_Major André_ (Vol. viii., pp. 174. 604.).--The late Mrs. Mills of
Norwich (_née_ André) was not the sister of Major André; she was the
only daughter of Mr. John André of Offenbach, near Frankfort on the
Maine, in Germany; where he established more than eighty years ago a
prosperous concern as a printer of music, and was moreover an eminent
composer: this establishment is now in the hands of his grandson. Mr.
John André was not the brother of the Major, but a second or third
cousin. Mrs. Mills used to say, that she remembered seeing the Major at
her father's house as a visitor, when she was a very small child. He
began his career in London in the commercial line; and, after he entered
the army, was sent by the English ministry to Hesse-Cassel to conduct to
America a corps of Hessian hirelings to dragoon the revolted Americans
into obedience: it was on this occasion that he paid the above-mentioned
visit to Offenbach.
Having frequently read the portion of English history containing the
narrative of the transactions in which Major André was so actively
engaged, and for which he suffered, I have often asked myself whether he
was altogether blameless in that questionable affair.