weeks later a letter from the Marquis de Cusa Yrujo, to the Secretary of State, declared that the "proclamation of the Intendant is an act purely personal, without the sanction and even without the knowledge of his Catholic Majesty. . . I shall now take it upon myself," he adds, to adopt measures which must ensure to the United States the enjoyment of all the rights stipulated in the 22d article of the treaty, on the arrival at New Orleans of the dispatches which will be forwarded under this date." 1

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This official news deprived the war party of all ground for their clamor, and the Ministers at Paris were left free to carry on their negotiations in a friendly atmosphere, which task was lightened by the approach of renewed war between England and France, causing Napoleon to consider favorably any proposition likely to replenish his depleted treasury. Thus when Livingston appeared before the French Minister, 2 and proposed to purchase the Island of New Orleans, he was met by an offer to sell us the whole of Louisiana. After considerable shrewd bargaining, it was found that Napoleon would accept fifteen million dollars for this vast dominion, and, as our Ministers had been instructed to offer ten million for a comparatively small portion of it,3 they wisely decided to exceed their in

1 "Kentucky Gazette," March 29, 1803, gives full text of this letter.

2 Full text of Mr. Livingston's Memorial to the French Government is given in the "Kentucky Gazette" of August 2, 1803. The editor apologizes for omitting several articles of importance. They are omitted, he says, because "the interesting concerns of our own country claim our first attention."

3 They were authorized to offer, as the highest price for "the Island of New Orleans and both the Floridas," fifty million livres tournois, or about $9,250,000. Should France be willing to sell only portions of these territories the Commissioners were instructed to estimate the Floridas together at "one-fourth the value of the whole island of New Orleans, and East Florida, at one-half that of West Florida." Madison to Livingston and Monroe, March 2, 1803. Quoted, Fuller's "Purchase of Florida," p. III.

Kentucky-18

ruttions. The bargain was concluded; and the purchase completed in the treaty of 1803-1

The news was announced by the "Kentucky Gazette ” 2 in a dispatch, dated Paris, May 13-"Louisiana is ceded to the United States on the most honorable terms and indemnification will be made for French spoliations." So sudden and unexpected was this turn of affairs that men could hardly credit it, and the editor of the "Gazette" showed his own hesitation, by the significant introduction, “Highly important if true." Numerous other communications, however, published in the same issue, confirmed the report, the official dispatch from Washington declaring, “The executive have received official information that a treaty was signed on the 30th of April, between the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Government, by which the United States have obtained the full right to, and sovereignty over New Orleans, and the whole of Louisiana, as Spain possessed the same.”

When, from successive dispatches, men came to realize that at last Kentucky was forever secure in her cherished rights of free navigation and deposit, enthusiasm went wild. Celebrations were held in various districts and towns of the State; toasts were drunk to Congress, to the President, to the ministers who negotiated the treaty, even to "General Wilkinson-Let us not forget the man who first adventured as an exporter of produce to New Orleans." The Federalists alone, "the friends of war," were passed

1 Text of Treaty, Snow's "American Diplomacy," p. 46.

2 Issue of July 19, 1803.

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3 See account of Lexington meeting in "Kentucky Gazette" of August 16,

over in contempt, the excited Kentuckians, in their excess of joy, forgetting even to mention the men who had posed as friends of the West, while resisting the course which had brought them their hearts' desire.

On October 17, 1803, President Jefferson sent to the Senate a message, asking concurrence in the treaty of purchase, against which course the Federalists fought with desperation. They denounced the purchase as unconstitutional, extravagant, foolish, and a menace to the integrity of the Union. But they failed to realize the most serious danger lurking in this first great act of Imperialism, a danger soon to become pressing-that of developing sectional antagonism, upon the question of the extension of slavery into the new dominion. Their opposition, however, was of no avail. The Senate ratified the treaty and, on October 21, the President signed it and sent it to the House,1 which, to the chagrin of the Federalists, promptly adopted the measures necessary for putting it into opera

tion.

The French Consul proceeded at once to New Orleans, where a prompt and courteous surrender by the Spanish officials took place.2 The American citizens resident in New Orleans formed themselves into a corps of volunteers and offered their services to Governor Laussat. They were received as auxiliaries to the city militia, and then all awaited the arrival of the American troops, and the scene of the final transfer. On Tuesday, December 20,

1 The news was announced in Kentucky by a letter from John Breckinridge, dated Washington, October 21, 1803. "The Palladium," Frankfort, November 12, 1803.

2 Details of the ceremony, "Kentucky Gazette," January 24, 1804; "Palladium," January 28, 1804; also in Jefferson's Special Message of January 16, 1804, and "Kentucky Gazette," February 7, 1804.

1803, William C. Claiborne and General James Wilkinson, the commissioners appointed to represent the United States, advanced to the gates of New Orleans, attended by a detachment of American troops, with bands playing the popular airs of France. Here they were met by the Spanish troops, and escorted to the Place d'Armes, where they presented their credentials to Laussat. These were read aloud to the crowd that filled the Cabildo, and then, the transfer of the province having been proclaimed, the keys of the city were handed to Claiborne, and the subjects of France were solemnly absolved by Laussat, from their allegiance to the First Consul.

Thus came about, in peace and quiet, the result for the attaining of which the pages of Kentucky history had for years been darkened by secret foreign intrigues. The cession of Louisiana destroyed the incentive to conspiracy with foreign countries, so far as Kentucky was concerned; but General Wilkinson, whose dark destinies seemed to attach him forever to such paths, was soon deeply engaged in another project with reference to the Mississippi Valley, and this time in connection with the late VicePresident of the United States, Aaron Burr.

CHAPTER X

THE BURR CONSPIRACY

SCARCELY had the excitement caused by the closing of the Mississippi subsided, and the people of Kentucky settled down to the development of the enlarged commercial possibilities which the purchase of Louisiana opened to them, when another intrigue, darker and more mysterious than any which had hitherto developed, began to emerge.

In May, 1805, Aaron Burr, late Vice-President of the United States, now an exile from his home, an outlaw from his party, and a fugitive from justice, appeared at Frankfort. The cause of his coming was unknown. Rumor had it, that he was interested in a company which was planning the construction of a canal on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, to enable vessels to pass the falls,1 while other reports declared that Jefferson had succeeded in removing him from national politics, by appointing him Governor of the new Territory of Louisiana. Everyone was, of course, familiar with the thrilling tragedy of his life; how, after years of bitter conflict with the genius of the Federalist party, Alexander Hamilton, he had seen his political prospects, one by one, destroyed, until finally he had completed the process by killing his enemy in a duel, which he had deliberately forced upon him. And although the people of Kentucky were sufficiently Dem1 Marshall, p. 372.