manner, if not for his expressions. Delighted with his frankness and magnanimity, Washington replied with a smile, "An officer, tried as you have been, who errs but once in two years, deserves to be forgiven." With that he offered him his hand, and the matter terminated.

Following General Greene in his military career, he next presents himself on the plains of Germantown. In this daring assault he commanded the left wing of the American army, and his utmost endeavours were used to retrieve the fortune of the day, in which his conduct met the approbation of the commanderin-chief. Lord Cornwallis, to whom he was often opposed, had the magnanimity to bestow upon him a lofty encomium. "Greene," said he, "is as dangerous as Washington. He is vigilant, enterprising, and full of resources. With but little hope of gaining any advantage over him, I never feel secure when encamped in his neighbourhood."

At this period the quartermaster department in the American army was in a very defective and alarming condition, and required a speedy and radical reform: and General Washington declared, that such reform could be effected only by the appointment of a quartermaster

general, of great resources, well versed in business, and possessing practical talents of the first order. When requested by Congress to look out for such an officer, he at once fixed his eye on General Greene.

Washington well knew that the soul of Greene was indissolubly wedded to the duties of his line. Notwithstanding this, he expressed, in conversation with a member of Congress, his entire persuasion, that if General Greene could be convinced of his ability to render his country greater services in the quartermaster department than in the field, he would at once accept the appointment. "There is not," said he, 66 an officer of the army, nor a man in America, more sincerely attached to the interests of his country. Could he best promote their interests in the character of a corporal, he would exchange, as I firmly believe, without a murmur, the epaulet for the knot. For although he is not without ambition, that ambition has not for its object the highest rank so much as the greatest good."

When the appointment was first offered to General Greene, he declined it; but after a conference with the commander-in-chief, he consented to an acceptance, on condition that

he should forfeit nothing of his right to command in time of action. On these terms he received the appointment, March 22, 1778, and entered immediately on the duties of the office.

In this station he fully answered the expectations formed of his abilities; and enabled the American army to move with additional celerity and vigour.

During his administration of the quartermaster department, he took, on two occasions, a high and distinguished part in the field; the first in the battle of Monmouth; the second, in a very brilliant expedition against the enemy in Rhode Island, under the command of General Sullivan. At the battle of Monmouth, the commander-in-chief, disgusted with the behaviour of General Lee, deposed him in the field of battle, and appointed General Greene to command the right wing, where he greatly contributed to retrieve the errors of his predecessor, and to the subsequent events of the day.

His return to his native state was hailed by the inhabitants with general and lively demonstrations of joy. Even the leading members of the society of Friends, who had reluctantly excluded him from their communion, often

visited him at his quarters, and expressed their sincere satisfaction at the elevation he had attained in the confidence of his country. One of these plain gentlemen being asked in jest, by a young officer, how he, as an advocate of peace, could reconcile it to his conscience to keep so much company with General Greene, whose profession was war? promptly replied, "Friend, it is not a suit of uniform that can either make or spoil a man. True, I do not approve of this many-coloured apparel, (to the officer's dress,) but whatever may be the form or colour of his coat, Nathaniel Greene still retains the same sound head and virtuous heart that gained him the love and esteem of our Society."

During the year 1779, General Greene was occupied exclusively in the extensive concerns of the quartermaster department.

About this time General Greene was called to the performance of a duty the most trying and painful he had ever encountered. We allude to the melancholy affair of Major Andre, adjutant-general to the British army, who was captured in disguise within the American lines. Washington detailed a court for this trial, composed of fourteen general officers, La

Fayette and Steuben being two of the number, and appointed General Greene to preside.

When summoned to his trial, Andre frankly disclosed, without interrogatory, what bore heaviest on his own life, but inviolably concealed whatever might endanger the safety of others. His confessions were conclusive, and no witness was examined against him. The court were unanimous that he had been taken as a spy, and must suffer death. Of this sentence he did not complain, but wished that he might be permitted to close a life of honour by a professional death, and not be compelled, like a common felon, to expire on a gibbet. To effect this, he made, in a letter to General Washington, one of the most powerful and pathetic appeals that ever fell from the pen of

a mortal.

Staggered in his resolution, the commanderin-chief referred the subject, accompanied by the letter, to his general officers, who, with one exception, became unanimous in their desire that Andre should be shot.

That exception was found in General Greene, the president of the court. "Andre," said he, "is either a spy or an innocent man. If the latter, to execute him in any way will be