SECRET SERVICE

Northern Advocate, 15 September 1932, Page 7

SECRET SERVICE

THE IXTELLLTGENCE DEPARTMENT. (By A. Hornet.) No. 2. Strictness must too sustained in all armies. .A “confidential report” dealing with an officer’s conduct, if unfavourable, is as deadly as poison gas. I hold no brief for Benedict Arnold — only have a watching brief for Major Andre, who was hanged dead. As mentioned in a previous article, a splendid monument to commemorate this unfortunate officer now enriches Westminster Abbey. To this day flames of passion can be raised in the manly bosom of every patriotic citizen of the Great Republic by the mention of Benedict Arnold. He is denounced, bell, book,

and caudle, for liis- action in communicating with Sir Henry Clinton, tho Jlritish general commanding the forces in the neighbourhood of New York, the year being- .1780, when tho lirst Derby was run. The soreness left in the minds of Americans was on account of their blunder —they hanged the wrong man. The man they wanted gave his enemies the slip for ever. The charge raised against Arnold, true, or untrue, was that ho on certain occasions made use of military waggons, instead of private ones, to convey his wife’s trunks and bonnet-boxes, when changing quarters; that his standard of living was high—too rich for the taste of the Puritans, those rascals who burned the witches at Salem, and instituted the “Scarlet Letter”; that certain indirect charges of misappropriation were hinted, and he made no attempt to right himself, nor to bring his accusers to face. Hence it happened that live men, his inferiors in rank, were passed over his head by Congress, a snub which proves without the shadow of doubt that the authorities were determined to bump him off. To the credit of Washington, he highly disapproved of this injustice to one of the leaders of the revolting colonists, to one that had been pinged in the leg.

Towards the close of Arnold’s career as aflicer in the American army, ho was given a small command at West Point, on the Hudson, an honour • which thrilled him like a kick from a cow, or a punch in the jaw. Borne American historians, entertaining a spirit of righteousness, attempt to do justice to a man for whom, they have no affection. They say that Arnold, smarting from wrong being done to him, became dead to all principle. Others say that he was a low down underhand spy, devoid of all principle. Bo it is best to leave it at that. I am only pleading for the man who was hanged.

]t was West Point, now the military academy (similar to Sandhurst) for American cadets, that gave rise to the affair. There is no gainsaying the fact that for some months Arnold had been corresponding with Sir H. Clinton. Whether Arnold should be looked upon as a traitor for entering into communication with the opposing general commanding British forces is a question which depends entirely on all the circumstances of the case. History reveals that in every civil war military men, following the example of politicians, have crossed from one side to the other, and many, like “ our Winston,” have “boxed the compass” vainlj" seeking a true meridian. Take, for instance, Marlborough: ho served James 11. with fidelity until William Prince of Orange appeared in the limelight. Then he swopped horses. Even Marshal Ney fiddled on both sides, for and against. Napoleon, then, .because of bis broad and open mind, he was shot by his own countrymen. Again, in civil strife, attempts frequently are made to terminate bloodshed and bring about reconciliation. Early in the .American revolution in Howe’s time, an effort was made to end hostilities, but Washington, being addressed by letter —“George Washington Esq.,” instead of General Washington—had his dignity offended and dissipated all hopes of peace. It was a doltish mistake to make, to ask him to shrink into the insignificance of an “Esquire”—a most prepostcrons proposition—when ho at one time was an officer in the British Army. He was so angry at being “esquired,” that this man who never got tangled up in a lie tangled his wig. None the loss “Enquire” is a title of dignity, next in degree below a knight and every person in England, whoso finger-prints are not in Scot land Yard, has a right to be addressed as “ Esquire”—same as everyone in New Zealand is addressed as “Mr.” Titles, like little sta ps—one often wonders what fliev arc!

There is no disputing the fact that Benediet Arnold for some past had been in eomnmnieation with Sir Henry Clinton. .Furthermore thesel communications were not inquiries after each oihers’ health. Xor is it denied that Alajor Andre, an officer on the denera!’s staff, was commissioned to have an interview with General Arnold when he was holding command at West Point. So unsuspecting of treachery, so confident he was merely an emissary, that Major Andre set out in his regimentals to meet Arnold. After the conference between, the two officers, Andre, acting under the advice of Arnold, took off his uniform and put oji mufti. Changing clothes was a fatal error, and placed in the mouths of the Americans an excuse for the breach of military decorum which they committed by the hanging of Andre as a spy. Arnold in advising

the change in clothes did it from the best of motives, arising out of fear that Andre, in regimentals, on returning might attract attention. Dressed as a civilian, Major Andre, on returning to the British lines, was seized .and made prisoner. He was tried before a (board consisting of twelve American generals one of whom was a square-headed Prussian. The evidence the board hcaid was chiefly against Arnold, who in the meanwhile had escaped to the .Bi'itish lines. When Andre, on trial, stood before the dozen generals, owing to an optical delusion it was Arnold, the traitor, the renegade, whom they viewed in their mind’s eye, but as ho had slipped through their fingers some one had to hong, so" the “lot” fell on Andre. Without any platitudes let loose, without .oven a “benedietus,” these generals passed sentence, and Andre, Sir H: Clinton’s aide-de-camp, was hanged at Tappan, in the'.State of New York, October 2, 1780. Strange to say, bn the very same day, Monsieur Henry de la Motto, a French spy, was executed at Tyburn, the place in London where .criminals were dealt with in former times. Matters were further complicated by the offer (I cannot vouch for its truth) that the American authorities made to the British Government. It is said that they were willing to make a substitution —exchange Andre for Arnold. They considered a captured aide-de-camp—-a bird in the hand —would be good value for their lost leader, who left them for a handful of silver, with a ribbon to pin on his breast. (To be continued.)