OON after the defeat of the Americans, at Brooklyn, in the latter part of the month of August, 1776, by the British force under General Howe, and while General Washington yet held possession of New-York, the following incident, illustrative of the courage and devotion of those engaged in the cause of Independence, occurred.

The Commander-in-chief of the American forces sat alone in his apartment, busily engaged in examining the correspondence of the committee of Congress, that had been appointed to confer with Lord Howe, who had recently arrived with overtures of a humiliating nature from the mother country. The time was early evening; and as twilight fell upon the earth, the papers were laid momentarily aside. They conveyed to him the intelligence that the overtures of the crown had not been accepted, on the ground that the crown refused to treat with America, except in the former -character of colonies subordinate to the royal mandate. The war must be continued!

In the midst of his reflections on the communications just received, Washington was inter

rupted by the entrance of an Aid-de-camp, who informed him that an officer, for whom he had sent, waited without in answer to his summons.

"Invite him to my apartment, and let us be uninterrupted," said the General.

The Aid retired, and in a few moments returned, accompanied by a youth wearing the uniform of a captain in the Continental Militia. He was an officer attached to the Connecticut draft, at that time quartered in the city of New-York. The Commander-in-chief arose and welcomed him warmly. Lights were brought in, and the youthful officer was alone with the Father of his country.

"My young friend," said Washington, "I have sent for you, to confer on a delicate subject. There are few men, however devoted in the sacred cause in which we are engaged, with whom I can freely commune, and to whom it would be prudent to reveal all my intentions. It is sometimes difficult, sir, even for the Commander-in-chief to know who are, and who are not, our enemies. There are traitors even in my own household."

"I trust your Excellency has no doubt of my sincerity ?" inquired the youth, in a tone of pride.

"No, my friend; had I doubted you, this interview would not have occurred. Be assured, that my solicitation of this visit, is the result of an unbounded confidence in your attachment to our cause."

The youth bowed, and was silent.

"Are you aware," continued the General, "of the result of the interview that has just been held between the committee appointed by the Continental Congress, and Lord Howe ?"

"I am not, your Excellency."

This, then, will inform you," said Washington, placing a letter in his hands.

The young officer glanced over the paper. It was signed, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. "I see, sir," said he, after perusing the sheet, a faint smile lighting up his features as he spoke-"I see, sir, that we must fight it out. There is

now no hope that England will recognize our nationality without compulsion."

"True. Our reliance now is only upon GOD, and the brave and faithful hearts of our countrymen. But justice is on our side, and with the blessing of Heaven, we shall succeed! I have sent for you, my young friend," continued Washington, "to make known to you some of the difficulties under which I now labor. You are aware that our troops have just been overpowered by the vast force of General Howe, who is now encamped on the heights at Brooklyn. The militia are sadly discouraged, and their weakness, I regret to say, has extended to the ranks of the regular army. Our position here is critical. Howe has a force superior to my own, and by his position commands the city, add to this the marine power of his brother, whose ships now ride quietly at anchor in the bay, ready at any moment to reduce our city to ashes, without any means on our part to repel him, and you will at once perceive how completely we are at their mercy. My earnest desire, at present, is to learn the immediate intentions of General Howe, and his plans of operation; could I obtain this information, I should not despair of defeating them, even in our present broken condition."

these words and another earnest grasp of the hand, they parted.

When General Washington sent for this officer to attend his presence, it was not his intention to employ him in the capacity of a spy. He knew the peculiar acuteness and sagacity of the Connecticut people, which were, even at that period, as proverbial as now, and he supposed the young captain would be best able to select from his corps the person most suitable for such a task. Desertions among the militia were, unfortunately, at that discouraging moment, of not unfrequent occurrence, and it was the intention of the Commander-in-chief to select a discreet and intelligent man, who, by representing himself as a deserter, could easily enter the camp of the enemy, and endeavor to gain the information required. The prompt offer of the officer to go himself, upon the errand, somewhat altered his plan; and, while it gave increased prospect of success, was also the cause of some unpleasant misgiving. He was a young man of fine qualities, and great promise; and, in case of mishap in the enterprise, Washington plainly saw, that the loss of such an officer would, at that time, be a public calamity. The matter having been determined upon,

"But how?"

"I will obtain it." "You!"

"At least I will domy best; and if I fail," exclaimed the young man, "I call Heaven to witness, that the fault shall not rest with me!" "Do you propose to perform this duty in person?" inquired the General, in a solemn

tone.

"I do."

"It is hazardous and delicate, in the extreme."

list of secret instructions, and a fictitious Lieutenant's commission, ante-dated, in the name of Harry Folger. These were immediately dispatched to the officer's quarters, accompanied with a private note, in which the Commanderin-chief told him that the letter of instruction was to be read, remembered, and destroyed, and the commission used to gain the more intimate confidence of General Howe.

About two o'clock, on the morning after the interview just described, two sentinels, posted at the "Whitehall landing-place," had been driven under a loose shed, near the landing, by a torrent of rain, which was at that moment pouring from the clouds, illuminated at short intervals with vivid flashes of lightning. Their conversation had been for some time

der, which, following each flash, came rolling heavily along the earth, when suddenly, in the glare of a flash, which shone on every object, they discovered a human figure passing close by them, through the rain, towards the guardhouse, which stood near the spot now occupied by the United States Revenue Office.

"Who goes there?" exclaimed both sentinels, in the same instant: and if the strange.

did not hear the click of their muskets, as each was cocked, it was because the roar of the falling rain overpowered the sound.

"A friend," was the reply. "Advance and give the countersign." The demand was complied with, and the stranger passed on. At the guard-house he was again challenged, and, having given the countersign, entered the rude building, and placed a sealed note in the hands of the officer of the guard. It was an order from the Commander-in-chief himself, directing the officer to furnish the bearer, Lieutenant Folger, with such men and assistance as he might require. The officer glanced at the drenched figure before him, with a look half doubting--but in his hand was the signature of Washington, and the party who presented it, though apparently a mere boy, wore a dilapidated uniform of the rank indicated in the order. "What do you require, sir," he inquired, after a moment's hesitation.

"First inform me of the state of the tide," replied Folger, as we shall now call him.

"The tide is now at the ebb,-in an hour it will be low water."

"Good-let me have two boats, two men, and three oars. Be ready instantly, as I wish to take advantage of the heavy darkness that now hangs over the river; the shower is passing away, and by the time you are ready, there will be no lightning to betray us."

The order was obeyed. Folger directed the men to enter one of the boats, while he, with a single oar, sprang into the other. He then made his own prow fast to the stern of the first, and ordered them to tow him into the stream. Having reaching a distance to preclude the possibility of being seen from either shore, the oarsmen, by Folger's direction, turned their course up the river, against the current, guided on their way by the occasional lights which appeared on shore. Thus they proceeded, till nearly opposite Corlaer's Hook, when the Lieutenant, in a low voice, called a halt, siezed his oar, cast off the tow line, and ordered the men to return. Waiting, with his oar in the scull, until they were quite out of sight, our young hero then turned his prow towards the encampment of the enemy, and with vigorous arms plied for the shore.

There is at times pathos even in degradation, as the world esteems it. The character of a spy has been stamped as infamous in the lexicon of warfare, and its doom has been written in the most ignominious of punish

ments; yet, that spirit which has the daring to confront usage, and the virtue to scorn a false theory, and take upon itself the inky mantle of disgrace, in a cause so holy as that of human emancipation, becomes, in the very act, an object of universal admiration and awe. Such was the attitude occupied by our young hero, who, although he went forth under the guise of secresy, known only to Washington himself, and with a name not his own, assumed the responsibility of disgrace, consequent upon exposure, and an ignominious death, if detected in his mission. Custom pronounced him guilty of violating the honorable usages of war, and yet strange anomaly-no war was ever carried on without the use of this system of espionage.

Before this young man left the quiet pursuits, the green hills, and the sweet valleys of his native State, to offer up his life on the altar of his country, his true soul had borne the sneers and taunts of tory associates. Every one of the original States was more or less infested with those detested excrescences, and even Massachusetts and Connecticut were not free from them. Some, by specious and smoothfaced hypocrisy, pretending to favor the cause of freedom, wrought like serpents in the grass, and brought many a worthy spirit to untimely doom, or torturing imprisonment-others, more bold, gave intelligence openly to the enemy; and others again were rewarded for their loyalty with commissions or warrants in the service of their Royal master, "the good King George." Among these, was one whose polluted name dwells not now in my memory-we will call him Cobra for our present purpose. He was own cousin to the young patriot whom we know as Harry Folger, and many a time had his cowardly and treacherous soul striven to coerce by threats and contumely, the noble-spirited youth, to his own base level. His efforts were vain; thorn and nettle could not thrive on a soil intended by nature for better fruits,— the fragrance of the rose would not mingle with the stramonium, and the tory saw the playmate of his childhood enrolled among the martyrs of Liberty, while he was plotting destruction to her altars!

These two had grown up side by side together they had conned the same lessons read from the same book,-wrought in the same field, and mingled in the same sports and pastimes; and on one occasion, when Cobra, in the recklessness of his nature had ventured into the water beyond his depth, and would have

drowned, his younger companion, with that generous impulse which always characterizes the true nobility of manhood, plunged into the wave at the risk of his own life, and bore to him the means of reaching the shore in safety. How such discordant materials could grow from the same culture, I leave to philosophy to determine. It is my purpose, in this sketch, to state only the facts.

Soon after the departure of young Folger, Cobra was suddenly and mysteriously missing. None knew the time of his going, nor his whereabout, and few paused to inquire, though many a heart beat lighter, and many a farmer felt safer in his chattels, in Cobra's absence. The burning of a barn, the driving off of cattle, and the destruction, in various ways, of the property of those who were known to favor the cause of the colonies, were no uncommon events; and this Cobra, with a few tory confreres were more than suspected as the promoters of the depredations. Subsequent events showed that this treacherous wretch joined the ranks, and fought under the standard of the tyrannous oppressors of his native land.

It was a gorgeous September morning, that which found Harry Folger a prisoner in the custody of a British guard, on the green shores of Brooklyn. The electric shower that had just passed over the face of the earth and the waters, seemed to have borne away from the atmosphere all imperfections, and left it in a state of crystal purity-the sweet odor of new flowers rose freshly to the senses, and the rays of the early sun, which came sharply through the fine air, were reflected vividly back from the burnished arms of the sentinels on the opposite shore. That narrow stream, whose clear waters swept noiselessly by from the ocean, divided for the time the contending hosts. On the one hand, lay a people struggling for independence an embryo nation merging into existence on the other, the mercenary minions of a giant power-on the one hand was GEORGE WASHINGTON, with Putnam, Sullivan and Stirling on the other, General Howe, with Sir Henry Clinton, Grant, and De Heister with his Hessian horde. In that still hour earth seemed a paradise, and the sweet and peaceful aspect of external nature, smiled in rebuke upon the contending passions of man.

The young adventurer, having thrown himself into the hands of the enemy, demanded to be led to the commanding general. This demand was, of course, denied; but as he avowed himself an officer just fled from the rebel army,

he was permitted to address a brief note to General Howe, and a messenger was dispatched with it to head-quarters. About ten o'clock orders were received at the guard-house, commanding the rebel to be brought before the General forthwith. He had already been searched, but no papers were found upon him save the commission of Harry Folger. This was placed in the hands of a sergeant, who, with a file of men, escorted our hero into the presence. Howe read the commission with the eye of a critic and a veteran, and with a piercing glance, scanned the unshaken youth. "You are young, my friend," he said at length; "you are young to hold a commission of this rank."

"I am young, it is true, sir; but there are captains in the rebel army not older than myself," answered Folger.

Why do you leave a service that rewards so liberally? You have honors and pay that many an officer in the Royal Army has toiled a life-time to obtain."

"In the American Army, sir, there is at present more honor than pay-if it be an honor to fight in a cause that seems hopeless."

"I perceive; you have two motives in leaving the rebel service: you would be better paid, and at the same time fight on the strongest side. Is it not so?"

"It is but natural, your Excellency, that one should seek a fitting reward for his services; and equally so that he should desire victory to 'light on the banner under which he fights.— God grant it may be so with me!"

"Can you give me information as to the strength of the forces now in New-York, and what are the intentions of the rebel general ?”

"I might inform your Excellency on many matters of importance. But you may perceive, sir, that a change of dry apparel in lieu of my wet coat, would enable me to appear more appropriately in your presence, and at the same time add to my comfort."

“Timely spoken, young man," answered Howe. "You shall have apparel more becoming your fine figure than that which now disgraces it. At noon wait on me."

Folger was immediately placed on parole, a change of dress was provided, and punctually at noon he was closeted with the commander of the British forces.

The result of that interview appears to have been satisfactory to the parties. The object of Folger was entirely unsuspected, and it was not long ere he had obtained the information