Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/468

  “It was among the extraordinary circumstances that attended André that, in the midst of his enemies, he died universally regretted and universally esteemed.” — P. 93.

“Poor André suffers to-day. Everything that is amiable in virtue, in fortitude, in delicate sentiment, and accomplished manners, pleads for him; but hard-hearted policy calls for a sacrifice. . . . I urged a compliance with his request to be shot, and I do not think it would have had an ill effect. . . . When André’s tale comes to be told, and present resentment is over, the refusing him the privilege of choosing the manner of his death will be branded with Too much obstinacy.” — P. 90.

Hamilton’s biographer thus sums up:—

“No one acquainted with the benevolence of Washington’s character can doubt that it must have cost him many a pang, not only to leave André to his fate, but to refuse him even his last request. He acted on the conviction that it was necessary to make an example Nor can it be disputed that he was justified in what he did, by the established principles of military law. Yet it may be questioned whether in this instance the course, which a romantic generosity would have counselled, might not in the end have proved the best and wisest. No incident of the war made such a painful impression in England as the execution of André, and none left behind it such bitter and lasting memories; while to have spared his life would have at once been acknowledged as an act of clemency, would have appealed to all that was noblest in the English character, and would have done more than any other conceivable event to bring about a speedy and complete reconciliation between the two hostile branches of the British race. And, even if this could not be, it would have been in every way expedient to have saved him from the last indignity. No gallows could attach a felon’s shame to the brave young soldier, acting under the orders of his chief and in the service of his country; and his doom, instead of covering him with infamy and striking terror into the breasts of others, only excited a storm of mingled pity and indignation. It was a cruel, because it was a wholly useless, piece of severity. Such, at least, was the opinion of Hamilton.” — P. 87.

 . — Many members of this family have been enrolled as officers in our army:—

(1.) Sir William Gosset, born in 1781, was the eldest son of Matthew Gosset, Esq. of Bagot, Jersey, by his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Durell, Esq. Having highly distinguished himself in his military education, he was enabled to enter the Royal Engineers; he served in Holland in 1799, and then in Ceylon. In 1813 he was Secretary to the Legation in the Barbary States under Lord Heytesbury. He made himself so well acquainted with the plan and strength of the fortifications of Algiers, that in 1816 he was appointed to accompany Viscount Exmouth. After the successful expedition he was made a C.B., and also received the Neapolitan knighthood of St. Ferdinand. In 1828 he was Secretary to the Master-General of the Ordnance. The Marquis of Anglesey, as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, made him his private secretary, and in 1829 made him Under Secretary of State for Ireland, with knighthood. Sir William Gosset is known as having been Sergeant-at-Arms to the House of Commons. He attained the rank of Major-General in the army, and died on 27th March 1848, aged sixty-six.

(2.) Major John Noah Gosset, of the Rifle Brigade, was a younger brother of Sir William. He served in the Peninsula from October 1813 to July 1814, including the battle of the Nive on the 9th, 10th, 11th, I2th, and 13th December, passage of the Gave d’Oleron, battle of Orthes, actions at Turbes and Tournefeuille, and battle of Toulouse. He afterwards served in America, and was constantly engaged near New Orleans from 23d December 1814 to 7th January 1815, and at the attack on New Orleans on the 8th, when he was wounded in the head. He received the war medal with three clasps. He was appointed Barrack-Master of Cork, and married Maria Margaret, daughter of T. Driscoll, Esq., of Dublin.

(3.) Major-General William Driscoll Gosset is the son of Major John Noah Gosset. He entered the Royal Engineers on 20th June 1840, and became Colonel on 3d August 1872; he retired as Major-General on 24th September 1873. He married Helen, daughter of Rev. Isaac Gosset, Vicar of Windsor.

(4.) The third Matthew Gosset, Esq. of Bagot, who died in 1843, was the father of