ror at the guilt of the traitor, is lost in her love of the man. But a virtuous mind cannot long esteem a base one, and time will make her despise, if it cannot make her hate."

One circumstance in this melancholy scene dwelt deeply on the mind of Hamilton. It is that to which, in the beautiful tribute of an eloquent female,* to the memory of André, she most feelingly alludes,-the manner of his death. On the day of his execution, Hamilton thus writes: †

"Poor André suffers to-day;-every thing that is amiable in virtue, in fortitude, in delicate sentiment, and accomplished manners, pleads for him; but hard-hearted policy calls for a sacrifice. He must die. I send you my account of Arnold's affair, and to justify myself to your sentiments, I must inform you, that I urged a compliance with André's request to be shot, and I do not think it would have had an ill effect; but some people are only sensible to motives of policy, and sometimes, from a narrow disposition, mistake it.

"When André's tale comes to be told, and present resentment is over, the refusing him the privilege of choosing the manner of his death will be branded with too much obstinacy.

"It was proposed to me to suggest to him the idea of an exchange for Arnold; but I knew I should have forfeited his esteem by doing it, and therefore declined it. As a man of honor, he could not but reject it; and I would not for the world have proposed to him a thing which must have placed me in the unamiable light of supposing him capable of a meanness, or of not feeling myself the impropriety of the measure. I confess to you,

*Miss Seward.

+ Tappan, Oct. 2, 1780.

I had the weakness to value the esteem of a dying man, because I reverenced his merit." *

The eloquent and feeling narrative contained in these letters, which does so much honor to the sentiments of their author, is a just tribute to the character of the captive, and to the temper of the army.

André, educated amidst a circle of devoted relatives, and habitually indulging every ardent impulse of his generous nature, had torn himself from their reluctant arms to win honor in the field. Commended to the notice of Sir Henry Clinton, he rose fast in his esteem, and was often selected for those delicate duties which serve to mitigate the miseries of war.

In the performance of these, his deportment often formed a strong contrast with that of his less polished brethren; and such was the impression on the minds of those Americans who had been prisoners, that when the news of this event arrived, great as was the rejoicing at the detection of the plot and the capture of the spy, every bosom swelled with regret to learn that that spy was André.

Shocked as Hamilton was with the danger of this con

The following note was addressed by André to General Washington, on the day previous to his execution :

"TAPPAN, October 1, 1780.

"Buoyed above the terror of death, by the consciousness of a life devoted to honourable pursuits, and stained with no action that can give me remorse, I trust that the request I make to your excellency, at this serious period, and which is to soften my last moments, will not be rejected.

"Sympathy towards a soldier, will surely induce your excellency, and a military tribunal, to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings of a man of honour.

"Let me hope, sir, if aught in my character impresses you with esteem towards me, if aught in my misfortunes marks me as the victim of policy, and not of resentment, I shall experience the operation of these feelings in your breast, by being informed that I am not to die on a gibbet.”

spiracy, and his indignation heightened by the belief that it was intended to reach the person of Washington, his generous feelings, nevertheless, seemed wholly to take possession of him, and during all the period of André's confinement and trial, he exhausted every means to alleviate his sufferings, and to withdraw him from the bitterness of his reflections.

As soon as he was brought in, addressing to a much loved friend the unnecessary request, he said, “Major Jackson, I have learned that André was very kind to you when you were a prisoner, will you not visit him?" Thus awakening the sympathies of the army, he turned their resentment upon the traitor, to whose criminal arts the British officer had unhappily lent himself. The conduct of André's captors was the theme of honest pride. Every soldier in the camp participated in their triumph. But when the day of his execution came, he was followed only by the brigade on duty, and with the exception of those officers who surrounded the scaffold to soothe its victim, not an officer or soldier was to be seen as a spectator. All retired to their tents, exhibiting the delicacy and sensibility which became the soldiers of such a cause.

Immediately after the escape of Arnold, it was thought expedient to apprise Rochambeau of the occurrence. Hamilton wrote to him the next day in behalf of Washington: "On my return here a very disagreeable scene unfolded itself. By a lucky accident, a conspiracy of the most dangerous nature, the object of which was to sacrifice this post, has been detected. General Arnold, who has sullied his former glory by the blackest treason, has escaped to the enemy. This is an event that occasions. me equal regret and mortification, but traitors are the growth of every country, and in a revolution of the present nature, it is more to be wondered at, that the cata

logue is so small, than that there have been found a few."

The first object was the security of the post. An order was immediately prepared by Hamilton, and addressed to the commanding officer, urging redoubled care and vigilance for its preservation. St. Clair was temporarily appointed to its command, which was soon after conferred upon Greene, under special instructions written by Hamilton: "You will exert yourself to complete the works, and to put them in the most perfect state of defence. This is essential, under the knowledge the enemy have of their present state, as a change in their situation will not only render them in reality more defensive, but will diminish the usefulness of the information, which Arnold has it in his power to give."

The traitor was rewarded for his treason by a commission of brigadier-general in the British service. His wife hastened from her suffering shame to the abode of her father in Philadelphia. The same spirit which had there pursued Arnold was shown towards this unhappy, innocent woman. The executive council of Pennsylvania would not listen to any appeal for mercy or guaranties of conduct. She was driven forth from Philadelphia, reluctantly to rejoin her dishonored husband.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE embarrassed condition of affairs has been fully depicted in the recent letters from head-quarters. Without money and without credit, without troops or the power to raise them, depending wholly upon the spasmodic efforts of the separate States for every essential of war, Hamilton felt the extent of the disease, and now suggested the great, the true remedies.

Money adequate to the public necessities, he saw, could only be obtained by the establishment of the Public credit on the solid basis of a National Revenue. An effective army could only be maintained of sufficient strength by a permanent system. These two great objects of justice and security could not be accomplished but through the agency of a National Government. The organs of life were wanting to the body politic.

Having by their own act limited the emission of the old continental bills of credit, which limit was soon reached, on the eighteenth of March of this year a new scheme of finance was proposed by Congress.

It commenced with a breach of the public faith. The States were called upon for their respective quotas of money, and these quotas were made payable at the rate of one Spanish milled dollar in lieu of forty dollars of the