Had he known the action of Lucien Bonaparte, who had secured the recession from Spain, and of Joseph's insincerity, upon whom he even depended to help along the negotiation, he might well have taken counsel of his fears ; but the great real estate dealer enjoyed driving a good bargain, and so he argued and held aloof, professing that the United States " had no disposition to extend across the river ;" that they " would be perfectly satisfied with New Orleans and the Floridas ;" that they " could not give any great sum for the purchase ;" that " it was vain to ask anything so greatly beyond our means ;" that " true policy would dictate to the First Consul not to press such a demand," since " he must know the payment of such a sum would render the present government unpopular." He minimized the importance of the deal, describing West Florida as " barren sands and sunken marshes," and New Orleans as " a small town built of wood, of about seven thousand souls," a territory " only valuable to the United States because it contained the mouths of some of their rivers," going so far as to venture a prophecy that " an emigrant would not cross the Mississippi in a hundred years ;" yet, throughout weeks of dickering, he never surrendered his purpose to buy whether t*he price be cheapened or not. His anxiety was greatly increased by the disclosure of Monroe's commission, since it contained power only to treat for lands on the east side of the Mississippi. " It may, if things should take a turn favorable to France," he wrote Madison, April 17, " defeat all we may do, even at the moment of signing You will recollect that I have been long preparing this government to yield us the country above the Arkansas, and I am therefore surprised that our commission should have entirely lost sight of the object." Livingston's fears proved groundless, and the dickering went on until April 29, when Marbois' original figures were accepted -- sixty million francs to France, and twenty million francs to Amer-