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====US diplomats respond to French Piracy====
President John Adams dispatched three U.S. envoys to restore harmony between the United States and France—Elbridge Gerry, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Marshall. These commissioners, like others of the Adams administration, viewed France as a center of decadence and intrigue and the rampant intrigue and factions of the Directory made it difficult for the Americans to accomplish their mission. Upon arriving in France, Gerry, Pinckney and Marshall found that they were unable to formally meet with the Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Talleyrand. The U.S. envoys were instead approached by several intermediaries, Nicholas Hubbard (later W,) Jean Hottinguer (X), Pierre Bellamy (Y), and Lucien Hauteval (Z.) Also involved with these negotiations was the playwright Pierre Beaumarchais, who had been involved in funneling French aid to the United States during the American Revolution.
These French intermediaries stated that Talleyrand would be willing to meet with the Americans and come to an agreement if several conditions were to be satisfied. The French demanded that the United States provide France with a low-interest loan, assume and pay American merchant claims against the French, and lastly pay a substantial bribe to Talleyrand. The U.S. envoys were shocked, and also skeptical that any concessions would bring about substantial changes in French policy.
