Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/113

Rh to buy New Orleans. They had the British Fleet up their sleeves. But those who presume that our ambassadors have been an ornamental and negligible quantity in the fate of this country would do well to observe that these men, weeks away from home, took upon themselves the purchase of this great territory without a scrap of orders. The details of these ambassadorial contests always have a great interest.

Livingston describes the opening thus: "While he (Monroe) and several other gentlemen were at dinner with me, I observed the Minister of the Treasury walking in my garden. * * * While we were taking coffee he came in, and after being some time in the room, we strolled into the next room, when he told me * * * that he thought I might have something particular to say to him, and had taken the first opportunity to call on me."

We have the advantage of Livingston as the great international bargain began. The beginning was ingenious enough, considering