A CORRECTION.
WE have received a letter from Mrs. Anna de Xoven (1025 Park Avenue, New York City) in which, as the author of the Life and Letters of John Paul Jones, published by Scribner Brothers of New York in the year 1913, she asserts that what we on September 16th called the "remarkable State Paper which that notable seaman, Paul Jones, prepared for Congress on the question of naval discipline" was not the work of Jones but a modern travesty : " The document disagrees with the history of the United States and with the well-known facts in the life of Jones himself. No Naval Committee existed in Congress on the date (Juno 11th, 1775) when this paper was alleged to have been prepared for its instruction. The first Marine Committee was appointed on October 11th of this same year. Paul Jones did indite various letters to Robert Morris, Chairman of the later appointed Marine Committees, on the subjects of the establishment and improvement of the infant Navy and on naval discipline; and these letters, carefully collected from every known source, I published in the first volume of my biography of Jones."
Mrs. de Koven also calls our attention to the fact that Jones was never a " privateersman," as we called him. "Jones never sailed a privateer.' He began his maritime experience on unarmed merchant vessels, but when he attacked the coasts of England he was a regularly appointed officer in the American Navy."
We are glad to publish this correction and regret to have given currency to a piece of false history, but cannot enter upon the controversial matters contained in the rest of Mrs. de Koven's letter.
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