The Reign of George III. - (Continued.) page 9

At this moment a discovery took place which had a startling effect on the Americans, and was calculated to inspire the most gloomy views of their condition. General Arnold, who had fought his way up from the humble station of a horse-dealer to that which he now held, had, on all occasions, shown himself an officer of the most daring and enterprising character. He had a genius for planning expeditions and campaigns; and, when he was suffered to follow his judgment, was certain of success. To him was undoubtedly owing the surrender of the army of Burgoyne. It was the opinion of many, that, if he had been made commander-in-chief, he would have brought the war to a much earlier conclusion than the more cautious Washington. It may still be a question whether this might not have been the fact. But, even in that republican country, the origin of Arnold never seems to have been lost sight of. Whilst the very men who were ridiculing the ranks and titles of Europe, were apeing them to a degree which made general Lee, in a letter to Patrick Henry, exclaim, " I would as lief they put ratsbane into my mouth as the 'Excellency' with which I am daily crammed," they seem to have felt an instinctive repugnance to give Arnold too much honour. Arnold, justly conscious of his great military talents, felt this, and invariably resented it. Nor was it merely that congress stinted him in those honours and important commands which the man's genius told him he deserved, and which it would have been for the glory of his country to confer upon him, it withheld what he deemed just claims for the outlay which he had made in the course of the services he had rendered.

Having been appointed military governor of Philadelphia, after its evacuation by general Clinton in 1778, as a post where he might recover from the severe wounds which he had received in the recent campaign, he commenced a style of living much too magnificent for his finances, for, with all his abilities, Arnold was a vain and expensive man. He married a beautiful young lady of that city, one of the heroines of the recent absurd Mischianza - a marriage which excited the jealousy of the republicans, for the fact of the lady having figured in the great Howe fete proves that she was of a family holding royalist opinions. Rumours to his disadvantage were soon afloat, originating in this cause, for whatever he did was regarded by the stanch whigs with an unfavourable eye.

Congress was the more ready to listen to charges against him, because, involved himself in debts incurred by his extravagance, he pressed them for large claims upon them, which they had no means to satisfy. Commissioners were selected by them to examine his claims, and these men, appointed for their hard, mean natures, reduced his demands extremely. Arnold appealed to congress against their decision; a committee of like character was chosen to hear the appeal, and this decided that, so far from the commissioners having allowed him too little, they had allowed him too much. Arnold uttered his indignation at such treatment in no measured terms, and the consequence was that he was arrested, tried by a court-martial, on various charges of peculation in his different commands, and for extortion on the citizens of Philadelphia. Some of these were declared groundless, but others were pronounced to be proved, and Arnold was condemned to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. This put the climax to his wrath. Washington, who had, in Arnold's opinion, been as unjustly exalted and favoured for his defeats and delays, as he himself had been envied and repressed for his brilliant exploits, was of all men the cine from whom he could not receive with patience a formal condemnation. This sentence was carried into effect in January, 1779, and Arnold, stung to the quick, was prepared to perpetrate some desperate design. He made no secret of protesting that the conduct of congress, and the charges brought against him, were the result of the most ungrateful and malicious feelings towards him, both in government and in individuals. He had always denounced the calling in of the French, and regarded these allies with sentiments of unconcealed aversion, as being the living evidences of the disgrace of his country, which, by bolder and honester counsels, might, he averred, have freed herself.

Yet, with these gloomy and resentful sentiments raging in his mind, congress belied their own public condemnation of him, by appointing him to the responsible post of the command of West Point, on the Hudson, which was the key to all intercourse betwixt the Northern and Southern States.

At the very time he received this appointment, he was actually in correspondence with colonel Robinson, an officer of general Clinton's staff, declaring that he was become convinced of the more righteous cause of the mother country, and that he was prepared to testify this by some signal service to his king. It was at the beginning of August of the present year when Arnold assumed his command at West Point; and Clinton lost no time in opening a direct correspondence with him, through which such singular advantages were offered. Sir Henry Clinton employed as his agent in this correspondence a young officer of high promise in his profession, and of considerable literary talents, major John Andre, adjutant-general and aid-de-camp to Sir Henry. Andre was the son of Swiss parents, and had been educated at Geneva, though his parents resided in England. Pie was originally intended for a mercantile career, but, by preference, adopted a military one; and, by his amiable and accomplished manners, a handsome person, and a generous and chivalric disposition, was greatly beloved by all around him, his commander-in- chief especially. In England, he had been the friend of the popular writer, Miss Seward, who was the friend also of the afterwards distinguished men, Southey and Sir Walter Scott. In the society of the Sewards he also met, and became passionately attached to, the beautiful Honora Sneyd, afterwards the second wife of Lovel Edgeworth, the father of the celebrated Maria Edgeworth. Andre was accepted by Miss Sneyd, but firmly rejected by her father, and sought, in this expedition to America, a forgetfulness of his unconquerable attachment. It is remarkable that, once being with Miss Seward in the Peak of Derbyshire, and going with her by appointment to see some of the scenery of that district, one of the persons who were to join the party at a certain spot declared to his companions that he had, in a vision, seen a gentleman come with Miss Seward, and that it was revealed to him that he was destined to be hanged. On major Andre riding up with Miss Seward, he was struck with horror at seeing the person of his vision.

Andre now corresponded with Arnold under the name of " John Anderson;" and Arnold replied under that of " Gustavus." As Clinton was naturally anxious to bring this hazardous correspondence to a close, he pressed Arnold to come to a speedy decision, promising him rank in the army and a high reward in return for the promised services - namely, the surrender of West Point, with all its dependent forts and stores, including, as a matter of course, the command of the Hudson, and the terror and distrust which this act would spread through the American army. The absence of Washington at the meeting with Rochambeau at Hartford, was seized on as a proper opportunity for a personal and final conference on the subject. Major Andre was selected by general Clinton to meet Arnold on neutral ground. The place selected was on the western bank of the Hudson, and Clinton strongly enjoined him to enter on no account within the American lines, to assume no disguise, or to be the bearer of any written documents.

Accordingly, Andre was sent on board the Vulture sloop of war to sail close to the appointed spot; and, in the night of Friday, the 22nd of September, he was put out in a boat, which was dispatched for him by Arnold, and met Arnold at the house of a Mr. Smith, declared by some authorities to be within, and by others without, the American posts, and strictly on neutral ground. There, while Washington was conferring with Rochambeau on the best means of attacking the English, Andre and Arnold were conferring on the best means of betraying the Americans. Day dawned before the whole preliminaries were settled, though the chief point was determined - namely, that West Point should be surrendered to the English on the following Monday. Andre was prevailed on to remain with Arnold the greater part of the day; and then, on going down to the shore, he found that the boatman who had brought him out refused to carry him back. According to one account, the Vulture had shifted her anchorage, in consequence of a gun having been brought down and made to bear on her unknown to Arnold. This excited suspicion; and, when Andre returned to Arnold at Smith's house, he gave him a pass, and advised him to travel by land to King's Ferry, and there to cross. He insisted that for this purpose he must assume a disguise, and travel under his assumed name of John Anderson. So little was Andre apprehensive of danger, that he not only disobeyed the injunction of his commander-in-chief in this particular, but in the far more important one of carrying written papers, which he concealed in his boot.

He was proceeding in all apparent safety when, approaching the village of Tarrytown, three militiamen, or, as stated by others, " skinners," a species of marauders haunting the skirts of the American army, as others called "cow-boys" did those of the British camp, and who were playing at cards by the wayside, suddenly sprang forward, and, seizing his bridle, demanded who he was. Andre, being on neutral ground, exceeded his former incaution, and instead of ascertaining whether the men were Americans, in which case Arnold's pass was his security, he asked the men who they were, and being answered " from below," which was the pass for New York, replied, " and so am I."

By this, discovering that he was a British officer, the men began to search him, and soon made prize of his fatal papers. Starting too late from his surprise, Andre offered them his watch and a purse of gold too, with promises of a greater reward from the English commander; but in vain. His; captors then conducted him to their commanding officer, lieutenant-colonel Jameson. Jameson read the papers, and determined to send them express to Washington, retaining Andre as prisoner till he received further orders. It is alleged that Jameson, though he was acquainted with Arnold's handwriting, had been so stupid as not to perceive that general's concern in the affair, and therefore, having dispatched his messenger to the commander-in-chief, also wrote a full account of it to Arnold, as the commander of the district. It is certain that Washington declared that Jameson showed " egregious folly " in the transaction, and that Arnold was, by a communication from Jameson, duly warned of the discovery.

When this startling letter reached Arnold at his headquarters - which were at one Robinson's house, not within the lines of West Point, but on the eastern bank of the Hudson, and some miles lower down - he was hourly expecting the arrival there of Washington from his interview at Hartford. It was the morning of the 25th. Two of Washington's aides-de-camp had already arrived, and they were breakfasting with him and his staff when the express arrived from Jameson. He opened the letter bringing him such terrible tidings; but, mastering his feelings, he requested the officers to proceed with breakfast whilst he made a communication to his wife, who had not risen. Then he disclosed to her the appalling fact, which had the effect of throwing her into an instant swoon. But there was no time to be lost. He left her lying insensible, descended, and desired the officers to tell general Washington, on his arrival, that he was suddenly called to West Point, and, mounting his horse, rode off. Arriving at the Hudson, he put off in a boat, and, on reaching the mid-stream, taking out a white handkerchief, as a flag of truce, he bade the men row to the Vulture. The white flag secured him impunity, both from the American lines on shore, and from the guns of the Vulture. He was received safely on board, made himself known, and was conveyed securely to New York. It is remarkable how easily Arnold could himself escape, though he did not take the same effectual means for Andre's safety. Thus - how different his fate to that of unhappy Andre I - Arnold was received with a warm welcome by Clinton and the English officers, though he had not secured the advantages offered, and though Andre was the apparent sacrifice for his treason. He was immediately made a colonel in the British army with the local rank of major-general, and received a payment of six thousand pounds as compensation for his loss by the change. He soon after issued an address to the people of America, declaring the public grounds for his abandonment of the republican cause, and calling on the continental troops to follow his example.

Scarcely had Arnold left his house when Washington arrived there, and, hearing that he was gone to West Point, went after him. No Arnold could be found; and, whilst Washington was wondering at the circumstance, colonel Hamilton brought him the dispatch of colonel Jameson, which, in Arnold's absence, he had opened. Washington thus learned the whole mystery, and soon after received a letter from Arnold, on board the Vulture, justifying his proceeding, and entreating that his wife might not suffer on his account; and it is to the honour of the Americans that she did not - a generous fact, which we record with the more pleasure, because such facts are thinly sown on the part of the Americans in this war. She was suffered to join her husband at the close of the year at New York.

But very different was the treatment of major Andre. On him the Americans let fall all the vindictive fury which they could not wreak on Arnold. Even Washington here forgot his wonted justice and moderation. No sooner did Andre learn that Arnold was out of danger than he freely acknowledged his own name and his rank in the British army. He wrote to Washington, declaring that he had done nothing but what his duty to his king required, and that he had not assumed any mean disguise in carrying out his orders, but merely for his own safety in carrying them into execution. All such reasoning was lost on Washington, who had a trait of deep sternness in his character, which, under his present smart at the perfidy of Arnold, degenerated into cruelty. He gave no reply, though Andre in his letter had pointed out to him that Sir Henry Clinton had in his hands a number of American gentlemen who had broken their parole to lord Cornwallis, and entered into conspiracy against the British government. He reminded him that they might be had in exchange for him, or that his treatment might affect theirs. He concluded with expressions of confidence in the generosity of Washington - a generosity which he was not destined to see exercised in his case.