The Arkansas advocate., 1830-06-09
MISCELLANY.
E,.oss thc ussitcd se,.gi;ce .foy,.,,@
ARNOLD AND ANDRE.

During the period of excitement oe-
 casioned by the revolutionary war if4
 North America, itw was not to be supposed Tihat on such q subject as the treason oi
 Arnold, or the death of the unfortunate
 Andre, information free at once from
 royalist and revolutionary preludices
 could be procured either in the mother
 country or in her revolted Colonies. AZ
 ter the heats and prejudicies of the pe-
 Fiod have in great measure passed a.
 way, there are some individuals still liy-
 ing on the banks of the Hudson who
 Witnessed the last moments of poor An Edre, and are willing to do justice to his
 memory. As 10 Arnold, the Americas afeeling is so strong against him, thatthey
 Nill not admit ofhis having been aeta- $ated by any but the naostsordid motives
 whereas, from all that can be learned of s1lis character, it appears to me that his
 lmm adiate principle of action was the
 lesire of vengeance; and 1t is not i'm.
 possible tli!ssstt at some future period he
 inay figure as the Zanga or the Goriola-
 faus of some American tragedY, 10 which
 the Death of Andre would doubtless
 give deep and affecting interest.
 Arnold was born in the State of Con nectieut and from the commencement O ilostilities he engaged with ardour ln the cause of his couatfy's indepead- 2 ence. He soon discovered military tal- ents of no mean order, which joined to uadoabted perso aal courage and the still more desirable qualities ofpatieaee Rad iifmn ess uldef privation aud fa- figue nad procured for aim high rep sutatton la the ranks of the revolutionary
 armYs even before he had an opporta-
 nity of performing those services in the Expedition against Canada, which gave
 him fne confidence ofCongress, ,andrais-
 led him to the rank ofa general officer. He mad been severely wounded before
 Quebec, and was still in state of con valeseenee, when, in ITS, Philadelphia
 llaving been evacuated by the Royalisi
 forces, the command of the town was in- #trusted to him. To the courage he
 had exhibited in the presence of tie ea- 8emv, 1t was now found that Arnold did
 not join that steadiness of principle, or that recitude of ofiudgement,- which were Snecessary 10 enable him to resist the numerous seductioas by which he was fsurrouaded. Forgetting that he had ¬ the resources of a great private for ftu le, ne emoarked in ali the expensive ! follies of a samptuous table, and train of useless dependents; and in the natu- a ral course ofsueh aa mprovident career A he was soon involved in debts which # he had 10 means of dischargiDg. h the 8 hope of relieving himself from the clam ours of his creditors, he was induced to engage in specuia5ions inconsistent with the due discharge of his public fuac- tioas, and which having for the most part proved unsuccessful, met necessari- U with the most disastrous results.- { From unsuccessful sPeculatio.l, the wretched Arnold was now driven to the 5 resource ofunfaithfulmaaagem in the exercise of his official duties and when the accounts of his administration came to be examined by the Commissioners of Congress- considerable deficit appeared against him, which he was u able to
 make good. Many of the citizens of Philadelphia complained ofhisnumerous exactions; the Government of PennsYl- vania brought still more serious accusa-
 tions against him, and at length in the month of June ITS, the Congress caus- ed him to be. arrested, and tried by a court-martial, who found him guilty, and condemned him to be reprimanded by the Commaader-in-Chief Thisdecisioa, having been approved of by Congress, was executed in the beginning of i779.
 Furious at finding himself thus attacked on all hands by the law and by public
 opinion, Arnold iaduiged himself in the bitterest complaints against what he
 called the ingratitude of hiscountrymen, and swore that he would have ven geance.
 Great importance was then attached to the fortress of iVest-P Point for the pre- servation of which the American army had long unanswered and often fought. 1t was regarded as the key of comfnuni- cation between the Eastern and South ern States. Its situation in fact oa the ] ridge of one of fhe most considerable en-