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This issue reprints the extensive and detailed instructions that Secretary of State Timothy Pickering gave to Commissioners John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Elbridge Gerry in July 1797.

[XYZ AFFAIR]. The Connecticut Courant, April 23, 1798. Newspaper. Hartford, Conn.: Hudson & Goodwin. 4 pp., 12¼ x 19¼ in.

Inventory #30051.001       Price: $950

Historical Background
Angered by the Jay Treaty of 1795 between the United States and Great Britain, the Directory that governed France increased efforts to interdict American ships trading with Britain. They also refused to accept Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as U.S. minister to France. In July 1797, the new administration of John Adams sent John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry to join Pinckney to negotiate a treaty recognizing American neutrality in the ongoing war between France and Great Britain. Adams instructed them to seek similar terms to those of the Jay Treaty and to refuse loans but to be flexible on payment terms in financial matters.

New French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, acting in part on advice from Thomas Jefferson, decided to move slowly in negotiations. When the commissioners presented their credentials in October 1797, Talleyrand sought an explanation of President Adams’ May speech that had angered the Directory. The commissioners decided that they would give no explanation.

Meanwhile, informal negotiations conveyed a series of French demands, including a large loan to the French government and a £50,000 bribe to Talleyrand. The French diplomats discussing these issues with the American commissioners included Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer (“X”), Pierre Bellamy (“Y”), and Lucien Hauteval (“Z”). By November 1, the American commissioners had decided to refuse further informal negotiations, though each of them had some later meetings. The French sought to take advantage of divisions among the commissioners between the Federalists Marshall and Pinckney, and the more neutral Gerry. By February 1798, the French would meet with only Gerry and urged him to keep their discussions secret from the other commissioners. By March, Talleyrand met with all three commissioners, but the negotiations were at an impasse. Marshall and Pinckney left France in April. Talleyrand told Gerry that if he also left, the Directory would declare war on the United States.

Democratic-Republican leaders in Congress believed that the Federalists had exaggerated the French position because Adams wanted war, and they demanded that he turn over the commissioners’ dispatches. On March 20, 1798, Adams released copies of the dispatches, but with the names of the French diplomats replaced by “X,” “Y,” and “Z.” After reading the narrative of the XYZ Affair, as it came to be called, Federalists called for war against France, and Democratic-Republicans could hardly argue against them in the face of evidence of French greed and corruption.  The result was an undeclared “Quasi-War” against France that kept tensions high between the two nations until the Convention of 1800 ended the hostilities and affirmed American rights as neutrals.

Excerpts
“The acts of their government, in its various branches, though pure in principle and impartial in operation, and conformable to their indispensible rights of sovereignty, have been assigned as the cause of the offensive and injurious measures of the French republic. For proofs of the former all the acts of the government may be vouched; while the aspersions so freely uttered by the French ministers, the refusal to hear the minister of the United States, specially charged to enter on amicable discussions on all the topics of complaint, the decrees of the executive directory and of their agents, the depredations on our commerce, and the violence against the persons of our citizens, are evidences of the latter. These injuries and depredations will constitute an important subject of your discussion with the government of the French republic; and for all these wrongs you will seek redress.” (p1/c1)

“the greater part, probably nearly all the captures and confiscations in question, have been committed in direct violation of that treaty, or the law of nations.” (p1/c1)

“Although the reparation for losses sustained by the citizens of the United States, in consequence of irregular or illegal captures or condemnations, or forcible seizures or detentions, is of very high importance, and is to be impressed with the greatest earnestness, yet it is not to be insisted on as an indispensible condition of the proposed treaty. You are not, however, to renounce these claims of our citizens, nor to stipulate that they be assumed by the United States as a loan to the French government.” (p1/c2)

“We have witnessed so many erroneous constructions of the treaty with France, even in its plainest parts, it will be necessary to examine every article critically, for the purpose of preventing, as far as human wisdom can prevent, all future misinterpretations.” (p1/c2)

“the first object that will attract your attention is the reciprocal guarantee in the 11th article of the treaty of alliance. This guarantee we are perfectly willing to renounce. The guarantee by France of the liberty, sovereignty, and independence of the United States will add nothing to our security, while on the contrary, our guarantee of the possessions of France in America will perpetually expose us to the risk and expence of war, or to disputes and questions concerning our national faith.” (p1/c3)

“Article 8. The stipulation of doing us good offices to secure peace to the United States with the Barbary powers, has never yet procured us any advantage. If therefore the French Government lays any stress on this stipulation; as authorizing a claim for some other engagement from us in favour of France, it may be abandoned; and especially if its abrogation can be applied as a set off against some existing French claim.” (p1/c4)

“There have been so many unjust causes and pretences assigned for capturing and confiscating American vessels, it may perhaps be impossible to guard against a repetition of them in any treaty which can be devised.... It is not desired therefore to garter into detail on these matters than shall be necessary to guard by explicit stipulations, against future misconstructions and the mischief they will naturally produce.” (p1/c4-5)

“Your aim will be to render the documents and formalities as few and as simple as will consist with a fair and regular commerce.” (p1/c5)

“The United States cannot consent to the erecting of foreign tribunals within their jurisdiction. We consider the judicial authority of consuls as described in the Consular Convention, to be voluntary, not compulsory, in the country where they reside....” (p2/c1)

“the following leading principles, to govern the negociation, are subjoined:… 2. That no aid be stipulated in favor of France during the present war....

4. That no restraint on our lawful commerce with any other nation be admitted.” (p2/c1)

“It will be expedient to limit the duration of the treaty to a term of from ten to twenty years.” (p2/c1)

Additional Content
This issue also contains a letter by Democratic-Republican leader and future Postmaster General Gideon Granger Jr. to the people of Connecticut (p2/c2-5); an address by five hundred merchants of Philadelphia to President Adams and his response (p3/c1-2); a proclamation by President Adams changing the date of a day of fasting and prayer to May 16 to avoid conflict with local elections (p3/c3); a public notice by Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott of the rates of duties on stamped vellum, parchment, and paper (p4/c3-4); and a variety of other notices and advertisements.

Connecticut Courant (1764-1914) was established as a weekly paper in Hartford by Thomas Green. He later sold the newspaper to Ebenezer Watson, who ran it until he died of smallpox in 1777. His widow Hannah Watson took over and became one of the first women publishers in America. It was an influential proponent of the patriot cause in the Revolutionary War. By the 1790s, it was Federalist in politics and later supported the Whig and then the Republican Party. From 1887 to 1914, it was published semiweekly, and the weekly edition was the Hartford Courant, which succeeded it as a daily newspaper.