were almost mad with enthusiasm. Capitalists subscribed large sums to replenish the exhausted public treasury. Of this Philadelphia first gave the example, and it was soon followed by all Pennsylvania, and other provinces. The ladies of Philadelphia formed a society, at the head of which they placed Lady Washington. They contributed to the relief of the state to the extent of their means; they went from house to house to animate the people to aid the sacred cause in which the country was engaged. And who would not listen to such patriotic orators? Their appeals had a power that was irresistible. The ladies of other states soon followed their example, and large sums were collected and deposited in the public treasury. In the midst of this enthusiasm, on the 10th of July, the French arrived at Rhode Island, which had been abandoned by the British. Count Rochambeau, lieutenant-general of the armies of the king, landed 6000 soldiers; of which, according to the agreement between the court of Versailles and Congress, Washington, as captain-general, was commanderin-chief, as well as of the American armies. The French were received with demonstrations of joy by the American people, and every effort was made to cultivate a permanent friendship between the soldiers of the two nations. Clinton resolved to attack the French army at Newport with a force of 6000 men. The British squadron got under sail; but Washington, now reinforced by his enthusiastic countrymen, descended along the Hudson to Kingsbridge, and menaced New York. This brought Clinton back with all his forces. Such a movement raised high the morale of the American and French armies, now exulting in seeing a baffled enemy vacillating between two points. The French had brought a great deal of coin with them, which they spent very freely, resolved to make it circulate; and this made money plentier, and everything began to wear a cheerful aspect. CHAPTER XXIV. Treason of Arnold-Arrest of Andre-Their treacherous Designs frustratedArnold escapes-Execution of Andre-Paulding, Williams, and Van Wert rewarded by Congress-Price of Arnold's Treason. "Oh for a tongue to curse the slave, Comes o'er the councils of the brave, And blasts them in their hours of might! May life's unblessed cup for him Be drugg'd with treacheries to the brim, With joys that vanish while he sips, His country's curse, his children's shame, Are fading off untouch'd, untasted, Like the once glorious hopes he blasted!" It is a painful task to curse a man, and to record his treason, after he has toiled and suffered so long and so much in the cause of his country, as General Arnold. But the crime of treason is such an aggravated one, that no language can express the abhorrence and detestation that every honourable man must feel of the crime and the criminal. "During some time, a design had been maturing in the shades of mystery, whose execution, had it succeeded to the wish of its authors, would have involved the total ruin of the army of Washington, and, perhaps, the entire subjugation of America. A single instant more, and the work of so many years, cemented at such a cost of gold and blood, might have been demolished to its foundations by a cause altogether unthought of. The English had well nigh, by means of treason, arrived at that object which, with five years of intrigue and of combat, they had not been able to attain; and it was even at the hands of the man they least suspected, that the Americans were to have received the most fatal blow. They had but too manifest a proof, that no confidence can be placed in courage when disunited from virtue. They learned that men who displayed the most enthusiasm for a cause, are often also those who become the soonest unfaithful; and it should never be forgotten, that the man without morals, who arrives at the first offices of the republic, has no other object but to satiate his ambition or his cupidity, at the expense of his fellow-citizens. If he encounter obstacles, he is ripe for deeds of violence within, and treason without. The name of General Arnold was deservedly dear to all Americans; they considered him as one of their most intrepid defenders. Numerous wounds, and especially that which had almost deprived him of the use of one leg, had forced him to take repose at his seat in the country. "Congress, with the concurrence of Washington, in recompense of his services, appointed him commandant of Philadelphia, immediately after that city was evacuated by the English, and returned to American domination. Here Arnold lived at an enormous expense, and showed himself extremely grasping in order to support it. "Unable to support this extravagance from the emoluments of his employment, he commenced speculating, which also failed. He then began to embezzle the public treasure. The government appointed commissioners to investigate the matter; and Arnold, enraged at their decision, loaded them with imprecations, and appealed to Congress. But the members charged to examine the accounts anew, declared that the commissioners had allowed him more than he was entitled to. This led him to the most bitter invective, and indecent abuse of Congress. He was also accused, by Pennsylvania, of peculation, in converting to his own use the confiscated British merchandise at Philadelphia. He was brought before a court-martial, and the sentence of the court was, that he should be reprimanded by Washington. Burning with revenge, and desirous to glut his thirst for gold, he resolved not only to join the enemy, but first solicited and obtained the command of West Point, which by great labour and expense had been rendered impregnable, to introduce the enemy into this all-important citudel! "Having assumed the command, he entered into negotiations with Sir Henry Clinton; but, fortunately, the plot was discovered in time to defeat it, though Arnold escaped to the enemy. Major Andre, the agent of Clinton, was arrested, tried, and executed as a spy. 66 Major Andre, at this time adjutant-general of the British army, was an officer, extremely young, but high-minded, brave, and accomplished. He was transported in a vessel called the Vulture, up the North river, as near to West Point as was practicable, without exciting suspicion. On the 21st of September, at night, a boat was sent from the shore to bring him. On its return, Arnold met him at the beach, without the posts of either army. "Their business was not finished, till too near the dawn of day for Andre to return to the Vulture. He, therefore, lay concealed within the American lines. During the day, the Vulture found it necessary to change her position, and Andre, not being able now to get on board, was compelled to attempt his return to New York by land. 66 Having changed his military dress for a plain coat, and received a passport from Arnold, under the assumed name of John Anderson, he passed the guards and outposts without suspicion. On arriving at Tarrytown, a village thirty miles north of New York, in the vicinity of the first British posts, he was met by three militia soldiers-John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wert. He showed them his passport, and they suffered him to continue his route. Immediately after this, one of these three men, thinking that he perceived something singular in the person of the traveller, called him back. Andre asked them where they were from? From down below,' they replied, intending to say, from New York. Too frank to suspect a snare, Andre immediately answered, 'And so am I.' Upon this, they arrested him, when he declared himself to be a British officer, and offered them his watch, and all the gold he had with him, to be released. These soldiers were poor and obscure, but they were not to be bribed. Resolutely refusing his offers, they conducted him to Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, their commanding officer. “Jameson injudiciously permitted Andre, still calling himself Anderson, to write to Arnold, who immediately escaped on board the Vulture, and took refuge in New York. 66 Washington, on his way to head-quarters, from Connecticut, where he had been to confer with Count de Rochambeau, providentially happened to be at West Point just at this time. After taking measures to insure the safety of the fort, he appointed a board, of which General Green was president, to decide upon the condition and punishment of Andre. After a patient hearing of the case, September 29th, in which every feeling of kindness, liberality, and generous sympathy was strongly evinced, the board, upon his own confession, unanimously pronounced Andre a spy, and declared, that, agreeably to the laws and usages of nations, he ought to suffer death. 66 Major Andre had many friends in the American army, and even Washington would have spared him, had duty to his country permitted. Every possible effort was made by Sir Henry Clinton in his favour, but it was deemed important that the decision of the board of war should be carried into execution. When Major Andre was apprized of the sentence of death, he made a last appeal, in a letter to Washington, that he might be shot, rather then die on a gibbet. "Buoyed above the terror of death,' said he, by the consciousness of a life devoted to honourable pursuits, and stained with no action that can give me remorse, I trust that the request I make to your excellency at this serious period, and which is to soften my last moments, will not be rejected. Sympathy towards a soldier will surely induce your excellency, and a military friend, to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings of a man of honour. Let me hope, sir, that if aught in my character impresses you with esteem towards me, as the victim of policy and resentment, I shall experience |