Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-11-15

Arnold and his wife were seated at the
breakfast table with Hamilton, Lafayette
and an aide. In the midst Of the meal a
horseman alighted at the door, and mo-
ment later letter was placed in Arnold's
hands, which informed him of hisruin. He
controlled his countenance, rose quietly from
the table, and beckOned his wife to follow
him. They went upstairs to their room
where lay their infant child-and there he
told her that he was ruined man and must
fly 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 re-
turned to the breakfast-room. He told his
guests that Gen. Washington was coming,
and he must make haste and prepare for his
reception. He mounted the horse of the
messenger who had brought the letter, and
galloped away.
COL. HAMILTON
has left us an interesting account of Mrs.
Arnold's demeanor after her husbands de-
parture. He 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 Col. Burr, in
his old age, was accustomed to give a very
different account of the matter. He had
known Mrs. Arnold from her infancy, and
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 some
what confirms his opinion.
Mrs Arnold, it will be remembered, was
sent home to her father, escorted by party
of horsemen, and remained for the night at
the house Of Mrs. Provost, where Col. Burr
was. Mrs. Arnold, he said, burst into the
room dressed in riding habit, and was
about to speak to the lady of the house,
when, seeing him in the dim light of the
apartment, and not recognizing him, she
asked anXiously:
cam / safe? Is this gentleman friend"'
Upon discovering who he was, she told
them how she had deceived Gen. Washing
ton, Col. Hamilton and other American Off
GERS by her frantic outcries; and she de-
clared she not only knew Of the treason, but
that it was she who had induced her hus-
band to commit it.
This was Col. Burr's 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 intention to
surrender the fortress. In the well-knoWn
letter which he sent back to Gen. Washing
ton from the Vlt,re, he says:
"From the known humanity of your Ex-
cellency, / am induced to ask your protec-
ton for Mrs. Arnold from every insult and
injury that a mistaken vengeance of my
country may expose her to. 1t ought to fall
only on me she is as good and as innocent
as an angel, and is incapable OF doing
wrong"
The authorities Of Pennsylvania, believ-
ed, with Burr, that she was a traitor. Her
papers were seized, and, although nothing
was found in them to criminate 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 no letters to
her husband, and send to the Government
unopened any letters she might receive from
him. His offer was refused, and they or
dered her to depart and not to return during
the war. Being then obliged to join her
husband in New York, she soon recovered
her spirits and shone in society. to use the
language of the time, as "a star of the first
accompanied her husband, she attracted
much attention for her beauty, and was
much fattered in Tory circles. The British
Government gave Arnold, in compensation
for his American losses, something less than
G7, 900, and settled upon his family pen
sion of FL 900 year, which was to be con-
tinued as long as either the husband or the
wife survived. Their family increased in
England. Arnold, finding himself pinched
upon an income Of IL 300 per annum, 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 while to escape the contempt in which
he was held even by those who had employ
ed him.
Mrs. Arnold lived to 1901, when she died,
aged fOrty-three years. The infant whom
she held in her arms, as described above,
entered the British army in 1898, rose to the
rank Of lieutenant-general, and was still
| living as late as 1851. One of her grand
children is Il clergyman in the Church OF
England, and, it is said, a very worthy gen.
tleman, who has conversed with American
visitors upon his grandfather in rational
and becoming manner. Two Of her sons
settled in Canada, where they acquired COM
petent estates and were living in 1870.
EARLY MOTIONS OF NATURE.-1n all re-
ligions there are two great omnipresent re-
lations-of man to nature, to God, and OF
man to man. Confning ourselves to the re-
latiOn of man to nature, what has the study
of early Aryan myths shown to be mans
first conception of the nature around him
The HindOos have probably wandered less
over the face of the earth, and suffered less
than any other Aryan people. Their early
religious records are consequently the clear
est and best preserved. From these it ap-
pears that the earliest religion was what is
called animism. This is, as you choose, the
soul, ghost or spirit Of this nature; and is
supposed to have had its source in dreams,
the impalpable nature Of whose visions sug-
gested the presence in the dreamer OF soul
distinct from the body. If the presence OF
4 soul could explain dreams, it could equal
ly well be made to explain such things in
himself as man could not nationally compre-
hend. The idea of his own soul is followed
by the idea of a soul in every man. From
this it is but a short stepto the idea of soul
or spirit in nature, to accOuntfor mysterious
powers and properties. Thunder and light
ming become the work of spirit; fire, heat
and cold, the presence of others; and SO on
through all nature. Wherever there is some
thing inexplainablc, there is Il mysterious
spirit.
This is the earliest and simplest animism.
Soon, however, unequal forces of nature
suggest unequal spirits behind and in them,
and gradually great and small spirits devel-
Op, some predOminating others. Through
out all, whether, equal, great or small, are
worshiped on account of their mysterious
powers. Besides the spirits in living bodies
and in nature, are the souls relieved by
death, but imagined still to wander at times
about the earth, and to have some influence
on living men, especially in controlling the
fate of their bodily descendants. From this
conception arose ancestral worship, and the
many ceremonies at the grave, intended to
give peaceful rest beyond that the departed
spirit might thus be kindly disposed toward
his offspring. A belief in future life was