“ their impudent falsehoods & calumnies were able to overbear the minds of the jurors. be assured, Sir, that no motive could induce me at this time to make this declaration so gratuitously, were it not founded in sacred truth, and I will add further that I never did, or countenanced, in public life, a single act inconsistent with the strictest good faith, having never believed, there was one code of morality for a public, & another for a private man . . . ”

In the so-called “Anas”, under date May 1, 1806, Jefferson mentions the trial of Colonel William S. Smith and Samuel Gouverneur Ogden, accused of complicity in outfitting Miranda’s expedition: . . . on the prosecution of Ogden & Smith for participñ in Miranda’s expeditñ the defs & their friends having contrived to make it a government question, in which they mean to have the admñ & the judge tried as culprits instead of themselves, Swartwout, the marshal, to whom, in his duel with Clinton, Smith was second. & is bosom friend, summoned a pannel of jurors, the greater part of which were of the bitterest federalists. his letter too covering to a friend a copy of Aristides & affirming that every fact in it was true as holy writ. determined unanimously that he be removed.

[For an account of this trial, see the Trials of William S. Smith and Samuel G. Ogden . . . in July, 1806 . . . By Thomas Lloyd, stenographer. New York, 1807.]

Francisco de Miranda, 1756-1816, a native of Caracas, first took refuge in the United States in 1783. He intrigued more than once to separate the Spanish colonies from the mother country. The insurrection described in this book was promoted by Miranda after returning to the United States from Europe in 1805. He met Jefferson, Aaron Burr and James Madison, and renewed his acquaintance with William Stephens Smith, Richard Rush, Rufus King and others. The expedition sailed from New York for South America in February 1806. William Stephens Smith is said to have confided the secrets of the expedition to Aaron Burr, who informed the Spanish minister in Washington. The expedition failed, the men were imprisoned and many of them hung, and Miranda himself was captured and died in prison at Cadiz.

William Stephens Smith, 1755-1816, was the son-in-law of John Adams. He first met Miranda when secretary to the legation in London, and travelled on the Continent with him. In 1806 he was prosecuted for his part in outfitting Miranda’s expedition, and was acquitted.

Samuel Gouverneur Ogden, 1779-1860, a ship owner, in said [ sic -- Ed. ] to have fitted the Leander with 18 guns and other necessary military equipment at his own expense and dispatched her, accompanied by the Bee and the Bacchus, and a force of two hundred men. Ogden suffered a financial loss, but is said to have rejoiced that he struck the first blow for freedom for South America. Bolivar recognized this and expressed a willingness to compensate Ogden for his losses. Ogden was tried with Smith for his part in outfitting the expedition, and was also acquitted.

James Biggs accompanied the expedition as a second lieutenant on the Leander. His story is written in the form of letters to a friend, the first dated from the Ship Leander, at Sea, Feb. 5th, 1806, the last Letter XXVIII, from the United States, August 21st, 1808 and is followed by an Appendix. The list of officers (page 17) includes that of Colonel William Steuben Smith, Aid de Camp to the Commander in Chief, who in 1824 published in Washington Facts in refutation of the aspersions against the character and memory of Colonel W. Stephens Smith . . .

The first edition of Biggs’ work was published anonymously. An edition published in London in the following year, 1809, has his name on the title-page.