The youth, candor, and gentlemanly bearing of Andre during the trying scenes of his examination made a deep impression upon the court; and had the decision of those officers been in consonance with the ir feelings instead of their judgments and the stern necessities imposed by the expedients of war, he would not have suffered death.
When the decision of the court was made known to him, the heroic firmness of his mind challenged the admiration of all. He exhibited no fear of death, but the manner was a subject that gave him uneasiness; he wished to die as a soldier, not as a spy. Tender of the feelings of his commander, he obtained permission of Washington to write to Sir Henry Clinton,
September 29.
for the purpose of assuring him that the dilemma in which he found himself was not attributable to the duty required of him by his general. In that letter he implied a presentiment of his fate, and said, "I have a mother and two sisters, to whom the value of my commission would be an object, as the loss of Grenada has much effected their income." * There could be no question among military men as to the equity of Andre's sentence, and
* Colonel Hamilton, who was the bearer of the request from André to Washington asking his permission to send this open letter to Clinton, observes, in an account which he gave to Colonel Laurens, that Andre seemed to foresee the result of the proceedings in which he was concerned. "There is only one thing which disturbs my tranquillity," he said to Hamilton. "Sir Henry Clinton has been too good to me; he has been lavish of his kindness; I am bound to him by too many obligations, and love him too well, to bear the thought that he should reproach himself, or others should reproach him, on the supposition of my having conceived myself obliged, by his instructions, to run the risk I did. I would not for the world leave a sting in his mind that should imbitter his future days."
Equity of Andrè's Sentence.—Efforts to Save him.—Embassy of Colonel Ogden.—Washington Vilified
yet there was a general desire on the part of the Americans to save his life. Washington was deeply impressed with this feeling, and was ready to employ any measure to effect it consistent with his public duty. *