XIMENES 



6377 



XYZ CORRESPONDENCE 



Cyrus the Great Persia, subtitle History 



Darius, subhead and Government 



Darius I Persian Wars 



Greece, subhead The Salamis 



Period of Glory Thermopylae 



Hellespont 



XIMENES, zim'eneez, FRANCISCO (1436- 

 1517), a celebrated Spanish churchman and 

 statesman. He was born at Torrelaguna, in 

 Castile, studied at Alcala and in Rome, and 

 was appointed to the priesthood of Uceda, near 

 his birthplace. The archbishop of Toledo re- 

 sisted the appointment, however, and kept 

 Ximenes in prison for six years on the charge 

 that his personal orders had been resisted. He 

 gained the favor of Cardinal Mendoza, after- 

 ward archbishop of Toledo, and when the con- 

 fessor of Queen Isabella of Castile died in 1492, 

 Mendoza recommended Ximenes to the post, 

 he being then a member of the Franciscan Or- 

 der. So well did he please the queen that on 

 the death of Mendoza in 1495 she insisted on 

 his accepting the archbishopric of Toledo, con- 

 trary to his own wishes. Until the queen died 

 in 1504 Ximenes was her chief adviser, and 

 after her death he was regent whenever Ferdi- 

 nand was absent. 



He was made cardinal in 1507, and as grand 

 inquisitor was chiefly responsible for the wide 

 employment of the Inquisition (which see) as 

 a political force in Spain. His greatest service 

 to Spain consisted in breaking down the almost 

 royal power of the great feudal nobles. He 

 endowed the University of Alcala, and pro- 

 moted learning in other ways. 



XINGU, sheeN goo' , a river of Brazil which 

 is one of the large tributaries of the Amazon. 

 Its sources are in the watershed between the 

 Amazon and the Paraguay, in the state of 

 Matto Grosso. It flows in a northerly direction 

 and enters the Amazon about 240 miles above 

 Para. Its length is about 1,200 miles. The 

 channel contains numerous rapids and falls, 

 which make navigation impracticable. 



X-RAY. See ROENTGEN RAYS. 



XYLOPHONE, zi'lofohn, a musical instru- 

 ment composed of sticks of wood selected for 

 their sounding quality and graduated so -as to 

 sound the chromatic seal* Tin-so bars of wood 

 are placed on a stand; the performer plays by 

 striking with wooden mallets, one being held in 

 each hand. 



XYZ CORRESPONDENCE, the name given 

 to the reports sent to the United States in 1797 

 by its three ambassadors to France, Charles 

 Cotesworth Pinckncy, John Marshall and II- 

 bridge Gerry. At that time France was guilty 



of the same offenses for which the United 

 States later went to war with England, but 

 which had been temporarily adjusted by treaty. 

 The French had seized cargoes on American 

 ships and had impressed American seamen, 



THE XYLOPHONE 



forcing them to serve on French ships. The 

 Directory, then governing France, was furious 

 over the settlement that the United States had 

 just made with England, and over the defeat 

 of Jefferson, a French sympathizer, in the 

 Presidential election, and announced that it 

 would receive no minister from the United 

 States. 



The United States could not let such an in- 

 sult pass unnoticed, but so great were tho 

 dangers of a war to the little republic at that 

 time that President Adams decided to send 

 three ambassadors to adjust matters. Prince 

 Talleyrand, the French foreign minister, re- 

 fused to deal with them except through three 

 agents, who insulted the Americans with dis- 

 honorable proposals, even demanding from 

 them "a great deal of money for the pockets of 

 the Directory." The story has come down 

 that Pinckney replied to the hint for a bribe 

 with the words, "We have millions for defense, 

 but not one cent for tribute." 



President Adams laid the official reports of 

 these proposals before Congress, concealing 

 only the names of Talleyrand's agents, whom 

 he called X, Y and Z. In his message to Con- 

 gress Adams declared: "I will never send an- 

 other minister to France without assuran 

 he will be received, respected and honored as 

 the representative of a great, free, powerful :m<l 

 independent nation." 



No formal <irrl:i ration of war waa made by 

 the United States, but a Navy Department was 

 created, measures were taken to raise an army, 

 which Washington was invited to command, 

 and American privateers were authorited to. at- 

 tack French vessels. All the American sympa- 

 thisers with France were silenced by the r\- 

 posure of Talleyrand's intrigue, and it was also 

 very unfavorably received in France. 



