BARBÉ DE MARBOIS (François). Histoire de la Louisiane et de - Lot 5

BARBÉ DE MARBOIS (François). Histoire de la Louisiane et de la cession de cette colonie par la France aux États-Unis de l'Amérique septentrionale ; précédée d'un Discours sur la Constitution et le gouvernement des États-Unis. Paris, imprimerie de Firmin Didot, 1829. In-8, (6 of which the 2nd and 4th are blank)-485-(one blank) pp, brown half calf, smooth spine punctuated with gilt fillets and brown scrolls, speckled edges; spine rubbed and stained, jaws split with snag (period binding). FIRST EDITION. Off-text lithographed fold-out map with colored highlights. Joseph Sabin's bibliography (no. 3306) also cites a portrait that is almost never found. A DIPLOMAT AND POLITICIAN SPECIALIZING IN AMERICAN AFFAIRS, FRANÇOIS BARBE DE MARBOIS (1745-1837) began his career in Germany. He was then posted to Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, first as secretary to the legation (1779-1782), then as chargé d'affaires (1782), with the task of organizing the French consular network there: he made friends with John Adams, George Washington and Philadelphia's New York elite, and married an American woman, daughter of the president of the Pennsylvania Executive Council. A protégé of the Marquis de La Luzerne (French ambassador to the United States, brother of the minister) and Marshal de Castries, he was appointed Intendant General of Saint-Domingue (1785-1789). After the Revolution, he benefited from the influence of his brother-in-law, the future marshal Kellermann, and was appointed mayor of Metz, then elected to the Council of Ancients, where he made friends with the future consul Charles-François Lebrun. Deported to French Guiana after the coup of 18 fructidor, it was thanks to Lebrun that he was able to return to France after the coup of 18 brumaire, and joined the Conseil d'Etat before being appointed Director and then Minister of the Treasury (1801). He played an active role in the introduction of the "germinal franc" (1803) and the cession of Louisiana to the United States (1803), but was dismissed in 1806 after failing to remedy the public accounts deficit. Nevertheless, his proven integrity led to his appointment the following year as First President of the newly-created Cour des Comptes, Senator and Comte d'Empire in 1813. Subsequently, he was one of the four senators who prepared Napoleon's deposition, was one of the drafters of the Charter at Louis XVIII's request, and was made a peer of France. Driven out of Paris by Napoleon I during the Hundred Days, he served from September 1815 to May 1816 as Minister of Justice under Louis XVIII, who made him a Marquis in 1817. He did not retire from the Court of Auditors until 1834. CESSION OF LOUISIANA TO THE UNITED STATES. An immense territory in the center of the North American continent, covering the area of some twenty present-day states, Louisiana was incorporated into "New France" at the end of the 17th century. Following Louis XV's military setbacks in the Seven Years' War, the Treaties of Fontainebleau (1762) and Paris (1763) divided Louisiana in two: the eastern part was ceded to England, and the western part, retaining only the name of Louisiana, reverted to Spain. Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, wished to reconstitute part of the French colonial empire, particularly on the other side of the Atlantic: in 1800, he ceded Louisiana back to Spain by signing the Treaty of San-Ildefonso, put an end to the "quasi-war" situation with the United States by signing the Treaty of Mortefontaine (1800-1801), and in 1801 launched an expedition to regain control of Saint-Domingue. Eager to defend its economic and political interests on the American continent (even before the "Monroe Doctrine" was formulated), the United States feared the presence of a European power such as France or England, should the latter seize control in a war against Napoleon Bonaparte. Thomas Jefferson declared himself in favor of acquiring Louisiana, or at least New Orleans, and in any case was concerned about navigation rights on the Mississippi. For his part, Napoleon Bonaparte knew he didn't have the means for a major colonial policy, and was aware that slavery, the source of prosperity in Louisiana, was becoming problematic in the light of recent events in Saint-Domingue. He was also aware that the Peace of Amiens signed with England in 1802 was only a respite, and had the idea of selling Louisiana, which was so difficult to defend due to its size and remoteness: his aim was to make a financial profit while preventing England from expanding its colonial possessions. Negotiations were conducted mainly in Paris in 1803, on the American side by ambassador Robert Livingston and special envoy James