treasonable purpose seems to have
taken definite shape. As General Monk in 1660 decided that the only way
to restore peace in England was to desert the cause of the Commonwealth
and bring back Charles II., so Arnold seems now to have thought that the
cause of American independence was ruined, and that the best prospect
for a career for himself lay in deserting it and helping to bring back
the rule of George III. In this period of general depression, when even
the unconquerable Washington said "I have almost ceased to hope," one
staggering blow would be very likely to end the struggle. There could be
no heavier blow than the loss of the Hudson river, and with baseness
almost incredible Arnold asked for the command of West Point, with the
intention of betraying it into the hands of Sir Henry Clinton. The depth
of his villainy on this occasion makes it probable that there were good
grounds for the suspicions with which some people had for a long time
regarded him, although Washington, by putting him in command of the most
important position in the country, showed that his own confidence in him
was unabated. The successful execution of the plot seemed to call for a
personal interview between Arnold and Clinton's adjutant-general, Major
John Andre, who was entrusted with the negotiation. Such a secret
interview was extremely difficult to bring about, but it was effected on
the 21st of September, 1780. After a marvellous chapter of accidents,
Andre was captured just before reaching the British lines. But for his
hasty and quite unnecessary confession that he was a British officer,
which led to his being searched, the plot would in all probability have
been successful. The papers found on his person, which left no room for
doubt as to the nature of the black scheme, were sent to Washington;
the principal traitor, forewarned just in the nick of time, escaped to
the British at New York; and Major Andre was condemned as a spy and
hanged on the 2d of October.

[Sidenote: Battle of King's Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780.]

Only five days after the execution of Andre an event occurred at the
South which greatly relieved the prevailing gloom of the situation. It
was the first of a series of victories which were soon to show that the
darkness of 1780 was the darkness that comes before dawn. After his
victory at Camden, Lord Cornwallis found it necessary to give his army
some rest from the intense August heat. In September he advanced into