Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
th1798
I write you this Morning just to say that there are dispatches from our Envoys up to April by which it appears that they have had several conferences with Tallyrand, the subject of which was obtaining Money— they are just decupherd and will be communicated. no Reception from the directory, nor like to be any— I cannot but say to you, what will strike every one, that every hour they remain in France, degrades their Country, and embarrasses our counsels beyond conception—1
yours &c
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed by Samuel Bayard Malcom: “The Honorable
Richard Cranch / Quincy / near / Boston”; endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from
Mrs / A Adams (Pha:) / June
5th. 1798”; notation by JA: “J. Adams.”
On 5 June JA delivered to Congress a dispatch dated
9 March from the American commissioners to France enclosing a lengthy report on two
recent meetings with Talleyrand. At these meetings Talleyrand insisted that the United
States prove its friendly disposition toward France by providing a loan, which he
assured them would be payable after the war and kept secret from Great Britain so as
to maintain the appearance of American neutrality. The commissioners reiterated that
agreeing to a loan violated their instructions and exceeded their powers. The
commissioners, with the Directory’s permission, decided that John Marshall and Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney would return to the United States for further instructions and
Elbridge Gerry would remain behind in France (
Amer. State Papers, Foreign
Relations
, 2:185–188). The dispatch and the enclosure were printed in
the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 June.
The next official dispatch from the commissioners, dated 3 April, did not arrive until
14 June, for which see AA to Mary
Smith Cranch, 19 June, and note 3, below.