Hardly was the treaty signed, when Livingston found what he sought. He discovered that France had actually bought West Florida without knowing it, and had sold it to the United States without being paid for it. This theory, which seemed at first sight preposterous, became a fixed idea in Livingston’s mind. He knew that West Florida had not been included by Spain in the retrocession, but that on the contrary Charles IV. had repeatedly, obstinately, and almost publicly rejected Bonaparte’s tempting bids for that province. Livingston’s own argument for the cession of Louisiana had chiefly rested on this knowledge, and on the theory that without Mobile New Orleans was worthless. He recounted this to Madison in the same letter which announced Talleyrand’s offer to sell:[56]-- “I have used every exertion with the Spanish Ambassador and Lord Whitworth to prevent the transfer of the Floridas, ... and unless they [the French] get Florida, I have convinced them that Louisiana is worth little.” In the preceding year one of the French ministers had applied to Livingston “to know what we understand in America by Louisiana;” and Livingston’s answer was on record in the State Department at Washington:[57] “Since the possession of the Floridas by Britain and the treaty of 1762, I think there can be no doubt as to the precise meaning of the terms.” He had himself drafted an article which he tried to insert in Marbois’s _projet_, pledging the First Consul to interpose his good offices with the King of Spain to obtain the country east of the Mississippi. As late as May 12, Livingston wrote to Madison:[58] “I am satisfied that ... if they [the French] could have concluded with Spain, we should also have had West Florida.” In his next letter, only a week afterward, he insisted that West Florida was his:[59]-- “Now, sir, the sum of this business is to recommend to you in the strongest terms, after having obtained the possession that the French commissary will give you, to insist upon this as a part of your right, and to take possession at all events to the River Perdido. I pledge myself that your right is good.”