Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-05-01
LOUISIANAPURCHASE
The UNITED STATES DID NOT WISH
TO BUY THE TERRITORY.


Napoleon Conceived the idea ~ q
war Necesslty-The Transfer Was Sur
prise to Thomas Jefferson.
The next great anniversary to be cele-
brated In this country will be the centen-
NAL of the Louisiana purchase. That trans
action was the most stupendous real estate
blunder since Adam and Eve exchanged
she garden of Eden for few apples.
The period Is approaching when the
world will ring with the praises of the far
sighted statesmen who are commonly sup
posed to be entitled to the credit for the
acquisition Of this magnificent empire by
the United States.
Yet there are now In the state depart
ment at Washington official papers which
show that the United States never intended
to make any such purchase.
The instructions of the commissioners
who made 1t were for another purpose.
1t Is common for the eulogists of Thomas
Jefferson to point to the Louisiana pur-
chase as the evidence Of his great sagacity.
The purchase was made during Mr.. Jeffer-
sons first term In the White House, but
the state papers show that Mr.. Jefferson
had no thought of such purchase.
Mr.. Jefferson's own papers sustain this
assertion. Mr.. Madison was the secretary
of state, and the instructions to the COM
missioners were conducted by him. He
was not party to the purchase. Mr.. Liv-
ingston and Mr. Monroe were commission
ers of the United States sent to Paris.
Their earlier correspondence shows that
they had no intention Of making such q
purchase.
What was troubling Mr.. Jefferson and
his associates was the uncertainty about
the control of the mouth of the Mississippi.
The United States did not want to buy
even SO much as what Is now Louisiana.
But it did want to be assured Of an outlet
to the gulf.
The idea of extending the United States
across the Mississippi had no place in the
diplomacy of this country when these
commissioners started to Paris. Spain had
been in control Of the great territory Of
Louisiana.
There had been some secret transfer or
projected transfer of Louisiana by Spain to
France So the commissioners were sent
over to look out for the interest Of the
United States In the free use Of the lower
Mississippi.
The suggestion that the United States
should buy not only Louisiana at the
mouth of the river, but all the territory
west Of the Mississippi, came from Napo-
leon. The commissioners were astonished.
They had not been sent to Paris with such
understanding.
| The correspondence shows that when Mr.
Livingston wrote back to President Jeffer-
son about this suggestion the administra,
tion made no answer.
4 Bonaparte went se tar as to suggest
price for shis princely possession. He Of
dfe..od 1t to the United States for 100, ,00O 900
francs, not quite $50, 900, 900.
The offer was virtually rejected, for Mr..
Livingston, receiving no reply to the sug-
gestion when he reported 1t to the home
government, ignored the offer and went on
with the negotiations to protect the inter-
ests of the United States in tho mouth Of
the river.
And in that way the matter dragged
along, the United States commissioners
giving the French government to under
stand that it was not the wish Of the Jeffer-
son administration to purchase at any
price.
Finally the commissioners, unable to
discover any other way to insure the free
use of the mouth of the river to the United
States, reluctantly accepted Bonaparte's
proposition and made the Louisiana pur-
chase.
But all Of the time the negotiations
were in progress the correspondence shows
the United States did not want to take the
vast territory. In fact, the commissioners
made distinct counter proposition by
which this country was to take the mouth
of the river and France was to retain pos
session of the region west of the Mississip-
pi But Bonaparte insisted on his plan,
and the jefferson administration was
forced to acquire the whole territory.
Why was Bonaparte so anxious to make
a sale upon which the United States looked
so reluctantly Simply because it was a
military necessity. He was at war with
England, and this transfer Of Louisiana
territory to the United States meant blow
to England. That is the truth about the
Louisiana purchase.
On the Goth day of December, 1903,
Louisiana territory, extending from the
gulf to British America and from the Mis-
sissippi to the Pacific, including all Of IL
linois lying west Of the Illinois river, the
whole Of Wisconsin and the upper penin-
sula Of Michigan, became part Of the Unit
ed States, virtually against the country's
,wish.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.
For . Confederate Museum.
frxl-