Immediately after breakfast the subject was resumed. M. Y.
spoke without interruption for near an hour. He said that
he was desirous of making a last effort to serve us, by
proposing something which might accommodate the differences
between the two nations; that what he was now about to
mention, had not, by any means, the approbation of the
Directory; nor could M. Talleyrand undertake further than
to make from us the proposition to the Directory, and use
his influence for its success; that, last week, M.
Talleyrand could not have ventured to have offered such
propositions; but that his situation had been very
materially changed by the peace with the Emperor; by that
peace he had acquired, in a high degree, the confidence of
the Directory, and now possessed great influence with that
body; that he was also closely connected with Buonaparte
and the Generals of the Army in Italy, and was to be
considered as firmly fixed in his post, at least for five
or six months; that, under these circumstances, he could
undertake to offer, in our behalf, propositions which,
before this increase of influence, he could not have
hazarded. M. Y. then called our attention to our own
situation, and to the force France was capable of bringing
to bear upon us. He said that we were the best judges of
our capacity to resist, so far as depended on our own
resources, and ought not to deceive ourselves on so
interesting a subject. The fate of Venice was one which
might befall the United States.
The American Ministers determined to have no more of these conferences,
and broke them off altogether; but shortly after, they were approached
indirectly and in a new way, as thus detailed by General Pinckney to his
Government:
On the 14th of December, M. X. called on me, in order, as
he said, to gain some information relative to some lands in
* * *, purchased by * * *, for whom * * *. Soon afterwards,
General Marshall came in, and then Mr. Gerry's carriage
drove into the yard. Here is Mr. Gerry, said General
Marshall. I am glad of it, said M. X., for I wished to meet
all of you gentlemen, to inform you that M. Y. had another
message to you from M. Talleyrand. I immediately expressed
my surprise at it, as M. Talleyrand, M. Y., and he, all
knew our determination to have no further communication on
the subject of our mission with persons not officially
authorized. He replied, that determination was made six
weeks ago; and it was presumed that we had changed our
opinion. I said that I had not, and I did not believe my
colleagues had. At that moment Mr. Gerry entered the room,
and I privately acquainted him with the object of M. X.'s
visit. General Marshall, Mr. Gerry, and myself, then
withdrew into another room, and immediately agreed to
adhere to our former resolution. M. X. was then called in;
when I acquainted him, in a few words, with our
determination; and Mr. Gerry expatiated more at large on
the propriety of our acting in this manner, and on the very
unprecedented way in which we had been treated since our
arrival.
On the 20th of December, a lady, who is well acquainted
with M. Talleyrand, expressed to me her concern that we
were still in so unsettled a situation; but, adds she, why
will you not lend us money? If you would but make us a
loan, all matters would be adjusted; and, she added, when
you were contending for your revolution, we lent you money.
I mentioned the very great difference there was between the
situation of the two countries at that period and the
present, and the very different circumstances under which
the loan was made us, and the loan was now demanded from
us. She replied, we do not make a demand; we think it more
delicate that the offer should come from you: but M.
Talleyrand has mentioned to me (who am surely not in his
confidence) the necessity of your making us a loan; and I
know that he has mentioned it to two or three others; and
that you have been informed of it; and I will assure you
that, if you remain here six months longer, you would not
advance a single step further in your negotiations without
a loan. If that is the case, I replied, we may as well go
away now. Why that, possibly, said she, might lead to a
rupture, which you had better avoid; for we know we have a
very considerable party in America, who are strongly in our
interest.
The American Envoys having repulsed all these attempts, and refused to
listen longer to these intermediaries, two of them (Messrs. Pinckney and
Marshall) were furnished with their passports, and left France. Mr.
Gerry remained, and underwent many attempts to be inveigled into a
separate negotiation, all of which failed. In the mean time, (for half a
year had now been consumed in this intrigue,) the despatches of the
American Ministers had become public, exciting every where odium upon
the Directorial Government. The occasion required them to say something,
which Talleyrand undertook, and had the "unparalleled effrontery," as
expressed by Mr. Pickering, to affect ignorance of the whole affair, to
demand the names of the enigmatical personages, (X., Y., Z.,) and of the
"_woman_" that reinforced them; and to pronounce the whole the imposture
of some intriguers taking advantage of the state of isolation in which
the Ministers lived to try and wheedle them out of money. Upon this
disavowal, Mr. Pickering remarks:
Although the Envoys' despatches, and the facts and
circumstances hereinbefore stated, cannot leave a doubt
that X., as well as Y. and Z., was well known to Mr.
Talleyrand, it will not be amiss to add, that on the 2d of
December, X., Y., and Z., dined together at Mr.
Talleyrand's, in company with Mr. Gerry; and that, after
rising from the table, the money propositions, which had
before been made, were repeated, in the room and in the
presence, though, perhaps, not in the hearing, of Mr.
Talleyrand. Mr. X. put the question to Mr. Gerry in direct
terms, either "whether the Envoys would now give the
_douceur_," or "whether they had got the money ready." Mr.
Gerry, very justly offended, answered positively in the
negative, and the conversation dropped.
Mr. Z., who has avowed himself to be Mr. Hauteval, was the
person who first made known to the Envoys the Minister's
desire to confer with them individually on the objects of
their mission. He it was who first introduced Mr. Gerry to
Mr. Talleyrand, and served as the interpreter of their
conversations; and in his letter to Mr. Talleyrand, at the
close of Mr. Gerry's document, No. 35, he announces himself
to be the agent of the Minister, to make communications to
the Envoys.
The sensation which these details irresistibly excite is
that of astonishment at the unparalleled effrontery of Mr.
Talleyrand, in demanding of Mr. Gerry the names of X., Y.,
and Z., after Y. had accompanied him on a visit to the
Minister, with whom the conversation detailed in the
printed despatches then passed, and who then assured Mr.
Gerry "that the information Mr. Y. had given him was just,
and might always be relied on;" after Z. had in the first
instance introduced Mr. Gerry to the Minister, and served
as their mutual interpreter, and when the conversation
between them had also been stated in despatches; and after
X., Y., and Z. had all dined together with Mr. Gerry at Mr.
Talleyrand's table, on rising from which X. and Y. renewed
the proposition about the money! The very circumstances of
Mr. Talleyrand's being continued in office after the
account of these intrigues had been published to the world
is a decisive proof that they were commenced and carried on
with the privity and by the secret orders of the Directory.
It was to accomplish the object of these intrigues that the
American Envoys were kept at Paris unreceived six months
after their credentials had been laid before the Directory;
and it was only because they were superior to those
intrigues, and that no hopes remained of wheedling or
terrifying them into a compliance, that two of them were
then sent away, and with marks of insult and contempt.
The Directory at that time were: Barras, Merlin, Siéyes, Gohier, and
Roger Ducos,--whose government Buonaparte soon after overthrew, and
drove the two first from France, with the epithet "_rotten_" applied to
them. The American Ministers were censured by some of their
contemporaries for listening to these subaltern agents, but they had
valid reasons for their conduct: first, to avoid the further threatened
depredations on American commerce; and next, to unite their
fellow-citizens at home by exposing the corruption of the (then) French
Government.