376.]

For a while this treaty was really kept secret; but in April, 1802, news
that Louisiana had been given to France and that Napoleon was going to
send out troops to hold it, reached this country and produced two
consequences. In the first place, it led the Spanish intendant (as the
man who had charge of all commercial matters was called) to withdraw the
"right of deposit" at New Orleans, and so prevent citizens of the United
States sending their produce out of the Mississippi River. In the second
place, this act of the intendant excited the rage of all the settlers in
the valley from Pittsburg to Natchez, and made them demand the instant
seizure of New Orleans by American troops. To prevent this, Jefferson
obtained the consent of Congress to make an effort to buy New Orleans
and West Florida, and sent Monroe to aid our minister in France in
making the purchase.

When the offer was made, Napoleon was about going to war with England,
and, wanting money very much, he in turn offered to sell the whole
province to the United States--an offer that was gladly accepted. The
price paid was $15,000,000, and in December, 1803, Louisiana was
formally delivered to us.

%245. Louisiana.%--Concerning this splendid domain hardly anything
was known. No boundaries were given to it either on the north, or on the
west, or on the south. What the country was like nobody could tell.[1]
Where the source of the Mississippi was no white man knew. In the time
of La Salle a priest named Hennepin had gone up to the spot where
Minneapolis now stands, and had seen the Falls of St. Anthony (p. 63).
But the country above the falls was still unknown.

[Footnote 1: In a description of it which Jefferson sent to Congress in
1804, he actually stated that "there exists about one thousand miles up
the Missouri, and not far from that river, a salt mountain. This
mountain is said to be one hundred and eighty miles long and forty-five
in width, composed of solid rock salt, without any trees or even
shrubs on it."]

%246. Explorations of Lewis and Clark.%--That this great region ought
to be explored had been a favorite idea of Jefferson for twenty years
past, and he had tried to persuade learned men and learned societies to
organize an expedition to cross the continent. Failing in this, he
turned to Congress, which in 1803 (before the purchase of Louisiana)
voted a sum of money for sending an exploring party from the mouth of
the Missouri to the Pacif