try and in Europe. Being incapacitated for the duties of the field, by the wounds he received before Quebec, and at Saratoga, he was appointed Commandant in Philadelphia, when the British evacuated that city. In this flattering command, he adopted a stile of living above his means, and soon found himself loaded with debt. He entered into various schemes of speculation, and was unsuccessful in all. Hollow at heart, he had recourse to fraud and peculation. These practices rendered him odious to the citizens, and gave offence to government. At length formal complaints were lodged against him; and Congress ordered his trial by a Court Martial. By this Court he was found guilty, and sentenced to be reprimanded by the Commander in Chief. The sentence was approved by Congress, and carried into execution by General WASHINGTON. In the gold that was to reward his treason, Arnold expected relief from his pecuniary embarrassments; and his implacable spirit sought its revenge of his country by betraying into the hand of her enemy the post that had been called the Gibraltar of America.

West Point was the first post in importance within the United States. Its great natural strength had been increased by every expense and labour of fortification; and it was an object on which General WASHINGTON perpetually kept his eye. This fortress Arnold selected to give consequence to his apostacy. By the surrender of this into the hands of the British commander, he expected to insure a high price for his treason, and, at the same moment,

to inflict a mortal wound upon his country.

His

measures were artfully adopted to accomplish his He obtained a letter from a

perfidious purpose. member of Congress to General WASHINGTON, recommending him to the command of this important post. He induced General Schuyler to mention to the Commander in Chief, his desire to rejoin the army, and his inclination to do garrison duty.

At the time General WASHINGTON was moving down to New York, when Sir Henry Clinton had embarked a large body of troops, with the design to attack the French at Newport, he offered the command of the left wing of the army to General Arnold, who declined on the plea that his wound unfitted him for the active duties of the field; but he intimated a desire to command at West Point. Knowing his ambition for military fame, the General was surprised that Arnold declined this favourable opportunity to distinguish himself; but the purity of his own mind forbid him to suspect an officer of treason, whose blood had been freely shed in the cause of his country, and he gratified him with the solicited command.

Under fictitious names, and in the disguise of mercantile business, Arnold had already opened a correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton through Major André, Adjutant General of the British army. To him the British General committed the maturing of Arnold's treason, and to facilitate measures for its execution, the Vulture sloop of war conveyed him up the North river. Under a pass for John Anderson, André came on shore in the night, and had a

personal interview with Arnold without the American works. The morning opened upon them before their business was accomplished. Arnold told André that his return on board the Vulture by day. light was impractieable, and that he must be concealed until the next night. For this purpose he was conducted within an American post, and spent the day with Arnold. In the course of the day a gun was brought to bear on the Vulture, which obliged her to shift her station; and at night the, boatmen on this account, refused to carry André on board the sloop.

The return to New York by land, was the only alternative left. To render the attempt the more safe, Major André laid aside his uniform, which he had yet worn under a surtout, and in a plain coat, on horseback, began his journey. He was furnished with a passport signed by Arnold, in which permission was granted to John Anderson "to go to the lines of White Plains, or lower if he thought proper, he being on publick service." Alone, and without having excited suspicion, he passed the American guards, and was silently congratulating himself that he had passed all danger, when his imaginary security was disturbed by three militia men, who were scouring the country between the outposts of the hostile armies. They suddenly seized the bridle of his horse, and challenged his business in that place. The surprise of the moment put him off his guard, and instead of shewing his pass, he hastily asked the men, "where do you belong?". they answered "to below," meaning New York.

The Major instantly replied, "so do I."

He de

clared himself to be a British officer, and pressed for permission to proceed on the urgent business on which he was employed.

The mistake was soon apparent, and he offered the men a purse of gold and a valuable gold watch, for permission to pass; and on condition that they would accompany him to the city, he promised them present reward and future promotion. But the patriotism of these yeomen could not be bribed.

They proceeded to search André, and found secreted in his boots, in the hand writing of Arnold, exact returns of the state of the forces, ordnance and defences of West Point, with critical remarks on the works, and other important papers. They conducted their prisoner to Lieutenant Colonel Jameson, who commanded the troops on the lines. Their names were John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Vert. Congress eventually settled on each of them an annual pension of two hundred dollars during life; and presented each with a silver medal, on one side of which was a shield with the inscription "Fidelity ;" and on the other the motto "Amor Patriæ."

André still passed as John Anderson, and requested permission to write to General Arnold to inform him that Anderson was detained. The Colonel thoughtlessly permitted the letter to be sent. Colonel Jameson forwarded to General WASHINGTON the papers found on the prisoner, and a statement of the manner in which he was taken. The General was then on his return from Hartford,

and the express unfortunately took a road different from that on which he was travelling, and passed him. This occasioned so great loss of time, that Arnold having received André's letter, made his escape on board the Vulture, before the order for his arrest arrived at West Point.

As soon as André thought that time had been given for Arnold to make his escape, he flung off the disguise which was abhorrent to his nature, and assumed his appropriate character of ingenuousness and honour. The express which conveyed the intelligence of his capture, was charged with a letter from him to General WASHINGTON, in which, he declared his name and rank, stated that he had, by order of his Sir Henry Clinton, corresponded with Arnold, that his intention was to have met him on neutral ground, and that against his stipulation he had been brought within an American post. Attempting to make his escape from it he had been betrayed into the vile condition of an enemy in disguise, and he requested that, "whatever his fate might be, a decency of treatment might be observed, which would mark, that though unfortunate he was branded with nothing that was dishonourable, and that he was involuntarily an impostor. The decorous and manly deportment of André greatly interested in his favour the American army and nation. He was endowed with properties to conciliate general esteem. His character is thus beautifully painted by the late General Hamilton, who without envy might have contemplated his eminent qualities, for they were not equal to his own. "There was something singular