In the second volume of Henry Adams, at pages 23 and 24, you will find Addington remarking to our minister to Great Britain, Rufus King, that it would not do to let Bonaparte establish himself in Louisiana.

Addington very plainly hints that Great Britain would back us in any such event.

This backing of us by Great Britain found very cordial acceptance in the mind of Thomas Jefferson.

A year before the Louisiana Purchase was consummated, and when the threat of Bonaparte was in the air, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Livingston, on April 18, 1802, that "the day France takes possession of New Orleans, we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." In one of his many memoranda to Talleyrand, Livingston alludes to the British fleet.

He also points out that France may by taking a certain course estrange the United States for ever and bind it closely to France's great enemy.