by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
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This new article of "Uchronic history" will certainly astonish you, as you have probably never heard about it. It bursted out on July 6th, 1798 between the President of the USA, John Adams (1735 - 1826) and the Revolutionary France, with the offended report of this second President of America. Like George Washington (1732 - 1799), Adams - who had previously been the Vice-President of President Washington - had an extremely bad opinion about the Revolutionary France, who had - officially at least - guillotined its King, Louis XVI (1754 - 1793 ?). Washington was nicknaming the Revolutionaries "Apaches" : for information purpose, at that time Apaches were the most feared Indians in America. For him, French Revolutionaries were just fierce, bloody and lawless savages. Since the Treaty of Alliance or 1778 (signed in Paris), the USA have always felt a debt towards King Louis XVI and the French Royal dynasty (famous or less known) who had helped them to defeat Great Britain. And they repaid their financial debt to the French Crown. But with the Revolution in France, they stopped paying, as they estimated they had signed with the French King, and not with the French Republic !
America didn't especially appreciate the grand celebration of the "just penalty of the King" on January 21st, 1798 in Paris. It didn't see the point to be so humiliating, except to close the mouth of a Belgian monk, resembling greatly to the King, and proclaiming to be Louis XVI himself : he was advancing to have been narrowly saved from death by the Baron Jean de Batz (1754 - 1822) on January 21st, 1793, by this very cold, icy, and foggy morning. The operation of the last chance (a substitution with a double) which took place along the 52 rue Beauregard till the very close shelter of the 95 rue de Cléry in Paris (Bonne Nouvelle area), on the way leading him to the guillotine, was not ignored by America. This is also explaining why the "King's hair" had to be cut once again before the execution : the mystery is solved. De Batz was the Secretary of the King's Black Cabinet (id est his Chief of Secret Services, with a discrete shadow army of 2,000 men and women in Paris area) until the fall of the Tuileries palace on August 10th, 1792 !
X, Y, and Z (Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval, after the unveiling of their names) were the discrete representatives acting for France in the strange "XYZ case". It's the President Adams who called this twisty issue "the case XYZ" in his report published on July 6th, 1798. The USA of John Adams wanted to reduce tensions with the new France, by being considered as neutral in the war raging between Great Britain and the Revolution. But it didn't work at all. The three American envoys in Paris (Charles Cottesworth Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall) were not taken seriously, and were messed around for months. The negociations which were wished in 1797, failed in 1798 because of Talleyrand (1754 - 1838). He was already unfavorably known for having betrayed the Church (as a defrocked ex-bishop of Autun), and his King whose death he had voted for !
Talleyrand demanded $ 250,000 bribes, plus £ 50,000, and a loan of $ 10 million, before any discussion could begin. He also made threats of retorsions. It hurted and scandalised America, which refused. Consequently, America and France were at a state of "quasi war", even it was undeclared (July 7th, 1798 - 1800). The smart France of Louis XVI was replaced by the awful France of Talleyrand and his acolytes. At the moment, we don't know if America protected discreetly the precious "Belgian monk". The maritime attacks from French corsairs which were carried out since 1797 on American ships, after the Jay Treaty of November 19th, 1794 between the British Crown and the USA, intensified anew. In total, more than 800 unarmed American merchant ships (because of their neutral flag), were boarded by French corsairs who plundered their cargoes !
The fear of France was huge at that time. America was afraid to be ruined by France, and to disappear as a new nation. And the immediate consequence of this quasi-war between the USA and the Revolutionary France was that the young American nation decided to create its own war marine. The rapid development of a navy worthy of the name and sufficiently imposing to command respect, became the watchword : the US Navy was effectively created in 1797, and the prestigious Marine Corps demobilized in 1785 after ten years of existence, was recreated in 1798. So then, if nowadays America is number one in the world in term of tonnage, it is coming from the helplessness and the fear felt during this fateful period of 1797 - 1800. On its side, the French Directory parted from Talleyrand in 1799, for his bad role in the strange "case XYZ" , but he quickly came back to external relations under the Consulate (involvement in the selling of Great Louisiana), the Empire... and even the Restoration !
Alexander Hamilton (1755 - 1804), who was from French origin by his mother, and from Scottish origin by his father, was one of the founding fathers of the USA. He was the champion of Federalism, and stimulated the fast industrialization of America. During the crisis between the new USA and France, he was in favor of an open declaration of war against France : he didn't obtain it because he didn't get along well with President John Adams. He had been Secretary of Treasure of the first President, George Washington, and had highly developed the resources of the USA with custom duties and taxes on whisky, to provide regular resources ; in parallel he had the idea to create a central bank to clean up credit practices, while stimulating the growth of agriculture as well !
Paradoxically, if Hamilton proclaimed himself to be against the French Revolution, he had nevertheless been granted the French citizenship by the French National Assembly on August, 26th, 1792 (due to his importance in the new USA). He wanted his country to be neutral during the war the British were waging against the French Revolutionaries. And it's him who had encouraged to the Jay Treaty of 1794 mentioned above with London, for trade but not only if you consider the details and the weight granted to the British Admiralty. This treaty remains to this day the cornerstone of the "special relation" maintained between the British Crown and the USA. In 1798, back to public affairs, he created a new army to protect his country against any potential attack of France, beyond the Spanish colonies. From 1800, under the leadership of Bonaparte in France (who had put an end to the Revolution on 18 Brumaire of the Year VIII - November 9th, 1799), things evolved greatly with the USA. The friendship was restored, and we are still living nowadays under this lasting recovery !
Nevertheless, the strange "case XYZ" had an enormous influence on the destiny of the USA and the world, to finally and progressively replace France as First Power in the World. It has provoked durably a shift of power between the two countries. This shift of power was even accentuated after the selling of Great Louisiana (New France), by the First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821) on April 30th, 1803. He needed money for his wars on the European continent, and abandoned Great Louisiana for only 15 million dollars. In France, when you talk about Louisiana, people think immediately about the present state of Louisiana with New Orleans, and Baton Rouge (its capital). But they do not suspect that the Great Louisiana of Louis XIV (1638 -1715) appeared to be much broader with its 2.145 million square kilometers, and encompassed a big number of other future American states : Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana !
