THE TOWN OF NORTH CASTLE. 717 



to Arnold at West Point before the report of his capture should go 

 abroad, it might be practicable for them both to get within the British 

 lines, or to take such other steps for securing themselves, as the extremity 

 of their affairs should make necessary. It has been represented, that 

 Andre's magnanimity was the principal motive by which he was actuated 

 in concealing the agency of Arnold. His subsequent conduct gives him 

 every claim to the praise of honor and nobleness of mind ; yet, on the 

 present occasion, it is obvious that his own personal safety was as much 

 consulted, to say the least, as his sentiments of generosity towards his 

 associate. 



Jameson penned a hasty line to Arnold, saying merely that he sdnt 

 forward, under the charge of Lieutenant Allen and a guard, a certain 

 John Anderson, who had been taken while going towards New York. 

 He had a passport, said Jameson, signed in your name ; and a parcel of 

 papers taken from under his stockings, which I think of a very danger- 

 ous tendency. He then described these papers, and added that he had 

 sent them to General Washington. 



There appears to have been some misgiving in the mind of Jameson, 

 although he was not prepared to suspect the patriotism and political 

 fidelity of his commanding general, Washington said afterwards that, 

 either on account of his " egregious folly, or bewildered conception, he 

 seemed lost in astonishment, and not to know what he was doing." This 

 is as lenient a judgment, perhaps, as can be passed on his conduct. No 

 one ever doubted the purity of his intentions. Perceiving the mischiev- 

 ous tendency of the papers, and knowing them to have been copied by 

 Arnold, at the same moment that he sent Andre under guard to West 

 Point, he dispatched an express with the papers to meet General Wash- 

 ington, then supposed to be on the road returning from his interview 

 with the French commanders at Hartford. Two reasons were subse- 

 quently assigned by Jameson, for a course which seemed so extraordi- 

 nary to every body else ; first, that he thought the affair was an imposi- 

 tion by the British, intending to destroy the confidence of the Americans 

 in Arnold ; secondly, that, not knowing the Vulture was up the river, he 

 supposed Arnold could not get to the enemy, without passing through 

 the American out-posts on the lines, where he would be taken. 



Major Tallmadge, next in command under Jameson was absent on 

 duty below White Plains when Andre was brought in, and did not re- 

 turn till evening. He was filled with astonishment when Jameson 

 related what had happened, and could not refrain from expressing his 

 surprise at the course that had been pursued. To his mind the case was 

 so clear, or at all events was attended by such peculiar circumstances, as 



