4863. LOUISIANA, Treaty ratified.—[further continued] .
M. Pichon, according to
instructions from his government, proposed
to have added to the ratification a protestation
against any failure in time or other circumstances
of execution, on our part. He
was told, that in that case we should annex a
counter protestation, which would leave the
thing exactly where it was; that this transaction
had been conducted, from the commencement
of the negotiation to this stage of
it, with a frankness and sincerity honorable to
both nations, and comfortable to the heart of
an honest man to review; that to annex to
this last chapter of the transaction such an
evidence of mutual distrust, was to change its
aspect dishonorably for us both, and, contrary
to truth, as to us; for that we had not the
smallest doubt that France would punctually
execute its part; and I assured M. Pichon that
I had more confidence in the word of the First
Consul than in all the parchment we could
sign. He saw that we had ratified the treaty;
that both branches had passed, by great majorities,
one of the bills for execution, and
would soon pass the other two; that no circumstances
remained that could leave a doubt
of our punctual performance; and like an
able and honest minister (which he is in the
highest degree), he undertook to do what he
knew his employers would do themselves,
were they here spectators of all the existing
circumstances, and exchanged the ratifications
purely and simply; so that this instrument
goes to the world as an evidence of the
candor and confidence of the nations in each
other, which will have the best effects.—
To Robert R. Livingston. Washington ed. iv, 510.
Ford ed., viii, 278.
(W.
Nov. 1803)
