Vigilante Days and Ways Author:Nathaniel Pitt Langford Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. L O L'ISIAXA P UK 11 A SE. Alarm Of Our Government At The Cession To France — Mr. Livingston Appointed Minister To France — Talleyrand — ... more »His Reticence — Tedious Delay — Right Op Deposit Prohibited — Effect Upon Western People — Mr. Jefferson Appoints Mb. Munroe Extraordinary Minister—Congress — Debate — Federal Opposition—War Between France And England Again Imminent — BonaParte's Proposition — Treaty Agreed Upon And Signed—Action Of Congress — Extent Of TerriTory PURCHASED. The retrocession of Louisiana to France was not suspected by our Government until March, 1801, six months after the treaty of St. Ildephonso was concluded. It was then brought to the notice of Mr. Madison, the secretary of State, by Mr. Rufus King, our minister at the Court of St. James. Mr. Madison seems to have shared the incredulity of England and other powers regarding the event, for he took no notice ofthe intimation conveyed by Mr. King's despatch until it was partially confirmed by another from the same source on the 1st of June thereafter. In the first letter on the subject, Mr. King had deemed it of sufficient importance to recommend the appointment of a minister to represent the interests of our Government near the Court of France. In the last he depicted as a possible effect of the acquisition that "it might enable France to extend her influence and perhaps her dominion up the Mississippi and through the lakes, even to Canada." Our Government took the alarm instantly. The negotiations it had effected with Spain, though still embarrassed with some offensive conditions, had produced a state of comparative quiescence in the West; all dangerous intrigues were at an end, and a further settlement had been projected which would harmonize all opposing interests and forever s...« less