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288 ney replied, "War be it then. Millions for defence but not a cent for tribute." This does not quite agree with the Chevalier's statement that he heard one of the Envoys,—probably Pinckney,—inform Congress that they had paid Talleyrand 50,000 francs, and only stopped when they found the blackmailers but increased their demands the more they received. I cannot help fancying that the popular version is the correct one; it accords more with the dignity of the American people, and is borne out by the undoubted fact that Talleyrand was frightened, and wrote to Mr. Pinckney to ask the names of the persons who had demanded money, who, he alleged, had done so without authority from him. Talleyrand did not display his usual cunning in the transaction, for his letter aroused the wrath of Bellamy, who thereupon wrote to Mr. Gerry, that, "he had done nothing, said nothing, and written nothing about the instructions of Citizen Talleyrand."

The "woman of colour" to whom the Chevalier alludes, was doubtless Madame Grand, "an Indian beauty" who was Talleyrand's mistress for many years, and whom he would have married if he had not been prevented by the unalterable formula of the Ho-