The  short-lived  truce  of  Amiens  was  about  to  end,  the  renewal  of  war  was  inevi
table.  Napoleon  saw  that  before  he  could  take  possession  of  Louisiana  it  would
be  wrested  from  him  by  England,  who  commanded  the  seas,  and  he  determined  at
once,  not  merely  to  deprive  her  of  this  magnificent  conquest,  but  to  contribute  as
far  as  in  him  lay,  to  build  up  a  great  rival  maritime  power  in  the  West.  The
Government  of  the  United  States,  not  less  sagacious,  seized  the  golden  moment —
a  moment  such  as  does  not  happen  twice  in  a  thousand  years.  Mr.  Jefferson  per
ceived  that,  unless  acquired  by  the  United  States,  Louisiana  would  in  a  short  time
belong  to  France  or  to  England,  and  with  equal  wisdom  and  courage  he  determined
that  it  should  belong  to  neither.  True  he  held  the  acquisition  to  be  unconstitu
tional,  but  he  threw  to  the  winds  the  resolutions  of  1798,  which  had  just  brought
him  into  power  ;  he  broke  the  Constitution  and  he  gained  an  Empire.  Mr.  Mon
roe  was  sent  to  France  to  conduct  the  negotiation,  in  conjunction ,  with  Chancellor
Livingston,  the  resident  "Minister,  contemplating,  however,  at  that  time  only  the
acquisition  of  New  Orleans  and  the  adjacent  territory.
But  they  were  dealing  with  a  man  that  did  nothing  by  halves.  Napoleon  knew,
and  we  know — that  to  give  up  the  mouth  of  the  river  was  to  give  up  its'  course.
