André there under arrest. He had previously received a letter from the prisoner, avowing his name and rank. The case was im mediately referred to a court of general officers, fourteen in number. Twelve of these were Americans, with whom La Fayette and Steuben were associated. The deportment of the prisoner was altogether consistent with the manliness of a British officer, and his own sense of honour. He would commit no other person. He would resort to no subterfuge to defend himself. Steuben, it is reported, was exceedingly afflicted at what he considered the inevitable result. "It was impossible," said the old German, "to save him. He put us to no proof; but in an open, manly manner, confessed everything but a premeditated design to deceive." The verdict of the council of officers was that major André ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy; and that, agreeably to the law and usage of nations, it was their opinion he ought to suffer death. Before the inquiry took place, Clinton had addressed a letter to Washington demanding André's release, on the ground that he had gone ashore with a flag of truce sent by Arnold, and when arrested was under the protection of a pass which Arnold had authority to give. Washington informed sir Henry of the decision to which the court had come. A deputation was then sent to the American head-quarters, who were received by Greene, the president of the court; but their arguments, and offers to exchange any prisoner that might be selected, were unavailing. Washington confirmed the sentence that the brave, enthusiastic, accomplished officer should die the death of a felon. André requested to die as a soldier. To that request no answer was given. He made up his mind, as expressed in a touching letter to sir Henry Clinton, for any fate to which an honest zeal for the king's service might have devoted him. On the 2nd of October that execution took place under the warrant of Washington, which is held by a very just and right-minded historian, as "by far the greatest, and perhaps the only, blot in his most noble career."† We are constrained to dissent from this opinion; but we prefer to rest our judgment upon another authority than our own. We extract the following passage from a brief memoir of André, published in one of the earliest miscellanies that was addressed to the growing power to read amongst the humbler classes :--

"At the period when the event took place, a torrent of indig nation burst forth against Washington, who was charged with cold malignity, in thus sacrificing a meritorious officer, in a manner so unworthy of his character. This is the tone of feeling which

"Life of Steuben," p. 290.

↑ Lord Mahon's "History," vol. vii. p. 106.

EXECUTION OF ANDRE.

239

dictated Anna Seward's monody to his memory, and filled the newspapers of the day with every violent epithet. It is to be regretted that some of our historians have adopted this view of the transaction. But highly as we estimate the claims of our lamented countryman to the gratitude of this nation, we must acquit Washington of all injustice towards him. Major André fell a sacrifice to that ardent zeal which animated his whole conduct, and to the ill-advice which he received from Arnold. Against his own better judgment and intentions, he assumed a disguise in name and dress, and took charge of secret papers within the enemy's lines, which distinctly fixed upon him the character of a spy, and subjected him to all the perils of discovery. His letter to sir Henry Clinton bears witness to the personal kindness he received from Washington, who doubtless gave no reply to his last request, in order to save his feelings the pain of a refusal. Had that general consented to change the mode of his death, he would have abandoned the principle upon which his fate was determined. The critical posture of affairs at that moment compelled the American chief to avail himself of an event so important to his future success. The strong measure he adopted was designed to show that the contest must be decided by force of arms-that he had thrown away the scabbard-and that he was resolved to extinguish at a 'blow those intrigues by which his former operations had been betrayed. As the success of major André's confederacy with Arnold would probably have destroyed the last hope of the Revolutionists, so the terror produced by his execution, and the timely discovery of Arnold's defection, ultimately led to the independence of the United States."†

"Plain Englishman," vol. ii. 1821. This periodical was jointly conducted by Mr. Locker, the secretary of Greenwich Hospital, and by the author of the " Popular His tory." Mr. Locker was selected, as the friend of the three sisters of major André, to attend on the 28th of November, 1821, as their representative, when the remains of their brother, disinterred in America, were placed in a vault in Westminster Abbey, near the cenotaph which had been erected to his memory by command of George III. The me moir of André, containing the passage we quote, was written by Mr. Locker immediately after the ceremony which he had attended.

CHAPTER XIV.

Elections of 1780.-Burke rejected for Bristol.-War with Holland.-French attack upon Jersey.-Capture of St. Eustatius by Rodney.-Privateering.-Action off the Dog ger Bank.-Difficulties of Washington's army.-Mutinies.-Cornwallis in the Carolinas. He is defeated at Cowpens.-His victory at Guilford.-Cornwallis marches into Virginia. Fleet of De Grasse arrives in the Chesapeake.-Washington's march to Virginia. Cornwallis fortifies York Town.-He is besieged, and his supplies cut off. He capitulates.-Surrender of the British army.-The disastrous news received in London.

THE new Parliament assembled on the 1st of November, 1780. The elections had, in some degree, furnished a test of the popular feeling, in the choice of their members by large communities. They had certainly not manifested that the opinion of commercial cities, -represented by that very ill-compounded body of voters called freemen, was favourable to the growth of a just and liberal policy. Edmund Burke was rejected by Bristol, after having served that flourishing emporium of trade, for six years. The sentiment

against him was so decided that he could not even venture to go to the poll. What were the public crimes imputed to him? First, that he had voted for Bills which removed some of the barbarous restrictions upon the trade of Ireland. It was in vain that he had told his constituents, whilst this measure of relief was depend ing in 1778, that “trade is not a limited thing; as if the objects of mutual demand and consumption could not stretch beyond the bounds of our jealousies ;"* that England and Ireland might flourish together; that everything that is got by another is not taken from ourselves. Secondly, it was charged against the member for Bristol, that he had supported a Bill for reforming the law process concerning imprisonment for debt; and thus had endeavoured to mitigate some of the frightful evils of a system under which a debtor might be imprisoned for life at the bidding of an inexorable creditor, unless relieved by those occasional acts of grace "which turned loose upon the public three or four thousand naked wretches, corrupted by the habits, debased by the ignominy, of a prison." t It was in his speech to the electors, in defending his maintenance of the principle that "the counting-house has no alliance with the gaol," that Burke pronounced his splendid eulogy on Howard; ↑ "Speech at

"Two Letters to Gentlemen in Bristol."

BURKE REJECTED FOR BRISTOL.

241

"He has visited all Europe,-not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals, or to collate manuscripts ;-but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries." The third charge of the citizens of Bristol against their representative was his support of sir George Savile's Bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics from the penal laws that wise and politic measure which produced the riots of 1780. Burke's manly exposure of the cowardice which argued that the Act of Relief ought not to have been passed, in deference to Protestant prejudices, is an example of the mode in which honest statesmen ought to encounter popular delusions. The spirit which dictated the peroration of his speech to the electors is worthy of the imitation of the highest and the humblest in rank or talent who aspire to be legislators: "I do not here stand before you accused of venality, or of neglect of duty. It is not said that, in the long period of my service, I have, in a single instance, sacrificed the slightest of your interests to my ambition, or to my fortune. It is not alleged that, to gratify any anger, revenge of my own or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man in any description. No! The charges against me are all of one kind, that I have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far; further than a cautious policy would warrant; and further than the opinions of many would go along with me. In every accident which may happen through life,-in pain, in sorrow, in depression and distress→I will call to mind this accusation, and be comforted."

The elections were generally favourable to the Court. The riots of London had spread' terror through the country. Opposi tion to the measures of government, conducted legally and peacefully, was regarded by many of the rich and most. of the timid as encouragement to the outrages of ignorant multitudes. Although a hundred and thirteen new members were returned to this Parlia ment, there were few expensive contests, especially for counties. Of the new members, there were several young men whose names afterwards became famous. Wilberforce was returned for Hull, by a corrupt expenditure of eight or nine thousand pounds.

"Life of Wilberforce," by his sons, vol. i. p. 15.

VOL. VI.-16

Pitt

sat for the close borough of Appleby, having unsuccessfully contested the University of Cambridge. Sheridan was elected for Stafford.

The ministry, as might be expected from the result of the elections, had acquired a firmer position. On the 25th of January a royal message announced a rupture with Holland, the reasons of which were set forth in a manifesto. An amendment to the Address in support of the war was rejected by large majorities in both houses. Burke, having been returned for the borough of Malton. brought forward his motion for the regulation of the Civil List, which had been rejected in the previous Session. It again met with the same fate. Pitt made his first speech on this occasion, in support of the Bill. Two more efforts put the young ora tor upon a level with the most influential members of the party that advocated retrenchment and reform, and were opposed to the American war-a war described by the son of Chatham as "a most accursed, wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and diabolical war!" Of these displays of his friend, Wilberforce thus prophesied: "He comes out as his father did, a ready-made orator; and I doubt not but that I shall one day or other see him the first man in the country."

But

At the beginning of 1781, the French made a desperate effort to secure the most important of the Channel Islands-the last possession of the duchy of Normandy which remained to the English crown. During the American war two previous attacks had been made upon Jersey, without success. The baron de Rullecourt had sailed from Granville, in Normandy, in a season of tempest, with a fleet of small vessels carrying two thousand troops. About half his force was driven back to the coast of France. on the night of the 5th of January he landed eight hundred men at the Violet Bank, about three miles from St. Helier; and before daybreak was in possession of that town. The lieutenant-governor and the magistrates being seized, Rullecourt terrified them into signing a capitulation. The officers in Elizabeth Castle declared that they were not bound by such an act, and refused to surrender the fortress. Meanwhile a spirited young officer, major Pierson, of the 99th regiment, had collected the militia of the island, with some other troops; and, in answer to a demand from Rullecourt to capitulate, replied that if the French commander did not himself surrender in twenty minutes he should be attacked. Pierson led his columns into the town; drove the enemy from street to street; and finally compelled the whole body to surrender in • "Life of Wilberforce," by his sons, vol. i. p. 22.