During the negotiations Napoleon suggested the transfer of the whole
Louisiana territory and the transaction was brought to a most successful
conclusion, the signers of the treaty being James Monroe, Robert R.
Livingston, and F.B. Marbois, the representative of Napoleon. It was a
significant bargain. By it Napoleon formed closer bonds of friendship
between France and the United States, and prevented any possibility of
the territory falling into the hands of Great Britain. He prophesied
that this Republic would eventually become a world power and a
commercial rival to England. How completely his prophecy was fulfilled.
Our country attained possession of a vast territory embracing more than
a million square miles, an area greater than the combined areas of the
British Isles, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and
Italy, the consideration being a figure less than that representing the
value of a single square block in any one of our great cities, or an
amount much smaller than has been yielded by any one of many mines
within the boundaries of the territory. Twelve flourishing states and
two territories have since been carved out of Louisiana, and the center
of our population is rapidly moving towards that region which was once
known as the wilderness of the West.


ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON

It is a matter of the utmost gratification that the State of New York
played so important a part in this great event in the person of Robert
R. Livingston, who was then United States Minister to France. Dr.
Livingston, the title of LL.D. having been conferred upon him by the
University of the State of New York, was one of the leading statesmen of
his day. A graduate of Kings (now Columbia) College, he began his career
in the practice of law in New York city, and was made Recorder of the