The Conquest: The True Story of Lewis and Clark
I
_THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE_
"Spain, knowing she cannot hold Louisiana, has ceded it to France!"The winds of ocean bore the message to America.
"Napoleon? Is he to control us also?"
Never so vast a shadow overawed the world. Afar they had read of hisbattles, had dreaded his name. Instantly colossal Napoleon loomedacross the prairies of the West.
Napoleon had fifty-four ships and fifty thousand troops, the flower ofhis army, sailing to re-establish slavery in Hayti. But a step and hewould be at the Mississippi. He was sending Laussat, a French prefect,to take over New Orleans and wait for the army.
"Shall we submit? And is this to be the end of all our fought-forliberty, that Napoleon should rule America?"
The fear of France was now as great as had been the admiration.
Gaily the flatboats were floating down, laden with flour and bacon,hams and tobacco, seeking egress to Cuba and Atlantic seaports, whensuddenly, in October, 1802, the Spanish Intendant at New Orleansclosed the Mississippi. Crowding back, for twenty thousand milesinland, were the products of the Autumn.
The western country blazed; only by strenuous effort could Congresskeep a backwoods army from marching on New Orleans. A powerfulminority at Washington contended for instant seizure.
Pittsburg, with shore lined with shipping, roared all the way to thegulf, "No grain can be sold down the river on account of thosepiratical Spaniards!"
Appeal after appeal went up to Jefferson, "Let us sweep them into thesea!"
What hope with a foreign nation at our gates? Spain might be got ridof, but France--Monroe was dispatched to France to interview Napoleon.
"The French must not have New Orleans," was the lightning thought ofJefferson. "No one but ourselves must own our own front door."
And Jefferson penned a letter to Livingstone, the American minister atParis:
"There is on the globe but one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance. Spain might have retained it quietly for years. Not so France. The impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restlessness of her character, render it impossible that France and the United States can continue friends when they meet in so irritating a position. The day that France takes possession of New Orleans--from that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."
As Jefferson placed that letter in the hands of Monroe he added:
"In Europe nothing but Europe is seen. But this little event, ofFrance's possessing herself of Louisiana,--this speck which nowappears an invisible point on the horizon,--is the embryo of atornado.
"I must secure the port of New Orleans and the mastery of thenavigation of the Mississippi.
"We must have peace. The use of the Mississippi is indispensable. Wemust purchase New Orleans."
"You are aware of the sensibility of our Western citizens," Madisonwas writing to Madrid. "To them the Mississippi is everything. It isthe Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers ofthe Atlantic States, formed into one."
But Napoleon's soldiers were dying at San Domingo, the men with whomhe would have colonised Louisiana. At that moment the flint and steelof France and England struck, and the spark meant--war. England stoodready to seize the mouth of the Mississippi.
After the solemnities of Easter Sunday at St. Cloud, April 10, 1803,Napoleon summoned two of his ministers.
"I _know_ the full value of Louisiana!" he began with vehementpassion, walking up and down the marble parlour. "A few lines oftreaty have restored it to me, and I have scarcely recovered it when Imust expect to lose it. But if it escapes from me," the First Consulshook his finger menacingly, "it shall one day cost dearer to thosewho oblige me to strip myself of it, than to those to whom I wish todeliver it. The English have successively taken from France, Canada,Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the richest portions ofAsia. They _shall not have_ the Mississippi which they covet. Theyhave twenty ships of war in the Gulf of Mexico, they sail over thoseseas as sovereigns. The conquest of Louisiana would be easy. I havenot a moment to lose in putting it out of their reach. I know notwhether they are not already there. I think of ceding it to the UnitedStates. They only ask one town of me in Louisiana but I alreadyconsider the colony as entirely lost, and it appears to me that in thehands of this growing power it will be more useful to the policy andeven to the commerce of France, than if I should attempt to keep it."
He turned to Barbe-Marbois, who had served as Secretary of the FrenchLegation at Philadelphia during the whole war of the AmericanRevolution.
"We should not hesitate to make a sacrifice of that which is aboutslipping from us," said Barbe-Marbois. "War with England isinevitable; shall we be able to defend Louisiana? Can we restorefortifications that are in ruins? If, Citizen Consul, you, who have byone of the first acts of your government made sufficiently apparentyour intention of giving this country to France, now abandon the ideaof keeping it, there is no person that will not admit that you yieldto necessity."
Far into the night they talked, so late that the ministers slept atSt. Cloud.
At daybreak Napoleon summoned Barbe-Marbois. "Read me the dispatchesfrom London."
"Sire," returned the Secretary, looking over the papers, "naval andmilitary preparations of every kind are making with extraordinaryrapidity."
Napoleon leaped to his feet and strode again the marble floor.
"Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I _renounce_Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, but the wholecolony without reservation. I _know_ the price of what I abandon. Irenounce it with regret. To attempt to retain it would be folly. Idirect you to negotiate this affair with the United States. Do noteven await the arrival of Mr. Monroe; have an interview this very daywith Mr. Livingstone; but I require a great deal of money for thiswar, and I would not like to commence it with new contributions. Iwant fifty millions, and for less than that sum I will not treat.To-morrow you shall have your full powers."
The minister waited.
"Mr. Monroe is on the point of arriving," continued Napoleon. "Neitherthis minister, nor his colleague, is prepared for a decision whichgoes infinitely beyond anything they are about to ask of us. Begin bymaking them overtures, without any subterfuge. Acquaint me, hour byhour, of your progress."
"What will you pay for all Louisiana?" bluntly asked Barbe-Marboisthat day of the astonished Livingstone.
"_All Louisiana!_ New Orleans is all I ask for," answered Livingstone.So long had Talleyrand trifled and deceived, the American foundhimself distrustful of these French diplomatists.
"But I offer the province," said Barbe-Marbois.
Surprised, doubtful, Livingstone listened. "I have not the necessarypowers."
The next day Monroe arrived.
"There must be haste or the English will be at New Orleans," saidBarbe-Marbois. "How much will you pay for the whole province?"
"The English? Fifteen millions," answered the Americans.
"Incorporate Louisiana as soon as possible into your Union," saidNapoleon, "give to its inhabitants the same rights, privileges, andimmunities as to other citizens of the United States.
"And let them know that we separate ourselves from them with regret;let them retain for us sentiments of affection; and may their commonorigin, descent, language, and customs perpetuate the friendship."
The papers were drawn up and signed in French and in English.
"We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our lives!"exclaimed Livingstone, as he and Barbe-Marbois and Monroe arose andshook hands across the document.
"This accession of territory strengthens for ever the power of theUnited States," said Napoleon, coming in to look at the treaty. And ashe affixed that signature, "NAPOLEON," he smiled,--"I have just giv
ento England a maritime rival, that sooner or later will humble herpride."
And on that day the Mississippi was opened, to be closed by a foreignpower no more for ever.
But no sooner had Napoleon parted with Louisiana than he began torepent. "Hasten," the ministers warned Jefferson, "the slightest delaymay lose us the country."
The word reached America.
"Jefferson--bought New Orleans? bought the Mississippi? bought theentire boundless West?"
Men gasped, then cheered. Tumultuous excitement swept the land. OnJuly 3, 1803, an infant Republic hugging the Atlantic, on July 4, aworld power grasping the Pacific!
"A bargain!" cried the Republicans.
"Unconstitutional!" answered the Federalists.
"The East will become depopulated."
"Fifteen millions! Fifteen millions for that wilderness! Why, thatwould be tons of money! Waggon loads of silver five miles long. Wehave not so much coin in the whole country!"