4862. LOUISIANA, Treaty ratified.—[further continued].
You will observe in the
enclosed letter from Monroe a hint to do
without delay what we are bound to do [regarding
the treaty]. There is reason, in the
opinion of our ministers, to believe, that if
the thing were to do over again, it could not
be obtained, and that if we give the least
opening, they will declare the treaty void. A
warning amounting to that has been given
them, and an unusual kind of letter written
by their minister to our Secretary of State,
direct.—
To Wilson C. Nicholas. Washington ed. iv, 505.
Ford ed., viii, 247.
(M.
Sep. 1803)
