Major Blackwater was the next witness examined.  His testimony went to prove the fact of the gate having been found open, and the confusion manifested by the prisoner.  It also substantiated that part of the governor’s evidence on the third charge, which related to the confession recently made by Halloway, on which that charge had been framed.

The sergeant of the guard, and the governor’s orderly having severally corroborated the first portions of Major Blackwater’s evidence, the examination on the part of the prosecution terminated; when the president called on the prisoner Halloway for his defence.  The latter, in a clear, firm, and collected tone, and in terms that surprised his auditory, thus addressed the Court:—­

“Mr. President, and gentlemen,—­Although, standing before you in the capacity of a private soldier, and, oh! bitter and humiliating reflection, in that most wretched and disgraceful of all situations, a suspected traitor, I am not indeed what I seem to be.  It is not for me here to enter into the history of my past life; neither will I tarnish the hitherto unsullied reputation of my family by disclosing my true name.  Suffice it to observe, I am a gentleman by birth; and although, of late years, I have known all the hardships and privations attendant on my fallen fortunes, I was once used to bask in the luxuries of affluence, and to look upon those who now preside in judgment over me as my equals.  A marriage of affection,—­a marriage with one who had nothing but her own virtues and her own beauty to recommend her, drew upon me the displeasure of my family, and the little I possessed, independently of the pleasure of my relations, was soon dissipated.  My proud soul scorned all thought of supplication to those who had originally spurned my wife from their presence; and yet my heart bled for the privations of her who, alike respectable in family, was, both from sex and the natural delicacy, of her frame, so far less constituted to bear up against the frowns of adversity than myself.  Our extremity had now become great,—­too great for human endurance; when, through the medium of the public prints, I became acquainted with the glorious action that had been fought in this country by the army under General Wolfe.  A new light burst suddenly upon my mind, and visions of after prosperity constantly presented themselves to my view.  The field of honour was open before me, and there was a probability I might, by good conduct, so far merit the approbation of my superiors, as to obtain, in course of time, that rank among themselves to which by birth and education I was so justly entitled to aspire.  Without waiting to consult my Ellen, whose opposition I feared to encounter until opposition would be fruitless, I hastened to Lieutenant Walgrave, the recruiting officer of the regiment,—­tendered my services,—­was accepted and approved,—­received the bounty money,—­and became definitively a soldier, under the assumed name of Frank Halloway.