Upon arriving in France, the delegation was told by three French agents, referred to in reports as X (Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer), Y (Pierre Bellamy), and Z (Lucien Hauteval), that in order to speak to Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, they would have to pay a large bribe, provide a loan for the French war effort, and Adams would have to apologize for anti-French statements. The previous year, in an attempt to prevent war, Adams sent a delegation consisting of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall to Paris to negotiate peace between the two nations. Tensions heightened in April 1798, when President John Adams reported to Congress on the XYZ Affair.
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