Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/98

78 sort of Bryanite compromise that would keep the Westerners from invading the town. They were not in such a fearful hurry, because any one could see that Spain was on the decline, and would lose the territory sooner or later from pure senility and impotence.

At the court of Spain was a crafty and clever rascal named Godoy, who boasted the title of "The Prince of Peace." He was the favourite of the Queen, and had control of the tiller of state, the King being little better than a nincompoop, and as helpless as a ward in chancery. When Napoleon made one of his dynamic decisions to secure Louisiana, it was to this bounder that he made his proposition. It was an offer to buy. Very much the same sort of proposition the Standard Oil is credited with having made in its palmy days: "You'll take what I give you, for your health."

What he offered was the Kingdom of Etruria for the Royal Spanish Duke of Parma and one of Talleyrand's celebrated promises that France would not sell Louisiana to any one