" In spite of affinities in manners and languages," said the Secretary of State, " no colony beyond the river could exist under the same government, but would infallibly give birth to a separate state, having in its bosom germs of collision with the east, the easier to develop in proportion to the very affinities between the two empires." This explained the true attitude of Jefferson and Madison. They did not seek territory west of the Mississippi. Their thought centered in the purchase of New Orleans ; it was the " one spot on the globe, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual en-

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 105

emy ;" France's possession of it " must marry us to the British fleet and nation ;" upon it " every eye in the United States is now fixed ;" to gain it Pinokney was charged " to guarantee to Spain the peaceable possession of the territory beyond the Mississippi ;" in Madison's opinion " the boundary line between the United States and Louisiana should be the Mississippi ;" according to his theory " no colony beyond the Mississippi could exist under the same government with that on the east side ;" nor did the United States have any interest in building up a colony beyond the Mississippi. In other words, Jefferson saw only New Orleans ; he wanted only New Orleans and peace ; and to get the one and keep the other, Monroe was sent to Paris to secure " our rights and interests in the river Mississippi and in the territories eastward thereof." In the meantime Livingston had taken a different view. It is not clear that he appreciated the future value of the great northwest more than did Jefferson or Madison, but in his argument for the purchase of New Orleans he had included in his request ninetenths of the territory now known as the Louisiana Purchase.