Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-03-22

noble qualities which have placed you on
the list Of our most valued commanders.
will nayself, furnish Won, as far as it may
be in my power, with opportunities of re-
gaining he esteem Of your country,
This was more like al eu!ogium than
reprirnaaa; but it did not touch the heart
of Arnold, who went from the presence of
his commander not to regain the esteem of
his country, but to betray that country.
A year passed away. lie was in COM
mand at West Point, in correspondence
with the enemy. Whether she shared her
husbands secret during those months OF
preparation will perhaps never be known
with certainty Just before the explosion
of the treason at West Point Arnold sent
for his wife and child to Join him i; and /
have seen the letter which he wrote TO her
on this OCCASION, telling her the best way
of reaching him, aud at what houses she
should sleep on the road. She had not
been many days at West Point when the
treason was discovered.
Arnold and his wife were seated at the
breakfast table with Hamilton, Lafayette,
and an aid. In the midst Of the meal
horeeman alighted at the door: and, a mo-
ment after, a letter was placed in Arnold's
hands which informed him Of bis ruin. He
controlled his eountenance, rose quiet from
the table, and beekoned lis wife TO follow
him. They went up stairs to their room,
where lay their infant child, and there he
told her he was I'nined man, and must
tiy, that instant, for his life. She fell sense
less TO the floor. Leaving her there, he
rushed from the room, hurried down stairs,
sent some one to her assistance, and then
returned to the breakfast room. He told
his guests that General Washington was
coming and that he must make haste to
prepare for his reception. He mounted the
horse of the messenger who bad brought
the letter and gallOped away.
Colonel Hamilton has left us an interest
Ing account of Mrs. Arnold's dcmeanor at
ter her husbands departure. lie says she
remained frantic all day, and accused every
one who approached her OF an intention to
murder her child. She continued, he says,
to rave until she was utterly exhausted. But
Colonel Burr, in his old age, was accus-
toned TO give q very different account ofthe
matter. He had known Mrs. Arnold from
her infancy, aud he always declared that
she knew all about her husbands treason
from the beginning, and he used TO relate
a scene which he said he witnessed at the
house of Mrs. Provost, whom he afterwards
married, which somewhat confirms his
opinion. Mrs. Arnold, it will he rcmem-
bered, was sent home to her father, escort
ed by party OF horse, and remained for
night at the house Of Mr.. Provost, where
Colonel Barr was. Mrs. Arnold, he said,
burst into the room dressed in Il riding ha-
bit, and was about to speak to the lady of
the house, when, seeing him in the dim
light of the apartment, and rot recognizing
him, she asked anxiously
cam safe Is this gentleman friend?"
Upon discovering who he was, she told
them how she had deceived General Wash
fngton, Colonel Hamilton, and the other
American officers by her frantic outcries :;
and she declared that she not only knew of
the treason, but that it W as she who had
induced her husband to commit it.
This was Colonel Burrs story, to which
the reader may attach the credit which he
thinks it deserves. Arnold himself does
not say that she was ignorant Of his inter-
ton to surrender the fortress. In the we'll
known letter which he sent back to Gem
eral Washington from the I-Ht"rr, he
says: ....
':Froln the known humanity of your ex-
cellency, am induced to ask your protec-
ton for Mrs. Arnold from every insult and
injury that mistaken vengeance Of my
country may expose her to. 1t ought to
fall only on me; she is as good and as in
nocent as an angel, and is incapable Of
doing wrong
The authorities Of Pennsylvania believ-
ed, with Burr, that she was a traitor Her
papers We're seized, and although nothing
was found i'll them to erinlinatc her. she
was not permitted to remain at her fathers
house, which she said she desired to do.
Her father offered to give security that dur
ing the war she would write 10 letters TO
her husband, and send to the government
unopened, any letters she might receive
from him. His Offer was refused, and
u. 4, 4
turn during the war. Being then obliged
to Join her husband in New York, She
soon recovered her spirits, and shonc in
society, to use the language OF the time, as
ga star Of the first magnitude In Eng
land, too, whittier she accompanied her
husband, she attracted much attention for
her beauty, and was much hattcred in Tory
circles.
The British government gave Arnold, i'll
compensation for ms American losses,
something less than seven thousand pounds
and settled upon his family pension Of a
thousand pounds year; which was to be
continued as long as either the husband or
the wife survived. Their family increased
in England. Arnold, finding himsefpinch-
ed on an income OF thirteen hundred
pounds per annu1n, went upon trading
voyage to Halifax; with what success is
not known. 1t was thought by some that
he was glad TO leave England for awhile, to
escape the contempt in which he was held,
even by those who had employed him.
), Mrs. Arnold lived to 1909. when she
died, aged forty-three years. That infant
son whom she held in her arms, as de
scribed above, entered The British army in
179S, rose to the rank Of lieutenant-gener-
NJ, and was still living as late as 1851. One
Of her grandchildren is a clergyman in the
Church of England and, it is said very
worthy gentleman, who has conyersed
with American visitors upon his grand
father in a rational and becoming manner.
Two Of her SONS settled in Canada. where
they acquired competent estates, aud were
liviig i'll 1920.
A Dung Lady. RisSuiSeA aS p Man