The United States Of America

The Constitution And Democracy

XYZ Correspondence
XYZ Correspondence, in United States history, the name given to the reports made to President John ADAMS  by an official commission which was rebuffed in its efforts to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship with France in 1797-1798. The attendant circumstances, known as the XYZ Affair, marked a low point in relations between France and the United States and brought the two nations close to war.

The French Directory had been angered by the conclusion in 1794 of Jay's Treaty, which resolved differences between England and the United States, and in retaliation had stepped up its harassment of American shipping. In the 12-month period ending in June 1797, French ships had captured 316 vessels flying the American colors. In an effort to restore amity with the Continental power, President George Washington dispatched Charles C. Pinckney, a Southern Federalist, to Paris in December 1796. The Directory flatly rejected this conciliatory gesture. It not only refused to recognize the envoy but even threatened to arrest him if he did not quit the country, and Pinckney, incensed by the insult, departed for the Netherlands.

This serious rupture in diplomatic relations between the former wartime allies confronted John Adams when he assumed the presidency the following March. Determined to avoid the open conflict which threatened, he sent to Paris a three-member commission composed of Pinckney, John Marshall, another Federalist, and Elbridge GERRY, a Massachusetts Republican and Francophile. Soon after their arrival on October 4 they were received unofficially by the French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, but then weeks passed with no word on when an audience with the Directory might be expected. During this time, through the contrivance of Talleyrand's friend Mme. de Villette, the Americans were approached by three agents of the foreign minister-Jean Conrad Hottinguer, a Swiss; a Mr. Bellamy, an American financier living in Hamburg; and Lucien Hauteval, also a Swiss (designated mysteriously as X, Y, and Z, respectively, in President Adams' subsequent report to Congress). As a price for negotiations between the two governments, the French emissaries demanded a bribe of about $250,000 (to be paid to Talleyrand), a large official loan from the United States, and an apology for certain references to France in a recent speech by Adams. Although bribery was not an unknown adjunct to the diplomacy of that day -- particularly where Talleyrand was concerned -- the Americans found the proposition totally unacceptable. (Pinckney's supposed retort, "Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute," is the origin of the famed shibboleth, although the words were not his. Pinckney did, however, exclaim at one point in the conversations: "No! No! Not a sixpence!")

In a carefully reasoned statement covering the American position, presented by the mission on Jan. 17, 1798, the United States offered to extend to France the same privileges granted to Britain under the terms of Jay's Treaty. At the same time it demanded reparations for the spoliation of American shipping. After a lengthy delay, Talleyrand countered with an offensive proposal to treat with Gerry alone, characterizing the other ministers as unfriendly to France. This latest indignity exhausted the Americans' patience. Outraged by Talleyrand's conduct, Marshall and Pinckney left Paris-the former sailing to a hero's welcome in the United States, the latter going to the south of France with an ailing daughter -- but Gerry, naively thinking that his presence in the capital would serve to forestall a French declaration of war, remained in Paris but undertook no further negotiations with the French.

President Adams, on March 19, submitted a report to Congress on the unsuccessful negotiations, and two weeks later made public the commission's report. The details of the affair stung the American public to a high degree of indignation, and there was clamor -- especially among the Federalists -- for an immediate declaration of war. Congress took steps in the summer of 1798 to respond to the French frontery -- authorizing the capture of French armed ships, terminating all commercial dealings with France, abrogating the alliance of 1778, and fortifying the nation's defenses. George Washington was summoned from retirement to take command of the American Army.

Martial fervor swept the young republic, and events might have proceeded toward a tragic climax had not Adams courageously resisted public opinion and labored for a peaceful settlement. To the utter chagrin of his own party, which was reaping rich political dividends from the anti-French sentiment, and in the realization that any conciliatory gesture toward France undoubtedly would injure his political future, the Federalist president announced the appointment of William Vans Murray as minister to France. The way had been prepared for renewed contacts when Talleyrand let it be known that he would look favorably on the assignment of a new envoy. Under Federalist promptings, however, Adams agreed to entrust the venture to a three-man commission, including Murray. The Americans were received with courtesy by Napoleon, and the ensuing negotiations culminated in the Treaty of Mortefontaine (or Convention of 1800), which formally released the United States from the alliance and ameliorated strained feelings on both sides of the Atlantic. Thus ended the so-called Quasi War between the two countries.
Military action during the two-year dispute was confined to naval engagements, with both sides preying on each other's shipping. The small but able United States Navy captured about 85 armed vessels, mostly French privateers operating in Caribbean waters.