the advantage of a wider knowledge of the world than many of his
compatriots; he had already taken an active part in the struggle between
North America and Great Britain, and he had joined with Lafayette in the
territories of the then British Colonies in order to assist the
revolutionaries in their campaign.

No ill-will appears to have been borne him by the English for the part
he played in this war; for some while afterwards we find him residing in
England, and corresponding with many prominent men of the period. He is
said to have gained the friendship of Fox, and it may have been due to
his efforts, whether direct or indirect, that Canning gave such
whole-hearted support to the South American cause. As has already been
said, it was largely due to Miranda's persuasions and
assertions--somewhat premature and optimistic though these eventually
proved themselves--that the various British expeditions sailed for the
River Plate. The result was disastrous in every respect save that it
lent to the colonials a new confidence in their own powers. In any case
Miranda's good faith and honour were unquestionable, although at a later
period he appears to have fallen somewhat under the suspicion of his
fellow-patriots.

It was not long before the efforts of Miranda began to be seconded by
those of other distinguished and high-spirited South Americans. Simon
Bolivar, the liberator himself, accompanied by a tutor, was sent by his
parents to gain an intimate knowledge of Europe and of the polite arts
of the Old Continent. Here he had plunged himself into Latin classics
and the French philosophy, and his remarkable personality is said to
have created no small impression upon those with whom he came into
contact. Venezuela has every right to be proud of the fact that,
although the seeds of liberty had already been sown throughout the
Continent, and especially in the River Plate Provinces, they first
sprouted into material activity in Venezuela, for Bolivar, having been
born at Caracas, could claim Miranda as a fellow-countryman, or rather
as a neighbour, since theoretically, in the colonial days, all South
Americans were fellow-countrymen.

It is certain that during this early European tour of Bolivar's he had
already become strongly imbued with the idea of freeing his country and
Continent from the rule of Spain. At one period of his travels he was
at Rome, and he is said to have chosen the holy city as the spot in
which to swear a