XYZ Affair

XYZ Affair is the infamous incident that occurred between March 1797 to 1800 that rocked the diplomatic relations between France and America. It was reputed to be the first major foreign crisis United States got embroiled in. In 1778, United States formed alliance with their French counterparts. During this time though, anti-French sentiments became apparent when Federalists gained majority rule in the United States. Antagonism was further fanned after the Genet affair when Pres. Washington disallowed French privateers to use US port as bases in his bid to preserve neutrality in the French Revolutionary Wars (Stinchcombe, 1980).

Another contributing factor to the growing rift between United States and France was the conclusion of 1795 Jay’s Treaty of England which to some degree cancelled the agreements with France. Due to perceived Anglo-American alliance, around 300 American ships on their way to British ports in Atlantic, Mediterranean and Carribean Seas were seized by French privateers (Wikipedia, 2005).

President Washington tried to send Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to France but was refused by the French government. As John Adams became the new president, he sent John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry to join Pinckney on a peace mission to France. However, French Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand refused to see them. Implied hints of acceptable compromise to France reached the commissioners through Mme de Villette, a friend of Talleyrand. Three French agents originally referred to only

as X,Y and Z were tasked to communicate the French government’s demands to the United States. X,Y and Z identities were later revealed as Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy and Laucien Hauteval (Stinchcombe, 1980).

The deal demanded by the French government before they hold talks with the Americans included $250,000 or 50,000 pounds sterling, $12 million loan from the United States, and a formal apology for comments made by U.S. President John Adams. This created a public uproar when it was released in the United States prompting American delegates to answer “Not a sixpence”. But it was the more memorable “Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!” response by Pinckney that was supposed to have fanned American patriotism. Later, it was found out that this reply was not actually made nor adopted as a slogan (Wikipedia, 2005).

Since the mission made no progress, it was later disbanded. In the meantime, an impending naval war brewed between US and France. In a bid to avoid war, President Adams appointed William Murray as Minister to France, Oliver Ellsworth and William Richardson Davie to accompany him in the negotiations on January 18, 1799 (Stinchcombe, 1980). The Treaty of Mortefontaine (Sept. 30, 1800), known as the Convention of 1800 came about after the negotiation. This treaty was a commercial agreement designed to improve relations between the two nations (Wikipedia, 2005).