CHAPTER Own judgment and at the dictation of France, would oe to surrender their independence. XI. 1797. Having first transmitted to America a full account in cipher of the above unofficial negotiations of which, to escape the interruptions to which communications across the Atlantic were at that time exposed, no less than six copies were sent by as many different vessels-the enNov. 11. voys presently addressed a note to Talleyrand reminding him of his promise, when informed of their arrival, to communicate to them, within a few days, the decision of the Directory on the report he was preparing on American affairs. In again soliciting his attention to their mission, they took occasion to express their earnest desire to preserve for the United States the friendship of France, and to re-establish harmony and friendly intercourse between the two republics. Nov. 21. Ten days having passed without any notice being taken of this letter, the private secretary of one of the envoys was sent to inquire whether it had been laid before the Directors, and when an answer might be expect ed. Talleyrand replied that he had laid the letter before the Directory, and that they would instruct him what steps to pursue, of which due notice would be given to the envoys. A month passed without any such information. Meanwhile the condemnation of American vessels not only went on, but a report spread that the Directory intended to order all Americans out of Paris at twenty-four hours' notice. Hottinguer and Bellamy attempted also, in the interval, to inveigle the envoys into further discussions. These attempts were repulsed; but eager advantage was taken of a suggestion of Gerry's, that he should like to wait on Talleyrand for the purpose of reciprocating that minister's personal civilities to himself by an invitation to dinner, on which occasion he pro GERRY'S INTERVIEW WITH TALLEYRANI. 141 posed to ask his colleagues also, in hopes that the way CHAPTER might be smoothed toward a better understanding; especially as he intended to remonstrate with the minister on 1797. the precarious and painful position in which the envoys stood. Bellamy at once volunteered to accompany Gerry Dec. 17. to Talleyrand's. Having called on Gerry for that purpose, and finding Marshall present, he stated that a good understanding between the two nations might be immediately restored by adopting two measures, of which one was the gratuity of 1,200,000 livres, and the other the purchase of 16,000,000 of Dutch rescriptions-half the amount formerly proposed. Some suggestions were made as to paying the gratuity, or, rather, as to covering it up, by a deduction to an equal amount from a claim held by M. Beaumarchais against the State of Virginia for supplies furnished during the Revolutionary war, in the prosecution of which Marshall had acted as the counsel of Beaumarchais, The purchase money of the Dutch rescriptions would amount to only $6,400,000, half of which might be borrowed in Holland on a pledge of the paper, while the other half might also be obtained on loan, under an easy arrangement for payment by installments. If these propositions were not accepted, steps would be immediately taken to ravage the coasts of the United States by frigates from St. Domingo. This conversation over, Gerry accompanied Bellamy to Talleyrand's office. During the conversation there Gerry mentioned that Bellamy had that morning stated some propositions as coming from Talleyrand; on those propositions he would give no opinion, his present object being to invite the minister to fix a time for dining with him, in company with his colleagues, though, considering the position in which they relatively stood, he did not wish to subject Talleyrand to any embarrassment by XI. CHAPTER accepting the invitation. He then alluded to the awk. ward position of himself and his colleagues, and to the 1797. reported intention to order all Americans to leave Paris. So far as respected themselves, the envoys were ready to leave at any time. Indeed, they would prefer to reside out of the French jurisdiction till the question of their reception should be settled. Talleyrand seemed a little startled at this remark, but, without noticing it, observed that the information given by Bellamy was correct, and might always be relied upon, and that he himself would reduce it to writing; and he immediately made and showed to Gerry a memorandum, which he afterward burned, containing the proposal for the purchase of the Dutch rescriptions, but without any mention of the gratuity, that being a subject too delicate for Talleyrand to make any direct reference to it. He then accepted the invitation to dine, and as he was engaged on the first day of the following decade (those days of leisure being usually selected for ceremonious dinner parties), he fixed the time ten days later. Dec. 19 A day or two after Gerry's interview with Talleyrand, the envoys resolved to persist rigidly in their determination, previously taken, to enter into no negotiations with persons not formally authorized to treat; and also to prepare a letter to the minister, stating the objects of their mission, and discussing at length the matters of difference between the two nations, exactly as if the envoys had been formally received-this letter to close with a request that a negotiation might be opened or their passDec. 24. ports be sent to them. This intention was expressed in their letters to their own government giving an account of their adventures thus far, and in which they stated their opinion that, were they to remain six months longer, they could accomplish nothing without promising to pay MEMORIAL OF THE ENVOYS. XL 143 money, and a great deal of it too; unless, indeed, the CHAPTER proposed invasion of England, to be commanded by Bonaparte, should prove a failure, or a total change should 1797. take place in the administration of the French govern ment. Gerry's diplomatic dinner, in spite of all his efforts to Dec. 30. get up a little cordiality, proved, as he afterward complained-principally, as he would seem to intimate, by the fault of his colleagues-a very cold and stiff affair. But, though he failed to draw them into any social intercourse with Talleyrand, he continued his visits, and by that means was drawn into a continuation, by himself, of those unofficial negotiations which he had been the first and most earnest to protest against. The paper on which the envoys had agreed, containing a full and elaborate statement of the grievances of the United States, and an answer to the various complaints which had been urged at different times on behalf of the French government, was prepared by Marshall; and af ter being somewhat softened at the suggestion of Gerry, it was signed by the envoys; but as it was their custom to send their memorials accompanied by an accurate French translation, a fortnight elapsed before it was ready to send. It concluded with a request that, if no hope. remained of accommodating the differences between the two nations by any means which the United States had authorized, the return of the envoys to their own country "might be facilitated;" in which case they would depart with the most deep-felt regret that the sincere friendship of the government of the United States for "the great French republic," and their earnest efforts to demonstrate the purity of that government's conduct and intentions, had failed to bring about what a course so upright and just ought to have accomplished. 1798. Jan. 17 CHAPTER 1798. Jan. 18. Feb. 6. Feb. 4. Before this document was sent, the very day, indeed, after its signature, a new decree was promulgated, for some time under discussion in the French legislative body, and a draft of which had been forwarded to the United States with the last dispatches of the envoys. This decree, of a more sweeping and outrageous charac ter than any yet issued, never paralleled, indeed, except by Bonaparte's subsequent imitations of it, while it forbade the entrance into any French port of any vessel which at any previous part of her voyage had touched at any English possession, declared good prize all vessels having merchandise on board the produce of England or her colonies, whoever the owner of the merchandise might be. A letter was speedily prepared remonstrating against this decree, and concluding with an explicit request for passports; but, even after it had been redrafted to acFeb. 18. commodate it to Gerry's taste, he still refused to sign it. This separation of Gerry from his colleagues grew out of a recent interview to which Talleyrand had specially in vited him, and at which he had consented to receive communications under a promise to keep them secret— a promise wholly unwarrantable, since, by the very terms of their commission, in all that related to the embassy the envoys were to act jointly. Having obtained this promise of secrecy, Talleyrand had stated that the Directory were not satisfied with Gerry's two colleagues, and would have nothing to do with them, but that they were ready to treat with Gerry alone; adding, that his refusal would produce an immediate declaration of war. Since Gerry's commission was several as well as joint, he had full powers, so Talleyrand argued, to treat independently of his colleagues. But however flattering this preference might be to a vanity which Talleyrand had no doubt discover |