claims should be honorably adjusted and speedily paid. To prevent speculation, as well as to create an additional tie on the French Government, Mr. Livingston immediately gave notice to the agent of the claimants in France that he had received a promise on which he relied for their payment, and at the same time wrote to the United States, giving a similar notice, desiring it to be made public, and advising the creditors not to part with their debts. This was in the latter part of February, or the beginning of March. Mr. Monroe did not arrive in Paris until the 12th of April, following. After this promise of payment, Mr. Livingston did not cease to urge its fulfillment; and, besides the usual and obvious arguments contained in his former notes, he stated that he had the personal engagement of the First Consul, on which he had so much relied that he had committed himself to his countrymen for its punctual performance; that the season for evasions and delays was past; and that he had the fullest confidence in the honor and faith that had been pledged for doing justice to his countrymen. Thus urged for the performance of a promise which he himself considered as an honorable one, but without the means of performing it in one way, the First Consul resolved to comply with it in the other, that had been suggested by the Minister; and there is the strongest reason to believe that a resolution to sell was taken in council some days before Mr. Monroe arrived in France; but what is certain is, that the day before his arrival in Paris, the cession of Louisiana was proposed to Mr. Livingston by Talleyrand. Mr. Livingston had then heard, either that Mr. Monroe had arrived at Havre, or was hourly expected, with powers on that subject, and, of course, declined any specific answer until he should arrive. Talleyrand then pretended that he spoke without authority. But within two days after, so urgent was the French Cabinet to conclude the sale, that one of the French Ministry, an old and intimate friend of Mr. Livingston, called on him the day of or the day after Mr. Monroe's arrival, but before he had presented his credentials, before he had taken or could take a single step in the negotiation, and explicitly offered, by authority of the First Consul, to cede the Province for a sum very little beyond that which was afterwards agreed to be given by Mr. Monroe and Mr. Livingston. The way was paved for this important acquisition by official notes, indirect communications, and printed essays, showing the little value of Louisiana to France, the question that would

arise with the United States relative to the navigation of the Mississippi River, and the right of deposit secured to us by Spain, and the certainty of its conquest if the war should be renewed with Great Britain. So that when Mr. Monroe's health permitted him, after his arrival, to take part in the negotiation, everything was done but fixing the price.

"The results of that treaty have been most beneficial to the United States. The measures and arguments which led to it have frequently been detailed to me by my deceased relatives."

34-E

CHAPTER XXIX.

END OF MR. MONROE'S PRESIDENCY-OCCUPATIONS AT "OAK HILL"-" THE LAST OF EARTH”—

"HOLLYWOOD."

R. MONROE'S position had become irksome to him and with difficulty was he able to give his attention to the details of his office towards the close of his term. He saw too plainly of how little inportance he then was in the eyes of politicians. Mr. Adams pressed him as to the foreign nominations which had been postponed, and for fear that his course in this matter should be suspected, wrote the President a letter requesting it to be put on record as showing his motives for his action; showing that he had no design of favoring himself, but the opposite, as his adversaries could see by his repeated requests to Mr. Monroe to fill all the appointments, which it was claimed, he himself was forcing to be reserved for the benefit of his partisan supporters, as reward for what they had already done, and what they might yet need to do, before the Presidential contest could be settled.

To some extent he yielded to this demand, more, perhaps, in a small way than Mr. Adams had meditated. One of Mr. Monroe's last official acts was the appointment of General Izard, an officer who had not greatly distinguished himself during the War of 1812, to be Governor of Arkansas. He made this appoint

ment, he said, to show to the country, if possible, that he was no respecter of parties; and while he could not, with consistency avoid adhering to the party principles, which he mainly embraced, yet he desired to see the country at peace internally, above all things. General Izard was a Federalist who, it was well known, still held to the early distinctive principles of the Federal party.

Breaking away from his earlier inclinations in this matter, Mr. Monroe showed some disposition to sweep all the possible appointments from the hands of his successor. He even sent to the Senate the names of clerks in the Departments, clerks under his appointment whose time would expire soon. But to a great

extent the Senate declined to make the confirmations according to his desire, whether from virtuous or other motives, it would be difficult to say.

On the last day of Mr. Monroe's Presidency he allowed the settlement of the claim of the heirs of General William Hull for salary, held to be due him up to the time of his trial, as if he feared that his successor might not render justice in this matter.

The friends of Mr. Crawford were always more or less hostile to Mr. Monroe's Administration. Toward the end, and especially when the supposed coalition between Jackson and Crawford was the common talk, Mr. Monroe felt severely the effects of Mr. Crawford's course, and thought that Mr. Crawford should have taken steps to stop the mouths of, or separate himself from, those who were assailing the Administration with which he was connected. During the last winter of Mr. Monroe's service, he and Mr. Crawford ceased to be friends, and finally all communications between

them were made through Dickens, the chief clerk in the Treasury Department. After the end of the Administration, Monroe and Crawford never met.

On the 4th of March, 1825, Mr. Monroe and his family were present at the inauguration of Mr. Adams, and shortly afterwards they retired to their home in Virginia. During Mr. Monroe's Presidency, a question arose as to the appointment of members of the Senate to subaltern offices under the Administration; and most members of the Cabinet held that it was a practice which should not be encouraged, mainly because it degraded the "high office of a Senator."

So much of the aristocracy of the Old World cropped out at this late date, even in the republican (democratic) simplicity of the "Virginia Dynasty." Still that such a practice should ever be advisable, is extremely doubtful, unless a Congressman, of the Senate or House, so appointed, is about closing the term of service to which he had been elected. But the dignity of a Senator could have no part in the considerations against an appointment to or acceptance of any position in the gift of the Government. In the Republic, other matters should control men's açts. The attachment of honor to the office, independently of the man, in this country, is questionable. In the end the character of the person, and not the office he fills or has filled, will decide his standing, even among men. This fact is sufficiently well verified in the history of this Government, if not of the race. It is an unrepublican error to attach degrees of honor to offices with us. It is contrary to the theory of our Government. Degrees of responsibility do not imply degrees of honor, they imply honesty and ability simply. Nobility of office