LAYS OF THE REVOLUTION.

BY THOMAS BIBB BRADLEY.

THE EXECUTION OF ANDRE.

INSCRIBED TO NICHOLAS DAVIS, JR., OF ALABAMA,

spot which infamy was about to trace there in marks of livid distinctness.

As soon, however, as he established himself at Philadelphia, occupying the house of Penn, the luxury and riot which signalized his conduct made him an object of notorious remark if not of general distrust. Although his income was comparatively large, his extravagance was such that he was compelled The treason of Benedict Arnold and the to resort to commerce and privateering to consequent execution of the unfortunate replenish his wasting coffers. His speculaAndre constitute the most mournfully inter- tions, bold and venturesome, were unsucesting portion of American history. So cessful, yet he lived as sumptuously, played young, so gifted and so brave, it was indeed as deeply, and distributed his gifts as lava bitter death for him to die upon the gibbet. ishly as if he were the inheritor of a princely Upon the romantic and chivalrous American domain. At the ball his step was the gayest, youth Major Andre's doom acts most pow- his voice the most musical; at the play his erfully, and often the heart of the young stakes were largest and the soonest won; at man exclaims, "Would that the tears of his table, groaning with the choicest delicacies mercy had outweighed the sword of justice!" and most generous wines, his face was flushed The calm and dispassionate judgment of man with the reddest hue. He became a veritasince the revolution, however, has justified ble disciple of Alcinous, and his heart bethe decision of the court martial; and, while came false. He placed his unhallowed touch it has vindicated the great Washington from upon the revenues of the city, and with unthe aspersions of those ignorant of his char- sated cupidity plundered the public treasury. acter, has awarded to him the noble praise of the truest sympathy with the ill-fated Englishman. Indeed the mighty heart of our first President was thrilled with pain at the gate them. After examination his claims untimely fate of the poor prisoner, but the crisis imperiously demanded the rigid fulfilment of the laws of war; and, while Columbia wept at the sacrifice through all her borders, the sighs of sorrow were unmingled with the voice of reproach.

The indignant government refused to receipt his usurious account, and with a just. alarm appointed commissioners to investi

were pronounced exorbitant; only half of his demand being granted him. The enormous pride of the traitor, for traitor he already was in his heart, was exasperated, and from that moment he nerved his impious hand to strike, at the earliest opportunity, a

A brief recurrence to the history of the death-blow to his accusing country. His event may not be uninteresting.

wrath was increased when he was brought

Previous to the evacuation of the City of before a court-martial by the State of PennPhiladelphia by the English, and the ap-sylvania, arraigned for the crime of theft. pointment of Benedict Arnold as its com- The charges against him were sustained, and mandant with the concurrence of Washing- his sentence was a reprimand from Washton, exclusive of the sacred name of the ington. The indignation of Arnold at this general-in-chief, that of the hero of Canada deserved rebuke from his aggrieved counranked among the highest in the grateful trymen was extreme; in his excitement he praises of his countrymen. They looked poured his invectives upon the government, upon him as one of America's truest patriots nurtured in his heart the deadliest animosity and ablest defenders. The many wounds to the Commander-in chief, and consummahe had received had endeared him to them, ted in his mind his horrible purpose of bewhile his enthusiastic and impulsive valor traying the land of his birth to her merciless had rendered him a model to the younger enemies. From its inception to its complesoldiers. The most scrutinizing observer of tion, he was as busy in his fearful designs as men looked in vain amid the laurels upon he had previously been vigilant in defence Arnold's brow for the shadow of that shame- of liberty, and energetic in her sacred cause.

Pretending an aversion to Philadelphia as a the heart of one of America's generals, was residence, at his earnest request he obtained seized with a sudden fear when he beheld the command of the important post of West the glow of patriotism mantling the cheeks, Point and its garrison. There upon its lofty and beaming from the eyes of three of her mountain it stood, humblest yeomen.

A fortress formed to Freedom's hands.

The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock
Had left untouched her hoary rock.

In the boots of the prisoner his captors discovered several papers written by Arnold himself containing detailed plans of West Point, with the necessary instructions for its And there, in sight of the beautiful river capture by the British. He was immediately rolling at its base, reproving him with its imprisoned as a spy, and a court-martial was proudly-foaming waters, with the blue sky ordered by Washington to determine his punover him, his own green forest land" be- ishment. Arnold meanwhile escaped, and neath him, and the preserver of the Pil- hid his dishonored head among his English grim fathers above him, he darkened his allies, bearing with him the hot curses of an soul with that plot whose unmitigated infamy injured country, and a hell of infamy in his has rendered his odious name synonymous own bosom. La Fayette and the Baron de with treason wherever patriotism warms the Steuben, with distinguished and impartial bosom of true manhood. American officers, sat upon the court-marHis negotiations were soon opened with tial appointed to try Andre. Before this Colonel Robinson, and through him with body the youthful prisoner appeared, and General Clinton, for the delivery of the Gib- endeavored with manly eloquence and canraltar of America into the hands of the Brit- did emotion to exculpate himself in the ish. The conduct of the transaction, on the opinion of his judges. His nobility of charpart of the English commander, was en- acter, frankness, uniform dignity, and wintrusted by him to Major Andre, one of his ning address most deeply impressed his aids de camp whom he especially loved and hearers, but they were compelled to return cherished. At the suggestion of Arnold, their verdict, not from the suggestions of Andre repaired from the sloop Vulture, sta- pity, but from a stern sense of the reality tioned not far from West Point, to the pre- and enormity of his crime. Upon the essence of the traitor, in order to facilitate the cutcheon of those who convicted him shame execution of his design. For one entire had never left a stain, and their motives night they conversed in regard to the matter, were as honorable as their hearts were pure. and with the dawning of the day had not To the Marquis de la Fayette all the rules and arranged their plans. Andre was, therefore, regulations of warfare prescribed by Chrisconcealed until the following night, and tendom had long been known, and the was then baffled in his attempt to regain the vessel in consequence of the refusal of the boatmen to transport him. Accordingly, with a horse and passport, under the name Andre's appeal, and, while deeply compasof Anderson, and in a common dress provi- sionating his youth, his sufferings, and his ded for him by Arnold against his own in- reluctance to die the shameful death, were clination, he endeavored to reach the city of compelled from an impartial view of the New York in safety. But the eye of the facts of the case to convict him of the God of Battles followed him in his course, crime for which he was arraigned. He was and he was intercepted by three soldiers of apprehended in disguise within the Amerithe militia, John Paulding, David Williams, can lines while bearing an assumed name, and Isaac Van Wert, whose simple names and with concealed plans of an important have since been adorned with the lustre of fortress, which is the very definition of a glory. His answers to their questions were spy.

Baron de Steuben exemplified in himself the courteous gentleman and the accomplished soldier. They listened with attention to

unsatisfactory, and they arrested him. Their When General Clinton heard of the senhonest hearts were unmoved by all his tempt-tence pronounced against his favorite aid, ing offers, and he who had read treachery in his sorrow knew no bounds. He made the

most frantic efforts to obtain his release, and could his judgment have approved the offering exchange of prisoners, and occasion- deed, he would with his own hands have set ally adding threats to his promises. But the prisoner free. Yet it could not be so. Washington, though deeply compassionate, The morning of the execution dawned, was firm and unyielding. He consented, and Andre was conducted to the gibbet. however, to a conference between delegates Every eye that beheld him was moistened from the two armies, in order to gratify with sorrow, and every heart was full of Clinton, and allow to the unhappy prisoner grief. He had hoped to die, if he must die every possible extenuation of his guilt. But ere the close of the war, upon the battle the simple fact that Andre himself confessed field, covered with honorable wounds, and that in returning from West Point to the in the presence of comrades who would sloop he was not under the protection of the cherish his memory in their hearts. He was American flag effectually precluded all com- young, noble and gifted. Life for him had promise. many charms, and upon his existence and Meanwhile the discovery of the treasona- services depended the support, if not the ble plot spread over the States, and filled happiness, of his widowed mother and two the hearts of all men with horror. Had Ar- sisters. Honors had already clustered around nold's plan been successful, disaster and ruin his youthful brow; and in the home of his would have been the consequence to the youth the maidens of England had mentioned country. The gallant army of the Ameri- his name with praises. It is not wonderful cans, with their baggage and munitions of that in the bitterness of his despair, a capwar, would inevitably have been captured by tive in a foreign land, with the tide of his the possessors of West Point. Confusion mournful thoughts rushing full upon him, he and consternation would have enfeebled the should exclaim, as he stood at the foot of forces of the patriots, and the British stand- the gibbet, "And must I die thus ?" But ard would have been borne triumphant over with a firmness worthy of a better fate, he the land. Had not Andre been arrested, the nerved himself for death. Commending his drum of liberty had been muffled in defeat, soul to God, he placed his body at the disand the flag of America had trailed mourn- posal of the executioner, saying, as he did fully in the dust. Had not those three yeomen so, "Bear witness all that I die as a brave been incorruptible in their country's cause, man should die." These words were his would the dome of the present capitol rear last, and soon the soul of the unfortunate aloft its magnificent proportions, and would young Englishman soared far above the igBunker Hill Monument as now uplift its co- nominious gallows, and paused before the lossal shaft to pierce the rolling clouds? As portals of heaven.

the long years glide away, let then their names be remembered in enduring honor.

THE EXECUTION OF ANDRE.

Yet in his breast his heart beat calm, undaunted by his fate.

No sunshine sought his lonely cell to bless him with its light,

No rainbow arched his future sky to cheer his weary sight.

To kiss his cheek, and cool his brow, and whisper soft of home,

From Albion's isle far o'er the waves no grateful wind had come.

Preparations were speedily made for the He lay within his prison-house alone and desolate, prisoner's impending execution. During his confinement he won the hearts of all who saw him, by his unvarying mildness of demeanor, and suavity of speech. At this time Washington was peculiarly gloomy. He knew not how far disaffection had pervaded the army, and felt more deeply than ever the need of patriotic generals upon whom to rely in the perilous hour. While his conscience, the arbiter of all his actions, sanctioned the doom of Andre, he could not but experience the keenest anguish for the terrible sacrifice. The Father of his Country sympathized with the unhappy young man And at her touch stout oaken doors on noiseless hinges To prince's throne, or humble cot, her mission is of love, about to meet with so untimely a death, move.

To him no message from his friends the rolling ocean

bore,

But on her gentle errand sped one whom all men adore.

A goddess she of queenly mien that rules a broad domain,
And radiant night and darkness are the handmaids of her

train.

To stay her step, to check her course proud tyrants seek For merry England and St. George, and for the dear red in vain ;

At locks and bars and dungeon-bolts she laughs in sheer Then on the ravaged plains of France he heard his disdain. armor ring,

Not steel-clad legions in their might, arrayed in phalanx And joined the shout of the island men, “God bless our deep.

This goddess waved her golden wand by Andre's darkened He heard the soldiers' sounding tramp, and a single

And in her orbs of melting blue fond mercy's glance That God would give him strength that day a shameful

The captive from his prison his guards in silence bore, And pressed with the Saxon's fiercest ones mid rushing And he walked upon the scaffold as on his native shore.

Then with Queen Margaret's host he stood, and dealt The gibbet! ah! the gibbet! should the dangling noose his sweeping blows

Around that neck where sisters fond with dear caresses | green native turf covers not his clay. Un

hung!

der the burning tropics, beneath the shade of a broad-leaved palm, or a fruit-laden plantain is a lowly grave. It marks the spot where a devoted missionary rests from his labors, or where the votary of science sank down in the midst of his pursuits. No wife or sister walks there in the twilight to muse over the past, and in thought to follow the freed spirit into the Invisible Land. The gorgeous flowers of a torrid clime shed their fragrance upon the solitude, and thick, trailing vines cover the consecrated soil. In the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, amidst Alpine grandeurs, many low crosses meet the eye. They speak of the benighted traveller who perished alone, and lies buried beneath the snows. The hot plains of India, the gold enriched valleys of California, and the coral islands of the Pacific could all show us graves, where repose without companions, some of the children of men. Solitary

I have often thought if the history of all graves are upon the banks of our mighty the lonely graves scattered over our wide western rivers, and upon our boundless praiearth could be written, a most affecting chap-ries flowers bloom above unconscious sleepter of human sorrow would be opened to the ers. Go where we will upon our globe we eye and to the heart. We count those blest who find that the dead are there. Earth is ever atsleep in quiet church-yards, where the foot tracting her children to her bosom, and in the of the Sabbath worshipper passes, and near words of inspiration, "the clods of the valley whose graves the voice of prayer and praise shall be sweet unto them, and every man weekly ascends to heaven. We walk with shall draw after him as there are innumerachastened sadness through the village burial ble before him." Two solitary graves are place, or through the tasteful cemeteries spoken of in the beautiful pastoral sketches which adorn the vicinity of our cities. The which abound in the books of the Hebrew marble tablet, the fresh springing flowers, lawgiver. One is that of Deborah, Rebecca's and the emblematical evergreen, all speak nurse. She was buried under an oak, and the affection of kindred, and the sorrowing the name given to the spot signified "the remembrances of the living. Far otherwise oak of weeping." Rachel also died in the is it when distant journeyings, or the pages way, and Jacob set a pillar upon her grave, of voyagers and travellers reveal to us the and journeyed on to spread his tent beyond last resting place of a fellow mortal upon the tower of Edar. alien shores. Then it is that we deeply Wordsworth, among modern poets, has feel the beauty of those eastern salutations written much of the grave. Many sublime to the stranger: "may you die among your and affecting lessons has he drawn from this kindred"—"may you be buried by the last abode of mortals. The reader of the grave of your father and of your mother." Excursion will remember the simple pathos, The imagination sees, among the ice moun- and the high and beautiful morality of some. tains, and eternal snows of the polar regions, of the stories related by the village pastor in a little mound of stones raised upon a barren the church yard among the mountains. In rock. A painted board marks the name, and two of his fugitive pieces he has spoken of date of the death, of the sailor who desolately solitary graves One is called "the Thorn." sleeps below. His mother mourns for him The tale is sorrowful; but there is great in her peaceful home, and weeps that his beauty in the description of the infant's grave

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