Jefferson’s copy was a gift from the author. In a letter to Jefferson dated from 5 Thavies Inn, London, on May 20, 1801 (received July 28), Goldsmith wrote: “The great & important Situation in which you are plac’d induces me to take the Liberty to address two Books to you. One consists of a collection of facts & anecdotes tending to expose the base & unjust Measures of certain European cabinets, whose Conduct cannot fail to be view’d with horror in any Country which like yours is bless’d with a free Government . . . I hope you will do me the honor to accept these trifles, since I offer them only as a Testimony of the respect I entertain for your character & for the sincere attachment I bear towards the united Republics of the New World.”

A postscript to the above letter states that the books have been entrusted to Mr. Carne of Falmouth, who, on June 9, reported that he had sent them.

Lewis Goldsmith, 1763?-1846, English political writer and journalist of Portuguese-Jewish extraction. This work was an attack on the war with France, and in the Advertisement on the back of the title-page, dated from London, Jan. 10, 1801, the author states that he thinks it necessary to inform his Readers that the publication has been nearly Two Months in the Press. The unexpected delay which has deferred its appearance, arose out of some differences between the Masters and Journeymen Printers . . . And he finds it necessary to acquaint the Public, that in consequence of his Bookseller’s refusal to publish this Work, he is under the necessity of becoming his own publisher. A pirated edition was printed by Stockdale in Dublin, and a French translation appeared in Hamburg, both in 1801.