A lovely English cartoon summing up the X Y Z Affair, a famous row between the new United States and revolutionary France.
Basically, the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand demanded a big fat private bung as a condition for serious bilateral negotiations. And, of course, the principled Americans turned him down flat. The wicked Frenchies were named X, Y and Z in the report on the episode published in Washington.
The cartoon shows a blushing America being sexually harassed by assorted Frenchmen as they stuff their sack with goodies looted from different countries. Here is a handy summary of the various droll comments from the participants. The official in the blue coat says Oui Oui Madame Amerique dis Argument vil connvince you dat all he say be true. Note that the sword he wields is inscribed French Argument.
John Bull sits high on Shakespeare’s Cliff watching all this with amused detachment. Things never change. A European (Dutchman) gloomily observes: yaw Mynheer we have been great dupes and there sits John Bull on his Rock laughing at us.
All this recalls an earlier truly brilliant example of American public diplomacy and showmanship – when US Ambassador to Paris Thomas Jefferson hauled a dead moose across the Atlantic to appear triumphantly in his Residence to amaze the snooty French.
Innocent times.
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