revolution, to which he was a stranger, his sentiments were those of a Frenchman. He paid a just tribute to the merit of the army of Italy, and of its illustrious chief, at the same time that he attacked, without success, the law which excluded from the public service nobles and the families of emigrants.

In 1797, when the contest took place between a majority of the directory and the legislature, M. de Marbois was president of the council of ancients, and had a great share in the nomination of M. Barthelemy as one of the directory. A powerful faction having prevailed by a revolutionary movement, Barthelemy and Carnot, two of the directory, as well as several members of both the legislative councils, were subjected to a species of ostracism. In this number M. de Marbois was included; he was transported, under circumstances of peculiar aggravation, to the pestilential regions of Sinnamari in Guiana. He remained there in exile till 1800, when he was recalled by the directory to the inhospitable island of Oleron, and soon after Bonaparte, becoming first consul, annulled the unjust sentence against him and his companions in misfortune.

On M. de Marbois's restoration to his country, he was made a counsellor of state and director of the public treasury. The latter office was changed in 1801 to that of minister of the public treasury, when he became a member of the cabinet. While in this situation, the negotiations with the United States for the cession of Louisiana, which gave rise to the present work, were confided to him as the plenipotentiary on the part of the French republic.

In 1805, he received from Napoleon several honorary distinctions; but being averse to a system, which substituted for the usual sources of revenue extraordinary contributions from all the neighbouring states, the consequences of which Marbois foresaw must ultimately be a general coalition of Europe against France, he resigned the ministry of the treasury in 1806, and retired to the country. He was, however, recalled to Paris, two years afterwards, to fill the office of first president of the court of accounts-the tribunal which has jurisdiction in all cases affecting the public receipts and expenditures.* In 1813, he was made a senator of the empire.

On the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the king created M. de Marbois a peer, and he was confirmed in the presidency of the court of accounts. Having been exiled by Napoleon, during the hundred days, he was on the return of Louis XVIII. named minister, secretary of state, and keeper of the seals; but he soon after resigned this office to resume his former place in the court of accounts, the duties of which, though now eighty-four years of age, he still performs with the greatest exactitude. He is also constant in his at

* All the French courts are divided into chambers or sections, each of which has its own president. The first president is the magistrate who presides over the whole court when the several chambers meet together on important occasions. The public accounts are settled by judicial forms.

tendance in the house of peers, where he takes part in most of the important proceedings; and, at the open. ing of the present session, he was named on the commission to whom the king's speech was referred. In all institutions having for their object the melioration of the condition of his fellow-beings, M. de Marbois engages with deep interest, and, notwithstanding his numerous engagements, he has within a few days consented to be a member of a council formed for the suppression of mendicity.

The labours of M. de Marbois have not prevented his finding leisure for literary pursuits. Besides writing the Introduction to the Count de Goertz's Memoir on the Negotiations of 1778 for the Succession of Bavaria, he is the author of several works on Morals and Finance, and of some translations from German and English. He likewise published, in 1816, an account of Arnold's conspiracy, preceded by an essay on the United States, which is characterized by the same liberal spirit as the present Treatise. It was translated soon after its appearance by a distinguished American scholar.

Accurate as is the Marquis de Marbois in general, it is not improbable that the reader may find in the following work errors of detail that might have been corrected from public documents, had they fallen under the observation of the venerable writer. The instructions to the American plenipotentiaries, and their despatch, accompanying the Louisiana treaty, are published in the Appendix to the present edition. A few notes have also been inserted, but I have not felt myself at liberty, except in a single instance, to make any comments on the opinions which M. de Marbois has formed respecting either the political parties of the country or the prominent American statesmen, to whom he has occasionally alluded.

After these explanations, I will only farther observe that in submitting the History of Louisiana to my fellow-citizens in the United States, I pretend to no other merit, and wish to assume no other responsibility than that of a faithful

Paris, May, 1829.

TRANSLATOR.

PREFACE.

MANY facts worthy of being preserved pass into oblivion, from not being recorded by those who are best acquainted with them. A witness during my long career of various important public events, in some of which I took part, I always intended, as soon as I should have leisure, to write an account of those in which I was directly engaged. From year to year, I have had reason to think that this moment was drawing near; though, whether I deceive myself, or am still really able to attend to business and support the weight of years, I have not yet resolved on retirement. At the same time, I have not thought proper longer to delay writing the History, which I now publish, and this occupation has been to me a source of relaxation.

The treaty, by which Louisiana was, twenty-six years since, ceded to the United States, has lately given rise to regrets, which have appeared to me to merit the more attention from their being entertained in good faith. I have conceived that the history of that negotiation would dissipate some errors, and might throw light on the doubts which have been suggested respecting the policy of the measure.