At once the brothers sought an interview with Napoleon.  He chanced to be in his bath, a warm bath perfumed with scents, where he believed that tired nature most readily found recovery.  He ordered them to be admitted, and an interesting family discussion was the result.  On his mentioning the proposed sale, Lucien at once retorted that the Legislature would never consent to this sacrifice.  He there touched the wrong chord in Napoleon’s nature:  had he appealed to the memories of le grand monarque and of Montcalm, possibly he might have bent that iron will; but the mention of the consent of the French deputies roused the spleen of the autocrat, who, from amidst the scented water, mockingly bade his brother go into mourning for the affair, which he, and he alone, intended to carry out.  This gibe led Joseph to threaten that he would mount the tribune in the Chambers and head the opposition to this unpatriotic surrender.  Defiance flashed forth once more from the bath; and the First Consul finally ended their bitter retorts by spasmodically rising as suddenly falling backwards, and drenching Joseph to the skin.  His peals of scornful laughter, and the swooning of the valet, who was not yet fully inured to these family scenes, interrupted the argument of the piece; but, when resumed a little later, a sec, Lucien wound up by declaring that, if he were not his brother, he would be his enemy.  “My enemy!  That is rather strong,” exclaimed Napoleon.  “You my enemy!  I would break you, see, like this box”—­and he dashed his snuff-box on the carpet.  It did not break:  but the portrait of Josephine was detached and broken.  Whereupon Lucien picked up the pieces and handed them to his brother, remarking:  “It is a pity:  meanwhile, until you can break me, it is your wife’s portrait that you have broken."[203]

To Talleyrand, Napoleon was equally unbending:  summoning him on April 11th, he said: 

“Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season.  I renounce Louisiana.  It is not only New Orleans that I cede:  it is the whole colony, without reserve; I know the price of what I abandon.  I have proved the importance I attach to this province, since my first diplomatic act with Spain had the object of recovering it.  I renounce it with the greatest regret:  to attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly.  I direct you to negotiate the affair."[204]

After some haggling with Monroe, the price agreed on for this territory was 60,000,000 francs, the United States also covenanting to satisfy the claims which many of their citizens had on the French treasury.  For this paltry sum the United States gained a peaceful title to the debatable lands west of Lake Erie and to the vast tracts west of the Mississippi.  The First Consul carried out his threat of denying to the deputies of France any voice in this barter.  The war with England sufficed to distract their attention; and France turned sadly away from the western prairies,