8 University of Caifornia Publiations in History

purchased for five million dollars, and both France and Spain
were to be allowed commercial privileges there equal to those of
the United States; four million dollars were to be paid by Spain
in satisfaction of all claims; and the Colorado River was to be the
boundary on the west. A counterproject, inspired by the French
prime minister, Talleyrand, was broader in scope. It included the
payment of six million dollars to meet claims against Spain by bills
on the Spanish colonies, the payment of ten million dollars by the
United States for the Floridas, and the extension of the western
boundary northward from the source of the Colorado along the
headwaters of the Missiesippi tributaries. Both schemes included
the earlier proposal of a thirty-league desert or neutral zone along
the border. The expectation of French assistance was based in part
on Armstrong's well-founded belief that any money which might
be paid to Spain would promptly find its way to the coffers of
Napoleon.'
 It was necessary to make provisions at home for the execution
 of such arrangements as those proposed at Paris. Although the net
 amount to be paid by the United States had been reduced to four
 million dollars, Jefferson had difficulty in obtaining any appropria-
 tion. After a bitter dispute with John Randolph, chairman of the
 House committee which considered the matter, he managed to get
 a two-million-dollar grant for the purchase of the Floridas. But
 the whole negotiation fell through, chiefly because Napoleon's
 financial needs had been relieved by his successful campaigns in
 Central Europe.
 It is important, for a proper perspective on the liter develop-
 ment of United States policy, to note that, in his instructions of
 1806 to Armstrong and the newly appointed Bowdoin, Madison
 held the Floridas to be cf much greater importance than the west-
 ern boundary. He considered West Florida "essential" and East
 Florida "important," id was willing to yield if necessary to the
 Sabine River as the western limit in order to obtain the Floridas.
 That concession meant the relinquishment of all Texas. Thus Mon-
 roe's plan foreshadowed the agreement which was ultimately con-
 summated in 1819.
 Irujo, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly unpopular with the
 government at Washington. In 1804 he raised a storm of protest
 over the Mobile Act; shortly thereafter it was discovered that he