I can scarcely say that I cede it to them, for it is not yet in our possession. If, however, I leave the least time to our enemies, I shall only transmit an empty title to those republicans whose friendship I seek. They only ask me for one town in Louisiana; but I already consider the colony as entirely lost, and it appears to me that in the hands of this growing power it will be more useful to the policy, and even to the commerce, of France than if I should attempt to keep it.
The two ministers were requested to express their opinions freely. Marbois strongly urged the cession, and gave his reasons at length. Decres opposed it, and favored the colonial policy of Talleyrand. The conference lasted till midnight, when the ministers were dismissed. It will be remembered that Marbois had taken an active part, in 1783, in favor of limiting the boundaries of the United States to the Alleghany mountains. He was now to be the instrument for extending them beyond the Mississippi. He was summoned at daybreak on the following morning (April nth), when Napoleon, after alluding to what had appeared in the London papers in reference to the measures proposed in the United States for seizing New Orleans, thus addressed him:
"Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the whole colony without any reservation. I know the price of what I abandon, and have sufficiently proved the importance that I attach to this province, since my first diplomatic act with Spain had for its object its recovery. I renounce it with the greatest regret. To attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate this affair with the envoys of the United States. Do not even await the arrival of Mr. Monroe; have an interview this very day with Mr. Livingston. But I require a great deal of money for this war, and I would not like to commence it with new contributions. For a hundred years France
