University of Virginia Library

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

My letters of December 23 and January 3 communicated
the information which had been received of those dates,
relating to the violation at New Orleans of our Treaty with
Spain; together with what had then passed between the
House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject.
I now inclose a subsequent resolution of that branch of the
Legislature. Such of the debates connected with it, as took
place with open doors, will be seen in the newspapers which
it is expected will be forwarded by the Collector at New York
by the present opportunity. In these debates as well as in
indications from the press, you will perceive, as you would
readily suppose, that the Cession of Louisiana to France, has
been associated as a ground of much solicitude, with the
affair at New Orleans. Such indeed has been the impulse
given to the public mind by these events that every branch
of the Government has felt the obligation of taking the meassures
most likely, not only to re-establish our present rights,
but to promote arrangements by which they may be enlarged
and more effectually secured. In deliberating on this subject
it has appeared to the President that the importance of
the crisis, called for the experiment of an extraordinary mission
carrying with it the weight attached to such a measure,
as well as the advantage of a more thorough knowledge of
the views of the Government and the sensibility of the people,
than could be otherwise conveyed. He has accordingly selected
for this service, with the approbation of the Senate,
Mr. Monroe formerly our Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris,
and lately Governor of the State of Virginia, who will be joined
with yourself in a Commission extraordinary to treat with the
French Republic and with Mr. Pinckney in a like Commission,
to treat, if necessary, with the Spanish Government. The
President has been careful on this occasion to guard effectually

against any possible misconstruction in relation to yourself,
by expressing in his message to the Senate, his
undiminished confidence in the ordinary representation of the
United States, and by referring the advantages of the
additional Mission to considerations consistent therewith.

Mr. Monroe will be the bearer of the instructions under
which you are jointly to negotiate. The object of them will
be to procure a Cession of New Orleans and the Floridas to
the United States, and consequently the establishment of the
Mississippi as the boundary between the United States and
Louisiana. In order to draw the French Government into
the measure, a sum of money will make part of our propositions,
to which will be added such regulations of the commerce
of that river, and of the others entering the Gulph of
Mexico, as ought to be satisfactory to France. From a letter
received by the President from the respectable person alluded
to in my last, it is inferred with probability, that the French
Government is not averse to treat on those grounds. And
such a disposition must be strengthened by the circumstances
of the present moment.

I have thought it proper to communicate this much to you,
without waiting for the departure of Mr. Monroe, who will
not be able to sail for two weeks or perhaps more. I need not
suggest to you, that in disclosing this diplomatic arrangement
to the French Government and preparing the way for the object
of it, the utmost care is to be used, in expressing extravagant
anticipations of the terms to be offered by the United
States; particularly of the sum of money to be thrown into
the transaction. The ultimatum on this'point will be settled
before the departure of Mr. Monroe, and will be communicated
by him. The sum hinted at in the letter to the Presiident
above referred to is———livres. If less will
not do, we are prepared to meet it: but it is hoped that less
will do, and that the prospect of accommodation will concur
with other motives in postponing the expedition to Louisiana.
For the present I barely remark that a proposition made to
Congress with shut doors is under consideration which if

agreed to will authorize a payment of about ten Millions of
livres under arrangements of time and place, that may be so
convenient to the French Government, as to invite a prompt
as well as a favorable decision in the case. The sum to which
the proposition is limited, and which will probably not be
effectually concealed, may at the same time assist in keeping
the pecuniary expectations of the French cabinet.

Your letter of Nov. 10 with one from Mr. Sumter of——
have been received. As no mention is made of the disastrous
state of St. Domingo, we conclude that it was not then
known at Paris; and ascribe to that ignorance the adherence
to the plan of sending troops to take possession of Louisiana.
If the French Government do not mean to abandon the reduction
of that Island, it is certain that troops cannot be spared
for the other object. The language held by Genl. Hector, as
communicated to you, claims attention, and would be entitled
to much more, if the imputation to the French Government,
of views which would force an unnecessary war with
the United States, could be reconciled with any motive whatever
sufficient to account for such an infatuation.