this
life was "for more than 100 years the
theme OF many busy pens, the half Of
1t has not yet been told"
The half of it has, not yet been
told" because the half Of it il not
known. The papers OF John Paul
Jones We're scattered to the four
Winds. Some Of them have been
III found and frnyn A<1>orn q !.