ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET.

287

five frigates and five schooners, convoying a fleet of transports, having on board 6,000 men, under the command of the Count de Rochambeau.

Admiral Arbuthnot, who had under his command at New York only four ships of the line, on hearing of the arrival of the French at Rhode Island, was apprehensive of being attacked by their superior force. But he was soon relieved from his fears by the vigilance of the British ministry, who, on the sailing of the French fleet from Europe, had sent to his assistance Admiral Graves, with six ships of the line.

On receiving this reinforcement, he sailed for Rhode Island, for the purpose of encountering the French squadron, whilst Sir Henry Clinton proceeded with 8,000 men to the north of Long Island, for the purpose of landing on the opposite part of the continent and attacking their land forces. But the British admiral found the French ships so well secured by batteries and other land fortifications, that he was obliged to content himself with blocking them up in their harbour; and Clinton, receiving intelligence that General Washington was preparing to take advantage of his absence, by making an attack on New York, hastened back to the relief of that place.

Washington, on the retreat of General Clinton, withdrew to West Point, an almost impregnable position, situated about fifty miles to the northward of New York, on the Hudson river, by means of which he kept up a commuuication between the eastern and southern states. Having occasion, towards the end of the month of September, to go to Rhode Island, to hold a conference with the French admiral and Count Rochambeau, he left the command of this important post to General Arnold, unconscious that in so doing he intrusted the fortunes of the infant republic to a traitor.

Arnold was brave and hardy, but dissipated and profligate. Extravagant in his expenses, he had involved himself in debts, and having had, on frequent occasions, the administration of considerable sums of the public money, his accounts were so unsatisfactory, that he was liable to an impeachment on charges of peculation. Much had been forgiven, indeed, and more would probably have been forgiven, to his valour and military skill. But alarmed by the terrors of a guilty conscience, he determined to get rid of pecuniary responsibility by betraying his country; and accordingly he entered into a negotiation with Sir Henry Clinton, in which he engaged, when a proper opportunity should present itself, to make such a

disposition of his troops as would enable the British to make themselves masters of West Point.

The details of this negotiation were conducted by Major André, the adjutant-general of the British army, with whom Arnold carried on a clandestine correspondence, addressing him under the name of Anderson, whilst he himself assumed that of Gustavus. To facilitate their communications, the Vulture sloop of war was moved near to West Point, and the absence of Washington seeming to present a fit opportunity for the final arrangement of their plans, on the night of the 21st of September Arnold sent a boat to the Vulture to bring André on shore.

That officer landed in his uniform, between the posts of the two armies, and was met by Arnold, with whom he held a conference which lasted till day-break, when it was too late for him to return to the vessel. In this extremity, unfortunately for himself, he allowed Arnold to conduct him within one of the American posts, where he lay concealed till the next night. In the meantime, the Vulture, having been incommoded by an American battery, had moved lower down the river, and the boatmen now refused to convey the stranger on board her.

Being cut off from this way of escape, André was advised to make for New York by land; and, for this purpose, he was furnished with a disguise, and a passport signed by Arnold, designating him as John Anderson. He had advanced in safety near the British lines, when he was stopped by three New York militia men, whose names were Paulding, Williams, and Vanwart. Instead of showing them his pass, he asked them where they belonged to?' and on their answering to below,' meaning to New York, with singular want of judgment he stated that he was a British officer, and begged them to let him proceed without delay.

The men, now declaring their real character, seized him ; and notwithstanding his offer of a purse of gold, a valuable watch, and much larger bribes from his government, if they would release him, they proceeded to search him, and found in one of his boots certain papers which gave fatal evidence of his own culpability, and of Arnold's treachery. These papers were in Arnold's handwriting, and contained exact and detailed returns of the forces, ordnance and defences of West Point, and its dependencies, with the artillery orders, critical remarks on the works, an estimate of the number of

DEATH OF MAJOR ANDRÉ.

239

men that were ordinarily on duty to man them, and the copy of a state of matters that had, on the 6th of the month, been laid before a council of war by the commander-in-chief.

When André was conducted by his captors to the quarters of the commander of the scouting parties, still assuming the name of Anderson, he requested permission to write to Arnold, to inform him of his detention. This request was inconsiderately granted; and the traitor being thus apprised of his peril, instantly made his escape. At this moment, Washington arriving at West Point, was made acquainted with the whole affair. Having taken the necessary precautions for the security of his post, he referred the case of his prisoner to a court-martial, consisting of fourteen general officers.

Before this tribunal André appeared with steady composure of mind. He voluntarily confessed all the facts of his case. Being interrogated by the board, with respect to his conception of his coming on shore under the sanction of a flag, he ingenuously replied, that 'if he had landed under that protection, he might have returned under it.' The court, having taken all the circumstances of the case into consideration, unanimously concurred in the opinion that he ought to be considered as a spy; and that agreeably to the laws and usages of nations, he ought to suffer death.'

Sir Henry Clinton, first by amicable negotiation, and afterwards by threats, endeavoured to induce the American com+ mander to spare the life of his friend; but Washington did not think this act of mercy compatible with his duty to his country, and André was ordered for execution. He had petitioned to be allowed to die a soldier's death, but this request could not be granted. Of this circumstance, however, he was kept in ignorance, till he saw the preparations for his final catastrophe, when finding that the bitterness of his destiny was not to be alleviated as he wished, he exclaimed, 'It is but a momentary pang,' and calmly submitted to his fate.

No circumstance which occurred during the war was more trying to the feelings of Washington than this. The noble. ingenuousness of André, his disinterested exertion to save his accomplice, by sending him intelligence of his capture, and his firmness in the last trying moments, all pronounced him worthy of a better fate. But his having consented in an evil hour to assume the detestable character of a spy, and an agent in a scheme of treason, placed him beyond the reach of

240

MUTINY IN THE AMERICAN CAMP.

that mercy which the magnanimous Washington would have rejoiced to extend, if the safety of his country would have permitted it.

The treason of Arnold received the stipulated reward. He was immediately appointed brigadier-general in the service of the king of Great Britain; and, on his promotion he had the folly and presumption to publish an address, in which he avowed, that, being dissatisfied with the alliance between the United States and France, he had retained his arms and command for an opportunity to surrender them to Great Britain.' This address was exceeded in meanness and insolence by another, in which he invited his late companions in arms to follow his example. The American soldiers read these manifestoes with scorn; and so odious did the character of a traitor, as exemplified in the conduct of Arnold, become in their estimation, that desertion wholly ceased amongst them at this remarkable period of the war.'

6

Circumstances, however, took place soon after the discovery of Arnold's treason, which led that renegade to entertain delusive hopes that the army of Washington would disband itself. The Pennsylvania troops, then stationed on the Hudson, had been enlisted on the ambiguous terms of 'serving three years, or during the continuance of the war.' As the three years from the date of their enrolment were expired, they claimed their discharge, which was refused by the officers, who maintained that the option of the two abovementioned conditions rested with the state.

Wearied out with privations, and indignant at what they deemed an attempt to impose upon them, the soldiers flew to arms, deposed their officers, and under the guidance of others whom they elected in their place, they quitted Morristown and marched to Princeton. Here they were solicited by the most tempting offers on the part of some emissaries sent by Sir Henry Clinton, to put themselves under the protection of the British government. But they were so far from listening to these overtures, that they arrested Sir Henry's agents, and, their grievances having been redressed by the interposition of a committee of congress, they returned to their duty, and the British spies, having been tried by a board of officers, were condemned to death and executed.

A similar revolt of a small body of the Jersey line was quelled by the capital punishment of two of the ringleaders of the mutineers. The distresses, which were the chief cause

of this misconduct of the American soldiery, were principally occasioned by the depreciation of the continental currency; which evil at this period effected its own cure, as the depreciated paper was by common consent, and without any act of the legislature, put out of use; and by a seasonable loan from France, and by the revival of trade with the French and Spanish West Indies, its place was speedily supplied by hard

money,

CHAPTER XXXI.

CAMPAIGN OF 1781.

Its

THIS was the last campaign of the revolutionary war. events decided the contest in favour of American independence.

Though the Spaniards and the Dutch had united with France in hostility against Great Britain, she still with unconquered spirit everywhere made head against her foreign enemies; and the king's ministers were now, more than ever, determined by an extension of combined measures, to reduce the North American provinces to submission. The plan of the campaign of 1781, accordingly, comprehended active operations in the state of New York, South Carolina, and Virginia.

The invasion of the last-mentioned state was intrusted to Arnold, who, taking with him a force of 1,600 men, and a number of armed vessels, sailed up the Chesapeake, spreading terror and devastation wherever he came. An attempt to intercept him was made by the French fleet, which sailed from Rhode Island for that purpose; but after an indecisive engagement with the fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot, off the capes of Virginia, was obliged to return to Newport, leaving the invaded state open to the incursions of the British, who, making occasional advances into the country, destroyed an immense quantity of public stores, and enriched themselves with an extensive plunder of private property, at the same time burning all the shipping in the Chesapeake and its tributary streams, which they could not conveniently carry away as prizes.

Y