1780.

ANDRÉ BROUGHT TO TRIAL.

67

of truce, with a letter to Washington. In this he asserted that he had "a heart, conscious of its rectitude" in the step which he had taken, and for the wife whom he had left, he solicited the General's pity and protection. He declared her, with great feeling, to be "as good and as innocent as an "angel, and incapable of doing wrong." At this very time, the poor lady was well nigh frantic with distress. Thus in a few sentences written next day, does Colonel Hamilton describe her state:- "She, for a considerable time, entirely "lost herself. The General went up to see her, and she up"braided him with being in a plot to murder her child. One "moment she raved, another she melted into tears. Some"times she pressed her infant to her bosom and lamented its "fate, occasioned by the imprudence of its father, in a 'manner that would have pierced insensibility itself. All "the sweetness of beauty, all the loveliness of innocence, "all the tenderness of a wife, and all the fondness of a mo"ther, showed themselves in her appearance and conduct. "We have every reason to believe that she was entirely un"acquainted with the plan." It is only just to the Americans to add that- far unlike the Spaniards in some similar cases of late years they did not, even when most flushed with their anger against Arnold, wreak it in any, even the smallest, act of injury or insult to his wife. She was allowed, ere the close of the year, to rejoin her husband at New York, and share his subsequent fortunes.

It was for Major André that their whole resentment was reserved. Soon after his arrest, that young officer had written to Washington, frankly avowing his name and rank. By Washington's orders he was conveyed, in the first instance, to West Point, and next to the head-quarters of the army at Tappan, where his case was forthwith referred to a Court of Inquiry. That Court consisted of fourteen officers, all Americans, except Baron Steuben and the Marquis de La Fayette; their President was General Greene. Having assembled, the prisoner was brought before them and examined; but was not allowed the presence of any advo

cate, any witness, or any friend. Even under such depressing circumstances, it is owned by American writers, that he maintained throughout a manly, dignified, and respectful deportment, replied to every question promptly, showed no embarrassment, and sought no disguise. His main anxiety appeared to be to avoid endangering the safety, by disclosing the name, or relating the conduct, of any other person but himself.*

Of procrastination, at least, that Court of Inquiry cannot be accused. At the close of their first and only meeting, they reported it as their opinion that Major André ought to be considered as a spy, and, according to the law and usage of nations, to suffer death. On the Commander-in-Chief it now depended to confirm or to annul, to execute or to remit, their judgment. André himself received the news with unshaken firmness. At his request, he was permitted to write and send a letter to Sir Henry Clinton. That letter has been published. It expresses, in most affectionate and affecting terms, his gratitude for his General's many acts of kindness. And of himself it adds: "I am perfectly tranquil in mind, "and prepared for any fate to which an honest zeal for my "King's service may have devoted me."

Already, even some days before, Sir Henry, full of solicitude and concern for his young friend, had made an earnest appeal to General Washington for his release. He rested his demand on two grounds: first, that André had gone ashore from the Vulture with a flag of truce sent for him by Arnold; and secondly, that at the time of his arrest, he was under the protection of a pass, which Arnold, while commanding at West Point, had undoubted authority to give. To his letter Clinton added a note from Arnold himself, in corroboration of his statements. Sir Henry received, however, an unfavourable reply from Washington, and at the same time was apprised of the decision to which the Board of Officers had come. He determined to send immediately to the American head-quarters a deputation, which might *Life by Jared Sparks, Esq., p. 261.

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WARM INTERCESSIONS IN HIS FAVOUR.

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state the true facts of the case and urge his arguments anew. For this service he selected an officer of the highest rank, General Robertson, together with the Lieutenant-Governor and the Chief Justice of New York. They were the bearers, also, of a letter from Arnold to Washington, in which Arnold repeated his explanations, and threatened measures of requital if the sentence against André should be executed; a letter which, as might have been foreseen, produced no good effect, but rather, it may be feared, the reverse. *

On the 1st of October, the three Commissioners sailed up the Hudson, in an English sloop, and with a flag of truce. Of the three, however, Washington allowed only General Robertson to land. Nor was he willing, as was wished, to confer with that officer in person; he appointed to meet him the President of the late Court of Inquiry. The English chief, accordingly, was received on shore by General Greene, and began by stating, at full length, the two points on which Sir Henry Clinton had laid stress. In reply to the first, it was observed by General Greene, that André himself, on his trial, had avowed that, in landing from the Vulture, he did not consider himself under the sanction of a flag of truce. When General Robertson alleged the testimony of Arnold, as to his having sent one out, General Greene answered drily, that the Americans would believe André in preference to Arnold. How far it might be either just or humane (for of generosity in this case we need, of course, say nothing), to turn against André an avowal made, with not a friend or counsel beside him, and in the presence of only his bitterest foes, was not any further in that conference discussed. General Robertson offered to exchange for the intended victim, any prisoner whom the Americans might choose. He urged that, in more than one instance, confessed and undoubted spies, the secret correspondents of Washington from the English quarters, had had their lives spared, from Sir Henry's merciful regard to the intercessions in their

* This letter, and most of the others bearing on the case of André, will be found in the Appendix to vol. vii. of Washington's Writings, pp. 520-544.

behalf, of the American Commander. He observed that several such spies were still in Sir Henry's power. Finding his arguments, his offers, his entreaties, all alike unheeded, General Robertson said, lastly, that no military tribunal in Europe would decide the case of André to be that of a spy; and he proposed to refer the question to the judgment of General Knyphausen and the Comte de Rochambeau. Greene and Robertson then parted, the former promising only to repeat to his Chief all the representations of the latter. Early next morning, the 2nd of October, Robertson received a note from Greene, stating, in few words, that his arguments, as reported, had made no change in General Washington's opinion and determination. Another appeal, which Robertson, to leave no possible means untried, addressed in a letter direct to Washington, proved equally barren of effect.

There was one condition, it seems, and one condition only, on which Washington would have readily agreed to Andre's release that the English should give up Arnold in his place. It is astonishing (but, indeed, what part of Washington's conduct in this transaction may not excite surprise?) how such a thought should have entered such a mind; how Washington could have expected an honourable enemy to take a step so dishonourable, and so subversive of every military principle. Captain Aaron Ogden, who conveyed the letters from André and from Washington to the British posts as far as Paulus Hook, was directed to let fall this idea among the British officers; it was accordingly made known to Sir Henry Clinton, but by him was, of course and at once, rejected. The same suggestion was brought forward more directly by General Greene, in the conference with General Robertson. In his despatch to Sir Henry, Robertson declares that he replied to it only by a look of indignant rebuke.

Meanwhile, André in his captivity continued serene and self-possessed. He beguiled one of his lonesome and weary hours by making, with his pen, a sketch of himself as he

1780. MONUMENT TO HIM IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 71

sat at his prison-table. * To death he was resigned; but he solicited the privilege of dying by the musket like a soldier, and not by the cord like a felon. On the 1st of October, he addressed to Washington a touching letter with this sad request. Washington, however, so far from relenting, vouchsafed him no reply; and the prisoner was left, to the last, uncertain of his doom. His execution had been fixed for noon on the next day. He was dressed in his uniform as a British officer, and walked forward with the firmness which becomes that character. It was only when he came in sight of the gallows that, by an involuntary impulse, he shrunk back. "Must I then die in this manner?" he said; but speedily recovering himself, he added, "it will be but a "momentary pang.' He ascended the cart with a firm step, and bandaged his own eyes with a steady hand. At the last, when an American officer drew nigh and told him that he had an opportunity to speak if he desired it, he raised the handkerchief from his eyes, and said: "I pray you to "bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man.' These were his last words; the signal was made, the noose fell, his limbs were convulsed for a moment, and then still for ever. Thus did the Adjutant-General of the British army in America, die the death of the vilest malefactors; a death, however, which, in his circumstances, and with his character, brought no disgrace - no disgrace, at least, to him.

A monument to the memory of André WHO FELL A SACRIFICE TO HIS ZEAL FOR HIS KING AND COUNTRY - was, by command of George the Third, raised in Westminster Abbey. His remains were buried close to the place of execution. But in 1821, they were disinterred and removed to England by Mr. Buchanan the British Consul at New York.** It was not fit, indeed, that they should rest in American ground.

From the historical narrative let us now pass to the cri

*This sketch was presented by André to the officer on guard, and is now preserved in the Trumbull Gallery, at Yale College. A fac-simile is given by Mr. Sparks, in his Life of Arnold, p. 280.

** See an account of this disinterment, in the Ann. Register, 1821, part ii. p. 133. A small peach-tree was found growing on the grave.