Details
MONROE, JAMES, President. Autograph letter signed ("James Monroe") to the unnamed author of a book on the Louisiana Purchase, [FRANÇOIS BARBÉ-MARBOIS], Oak Hill, [Virginia], 24 June 1829. 1 page, 4to, 246 x 198 mm. (9¾ x 8 in.), integral blank. Fine.
THE AMERICAN NEGOTIATOR OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TO HIS FRENCH COUNTERPART, 26 YEARS AFTER THE EVENT
A remarkable letter to an unnamed author, clearly someone who had been involved in the secret 1803 negotiations, by deduction certainly the French diplomat François de Barbé-Narbois (1745-1837). His important book on the subject, Histoire de la Louisiane, et de la cession de cette colonie par la France aux États-Unis was published in Paris the same year as this letter. Monroe, the principal American representative in the negotiations, thanks the author for a copy of the book and promises to furnish the author with details omitted from his account: "I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of April 3rd, with a copy of your history, and of the cession of Louisiana, & of the negotiations which led to it. I consider it an able work, written in a spirit of candour, & justice to all the parties, and of kind feelings to me, yet there are some points, in the negotiation, which have escaped your attention, respecting which I will write you hereafter. I have lately been much indisposed, and altho' now relieved from fever, am too weak to enter into the subject. Too much time has elapsed, for you to recollect, every incident & detail -- with great respect & sincere regard I am Dear Sir unchangeably yours."
Barbé-Marbois had been exiled as a monarchist, but returned to France and served from 1801 to 1806 as Napoleon's Minister of Finance; the delicate negotiations for the sale of Louisiana were handled by him at Napoleon's request, due to his suspicious of his foreign minister, Talleyrand.
THE AMERICAN NEGOTIATOR OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TO HIS FRENCH COUNTERPART, 26 YEARS AFTER THE EVENT
A remarkable letter to an unnamed author, clearly someone who had been involved in the secret 1803 negotiations, by deduction certainly the French diplomat François de Barbé-Narbois (1745-1837). His important book on the subject, Histoire de la Louisiane, et de la cession de cette colonie par la France aux États-Unis was published in Paris the same year as this letter. Monroe, the principal American representative in the negotiations, thanks the author for a copy of the book and promises to furnish the author with details omitted from his account: "I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of April 3rd, with a copy of your history, and of the cession of Louisiana, & of the negotiations which led to it. I consider it an able work, written in a spirit of candour, & justice to all the parties, and of kind feelings to me, yet there are some points, in the negotiation, which have escaped your attention, respecting which I will write you hereafter. I have lately been much indisposed, and altho' now relieved from fever, am too weak to enter into the subject. Too much time has elapsed, for you to recollect, every incident & detail -- with great respect & sincere regard I am Dear Sir unchangeably yours."
Barbé-Marbois had been exiled as a monarchist, but returned to France and served from 1801 to 1806 as Napoleon's Minister of Finance; the delicate negotiations for the sale of Louisiana were handled by him at Napoleon's request, due to his suspicious of his foreign minister, Talleyrand.