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 1796-s] Trouble with France. 321 a last resort ; and, as a means of preserving peace, two envoys, John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry, were appointed, along with Pinckney, to treat with the Directory. Their powers were ample and their instruc- tions clear. They were bidden to consult, negotiate, and treat on all claims and causes of differences between the United States and France. They might even sign a new treaty or convention ; and, in that event, five leading principles were to be their guide : the United States would tolerate no blame or censure for her conduct, and therefore, would bestow none on France ; no aid was to be promised during the present war ; no engagements were to be made inconsistent with prior treaties ; no restraint on commerce was to be admitted; and no stipulations might be accepted under which French tribunals could be set up within the United States. With such powers and instructions the envoys entered Paris on October 4, 1797. Talleyrand was then Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Directory. By him they should have been received and formally recognised as Ministers Extraordinary from the United States. But, in place of meeting Talleyrand, they were visited by three political agents of the Directory, who told them plainly that, if they wished to make a treaty, they must do three things ; they must pay each of the five Directors $50,000, apologise for certain remarks in Adams 1 speech to Congress, and, by way of tribute to France, buy from her an extorted Dutch loan, the market value of which was a million of dollars. The apology, the bribe, and the tribute money were stoutly refused. But Talleyrand stood firm, and the envoys returned to the United States. In their dispatches the names of the three French agents, Bellamy, Hottinguer, and Hauteval, were given, but in the translation laid before Congress they were suppressed, and the letters X, Y, and Z substituted. These papers have ever since been known as "the XYZ dispatches." Their publication, in April, 1798, moved the people as they had never been moved since the days of Lexington and Bunker Hill. " Millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute," became the Federal cry, and was taken up and repeated over all the land by men who, much as they loved France, were still determined that her demands should never be forced upon the nation by threats of war. Every hour the war fever grew hotter, till the whole people seemed ready to rise in arms. In the. inland towns volunteer companies were formed, and addresses, inflamed with Federal zeal, were prepared. Along the Atlantic border no town felt too poor to start a subscription to build and lend to the government an armed ship. At Boston the subscription ran up to $125,000 in a few weeks, and the keels of two frigates were speedily laid. At New York $30,000 were raised in one hour. Then came the days of the " black cockade," of the " addresser," of the " associated youth," and of the "quasi-war" with France. The old treaties of 1778 C. M. H. VII. OH. IX. 21