The object of M. Antepara's publication appears to be, to enable his countrymen to form a clear opinion of the character and proceedings of the man who has so long shown himself the indefatigable advocate of their independence. We learn from these papers that Miranda, after having served several years in the Spanish army, and attained the rank of Lieutenant-colonel, left the Havannah in 1783 to proceed on his travels, beginning with the United States. Two years afterward, we find him sending in his resignation to the Spanish Minister, Count Florida Blanca, and setting out on an European tour; in the course of which he traversed successively, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. While he was in Greece, Athens was his chief residence; and when, after having left that classic abode, he took up his quarters for a season in Russia, Catherine, with her accustomed anxiety to communicate to her subjects the instruction which foreigners were capable of affording, invited him to enter into her service: but his eagerness to contribute to the emancipation of Spanish America prevailed over every other consideration. Even at this early period of his career, the jealousy of the Spanish government was excited, as appears from the following letter from his travelling companion, Colonel Smith, of the American service:

6 London, March 26th, 1788. My Dear Friend,

As I have no account from you, of your having received the letter I wrote you from Paris, in November, 1785, poste restante at Rome, Naples, and Genoa, I must conclude they miscarried, and of course you as yet remain uninformed how exceedingly prudent it was in you not to have visited Paris with me at that time; indeed, I am perfectly convinced, if you had been with me, I should have been a painful witness to your distress and absolute imprisonment in the Bastile; and now it becomes me to explain the grounds upon which this decided opinion was formed. After we parted at Vienna, on the 26th of October, 1785, I travelled with

the greatest expedition, and was so fortunate as to fall in with a French officer and from Constantinople to Paris, express. As his servant, travelling in a Turkish dress our objects were similar, viz. to get to Paris with all possible despatch, I invited the officer to take a seat with me, and permit my servant to travel with his, which he readily consented to; we moved with great diligence and expedition day and night, and arrived at Paris between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning of Sunday, the 6th of November; we parted at the Barrier Gate, and I ordered my postillion to drive to the Hotel of Louis XVI, rue Richelieu. On my arriving, and asking the master of the house if I could be accommodated mative, but politely begged my name; on with apartments, he answered in the affirgiving it, his countenance brightened, and bowing, he said he had expected the honour of seeing me ten days or a fortnight past, hoped I had an agreeable journey, and if I would do him the honour of following him, he would do himself the honour of showing me my apartments. The prescience of the man, and his superabundant civility, you will doubtless conclude excited my curiosity, and induced me, after I had seen my apartments, to inquire how he came to know it was my intention to visit Paris, and particularly to put up at his house; he answered me, that Lieutenant-general

had informed him

of it, and since called twice, to know whether I had arrived; and being very anxious to show me every civility in his power, had requested to be informed the moment of my arrival, which, with my permission, he would instantly do. I gave the permission solicited, but was much perplexed to know who this Lieutenant-general was, that had conceived such an affection for me. You will doubtless be solicitous to know how this man in Paris knew that I was travelling through Europe, and proposed visiting Paris in my way to London, and intended to take lodgings, during my stay, at the hotel of Louis XVI, rue Richelieu. It astonished me at the time, as much as the detail of it now can surprise you. I had never communicated it to any one, I had not even told you of it, for it was a matter of very little consequence; but on taking a retrospective view of what had passed, and referring to my memorandum book, I found, that one day at dinner with the Marquis de la Fayette, at Potsdam, in Prussia, when several French officers were at table, attended each by their respective servants, the Marquis recommended, when I came to Paris, that I should lodge at this hotel. Out of com

pliment to him, I took out my pocket book at table, and noted the name of the hotel and street, and never more thought on the subject, until the postillion, on entering Paris, asked me where he should drive. I then directed him to the place abovementioned. From hence I conclude, the only way my intention could have been known, must have been by a communication from some one of those servants attending at the Marquis's table, to this particular friend of mine, the Lieutenantgeneral, or at his office; for I have since discovered, that French travelling servants keep more accurate journals than some of their masters, and are in the habit of reporting on their return (to the police) whatever they may suppose will ingratiate themselves with its officers, or yield them a few livres in return.

'After getting my breakfast and dressing myself, I waited on Mr. Jefferson, our minister at Paris, and in the course of conversation related the singular circum stance that had occurred on my arrival, and mentioned the name of the General (which I do not now recollect) who had been thus polite; and asked him if he recollected any one of that name who had served in America, for I could conceive of no other circumstance that could have made me known to a French General.

Mr. Jefferson, laughing much, told me it was the Lieutenant-general of the police, and hoped he did not intend further to display his partiality for me, by accommodating me with apartments in his palace, the Bastile. This tended further to excite my curiosity, rather than alarm my fears. But to proceed further with this curious detail-on my return to my lodgings in the evening, my servant Louis told me a gentleman had called and made inquiries after my health, and the health of the gentleman who travelled with me, and asked whether we lodged together. Louis, supposing he inquired after the Turkish offieer who came with me to Paris, answered in the negative, and told him we had parted at the Barrier Gate, and that he did not know where he lodged. He was then asked, whether it was the same gentleman who had set out with me from London, and was with me in Prussia. Louis said no; that that gentleman we had left at Vienna; that the other was one who had overtaken us on the road. He quite fretted the servant with his pointed inquiries, and doubts of the truth of what he told him; and refusing to leave his name, which the servant asked, said he would call again when his master would be at home.

This interview between the visitor and my servant took place about twelve o'clock; about four in the afternoon, another person came, and in the porter's lodge, having formed an acquaintance with Louis, pro hoc, and having drank together, pressed further interrogatories relative to my companion; for it seems, my friend, it was you they hoped to see, and not me but being constantly and honestly answered, that his master had left you at Vienna, I was not honoured by a visit from the Lieutenant-general of the police, nor my servant further interrogated.

The next day, I think, or in a very short time, I visited the Marquis de la Fayette, who scarcely gave himself time to salute me, before he exclaimed, "I hope to God, my dear friend, your companion, Colonel Miranda, has not come with you!" I told him you had not, that I had left you at Vienna. He said he was extremely happy to hear it, and begged me, if I wrote, to insist upon your not coming to Paris; for if the Count d'Aranda should know you were in Paris, he (La Fayette) would be extremely apprehensive for your fate. I immediately wrote you, agreeably to the address agreed on; and I think dated Paris, 10th of November, 1785, poste restante at Rome, Naples, and Genoa, to warn you of the impending cloud which I had noticed in this hemisphere, the threa tening aspect of which I did not conceive you had a just idea of.'

Having finished his travels, Miranda took up his residence in London; and being introduced in the year 1790 to Mr. Pitt, by Governor Pownall, he communicated the project of American emancipation to that Minister. It was received with great attention, and continued to enter seriously into the contemplation of the British cabinet as long as the differences respecting Nootka Sound prevailed between the two governments: but after these were definitively settled, and Miranda saw no prospect of the proposition being entertained on the part of Great Britain, he was induced to go over to Paris in 1792, and to await the opportunities which the chances of the Revolution might offer for the accomplishment of his favourite project. His military knowledge attracting the attention of Per

tion and other leaders, he was offered a command in the French army under Dumouriez; which he accepted, and quitted Paris, leaving the individuals at the head of the Republic in possession of his views, and impressing them strongly with their magnitude. He soon found that French ardour threatened to out-run all sober calculation. The government of the French part of St. Domingo falling vacant, Brissot became urgent with Miranda to accept of it, for the purpose of effecting a revolution in the Spanish colonies. "You alone," he wrote to Miranda, (p. 172,) "appear to me fit for the direction of this enterprize. Your name and your talents guarantee its success. I have laid open my views to all the Ministers, and they are penetrated with their importance. The moment is grand; if we permit it to pass, it may never return." Apprehensive lest the attempt should be made prematurely, Miranda replied that, being unacquainted with the state of St. Domingo, he was ill fitted to assume the government of it: but that for more particular information he referred to Dumouriez, who was then about to proceed to Paris. In the next month, Dumouriez having gone to Paris, and discussed the matter personally with the men in office, Brissot communicated to Miranda the postponement of the undertaking, in a letter of which the following is an extract, and which is remarkable for its reference to the origin of the last war,—a war which we were so often told, was "just and necessary."

I have seen Dumouriez several times. He seems desirous of accompanying you on the expedition in question, and Spain is so much disposed to be neutral, that our government is averse to attack her. Besides, the approaching war with England attracts every eye and absorbs all our attention. To judge from appearances, it is inevitable; but when we consider that at bottom no sound reason for it can be urged, and that on the contrary the English nation is reaping immense profits while we are fighting, we are astonished at such extravagance on the part of the Cabinet

of St. James's. Whatever its intentions are, we must meet them, and we are mä

king preparations accordingly.'

The commencement of the campaign in the Low Countries, soon gave complete occupation to all parties, and obliged them to adjourn the discussion of the South American expedition. On the loss of the battle of Neerwinden, Dumouriez sought, as is well known, to exculpate himself by laying the blame on Miranda; an accusation which led to a public trial of the latter at Paris. Miranda was triumphantly acquitted: but the reign of Robespierre taking place soon afterward, he was deprived of his liberty, and committed to the prison of La Force. A fellow-prisoner, M. Champagneux, having in an edition of Madame Roland's works given an account of what passed in this gloomy retreat, we select the following passage from the extract of Champagneux's work, as printed by the editor of the present volume :

'Those frightful doors, which were shut on me for the first time, impressed me with a degree of horror which I am unable to describe. I was first led into a court which served as a walk for the prisoners, and I there saw collected about a hundred individuals, as unlike in dress and figure as in the state of feeling which they respectively discovered. I recognized among the number General Miranda, Custine the younger, General Lecuyer, Adam Lux, and the deputies Vergniaud and Valazé. How often does our ignorance of the future beguile our calculations by flattering us with the hope of advantage in events, which, if realized, would lead to our ruin? I was of the number of those who wished for a removal to the Luxemburg; and I mentioned my plan to Miranda, who very fortunately dissuaded me from it for the chance is that I should have been exhibited as an actor in the fabulous conspiracy which was invented to justify the death of almost all the prisoners in the Luxemburg.

'Having named Miranda, I shall endeavour to give some account of this foreigner. A native of Spanish America, this man had, at the age of forty-two traversed the whole civilized world; and he had acquired in his travels a variety of knowledge, and an acquaintance with several languages, which he spoke with fluency. Having

come to France in 1792, he proposed to remain among us, and connected himself with Petion, and other deputies of the same class, to whom he had brought over introductions from England.

Miranda prepossessed in his behalf all the friends of liberty, by declaring his plan of establishing it in his native country. He had first communicated his design to the Empress of Russia, and afterward to Pitt, with the view of obtaining their support. He had been favourably treated by both, but he expected much more from France, since freedom had begun to inspire her. The Girondists, who had at that time great influence, promised to serve Miranda, and offered him in the meanwhile a command in the armies. This was at the time when the Prussians

had advanced into Champagne. Being

named General of Division, he made the campaign of 1792, and the first part of that of 1793. He was a partaker in the honour of expelling the allies from the French territories, and of conquering the Austrian Low Countries: but fortune became after

ward unpropitious to him. The failure of the blockade of Mastricht, and the loss of the battle of Neerwinden, where Miranda conmanded the left wing, which was very roughly handled, joined to the fall of his political friends, the Girondists, lowered him in the public esteem. He was considered as an accomplice of Dumouriez, and was brought before the revolu tionary tribunal. That monstrous institution was then in its infancy, and still preserved some of the forms which protect innocence and virtue. Miranda's case was debated during eleven sittings. The pub lic, at first prejudiced against him, soon became extremely interested in his behalf. His rule was to make each witness for the prosecution undergo a cross examination, which ended almost always in favour of the prisoner. He was acquitted by the unanimous voice of his judges, each member of the court passing an eulogy on him; and this General, for whose head the people had been clamouring some days before, was carried to his house in triumph.

'Miranda, however, did not long enjoy his victory over his enemies. He had retired to a country-house near Paris, where he made a display of rich collections of books, engravings, paintings, and statues, which he had formed in his travels; and here he was suddenly arrested by an armed force sent by the Commune of Paris, of which Pache was then the leader. He was discharged, but arrested a second

time, and confined in the prison of La Force as a suspected character.

'Conversation full of interest, extensive information, and the profession of the most rigid virtue, made me prefer Miranda's society to that of all the other prisoners. We contrived to occupy adjoining rooms, and passed daily some hours together in talking over our studies, our course of reading, our personal situation, and the state of public affairs. His pursuits were chiefly military; he had collected all the authors of eminence on this sub

ject, historians as well as theorists; and never did I hear a man speak on tactics with so much depth and solidity.

'I had received such different accounts of this foreigner's feeling towards France, that I often led our conversation to that

I was

topic. He always appeared to me to have little esteem for our nation, and to be prepossessed in favour of England, especially of the English constitution. sure of creating a warm discussion, some. times even an angry one, when, in talking of the relative superiority of the two nations, I insisted on claiming it for the French. He denied it to us in every respect, declaring the English constitution to be the best that the world had as yet seen; that England was the only spot on which civil liberty was enjoyed in its plenitude, and opinions could be freely interchanged without danger; while trade and agriculture were there carried to an extent which no other country had hitherto reached.

'Miranda had a thorough detestation of the men who had at that time usurped the French Government. When he spoke of Robespierre, of Danton, Collot, Barrère, Billaud, and other founders of revolutionary tyranny, his language was full of rage and indignation. If I happened at any time to perceive a ray of hope, or to attribute a good intention to any of their measures, he never forgave me such expressions; he abused me as a flatterer, a slave, a supporter of tyranny; and he loaded me with a thousand epithets, which left no room to doubt his zeal for liberty, and his attachment to the governments which protected it.'

A considerable part of the volume is occupied with documents calcu lated to prove that General Miranda was not the cause of the loss of the battle of Neerwinden: but the anxiety thus evinced by the editor we cannot help regarding as superfluous, the matter having been long settled