First Joint Commission at Paris to John Paul Jones, June 3, 1778

Passy, 3 June 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, Mass., 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 4:123–124 . The Commissioners, as a result of letters from Lt. Thomas Simpson and appeals by others on his behalf, determined that Jones’ treatment of Simpson was too harsh and desired that Simpson be allowed to give his parole and return to America, there to be tried by a court martial. The Commissioners also requested that Andrew Fallon, taken prisoner when Jones captured and then scuttled the brigantine Dolphin on 14 April, be permitted to give his parole.

Fallon, bound to Esher, Holland, “to embrace a religious life,” gave his parole on 11 June ( Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S. description begins I. Minis Hays, ed., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society , Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols. description ends , 4:263,490; Morison, John Paul Jones description begins Samuel Eliot Morison, John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography , Boston, 1959. description ends , p. 135).