other nations were interested in it, at the close of the last war, they have a right to enforce it. And surely it was a very important guaranty to Britain of her colonies; and it might, for aught we know, have had great influence upon the terms of the then peace.

[Extract.]

James Madison, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinckney.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, March 30, 1802.

We are anxious to hear from you on the several subjects with which you have been charged; particularly on that of Louisiana. By a treaty entered into between Spain and France, in March, 1801, and lately published in the Paris newspapers, it appears that in an antecedent treaty the cession of that country had been stipulated by Spain. Still it is possible that the cession may have been since annulled; and that such was, or was to be the case, has been stated in verbal accounts from Madrid. At Paris Mr. Livingston has been given to understand, by the French Government, that the cession has never been more than a subject of conversation between the two Governments. No information, however, has been received from him subsequent to the publication of the Treaty of March, 1801, which must have led to some more decisive explanations.

The copies herewith enclosed of a memorial of sundry inhabitants living on waters running from the United States through Florida into the Gulf of Mexico, and of a letter from the late Mr. Hunter, representative in Congress of the Mississippi Territory, will present to your attention a subject of some importance at this time, and of very great importance in a future view. The Treaty with Spain having, as these documents observe, omitted to provide for the use of the Mobile, Chatahoochee, and other rivers running from our territory through that of Spain, by the citizens of the United States, in like manner with the use of the Mississippi, it will be proper to make early efforts to supply the defect. Should a cession, indeed, including the Spanish territory eastward of the Mississippi, have finally taken place, it can answer no purpose to seek from the Spanish Government this supplemental arrangement. On a contrary supposition you will avail yourself of the most favorable moment and manner of calling its attention to the object. In support of our claim you will be able to use the arguments which enforced that to the navigation of the Mississippi. If it should be observed that a greater proportion of these rivers than of the Mississippi run through the exclusive territory of Spain, it may be a set-off that the upper parts of the rivers run, exclusively, through the territory of the United States, and do not merely divide it, like the Mississippi, from that of Spain.

But neither the one nor the other circumstance can essentially affect our natural rights. Should the Spanish Government be favorably disposed, it will be proper for you to pave the way for a formal convention on the subject; endeavoring to obtain, in the meantime, such regulations from its authority, and such instructions to its officers, as will answer the purposes of our citizens. Among other hardships, of which they now complain, and for which a regulation is particularly wanted, one I understand, is, that the article, cotton, which is acquir ing rapid importance in that quarter, must, after it has been conveyed to Mobile, be shipped to New Orleans and pay a duty of about twelve and one-half per cent. before it can be exported.

[Extract.]

Mr. Livingston to the Secretary of State.

PARIS, April 24, 1802.

The business most interesting to us, that of Louisiana, still remains in the state it was. The Minister will give no answer to any inquiries I make on that subject. He will not say what their boundaries are, what are their intentions, and when they are to take possession. And what appears very extraordinary to me, is, that by a letter I have just received from Mr. Pinckney, I find that he still supposes that the Floridas are not included in the cession: and he writes me that he has made a proposition to purchase them, which lies before the Minister, with whom he is to have a conference on the subject. You may, however, be fully assured that the Floridas are given to France; that they are at this moment fitting out an armament from here to take possession. This will be commanded by General Bernadotte. The number of troops designed for this object is between five and seven thousand. They will shortly sail for New Orleans, unless the state of affairs in St. Domingo should change their destination. You may act upon this information with absolute certainty, since I have no doubt of the channel through which I have received it. It would be wise immediately to take measures to enable the Natchez to rival Orleans. I have suggested the means: and I hope they will not be neglected by the Congress now sitting. That you may judge of the light in which this country is viewed by some here, I send you the extract of a paper that now lies before the Minister. If Congress makes the Natchez a free port, and if the state of affairs in St. Domingo should employ the troops designed for Louisiana, time will still be left for gold to operate here. But it must be plentifully and liberally bestowed, not barely in the assumption of debts, but in active capital, afforded in supplies, to aid their armaments in the islands. Give me your instructions as to the utmost amount, if, as you will be better able to judge than I can, the affairs of St. Domingo are likely to be protracted.

[Extract.]

James Madison, Secretary of State, to Robert R. Livingston.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, May 1, 1802.

The conduct of the French Government, in paying so little attention to its obligations under the treaty; in neglecting its debts to our citizens; in giving no answer to your complaints and expostulations, which you say is the case with those of other foreign Ministers also; and particularly in its reserve as to Louisiana, which tacitly contradicts the language first held to you by the Minister of Foreign Relations gives tokens as little auspicious to the true interests of France herself, as to the rights and just objects of the United States. The cession of Louisiana to France becomes daily more and more a source of painful apprehensions. Notwithstanding the Treaty of March, 1801, and notwithstanding the general belief in France on the subject, and the accounts from St. Domingo that part of the armament sent to that island was eventually destined for Louisiana, a hope was still drawn, from your early conversations with M. Talleyrand, that the French Government did not mean to pursue the object. Since the receipt of your last communication, no hope remains, but, from the accumulating difficulties of going through with the undertaking, and from the conviction you may be able to impress, that it must have an instant and powerful effect in changing the relations between France and the United States. The change is obvious: and the more it can be developed in candid and friendly appeals to the reflections of the French Government, the more it will urge it to revise and abandon the project. A mere neighborhood could not be friendly to the harmony which both countries have so much an interest in cherishing; but if a possession of the mouth of the Mississippi is to be added to other causes of discord, the worst events are to be apprehended. You will consequently spare no efforts, that will consist with prudence and dignity, to lead the councils of France to proper views of this subject, and to an abandonment of her present purpose. You will also pursue, by prudent means, the inquiry into the extent of the cessionparticularly whether it includes the Floridas as well as New Orleans— and endeavor to ascertain the price at which these, if included in the cession, would be yielded to the United States. I cannot, in the present state of things, be more particular on this head than to observe that, in every view, it would be a most precious acquisition, and that, as far as the terms could be satisfied by charging on the acquisition itself the restitution and other debts to American citizens, great liberality would doubtless be indulged by this Government. The President. wishes you to devote every attention to this object, and to be frequent and particular in your communications relating to it.

[Extract.]

James Madison, Secretary of State, to Rufus King, Minister to England.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, May 1, 1802.

We are fully aware of the tendency of the reported cession of Louisiana to plant in our neighborhood troubles of different kinds, and to prepare the way for very serious events. It has accordingly been a primary object with the President to obviate such an event.

Mr. King to the Secretary of State.

LONDON, May 7, 1802.

SIR: Among the few great principles of national policy worthy of fixing the attention of our statesmen, I am willing to hope there is not one concerning which there is greater unanimity, in opinion, than in that which enjoins upon us all to do our utmost in every way, and upon all occasions, to maintain and perpetuate the union of our country. With this persuasion, though the subject may not be thought to be included among the duties of my mission, I have not been able to remain inattentive or indifferent to the cession of Louisiana and the Floridas to France, because I have viewed it as a measure calculated and possibly intended to weaken and divide us. I have already communicated to you what passed between me and the Minister of this country in relation to this cession, during the negotiation of peace; but as these communications were merely verbal, and as it appeared to me to be of some importance that they should be distinctly and formally confirmed, as well as that we should be ascertained of the sentiments of this Government in respect to this cession, I prepared and sent to Lord Hawkesbury a confidential letter upon the subject, a copy whereof, together with a copy of his answer, is annexed. I will only add that I have reason to be satisfied that the cession of Louisiana and the Floridas is considered by all the late Ministry, as well as all other men of influence in this country, as a measure of the greatest consequence, and which must have an unavoidable influence upon the duration of peace.

With perfect respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and faithful servant,

RUFUS KING.

Mr. King to Lord Hawkesbury.

LONDON, April 21, 1802.

MY LORD: By the Treaty of Alliance concluded at Paris, in 1778, between the United States of America and France, the latter renounced

forever the possession of every part of the continent of America lying to the east of the course of the river Mississippi. This renunciation, confirming that which had been previously made in the treaty of 1763, between Great Britain and France, authorized the expectation that France, content with her widely spread dominions, would abstain from seeking an extension of them in this part of the American continent; an expectation that appeared the more reasonable, inasmuch as the motives to such extension could not be satisfactorily reconciled with a just regard to the rights and security of those Powers between which this portion of America is divided, and by which the same is at present possessed.

Contrary, nevertheless, to expectations which have been entertained on this subject, if credit be due to uniform and uncontradicted reports, the Government of France has prevailed upon His Catholic Majesty to cede to France both the provinces of Louisiana and the Floridas, and having thus acquired a station at the mouth, and on the sides of the Mississippi, may be inclined to interfere with and interrupt the open navigation of the same.

By the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris, in 1783, between the United States of America and Great Britain, it is mutually stipulated that "the navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States." Without enlarging upon the great and peculiar importance of this navigation to the United States, a large and increasing proportion of whose people can conveniently communicate with each other, and with foreign countries, by no other route, I take the liberty, through your Lordship, to request that the British Government will, in confidence, explain itself upon this subject, and especially that it will explicitly declare whether any communication has been received by it from the Government of France or Spain respecting the said cession; or whether His Britannic Majesty has, in any manner, acquiesced in or sanctioned the same, SO as to impair or affect the stipulation above referred to concerning the free navigation of the Mississippi. In a word, I entreat your Lordship to open yourself on this occasion with that freedom which, in matters of weighty concern, is due from one friendly nation to another, and which, in the present instance, will have the effect to do away all those misconceptions that may otherwise prevail in respect to the privity of Great Britain to the cession in question.

With the highest consideration, I have the honor to be,

RUFUS KING.