UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Official documents, messages, inst - Lot 26

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Official documents, messages, instructions, dispatches, &c. Relatives à la négociation qui a eu lieu en 1797 & 1798, sur les différens élevés entre le Gouvernement des États-Unis de l'Amérique et le Directoire exécutif de France. À Londres, de l'imprimerie de T. Baylis, 24 mai 1798. In-8, 70-(2 blank) pp. half blue-green basane, smooth spine decorated with red title-piece; corners worn, angular restoration to title leaf, traces of old binding in inner margins (antique binding). FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH. A first abridged version of this collection, in English, was originally published by order of the U.S. Senate in Philadelphia, under the title Message of the President of the United States [John Adams], to both houses of Congress. April 3d. 1798, a version republished in London shortly afterwards in the same year under the title The Whole official correspondence between the envoys of the American States, and mons. Talleyrand. A more complete version was then published in London, again in 1798, under the title Authentic copies of the correspondence of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, Esqrs. envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the Republic of France. THE SCANDAL OF THE "XYZ AFFAIR". Bound to the United States since 1778 by a treaty of military alliance, France had constituted itself as a Republic in 1792, and in 1793 found itself pitted against a coalition of European monarchies. The United States, however, not only remained neutral, but also delayed repayment of its debt, claiming that the new regime was no longer the royal France with which it had dealt. In his memoirs, Talleyrand even wrote that George Washington did not forgive the French Republic for "its excesses towards Louis XVI, whom he regarded as the liberator and friend of his country". Following a series of blunders, French ambassador Edmond Genêt was recalled, and the Americans drew closer to the English, signing a trade treaty with them in 1794. Talleyrand, the Directoire's Minister of Foreign Affairs, initiated relatively flexible negotiations on the points essential to improving relations between France and the United States, but attached conditions that were difficult to accept: financial facilities to be granted to France and a bribe to be paid to him personally ("douceur"). Refusing to comply, in 1798 President John Adams published the correspondence surrounding this case of corruption, but had the names of the French intermediaries replaced in the publication by the initials X, Y and Z, hence the name adopted by historians of the "XYZ affair". The Americans also began to board French ships themselves, and a number of military engagements took place at sea in the West Indies. This state of "quasi-war", because it did not lead to open belligerence, lasted three years, until under the Consulate the Treaty of Mortefontaine was signed: the old treaty of alliance of 1778 was annulled, but peace was finally restored. Hardback, as usual: STONE (John Hurford). Letters to Dr. Priestley, in America [...]. Translated from the English. London, s.n., 1798. In-8. Copy incomplete of last few leaves.