ed States Government, had been
appointed minister with special powers to negotiate this purchase of New
Orleans.

Talleyrand told Livingston that if they gave New Orleans, the rest would
be of little value, and Marbois dropped his price to 80,000,000 francs
($16,000,000) and the claims, and later said if we would name 60,000,000
francs and take upon us the American claims to the amount of 20,000,000
more, he would submit the offer to Bonaparte. Our minister declared that
sum was greatly beyond our means, and wished Bonaparte reminded that the
whole region was liable to become the property of England. The minister
of the public treasury admitted the weight of this possibility, but
said: "Try if you can not come up to my mark. Consider the extent of the
country, the exclusive navigation of the river, and the importance of
having no neighbors to disrupt you, no war to dread."

The American minister was not long in deciding to accept Napoleon's
proposition to acquire the whole territory, but still waited to conclude
negotiations until the arrival in Paris of Monroe.

The great treaty was, in its essential elements, the work of three days.
On April 11 Talleyrand asked Livingston "whether he wished to have the
whole of Louisiana?" On April 12 Monroe arrived, but was too ill to
attend a conference. Livingston again saw Talleyrand, and on April 13
two conferences took place between Marbois and Livingston, lasting
several hours and ending at midnight, in which both negotiators agreed
upon a treaty of transfer and acquisition, leaving open the amount to be
paid. Upon this point they did not widely differ. Livingston's memorable
midnight dispatch, dated Paris, April 13, 1803, and finished at 3
o'clock in the morning, gives the authentic official history of the
Louisiana purchase treaty. The Livingston letters tell that the decision
to sell Louisiana was reached on Sunday, April 10, after Napoleon had
had a prolonged conference with Talleyrand, Marbois, and others. The
idea of selling originated in the active brain of Napoleon. It was
opposed by Talleyrand, Berthier, and others, but Napoleon contemplated
war with England, and needed funds. The Louisiana Purchase tract was so
far away and would require so much money and so many men to protect it,
that, in his estimation, it was probably better to dispose of it at a
good price rather than hold, and he feared, in the event of war, which
was imminent, he would lose the colony of Loui