XYZ Affair
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The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic scandal that lasted from March of 1797 to 1800. Three French agents, originally only publicly referred to as X, Y, and Z, but later revealed as Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy and Lucien Hauteval, demanded enormous concessions from the United States as a condition for continuing bilateral peace negotiations. The concessions demanded by the French included 50,000 pounds sterling, a $10 million loan from the United States, a $250,000 personal bribe to French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, and a formal apology for comments made by U.S. President John Adams. The demand came during a meeting in Paris between the French agents and a three member American commission consisting of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry. Several weeks prior to the meeting with X, Y, and Z, the American commission had met with Talleyrand to discuss French retaliation to the Jay Treaty, which France perceived as evidence of an Anglo-American alliance. The French had seized nearly 300 American ships bound for British ports in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean Seas.
Image:Talleyrand-perigord.jpg Sending Pinckney as part of the commission was a bold step by Adams as Franco-U.S. relations had recently worsened by Talleyrand's rejection of Pinckney as America's minister to France. The French continued to seize American ships, and the Federalist Party advocated going to war.
The American delegates found these demands unacceptable and the American delegates answered "Not a sixpence," but in the inflated rhetoric of the day the response came out to have been the infinitely more memorable: "Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!" Recent evidence suggests that this slogan was not widely adopted.
The U.S. offered France many of the same provisions found in Jay's Treaty with Britain, but France reacted by deporting Marshall and Pinckney back to the United States, refusing any proposal that would involve these two delegates. Gerry remained in France, thinking he could prevent a declaration of war, but did not officially negotiate any further.
Image:Adamstrumbull.jpg President Adams released the report of the Affair a month later resulting in passionate anti-French sentiment. In 1798, a declaration of war was narrowly, and only temporarily, avoided by Adams' diplomacy, specifically by appointing new diplomats including William Murray to handle the growing conflict. However, despite the lack of a formal declaration of war, continued French raids against American merchantmen led to the abrogation of the Franco-American Alliance in the Quasi-War (July 7, 1798-1800). Adams again sent negotiators on January 18, 1799, who eventually negotiated an end to hostilities through the Treaty of Mortefontaine.
During negotiations with France, the U.S. began to build up its navy, a move long supported by Adams and Marshall, to defend itself against both the French and the British. In addition, in a speech delivered on July 16 1797, Adams championed the formulation of a navy and army while emphasizing the importance of renewing treaties with Prussia and Sweden.