In a letter written soon after the signing of the Louisiana Treaty, Robert Livingston relates a suggestive conversation which he had with Talleyrand. "What are the eastern bounds of Louisiana?" asked Livingston rather naively. "I do not know," replied Talleyrand; "you must take it as we received it." "But what did you mean to take?" Livingston insisted. "I do not know," was the reply. "Then you mean that we shall construe it our own way?" "I can give you no direction," replied the astute Frenchman. "You have made a noble bargain for yourselves, and I suppose you will make the most of it." BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The history of the Barbary Wars is well told by G. W. Allen, _Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs_(1905), and by C. O. Paullin, _Commodore John Rodgers_(1910). The investigations of Henry Adams in foreign archives enabled him to treat the diplomatic history of the purchase of Louisiana with great fullness. F. A. Ogg, _The Opening of the Mississippi_(1904), and J. K. Hosmer, _The Louisiana Purchase_ (1902), contain brief accounts of the acquisition of the province. The actual route of the Lewis and Clark expedition may be traced with the aid of O. D. Wheeler, _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, 1804-1904 (1904). The constitutional aspects of the Louisiana Treaty and the subsequent legislation for the territory are discussed at length by Adams, and less satisfactorily by Schouler and Von Holst. Channing, _The Jeffersonian System, 1801-1811_ (1906), contains a good account of the whole episode. The problem of the original boundaries is discussed by F. E. Chadwick, _The Relations of the United States and Spain_(1909). CHAPTER IX FACTION AND CONSPIRACY