120 University of California Publications in History

Louisiana Purchase. A statement to this effect was transmitted
both to the United States and to Spain." Concerning the western
boundary no specific declaration was made. Roth, the French
charge in Washington in 1816, told Monroe that France did not
feel concerned in that question, and simply considered the Louisi-
ana-Texas limit as undefined." Onfs later reported, though, that he
knew positively Napoleon had once described Louisiana as extend-
ing to the Bay of San Bernardo, and that the government of Louis
XVIII would be willing to declare the same." Whatever the truth
of this may have been, no such statement was officially made at any
time during the Adams-Onis treaty negotiations.
 The r61e that France did play was carried out chiefly by her
minister to the United States, Baron Guillaume Hyde de Neuville.
He came to that position in 1816, but had previously lived for some
years in this country as an exile, owned property in New Jersey,
and liked the "Anglo-Americans." His basic instructions defined
the part he was to enact throughout the affair between the United
States and Spain." In them he was told to cultivate friendly rela-
tions, and to distinguish clearly between the governments of France
before and after August 30, 1814, clearing the latter of responsi-
bility for the acts of the former. He was to remember that the rela-
tions of France and Spain made his government desirous that the
Spanish Empire should not be further weakened. But, inasmuch
as the insurgent colonies might become so strong that their inde-
pendence would be inevitable, he was not to oppose them openly
and thereby deprive France of commercial opportunities should
they become free. And he was to bear in mind that the chief necessi-
ties of France were to maintain peace and build up her commerce.
 Among other instructions, Hyde de Neuville received a warn-
ing to watch the activities of the Bonapartist exiles. That duty con-
sumed much of his time anid caused him no little anxiety. For not
only was Napoleon's older brother living in the United States,
but a group of his military officers were developing colonization
schemes, planning attacks on Spanish American territory, and
plotting liberation of the former emperor.
 Joseph Bonaparte, once the "intruder king" of Spain, had come
to the United States in 1815, and soon settled down in New Jersey,
where he lived until 1832. He did not actively engage in any ex-
peditions himself, but maintained cordial relations with other