Commodore Boyle Walfingham, was still more calamitous; fhe being fo completely fwallowed up in this conflict of the elements, that no memorial or particulars of her catastrophe can ever come to light. The Phoenix, of 44 guns, Sir Hyde Parker, was wrecked on -the island of Cuba; but the officers, and most of her crew, were happily faved. The Barbadoes and Victor floops of war, with the Cameleon, Scarborough, and La Blanche frigates, became like wife, upon different fervices, and with a partial or total lofs of men and officers, victims to the rage of this merciless season. The French islands, seem to have fuffered even more than the English, excepting only Barbadoes. At Martinique, the beautiful town of St. Pierre, built upon the fhore, was faid to have been entirely overwhelmed and washed away; and the town of Baffeterre, in Guadaloupe, was reported to have shared the fame fate. About fixty fail of transports from France, which had arrived that morning at Martinique, with ftores, and 2,500 troops, on board, were all driven out to fea; and both fhips and foldiers fuffered extremely. Several were entirely loft; and fome were taken, by thofe who had themselves juft escaped the danger, and who were ftill fuffering under the effects of the common calamity. The Experiment of 50 guns, and the Juno of forty, with fome other Royal French frigates, were entirely deftroyed; and 19 fail of loaded Dutch veffels, were dafhed to pieces on the ifland of Granada. Nor did the Dutch island of St. Euftatius escape the general effects of the hurricane; the damage there being eftimated at not less than 150,000l. fterling. The humanity of the Marquis de Bouille, affords fome relief to these scenes of horror and devastation. That governor fent 31 Britifh failors (being the poor re mains that were faved of the crews of the Laurel and Andromeda) under a flag of truce, to Commodore Hotham, at St. Lucia, accompanied with a letter or mesfage, in which he declared, that he could not confider in the light of enemies men who had fo hardly escaped in a contention with the force of the elements; but that they, having, in common with his own people, been partakers of the fame danger, were, in like manner, entitled to every comfort and relief which could be given, in a season of fuch univerfal calamity and diftrefs. He only lamented, he faid, that their number was fo fmall; and particularly, that none of the officers were faved. Thus did that eminent commander, and magnanimous enemy, fuftain the high character which he had fo juftly attained, as well with the English as his own nation, in the course of the present war; and to which, or more'properly, to thofe great qualities from which it is derived, he is perhaps no lefs beholden for fome of his acquifitions, than to the fuperiority of his arms. When it is recollected that the hurricanes of this feafon swept the coafts of Europe and America as well as the West Indies; and that even a beautiful part of the country, on both fides of the Thames, between London and Richmond, fuffered very much (about the time of the devaftation in the Leeward Islands) by a hur ricane of fo peculiar and dreadful a nature, as had not been frequently experienced in this climate and country, it will afford no caufe of wonder, that Jamaica fhould partake deeply of the common calamity. The hurricane in Jamaica was, however, different in many refpects from the others. It was earlier in point of time by a week, than that at Barbadoes; and was more complex, being accompanied by an earthquake, and a most extraordinary fwell of the fea, which rendered it still more terrible, as well as fatal. But its effects were happily more confined; and it feems to have been only the tip of its eaftern wing, which fwept the western point of that ifland. The two large diftricts, which are called parishes, of Westmoreland and Hanover, which include the whole breadth of Jamaica in its western extreme, were accordingly the principal victims of its rage; although their neareft eastern neighbours, in the parishes of St. James and Elizabeth, felt no fmall thare of its fury. Whilft the unhappy inhabitants of Savanna la Mar (then a conderable trading town on the fouth fide of the island, in Oct. 3d. Weftmoreland parifh) were gazing with aftonishment, at such a swell of the fea, and agitation of its waves, as had never been before beheld; on a fudden, 300 perfons, of all colours, perifhed in this dreadful irruption. The fea flowed up half a mile beyond its ufual fixed limits; and fo fudden and unavoidable was the deftruction, although it took place at noon day, that of the inhabitants of one gentleman's house, confifting of ten whites, and about forty negroes, not a foul of either fort escaped. This was only the prelude to immediate and more extensive calamity. Where the fea, in its prefent degree of force, could not reach, the business of deftruction was nearly as effectually carried on by the fucceeding earthquake and hurricane. Between both, fcarcely a house or building of any fort was left ftanding in the two firft parifhes we mentioned, any more than in a confiderable part of the two others; particularly that of St. James, which ftood in the next degree of fuffering. A great number of the white inhabitants, and of neceffity, a much greater of the negroes, perifhed during the course of the hurricane. The provifions were entirely deftroyed; and the live ftock efcaped little better. But the calamity was not confined to the fruits of the earth, nor to its immediate inhabitants. The rich and cultivated foil, was in many places covered with heaps of fterile matter, which could not be removed by any profitable labour, and which it was not in the power of culture to reclaim. Thus a people, who had generally been in a state of high affluence, were in an inftant reduced to the extreme of want and mifery, Their remote fituation rendered their condition the more deplorable. [C] 2 There There was no friend or kind neighbour to fly to for an afylum, where all were equally wretched, The damage in the parish of Weftmoreland only, was eftimated at 950,000l. Jamaica currency, amounting to near 700,000l. fterling. In that of Hanover, one fourth part of the abfolute property, was faid to be loft for ever. The damage in the other two parishes was very confiderable. The merchants of Kingston, the metropolis of the ifland, generoufly fubfcribed 10,000l. for the immediate relief of the unfortunate fufferers; the value of which was speedily tranfmitted to them, in thofe articles of cloathing and provifion which were moft urgently neceffary. But the bounty of the crown and parliament of Great Britain, would afford a lasting tes timonial of the beneficence, liberality, and grandeur of this country, if all other memorials of its generofity and greatness were forgotten. In the height of a lofing and most unfortunate domeftic and foreign war; a war, not lefs diftinguished from all others by the greatnefs of its loffes, than by its unparalleled expences; yet, in this ftate of public and private calamity, the house of commons inftantly granted 80,000l. for the relief of the sufferers in Barbadoes, and 40,000l. for thofe in Jamaica. The generous benefactions of individuals kept pace with the public munificence. Whilft the Weft-India, iflands were doubly fuffering, under all the evils of war, and under fome of the greatest calamities of nature, the continent of North Amezica enjoyed fome tolerable refpite from the one, and had pretty well efcaped the other. Admiral Arbuthnot ftill continued his station about Gardner's Bay and Block Ifland, to watch the motions of M. de Ternay; whilft the induftry of the French was quickened, in completing the fortifications, and increafing the defences of the harbour, at Rhode Island, from an apprehenfion of the great fuperiority of naval force, which the. arrival of Sir George Rodney had thrown into the fçale on the British fide. Whether it proceeded from a knowledge that the fortifications at Rhode Island were now in fuch ftrength on the land fide, as to bid defiance to any force which Sir Henry Clinton could with fafety draw from New York; whether the harbour was fo well fortified as not to admit the approach of the fleet; or whether the feason was fo far advanced, that it would not be prudent to expose the ships to the dangerous uncertainty of the weather, we do not know; but, however it was, no attempt was made to derive any advantage from the prefent naval fuperiority. The critics upon military affairs, with whom New York, nearly from its firft coming into our hands, peculiarly abounded, were as bitter in their cenfures, and reviled the commanders with as little mercy and decency upon this occafion, as they had both themselves and their predeceffors upon many. others.. During this apparent calm, and a fort of tacit ceffation of hoftility, produced only by the peculiar fituation and circumftances of the parties on both fides, a fcheme of the utmost importance was in agita tion, calculated, if it could have taken effect in its full extent, totally to change the face of affairs in America, and to bring the war to a speedy, if not immediate conclufion. Every reader is fufficiently acquainted with the figure which the American general, Arnold, made, during the whole courfe of the war. In peaceful occupations he was not fo happy, Retired from the army, on account of the wound he received in the cause of Ame rica, and which endeared him to that whole continent, he foon loft the affections of his countrymen, which he had purchafed at fo dear a rate. His conduct in the government of Philadelphia, to which he had been appointed upon the retreat of the British army, was of such a nature, or fo reprefented by his enemies, as drew upon him, not only the odium of the inhabitants of that city, but of the province in general. He was charged with oppreffion, extortion, with exorbitant and enormous charges upon the public in his accounts, and with applying the public money and property to his own private ufe. Many of the particulars appear in the publications of the time. He appealed from the judgment of the commiffioners who had been appointed to infpect his accounts (and who had rejected above half the amount of his demands) to the Congrefs; and they appointed a committee, of their own body, to examine and fettle the bufinefs. The committee not only confirmed the report of the 'commiffioners, but were of opinion, that they had allowed him more than he had any right to expect or demand, Mr. Arnold fhewed himself highly irritated by this determination; and uttered invectives against the Congrefs, not lefs violent than those that he had before thrown out against the commiffioners. He was, however, foon obliged to abide the judgment of a courtmartial, upon the various charges of malverfation in office, exhibited against him by the executive government of Philadelphia, as well on the grounds we have mentioned, as on fome others. This court found his conduct (in general terms) highly reprehenfible, and ordered that he should be reprimanded by General Washington. This fentence gave no fatis faction to the accufers. They faid, that the confideration of General Arnold's former fervices had rendered his judges too favourable.. On the other fide, the party accufed attacked them as giving a general cenfure, because they were refolved to find him guilty, and yet could fix on nothing fpecific. He who had held fo large a fhare of popularity, could not but feverely feel, that lofs of public opinion and private efteem which he now experienced. He was not of a difpofition to be filent in such circumftances. He complained loudly; and made as little fcruple of charging his countrymen in general with ingratitude, as their governors of injuftice. A calm, however, on all fides, feemed to have fucceeded to these violent ftorms. His favour with General Washington seems to have continued; and he was foon after his reprimand taken again into actual fervice in the principal army, in a fituation of confiderable [C] 3 rank rank and truft. In the temper of mind defcribed, and in that fituation, he carried on a negociation with Sir Henry Clinton for the purpose of returning to his al legiance, and of delivering up the poft and part of the army which he commanded to that General. How the ice was first broken, the negociation conducted, or how long it had been in agitation, are matters which do not appear, and are of little confequence. Its failure was marked by the unhappy fate of Major André, adjutant-general of the British army; a rifing young officer of great hope, and of no common merit. This was the gentleman employed, at leaft, in the completion of the measures taken in concert with Gen. Arnold. Objects of vaft importance, will neceffarily occafion a deviation from all general rules, if not from the principles of action. That now in view, was the most momentous that could well be offered. It held out, along with the conclufion of a doubtful and dangerous war, no less than the final fubjugation, without condition or treaty, of the revolted American Colonies. It is not then to be wondered at, that the near apparent grafp of fo great a prize, should banish all leffer confiderations; and prove fuch a fpur to enterprize, as no rifque, danger, or poffible confequences, could be capable of counteracting. André, who by his open bravery, high ideas of candour, and difdain of duplicity, was not fo fit for an employment, which along with great mechanical boldnefs, required a proportionable degree of diffimulation and circumfpection, yet poffeffed other qualities, which feemed fully to counterbalance that deficiency. His fidelity and honour were fixed and unalterable; and these were qualities not much to be expected in those, who in other refpects might seem much fitter for the purpose. Befides, his place, character, and the confidence of the commander in chief, which he was known fully to posfefs, afforded a weight to his negociation, the want of which in meaner agents would have been attended with many difficulties. The failure of the French fleet with refpect to the attack on New York, having overthrown all the schemes of active operation on the fide of the Americans for the prefent feafon, Wathington ftationed his army (which was now confiderably reduced in number and ftrength) in the firong holds of the Highlands, on both fides of the North River, for the winter; where its fituation, befides fecurity, afforded an opportunity of watching the motions of the British forces, and of repreffing the incurfions from New-York. In this arrangement of the American forces, the firong and very important poft of Weft Point, with its neighbouring dependencies, and a wing, or very confiderable divifion of the army, were entrusted to the custody and conduct of Major-General Arnold. Washington's abfence in Connecticut, was probably deemed a favourable opportunity for the final completion of a negociation, which it is evident had for fome time been in hand. The Vulture floop of war had been previoufly ftationed in the North River, at fuch adistance from Arnold's pofts, as, without exciting fufpicion, would, |