To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com


To: Michael D Brazier [mailto:mdbrazier{at}juno.com]
> >
> > He would have had Louisiana, which was worth far more than he
> > sold it for.  With an army there to protect France's interests, and
> > the engineering skills that army would have, he could have made
> > Louisiana into the rich Empire the Americans made of it -- with
> > smaller forces, less engineers, and so on.
>
> Yes, yes, _we_ know that the Louisiana Purchase was worth
> far more than Haiti, and more than the price the USA paid for
> it.  But we have the advantage of seeing what the USA made
> of the territory, one that Napoleon lacked.  Why do you think
> that an army in New Orleans would have given Napoleon the
> insight that didn't come to him in the history we know?

For two reasons:

1.  It would have explored the territory (recall the discoveries the French
made during Napoleon's abortive mission to Egypt?)

2.  It would have developed the territory.  To do the things armies must do
-- move and communicate, it would have had to improve roads, dredge rivers,
and so on.

The results would have made a stronger France, one more difficult for
England to defeat.
>
> Now, if Napoleon had happened to realize that New Orleans
> was a more valuable possession, in the long run, than Haiti,
> then he might well have sent an army there to hold it and let
> Toussaint L'Overture have Haiti.  But the realization would
> have to come _first_.  The interesting question is, then, why
> Napoleon didn't recognize the true value of New Orleans,
> and what might have brought him to see it and act on it.
>
The answer is, he had a blind spot.

And that is the answer to every "why didn't he see" question
about any historical figure.
>


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