ritish,
requested that a confidential person might be sent to him, in order
to adjust the business, and to carry it into effect without delay. The
officer charged with this commission was Major Andre, a young man
of spirit and undaunted courage, and in whom General Clinton reposed
unlimited confidence. Major Andre had a secret interview with Arnold,
and matters were arranged by them for the defection, but as he was
returning in disguise he was taken by three men of the New York
militia, and on examination the papers found upon him discovered all the
particulars of the conspiracy. By some means or other--but how is not
sufficiently clear--Arnold received intelligence of Andre's capture in
time to make his escape to New York, where, on his arrival, he received
the commission of a brigadier-general in the British service. Major
Andre had hitherto passed himself off as one John Anderson, but when
he found that Arnold was safe, he announced his name and rank; and
with more anxiety for his military honour than for his life, he wrote
a letter to Washington, to secure himself from the imputation of
having assumed the character of a spy for treacherous purposes or
self-interest. His letter concluded with expressions of confidence
in the generosity of Washington's mind; but he soon found that his
confidence was misplaced; that Washington was an implacable judge. A
board of general officers was appointed to inquire into his case, and
notwithstanding the solicitations and menaces of Sir Henry Clinton, who
anxiously sought to save him, he was condemned to die an ignominious
death. He died on a gibbet on the 2nd of October! His death is one of
the blackest stains on the character of Washington; for his obduracy
alone prevented the mitigation of the punishment. In vain was it
represented to him that Sir Henry Clinton, and his predecessor Sir
William Howe, had never put to death any person for a breach of the
rules of war: in vain was it shown that Captain Robinson of the American
army, who had been taken as a spy by the British, had recently been
exchanged as a prisoner of war; and in vain did Arnold, through whose
plots he had been captured, plead by letter for his life--Washington was
obdurate still, and left his victim to perish by the hands of the common
hangman! And yet this obdurate commander-in-chief of the Americans
professed to commiserate his victim's fate; and applauded the fortitude
with which he met his death: but so did o