several indictments be put off until the next stated term of this court, to be held on the first day of September next. And thereupon the attorney of the district, on behalf of the United States, asked leave for time to consider the said motion;

Whereupon, it is ordered by the court, that he have until tomorrow morning to reply to the said motion.

The defendant, William S. Smith, being returned by the mar, shal of the district, in custody, and being in court,

Thereupon, on motion of the attorney of the district, it is ordered by the court, that the said William S. Smith stand committed to the custody of the marshal of this district.

Friday, April 11, 1806.

Present, as before.

The United States of America On indictments. On the mo

upon,

versus

Samuel G. Ogden,

The same versus William S. Smith.

tion of yesterday to put off the trial of these causes,

The attorney of the district, on behalf of the United States, having submitted to the court, that he had nothing to offer in opposition to the motion; there

It is ordered by the court, that the trial of the said several indictments be put off until Monday the fourteenth day of July next; at which time, it is also ordered by the court, that a special sessions of this court shall be held for the trial of criminal causes, at the city of New-York, in the district of New-York, in the se, cond circuit; and that the clerk issue the usual process to the marshal of this district, to summon a grand and petit jury to attend the said special sessions.

The foregoing is a history of the proceedings of the court of the United States, in the cases of Messrs. Smith and Ogden, at the term holden in April last, as taken from the minutes of the court. The publisher is happy, however, to have it in his power, through favour of the counsel for the defendants, to lay before the reader a more particular account of the proceedings of the court on the very interesting question, which arose on that occasion, and to give the substance of the arguments that were used by the counsel for the defendants; for the better understanding of which, are subjoined the depositions and examinations of the defendants, which were taken before his honour, judge Talmadge; and which are the illegal testimony alleged by the defendants to have been before the grand jury when the indictments were found. The examination and depositions were as follow;

NO. 1.

VOLUNTARY EXAMINATION OF MR. OGDEN.

March 1, 1806.

Samuel G. Ogden brought up this morning upon the warrant issued by me yesterday, and examined as a party charged in having provided and prepared the expedition mentioned in the warrant, says-He is. the sole owner of the Leander; general Miranda's name is Francis; he sailed in her, and she was bound to Jacquemel. He prefers not to say what other place the Leander was to touch, or where gen. Miranda was to land, and does not say. There were 180 persons on board, including every person. She had 17 cannon on board, mounted as the complement of the ship. He declines answering any question relating to the vessel's cargo, or what was in her hold.

The persons who went out in the Leander, are set down in a list, a copy of which he annexes hereto.

The persons on board were not organised as a troop to act in any military duty, other than to defend the vessel in case of attack. He does not admit he has set on foot or prepared any expedition of a hostile nature against any foreign state. He first saw gen. Miranda the 27th or 28th of Dec. last, then in NewYork, where he remained principally till he sailed in the Leander. The general lodged at Mrs. Avery's, State-street, in this city.

SAMUEL G. OGDEN. Taken and subscribed before me the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and six.

MATTHIAS B. TALMADGE.

NO. 2.

OGDEN'S DEPOSITION.

District of New-York, to wit.—Samuel G. Ogden, of the city of New-York, merchant, sworn to make true answers touching a certain expedition, fitted out and sailed from this port, in the Leander, deposes, that col. Smith had no particular agency in fitting out the ship Leander, or procuring the cargo. This deponent did that himself. Col. Smith and gen. Miranda were frequently together; William Armstrong was the principal agent of this deponent in procuring certain articles of the cargo of the ship, and getting the men on board. There were pikes, cannon, and cutlasses, for the use of the ship, on board. Gen. Miranda is gote out in the ship as passenger merely; is bound to a place, as e this deponent thinks, in lat. between 10 and 15 N. and longi ude between 60 and 75 W. Gen. Miranda was to land, as was intended, either upon an island, or on the Spanish Main,

within that latitude and longitude. That the men on board were at liberty to act, or not to act, in any enterprise with gen. Miranda, as they should agree, or to land with the general, or not to land, at their pleasure. Gen. Miranda was born, as he has understood, in the province of Caraccas, and he thinks in the town of Caraccas, where he had a great number of friends. That gen. Miranda showed this deponent a great number of papers in the Spanish language, the substance of which, as he told him, were assurances from his friends at Caraccas, that they would assist him in any views they might have when he arrived there. They were papers both recent and old, and some of them very recent, and mostly received by gen. Miranda while in Europe; that gen. Miranda came here from London, and brought with him a letter of credence on Daniel Ludlow, of this city, for 8001. sterling, which sum this deponent received from Mr. Ludlow for gen. Miranda.

The engagement between this deponent and gen. Miranda is, that the Leander shall carry what she has on board to the port of destination, and the captain of the ship is there to receive, for this deponent, in cash, its price and the amount of the outfit. and 200 per cent advance on the amount of the cargo and outfits; the vessel is then to proceed to Jacquemel, and with the cash to purchase a return cargo of coffee. This deponent has several bills on London, drawn by gen. Miranda, to the amount of 2000. sterling; one on Nicholas Van Sittart and John Turnbull; the others on Trinidad, to the amount of about 5000/. sterling ou Joseph Lambert and William Brown, merchants, for which he is to give gen. Miranda credit when paid. This deponent saith,

the amount of the cargo on board the ship Leander is about forty thousand dollars; the outfits he estimates at thirty thousand more. Gen. Miranda is at liberty to receive, or not to receive the cargo, when it arrives at the port of destination. The estimated amount to be received there was about 217,000 dollars.

This deponent further saith, that gen. Miranda went to Washington not long before he sailed and, as he understood, was introduced to the officers of our government; and this deponent understood from gen. Miranda, that he had several interviews with the president and Mr. Madison, and conversed among other general topics with them, upon the subject of the situation of South America, and the oppression of its inhabitants.

That from conversations between this deponent and gen. Miranda, this deponent understood the Leander was to land her cargo and gen. Miranda, near the town of Caraccas, in the province of Caraccas, so that the same might be conveyed to that place. That the military force of Laguira, he understands, is about five hundred men. This deponent understood from gen. Miranda that he was on good terms with the British government, and that that government were disposed to promote and second his views upon the Spanish Main. The ship's cargo was

furnished at the request, and according to the directions of gen. Miranda, and she is expected to return in all the month of March, and not expected to stay at the port of her destination more than about a fortnight.

Question. What arms were on board the Leander when she sailed?

Answer by this deponent. Pistols, pikes, muskets and can÷ non, cutlasses or sabres, and bayonets. This deponent does not recollect of any other arms on board.

There were between one and three hundred pistols, bought of various persons in the city; about four or five thousand pikes ; between five and six hundred muskets; between thirty and forty cannon in the hold, among which were two brass pieces, four pounders, and carriages for all the cannon; not so many bay. onets as muskets. The cannon were procured from gen. Stevens, Corp, Ellis and Shaw, Ripley, Center and Co. and Bernard Hart; ten or twenty tons of cannon ball, one half ton of musket balls, one hundred and fifty quarter casks of powder, bought of Low and Wallace, and Jonathan Ogden; about one or two dozen saddles and bridles, blue cloth jackets and Russia sheeting trowsers, such as are worn in the West Indies, made by Mr. Weyman, about one thousand or fifteen hundred in number; the quantity of articles, arms and equipments, were purchased according to the advice of gen. Miranda. All the above articles, this deponent believes, were put on board before the vessel dropped down to the Narrows; and to the best of this deponent's knowledge, recollection and belief, the above warlike articles were designedly omitted to be entered in their proper name in the captain's manifest of the vessel's cargo. This deponent does suppose, from his knowledge of the expedition, that there was to be some arrangement among the men on board the Leander as to subordination of rank, after their arrival to their destination.

Question. Did you not understand from gen. Miranda, that it was his object to heave off the yoke of the present Spanish government from the inhabitants of the country, to which he was bound?

This deponent answers, that he understood his object was to relieve the people from oppression; but did not understand how this was to be effected by him, and does suppose the above warlike articles were intended as auxiliaries in effecting that object. This deponent further said, that he was introduced to gen. Miranda by col. William S. Smith, as he recollects.

SAMUEL G. OGDEN.

sworn the 1st day of March, 1806, before me,

MATTHIAS B. TALMADGE,

ΝΟ. 3.

VOLUNTARY EXAMINATION OF COL. SMITH.

District of New-York, ss. William S. Smith brought up by a warrant issued against him upon suspicion of his having been concerned in preparing the means of an expedition against a foreign state, on board of the Leander, on his examination voluntarily says, that he knows general Miranda-his christian name is Francisco. This examinant has every reason to believe, that general Miranda sailed in the Leander, which vessel was bound to Jacquemel. Gen. Miranda stated to this examinant, that he had been invited by his friends at Caraccas, Lis native country, to return to his native place. Caraccas is a Spanish province on the Main, in South America. That gen. Miranda invited this examinant to accompany him there, which this examinant declined, unless it should be by the permission of this government. That gen. Miranda thereupon went to the city of Washington, and as he stated to this examinant, communicated the object of his return to Caraccas to the president of the United States and the secretary of state; and, if they should admit him to a second interview, he, the said general Miranda was at liberty to ask of them permission for this examinant to return with the said gen. Miranda to his country. That while gen. Miranda was at Washington, he wrote to this examinant, that he had had those interviews with the president and secretary of state, and made the request in favour of this examinant aforesaid, that he was answercd by the president and secretary, that it would not be correct for them to give this examinant a letter of service, as it might commit our government; but that this examinant was at liberty to go if he pleased, and this examinant did thereupon relinquish the idea of accompanying him the said gen. Miranda. That gen. Miranda inquired of this examinant about a vessel proper to he employed for his use in returning to his country. This examinant, for the purpose of procuring a fit vessel, introduced him to a captain Lewis, who had commanded a vessel in the WestIndia trade, and Mr. Lewis referred him to Samuel G. Ogden, of this city, as the owner of a vessel proper for his use, and as being then in the West-India trade. That this examinant was informed, that Mr. Lewis and gen. Miranda, went to Mr. Ogden's to treat with him about the engagement of the said vessel : and this examinant has been informed, by the said gen. Miranda and Lewis, that the agreement was made with Mr. Ogden, that the vessel called the Leander should go cut with gen. Miranda. bound to Jacquemel, and from thence should take him over and land him upon the Spanish Main, as near the town of Caraccas as might be; or if this could not be conveniently done, was to bring him back again to the city of New-York. That this examinant has been a long time an intimate friend of gen. Miranda;