* This desertion of the sergeant was a stratagem of Washington unknown to Captain Ogden at the time. A paper had been intercepted, in which was found the name of one of the American major-generals, connected in such a manner with other particulars, as to excite a suspicion, that he was concerned in Arnold's treason. It was extremely important, that this point should be ascertained; and the sergeant was prevailed upon to desert, and act as a spy in New York to gain intelligence of a certain kind, and from certain sources. The stratagem was successful, and the intelligence sent out by the sergeant, in a very short time, proved incontestably that the suspicion was entirely groundless. The intercepted paper was probably designed by the enemy to fall into General Washington's hands, and to create jealousy and discord among the American officers.
The letters from André and General Washington, and the proceedings of the board of examination, were perused with much concern by Sir Henry Clinton. He immediately assembled a council of general officers, and laid these papers before them. After maturely considering their contents, it was resolved that a deputation of three persons should proceed to the nearest American outpost, furnished with evidence to prove Major André's innocence, and to impart information, which Sir Henry Clinton thought would place the question in a different light from that in which it had been viewed by the American board.
The persons delegated on this mission were General Robertson, Andrew Elliot, and William Smith. They were accompanied by Beverly Robinson as a witness in the case, and were fortified in their estimation, but weakened in reality, by a long explanatory and threatening letter from Arnold to General Washington. The commissioners went up the river in the Greyhound Schooner, with a flag of truce, on the 1st of October. Notice of the intended visit and its objects had been already communicated by Sir Henry Clinton to Washington; and when the vessel anchored at Dobbs's Ferry, General Greene was there, having been deputed by Washington to hold the interview in his behalf. The person sent on shore by the British commissioners brought word back, that General Robertson only would be permitted to land, and that General Greene was then in readiness to receive him.
The conference was opened by Robertson, who paid some compliments to the American general, and expressed the satisfaction he had in treating with him on an occasion so interesting to the two armies and to humanity. Greene replied, that it was necessary for them to know at the outset on what ground they stood; that he was not there in the character of an officer; that he was allowed by General Washington to meet him as a private gentleman, but that the case of an acknowledged spy admitted of no discussion. Robertson said his design was to state facts, which he hoped would have their due weight, in whatever character he might be supposed to speak.
He then entered largely into the subject, endeavoring to show, first, that André landed under the sanction of a flag; secondly, that he acted wholly by the directions of Arnold; from both of which positions it was inferred, that he could not in any just sense of the word be regarded as a spy. The facts having all been examined by the board of officers, and been well understood, this new statement of them made no change in Greene's opinion or impressions; and when Arnold's testimony was introduced, he said the Americans would believe André in preference to Arnold. General Robertson said, that no military tribunal in Europe would decide the case of André to be that of a spy, and he proposed to refer the question to Count de Rochambeau and General Knyphausen. Other considerations were urged by him, not so much in the way of argument, as on the score of reciprocal benefits and humanity. He added, that he should confide in General Greene's candor to represent in the fairest light to General Washington the arguments he had used; that he should stay on board all night, and hoped in the morning to take back with him Major André, or an assurance of his safety.
In Robertson's despatch to Sir Henry Clinton, containing the particulars of the conference, he said it was intimated to him by Greene, that, if André were set free, it would be expected that Arnold should be given up. Robertson professed to have replied to this intimation only by a look of indignant rebuke.
The letter from Arnold to General Washington, written to aid the negotiation of the commissioners, was extraordinary, considering the purpose it was intended to answer. After expressing his "grateful acknowledgments and thanks" for the kindness shown to Mrs. Arnold, and attempting to screen André from blame by taking the responsibility of his deeds upon himself, and declaring that he "had an undoubted right to transact all those matters," he concludes in a style of hardened impudence and malignity, that, even when coming from such a source, must be regarded with astonishment.
"If, after this just and candid representation of Major Andre's case," said he, "the board of general officers adhere to their former opinion, I shall suppose it dictated by passion and resentment; and if that gentleman should suffer the severity of their sentence, I shall think myself bound by every tie of duty and honor to retaliate on such unhappy persons of your army as may fall within my power, that the respect due to flags, and to the law of nations, may be better understood and observed.
"If this warning should be disregarded, and he suffer, I call Heaven and earth to witness, that your Excellency will be justly answerable for the torrent of blood, that may be spilt in consequence."
It is hardly possible that this letter could have been seen by Sir Henry Clinton, although written at his request, with the view of operating on the judgment and clemency of Washington. Could any language, uttered by any individual, have a more opposite tendency? Disgust and contempt were the only emotions it could excite; and it was at least an evidence, that neither the understanding nor the heart of the writer had been improved by his political change. Hitherto he had discovered acuteness and mental resource, but in this act his folly was commensurate with his wickedness. At the same time he performed the farce of resigning his commission, as an officer in the American service, and wrote to General Washington, "I beg leave to assure your Excellency, that my attachment to the true interests of my country is invariable, and that I am actuated by the same principle, which has ever been the governing rule of my conduct in this unhappy contest." Setting aside the hypocrisy of this declaration, it is perhaps fair to interpret it in its literal sense, and to believe, that he had always confounded patriotism with selfishness, and the interests of his country with the aims of a mercenary ambition.