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Show Little Journeys in; Americana I I B, LESTER B. COLBY When Napoleon Slipped in Hit Bath XJAPOLEON BONAPARTE) waa ' splashing vigorously in tbe rojal bathtub In the Tullerlea. Scented water wa-ter floating with foam reached to bla neck. A dignified aervant with a heavy batb towel stood at attention nearby. Suddenly there came a scratch at the door for at this time scratching was nsed Instead of knocking. Aa the door opened Napoleon's two brothers, Joseph and Laden, entered. Napoleon, looking up from bis bath, remarked: "I am going to sell Louisiana to the United States." Now Louisiana was tbe last foothold foot-hold of France on the North American Amer-ican continent and the two brothers were amazed. Joseph, later to be king of Spain, let bla Latin anger rise. He cried, shaking a fist under Napoleon's nose : "You'll not do It It would be unconstitutional. un-constitutional. Attempt It and I will be the first to oppose yon, I swear It" Napoleon, livid wltb anger, Jumped to his feet with the cry: "Oppose me I You'll bare no chance to oppose me. I conceived this plan. I'll carry It out Tbe responsibility la mine. Bah 1 I scorn your opposition!" opposi-tion!" Just then his foot slipped. Perhaps Per-haps It was a piece of soap. Anyway, bathtubs are treacherous. What happened hap-pened was that the Great Napoleon sllrfped and sat down In tbe batb- tub wltb a mighty splash. A wave of hot soapy water rose and drenched Joseph to the akin. The dlgnlQed servant man who stood by the door wltb the towels on bis arm fainted. History kindly drops a curtain here and leaves the rest of the picture to our Imagination. At any rate this la bow Napoleon Bonaparte announced that Louisiana was to be sold. The action came Just In ' time. Robert It Livingston and James Monroe had been sent to Tarla by Thomns Jefferson, then President Presi-dent Their mission was to endeavor to buy from Napoleon a gateway to the gulf at the moutb of the Mississippi, Missis-sippi, i The plan called for the purchase ot New Orleans and a narrow strip of land. The price Jefferson was willing to pay was 12,000,000. In the midsf of their negotiations Napoleon suddenly proposed to sell the whole ot Loulsl- ana for $15,000,000. ' Be Insisted upon closing the deal at once. The two Americans bad no authority au-thority for such a deal. Communication Communica-tion was slow tn those days, no transatlantic trans-atlantic cables, no radio. let they hesitated little. The purchase was signed May 22, 1803, and a million square miles was added to tbe United States. The reason for Napoleon's baste was soon apparent Within forty-eight hours after Louisiana waa sold England Eng-land declared war on France. It had been England's plan to strike at once at New Orleans and so acquire all of Louisiana. . By Napoleon's sudden action be profiled 115,000,000, and lost only what he was sure to lose. The United States got a vast territory. Had England Eng-land succeeded In taking New Orleans, It ts possible the western boundary of the United States today might be the 1 Mississippi river. So the strange comedy of tbe bath-tub bath-tub In Tullerlea figured In shaping the destinies of America. & im. Lester B. Colby.) |