 He planned to use Louisiana as a supply base for French sugar-producing islands in the Caribbean.The commission of William Vans Murray, Oliver Ellsworth, and William Richardson Davie was approved in early 1799, but disputes between Federalists and Jeffersonians delayed their arrival in Paris until March 1800.Even then, formal discussions did not begin until April and proceeded slowly; Napoleon's deputy and Foreign Minister Talleyrand was in no hurry because the Convention was just one part in a complex network of negotiations, including the transfer of Louisiana from Spain.