3117. FRANCE, Affronted by Adams.—
Mr. Adams's speech to Congress in May
[1798] is deemed such a national affront, that
no explanation on other topics can be entered
on till that, as a preliminary, is wiped away
by humiliating disavowals or acknowledgments.
This working hard with our Envoys,
and indeed seeming impracticable for
want of that sort of authority, submission to
a heavy amercement (upwards of a million
sterling) was, * * *, suggested as an
alternative, which might be admitted if proposed
by us. These overtures had been
through informal agents; and both the alternatives
bringing the Envoys to their ne
plus, they resolve to have no more communication
through inofficial characters, but to
address a letter directly to the government,
to bring forward their pretensions.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. iv, 232.
Ford ed., vii, 234.
(Pa.,
April. 1798)
See X. Y. Z. Plot.
