expelled
from the Senate and impeached. Before his trial could take place, he was
elected a member of the legislature of Tennessee, and from that point of
vantage he successfully defied the federal authorities.

The episode had unfortunate consequences: it aroused the distrust of the
Spanish Government and delayed the surrender of Natchez and other posts
which Spain had agreed to cede in the Treaty of 1795; and it furnished
Talleyrand, who had become Minister of Foreign Affairs under the
Directory, with an additional argument for the cession of Louisiana to
France. France in control of Louisiana and Florida would be "a wall of
brass forever impenetrable to the combined efforts of England and
America."

Early in March, 1797, dispatches arrived from the envoys which were full
of sinister disclosures. On the 19th, President Adams announced gloomily
that he perceived "no ground of expectation" that the objects of the
mission could be accomplished "on terms compatible with the safety,
honor, or the essential interests of the nation." He renewed his
recommendations of measures of defense "proportioned to the danger." The
average Republican regarded this message as tantamount to a declaration
of war. Jefferson spoke of it as "an insane message." The partisan press
held it to be further proof of British bias in John Adams, the old
aristocrat! But when the President sent to Congress the deciphered
dispatches, and the newspapers had printed extracts from them, a wave of
indignation swept over the country. For the moment the wildest partisan
of France was silenced.

The envoys told a sordid tale of French intrigue and greed. It appeared
that they had never been received officially when they made known their
presence on French soil, but had been approached by agents of
Talleyrand, whom they referred to in the dispatches as Mr. X, Mr. Y, and
Mr. Z. They were much mystified by the language used by these gentlemen,
until the evening of October 18, when Mr. X called on General Pinckney
and whispered that he had a message from Talleyrand. "General Pinckney
said he should be glad to hear it. Mr. X replied that the Directory, and
particularly two of the members of it, were exceedingly irritated at
some passages of the President's speech, and desired that they should be
softened; and that this step would be necessary previous to our
reception. That, besides this, a sum of money was required for the
pocket of the Directory and Ministers