TIONS FOR AN APOLOGY, LOAN, AND BRIBE--INDIGNANT
REFUSAL--ATTEMPTS TO FRIGHTEN THE ENVOYS--TWO OF THEM ORDERED OUT OF
FRANCE--THEY ALL LEAVE--EXCITEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES--CONGRESS
PREPARES FOR WAR--PATRIOTIC ADDRESSES TO THE PRESIDENT--HAMILTON
CALLS WASHINGTON TO THE RESCUE OF HIS COUNTRY--WASHINGTON'S
RESPONSE--THE PRESIDENT PERPLEXED--HE TURNS TO WASHINGTON--APPEAL OF
THE SECRETARY OF WAR--WASHINGTON'S REPLIES--IS APPOINTED
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES--HAMILTON
URGES HIM TO ACCEPT--THE PRESIDENT SENDS HIM A COMMISSION--SECRETARY
OF WAR AT MOUNT VERNON--WASHINGTON ACCEPTS THE APPOINTMENT--HIS
SELECTION OF OFFICERS.

The three United States envoys--Pinckney, Gerry, and Marshall--met in
Paris on the fourth of October, 1797, and were approached by the wily
diplomat, M. de Talleyrand, minister for foreign affairs, in a spirit
not at all pleasing either to their expectations or their desires. They
had been sent upon a mission of peace, charged with honorable purposes,
and were met with propositions insulting and disgraceful. On their
arrival, the envoys sent a joint letter to Talleyrand, informing him of
their presence and purposes, and requesting him to appoint a time for
receiving copies of their letters of credence. He informed them that he
was then engaged upon a report to the Directory on American affairs, and
that, when it should be completed, he would inform them what was to be
done. At the same time he sent them permits (cards of hospitality) to
reside in Paris meanwhile.

The Directory had resolved to extort money from the envoys, if possible;
and in the course of a few days after their first communication with
Talleyrand, that minister, through secret agents, began to sound them.
One of these informed them that he had, as if by accident, learned
through Talleyrand's private secretary that the Directory were very much
exasperated at the tone of the president's speech at the opening of the
special session of Congress. Another, a partner in a noted commercial
house in Paris, volunteered to answer their drafts to any amount; a
third called on them, and, in a private interview with Pinckney, said
that he had a message from Talleyrand, suggesting a plan by which a
reconciliation between the two governments might be brought about. That
"plan" proposed that some of the most offensive passages in the
president's speech should be expunged or softened