It was certainly worth while, he said to Lucien, to sell when you could what you were certain to lose; "for the English...

are aching for a chance to capture it....

Our navy, so inferior to our neighbor's across the Channel, will always cause our colonies to be exposed to great risks....
As to the sea, my dear fellow, you must know that there we have to lower the flag....

The English navy is, and long will be, too dominant." That was on April 17.

On May 2, the Treaty of Cession was signed by the exultant Livingston.