{"id":"01KG8AKKFP2KH64S7K34W25XAQ","cid":"bafkreiei5wzracgwdfepcx44rn7hvbfm6jk2txbcf5grqwqo2dnxzrgg3u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4249,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.591Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":4187,"text":"final sanction of the French king to the sailing of an American\r\narmament against England, under the direction of the Colonial\r\nCommissioner, was made known to the latter functionary. It was a very\r\nticklish affair. Though swaying on the brink of avowed hostilities with\r\nEngland, no verbal declaration had as yet been made by France.\r\nUndoubtedly, this enigmatic position of things was highly advantageous\r\nto such an enterprise as Paul’s.\r\n\r\nWithout detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of\r\nCaptain Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover\r\nhad now attained his wish—the unfettered command of an armed ship in\r\nthe British waters; a ship legitimately authorized to hoist the\r\nAmerican colors, her commander having in his cabin-locker a regular\r\ncommission as an officer of the American navy. He sailed without any\r\ninstructions. With that rare insight into rare natures which so largely\r\ndistinguished the sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a\r\nprowling _brave_, like Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by\r\nnature a solitary warrior. “Let him alone,” was the wise man’s answer\r\nto some statesman who sought to hamper Paul with a letter of\r\ninstructions.\r\n\r\nMuch subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul\r\nJones was a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors,\r\nlike politics and politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of\r\nno metaphysics.\r\n\r\nOn the second day after Israel’s arrival on board the Ranger, as he and\r\nPaul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass\r\ntowards the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger\r\ngave chase, and soon, almost within sight of her destination—the port\r\nof Dublin—the stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest.\r\n\r\nThe Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the\r\nCumberland shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about\r\nsunset. At dark she was hovering off the harbor, with a party of\r\nvolunteers all ready to descend. But the wind shifted and blew fresh\r\nwith a violent sea.\r\n\r\n“I won’t call on old friends in foul weather,” said Captain Paul to\r\nIsrael. “We’ll saunter about a little, and leave our cards in a day or\r\ntwo.”\r\n\r\nNext morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell\r\nin with a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board\r\nmerchant vessels. The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting\r\na broad drab-colored belt all round her hull; under the coat of a\r\nQuaker, concealing the intent of a Turk. It was expected that the\r\nchartered rover would come alongside the unchartered one. But the\r\nformer took to flight, her two lug sails staggering under a heavy wind,\r\nwhich the pursuing guns of the Ranger pelted with a hail-storm of shot.\r\nThe wherry escaped, spite the severe cannonade.\r\n\r\nOff the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh\r\na large barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying\r\ntidings of him to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern\r\nforemost, to Hades; sinking her, and sowing her barley in the sea\r\nbroadcast by a broadside. From her crew he learned that there was a\r\nfleet of twenty or thirty sail at anchor in Lochryan, with an armed\r\nbrigantine. He pointed his prow thither; but at the mouth of the lock,\r\nthe wind turned against him again in hard squalls. He abandoned the\r\nproject. Shortly after, he encountered a sloop from Dublin. He sunk her\r\nto prevent intelligence.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJ2BS6J4A9ZFCQ5A5GJ8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKFRKMMKG5ERT70SKJF0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKFPGJXFKAGE9JQHZ001","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.718Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.984Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}