Volume III Part 55 (1/2)

[1098] _Burr Trials_, I, 115-18.

[1099] Hay to Jefferson, June 9, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1100] Jefferson to Hay, June 12, 1807, _Works_: Ford, X, 398-99.

[1101] _Burr Trials_, I, 124-25.

[1102] Irving to Mrs. Hoffman, June 4, 1807, Irving, I, 143.

[1103] Martin here refers to what he branded as ”the farcical trials of Ogden and Smith.” In June and July, 1806, William S. Smith and Samuel G.

Ogden of New York were tried in the United States Court for that district upon indictments charging them with having aided Miranda in his attack on Caracas, Venezuela. They made affidavit that the testimony of James Madison, Secretary of State, Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy, and three clerks of the State Department, was necessary to their defense. Accordingly these officials were summoned to appear in court. They refused, but on July 8, 1806, wrote to the Judges--William Paterson of the Supreme Court and Matthias B. Talmadge, District Judge--that the President ”has specially signified to us that our official duties cannot ... be at this juncture dispensed with.” (_Trials of Smith and Ogden_: Lloyd, stenographer, 6-7.)

The motion for an attachment to bring the secretaries and their clerks into court was argued for three days. The court disagreed, and no action therefore was taken. (_Ib._ 7-90.) One judge (undoubtedly Paterson) was ”of opinion, that the absent witnesses should be laid under a rule to show cause, why an attachment should not be issued against them”; the other (Talmadge) held ”that neither an attachment in the first instance, nor a rule to show cause ought to be granted.” (_Ib._ 89.)

Talmadge was a Republican, appointed by Jefferson, and charged heavily against the defendants (_ib._ 236-42, 287); but they were acquitted.

The case was regarded as a political prosecution, and the refusal of Cabinet officers and department clerks to obey the summons of the court, together with Judge Talmadge's disagreement with Justice Paterson--who in disgust immediately left the bench under plea of ill-health (_ib._ 90)--and the subsequent conduct of the trial judge, were commented upon unfavorably. These facts led to Martin's reference during the Burr trial.

[1104] _Burr Trials_, I, 127-28.

[1105] _Burr Trials_, I, 130-33.

[1106] _Ib._ 134-35.

[1107] _Burr Trials_, I, 137-45.

[1108] _Burr Trials_, I, 147-48.

[1109] _Ib._ 148-52.

[1110] _Burr Trials_, I, 153-64.

[1111] _Burr Trials_, I, 164-67.

[1112] _Ib._ 173-76.

[1113] _Burr Trials_, I, 177.

[1114] See _infra_, 455-56.

[1115] _Burr Trials_, I, 181-83.

[1116] United States _vs._ Smith and Ogden. (See _supra_, 436, foot-note.)

[1117] _Burr Trials_, I, 187-88.

[1118] _Burr Trials_, I, 189.

[1119] Hay to Jefferson, June 14, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1120] Ambler: _Thomas Ritchie--A Study in Virginia Politics_, 40-41.