steered the ship of State free of danger. Though the future seemed lowering, the present he augured propitious.—France suffering from a long and disastrous war with England and an impoverished treasury, was in no condition to resist a determined overture from the United States for the possession of Louisiana. Jefferson, accordingly, dispatched instructions to the United States Minister at Paris, to represent to the First Consul that the occupation of New Orleans by France would endanger the friendly relations between the two nations, and, perhaps, even oblige the United States to make common cause with England; as the possession of this city by the former, by giving her the command of the Mississippi, the only outlet to the produce of the Western States, and also the Gulf of Mexico, so important to American commerce, would render it almost certain that the conflicting interests of the two nations would lead to an open rupture. Mr. Livingston, the Minister, was instructed to negotiate not only for the free navigation of the Mississippi, but for the acquisition of New Orleans and the territory itself.
Bonaparte, on receiving these representations from the Minister of the United States, summoned a conference with two of his ministers who had resided in Louisiana, and opened it with these words: “I am fully sensible of the value of Louisiana, and it is my wish to repair the error of the French diplomatists, who abandoned it in 1763. I have scarcely recovered it, before I run the risk of losing it; but, if I am obliged to give it up, it shall hereafter cost more to those who force me to part with it, than to those to whom I yield it. The English have despoiled France of all her northern possessions, and now they covet those of the south. I am determined that they shall not have the Mississippi. Although Louisiana is but a trifle compared with their vast possessions in other parts of the globe, yet, judging from the vexation which they have manifested on seeing it return to the power of France, I am certain that their first object will be to gain possession of it. They will probably commence war in that quarter. They have twenty vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, and affairs in St. Domingo are daily getting worse since the
