I have mentioned that, on the arrival of Washington at Tappan, he ordered a court of inquiry. This court, consisting of fourteen general officers, * was convened at Tappan on the 29th of September, and on that day Major Andre was arraigned before it and examined. John Laurance, ** afterward a distinguished legislator and jurist, was judge advocate. Andre made a plain statement of the facts we have been considering; acknowledged and confirmed the truthfulness of his statements in his letter to General Washington from Salem; confessed that he came ashore from the Vulture in the night, and without a flag; and answered the query of the Board, whether he had any thing further to say respecting the charges preferred against him, by remarking, "I leave them to operate with the Board, persuaded that you will do me justice."
He was remanded to prison, and, after a long and careful deliberation, the Board reported, "That Major André, adjutant general of the British army, ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy, and that, agreeably to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion he ought to suffer death." On the next day Washington signified his approval of the decision as follows:
* The following are the names of the officers who composed the court martial on that occasion: Major-generals Greene, Stirling, St. Clair, La Fayette, R. Howe, and the Baron Steuben; and Brigadiers Parsons, James Clinton, Knox, Glover, Paterson, Hand, Huntington, and Stark. General Greene was president of the board, and John Laurance judge-advocate general.
** Mr. Laurance was a native of Cornwall, England, where he was born in 1750. He held the rank of colonel in the Continental army, and was highly esteemed by the commander-in-ehief. Colonel Laurance was a representative for New York in the first Congress held after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and retained a seat therein during President Washington's first administration. On his retiring from office, Washington appointed him a judge of the District Court of New York. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1796, and served four years, when he resigned his seat and retired to private life. He died at No. 356 Broadway, New York, in November, 1810, in the sixtieth year of his age. Judge Laurance married a daughter of General Alexander M'Dougall, of the Continental army, who, with Sears. Willett, Lamb, and others, early and earnestly opposed the British government in its aggressive acts. An interesting sketeh of the public life of Judge Laurance, from the pen of Edwin Williams, Esq., was published in a New York journal in February, 1851.
*** This is a fac simile of a pencil sketeh which I received from London with the drawing of Andre's monument in Westminster Abbey, printed on page 767. I do not know from what picture the artist copied, but, considering the channel through which I received it, I think it may be relied on as a correct profile.
*** John André was a native of London, where he was born in 1751. His parents were from Geneva, in Switzerland, and at that place he was educated. He returned to London before he was eighteen years of age, and entered the counting-house of a respectable merchant, where he continued nearly four years. Possessing a literary taste and promising genius, he became acquainted with several of the writers of the day, among whom was Miss Anna Seward, the daughter of a clergyman in Litchfield. Miss Seward had a cousin named Honora Sneyd, a charming girl of whom Andre became enamored. * His attachment was reciprocated by the young lady, and they made an engagement for marriage. The father of the girl interposed his authority against the match, and the marriage was prevented. Four years afterward, Honora was wedded to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, ** father of the late Maria Edgeworth, the novelist, by a former wife. Until that event occurred, Andre had cherished the hope that some propitious circumstance might effect their reunion. The portal of hope was now closed, and, turning from commercial pursuits, he resolved to seek relief from the bitter associations of his home amid the turmoils of war. He entered the army which came to America in 1775. He was taken prisoner at St. John's, on the Sorel, when that post was captured by Montgomery, and was sent to Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. In a letter written to a friend from that place, he said, "I have been taken prisoner by the Americans, and stripped of every thing except the picture of Honora, which I concealed in my mouth. Preserving that, I yet think myself fortunate." This picture had been delineated by his own hand from the living features of his beloved, at the time of his first acquaintance with her at Buxton, in 1769. The bravery and talents of Andre secured for him the affectionate regards of his commander, Sir Henry Clinton, and he raised him to the duty of adjutant general of the British army in America, with the rank of major. His future career was full of brilliant promises, when Arnold, the wily serpent, crept into the paradise of his purity and peace, and destroyed him. He was not yet thirty years old when he suffered the death of a spy. Major Andre possessed a graceful and handsome person, with rare mental accomplishments. He was passionately fond of the fine arts, and his journal, kept during his life in America, was enriched by many drawings of such objects of interest as attracted his attention. While here, he wrote several poetical pieces for the loyal newspapers; and it is a singular fact that the last canto of his satirical poem, called The Cow Chase, was published in Rivington's Royal Gazette, in New York, on the 23d of September, 1780, the day of his capture. It ends with the following stanza: