merchants inevitably resulted in links with the United States government. Since the close of the American War of Independence, Baring had kept watch over the American government's finances in Europe. However, his first significant transaction for its account was the sale in 1795 of $800,000 worth of stock and the remittance of the proceeds in support of American negotiations with the north African Barbary powers. To secure the transaction Francis Baring admitted to acting with "zeal, perhaps imprudence, in going beyond the letters of my orders", but the American ambassador in London commended his "liberal and skilful manner", and undertook to ensure that the government would "entertain a proper sense of your Service in this Business". Other business soon followed, including the sale of the government's shares in the Bank of the United States and the purchase of munitions from British manufactures for the government's account. Barings was considered to be an "English house of the first reputation and solidity". After the failure of Bird, Savage & Bird in 1803 Barings was appointed to replace them as London financial agent for the United States government, leaving Sir Francis Baring's influence in North American financial affairs unrivalled in London. At about this time, when a short interval of peace existed after the treaty of Amiens, Baring led his house, alongside Hopes, into its largest and most prestigious transaction yet, financing the Louisiana Purchase. The French government wanted to sell of the Territory of Louisiana, and the United States administration wanted to buy it; the purchase price was $15 million and Francis Baring was charged with finding it. He sent his son Alexander to Paris to negotiate with French and American representatives, and the eventual result was that on behalf of the French government Barings and Hopes sold US government bonds worth $11.25 million. The business was of enormous size; "my nerves are equal to the operation", Francis Baring reassured Hopes, but he added that "we all tremble about the magnitude of the American account". Later he confessed that "what I suffered can never be described and it completely overpowered my nerves for the first and I hope last time". The leading American house in London also acted as London banker for the Bank of the United States. Here again the close network of correspondents and friends which Baring so earnestly cultivated was vital. Thomas Willing, William Bingham's father-in-law and Barings' client