Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

The treaty signed one hundred years and a day ago had little precedent in history; it dealt with territories larger than the Empire of Alexander; it followed no war; it was preceded by no shedding of human blood; the new possessions got a hundred times more than they even thought of demanding, and the negotiations were so simple, the good faith and mutual friendship so obvious, that all was concluded in a fortnight. The simplest protocol on postal or sanitary questions takes nowadays more time. Each party found its interest in the transaction, but something more than interest led the affair to a speedy conclusion and that was the deep-rooted sympathy of the French and American nations.

The French were simply continuing what they had begun; they had wished America to be free and they were glad to think that she would be great. Money was paid, it is true; had this been the main consideration, Louisiana would have been preserved, for the money was not by far the equivalent of the buildings and lands belonging to the State. Part of the money was employed in satisfying American claims. "Those," says the French negotiator, Marbois, "who knew the importance of a good understanding between these two countries, attached more importance to the $4,000,000 set apart for American claims than to the $12,000,000 offered to France."

An impending war in Europe, the possibilities of an occupation of Louisiana by a foreign power was not, either, the main motive. In the council held at the Tuileries on Easter day, 1803, the Marshal and Prince of Wagram, Berthier, whose first war had been the war of American independence, said, as to this: "If Louisiana is taken from us by our rivals what does it matter? Other possessions would soon be in our hands, and by means of an exchange, we should quickly obtain a restitution." He concluded, "No navy without colonies, no colonies without a navy."

Add again that the value of Louisiana was much better understood than it had been before. "I know the worth of what I give up," said Bonaparte; and the French Government knew it indeed. They acted with open eyes, for they had taken care from the year 1800 to gather all available information. One of the memoirs with which they enlightened themselves had been asked of Louis Vilemont, former captain in the regiment of Louisiana. It is still unpublished; and it informed the Government that "from various reports of Canadian and Indian hunters it is possible to walk from Missouri to the sea in less than two months and a half."

An access to the Pacific was not so easy as now, but yet an access was practicable, and the wealth of the country was extraordinary. Warming at the souvenir of what he knew, the retired officer exclaimed, "What sources of wealth can we not expect to find in those parts! At each step made from east to west all produce, all things increase tenfold. It seems as if nature had made this corner of the globe the most favored one of our immense empire. The samples of all reigns have more beauty and majesty than anywhere else. The men born there look more like the descendants of Alcides than the kinsmen of the tribes who worship Manitou."

The main motive power, without which all the others would have been of no avail, was, indeed, mutual sympathy. When the treaty was signed the three negotiators, Barbe-Marbois, Monroe, and Livingston, who had known each other in America at the time of the war of Independence, rose, and, what is rare on such occasions, one of them was able to express in a single sentence the intimate feelings of the three. "The treaty which we have just signed," said Livingston, "will cause no tears; they prepare centuries of happiness to innumerable generations of human beings; from this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank."

I do not think that there is another example in the history of the world of a cession of such vast territories thus obtained by the representatives of one of the parties to the applause and with the heartfelt consent of the representatives of the other.

The treaty giving away in full possession and forever Louisiana to the United States, allowing them to spread without meeting any foreign neighbors from one ocean to the other, adding fourteen States to the original thirteen, was signed one hundred years ago, "au nom du peuple Francais" in the year XI of the French Republic. The results have passed the most sanguine hopes, but they have not gone beyond the extent of our friendly wishes for the sister Republic of America. The representative of France comes to this spot that was French in former times with a feeling of admiration for what you have done, and no feeling of regret. He sees splendid development, arts, sciences, trade, and agriculture equally prosperous; he applauds your success, and expresses from his heart his good wishes for your grand exhibition of next year.

As for his own country, if she no longer holds those immense domains, she has, on the other hand, found other territories for the peaceful employment of her inexhaustible energy, with results which will forever redound to the praise of the Government of the Republic. And as for Louisiana itself, France rests satisfied with remembering that she could not have more friendly nor more sympathetic intentions. She remembers also, not without pride, that her sons first discovered and tilled the soil, first described it, and first drew a map of it; that one of her most famous writers first revealed to the world the springs of poetry that lay concealed as much under the fir trees of the Mississippi Valley as under the plane trees of Tempe; the diplomat and literary artist who made all those who had a mind and heart weep for the fate of Atala.

Seeing the results, my countrymen have never ceased to approve of the treaty signed a hundred years ago "au nom de peuple Francais." Eighteen hundred and three is the third memorable date in the relations between France and America. In giving the United States, according to the words of your negotiator, its place among the greatest powers in the world, 1803 did nothing but perfect what had been gloriously begun in 1778 and 1783.