“When I parted from you yesterday, Sir, to come and breakfast here with General Arnold, we were far from foreseeing the event which I am now going to relate to you. You will shudder at the danger to which we were exposed; you will admire the miraculous chain of unexpected events and singular chances which have saved us; but you will be still more astonished when you learn by what instrument this conspiracy has been formed. West Point was sold,—_and sold by Arnold_,—the same man who formerly acquired glory by rendering such immense services to his country. He had lately entered in a horrible compact with the enemy and but for the accident which brought us here at a certain hour, but for the combination of chances that threw the adjutant-general of the British army into the hands of some peasants, beyond the limits of our stations, at West Point and on the North River, they would both at present, in all probability, be in the possession of the enemy. [Illustration: ROCHAMBEAU] “When we set out yesterday for Fishkill, we were preceded by one of my aides-de-camp and one of General Washington’s [Colonels Hamilton and McHenry], who found General Arnold and his wife at breakfast, and sat down at the table with them. While they were together, two letters were given to Arnold, which apprised him of the arrest of the spy. He ordered a horse to be saddled, went into his wife’s room to tell her he was ruined, and desired his aide-de-camp to inform General Washington that he was going to West Point, and would return in the course of an hour. “On our arrival here we crossed the river and went to examine the works. You may conceive our astonishment when we learned, on our return, that the arrested spy was Major André, adjutant-general of the English army; and when among his papers were discovered the copy of an important council of war, the state of the garrison and works, and observations upon various means of attack and defence, the whole in Arnold’s own handwriting. “The adjutant-general wrote also to the general avowing his name and situation. Orders were sent to arrest Arnold; but he escaped in a boat, got on board the English frigate, the _Vulture_, and as no person suspected his flight, he was not stopped at any post. Colonel Hamilton, who had gone in pursuit of him, received soon after, by a flag of truce, a letter from Arnold to the general, in which he entered into details to justify his treachery, and a letter from the English commander, Robertson, who, in a very insolent manner, demanded that the adjutant-general should be delivered up to them, as he had only acted with the permission of General Arnold.”