The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-11-22

PioPoltiou aS YOU udu IeuueTeu SOufSel
formidable 10 your enemies you should
have been guarded and temperate in your
department toward your fellow. citizens
Exhibit anew those noble qualities which
have placed you on the list of our mos
valuable commanders. l will mysel
furnish you, az far as it may be in my
power, with opportunities of regaininp
the esteem Of our country"
This was more like eulogium than O
reprimand, 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 betra3
tnuL country.
\ year passed away. He was in com
mand at West Point, in correspondence
with the enemy. Whether she shared
her husbands secret during those mouth:
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 tc
join him and the letter which he wrote
her on this occasion, telling her the besI
way of reaching him, and at what houses
she should stop on the road, has beer
seen. She had not been many days al
West Point when the treason was discoy
cred.
Arnold and his wile,were seated at tho
breakfast table with Hamilton, Lafayette
and sn aide. In the midst of the meaI
horscman aiighted at the door, and 6
moment later letter was placed in Ar.
nold's hands, which informed him of Iii.
ruin. He controlled his countcnance
rose quietly from the table, and beckoret
his wife TO follow him. They went uE
stairs to their room, where lay their in
fant child, ana there he told her that he
was ruined man and must fly that in.
stant for his life. She fell senseless tc
tho 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. lie
told his guests that Gen. Washington
was coming, and he must make haste to
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
departure. He says she remained frantic
all day, and accused every one who up,
preached her OF an intention to murder
her child. She continued, he says, tc
rave until she was utterly exhausted
But Col Burr, in his old age, was accus
toned to give very different account ol
the matter. He had known Mrs. Arnold
from her infancy, and he always declar.
ed that she knew all about her husbands
treason from the beginning, and lie used
to relate scene which he said he wit.
messed at the house of Mrs. Provost
whom he afterward 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 q
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 anxious.
cam safe? Is this gentleman a
friend?"
Upon discovering who he was, she told
them how she had deceived Gen. Wash.
ington, Col. Hamilton and other Ameri-
can officers by her frantic outcries nd
she declared that she not only knew OF
the treason, but that it was she who had
induced her husband 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. Washington from the Iui.
ture, he says:
"From the known humanity of your
Exccllency, am induced to ask your
protection for Mrs. Arnold from every
insult and injury that mistaken ven.
geance of my county may expose her
to. 1t ought to fall only on me she il
as good and as innocent as an angel, and
is incapable of doing wrong"
The authorities of Pennsylvania be-
lieved, 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 10 give
security that, during The war, she would
write no letters to her husband, and send
to the Government unopened any letters
she might receive from him. His 9ffer
was refused, and they ordered her to de.
part and not to return during the war.
Being then obliged to join her husband
in New York, ehe soon recovered her
spirits and shone in society, to use the
language of the time, as "a star of the
first magnitude" In England, too,
whittier she 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 Ameri-
can losses, something less than 1000,
and settled upon his family pension OF
FL 900 year, which was 10 be continued
as long as either the husband or the wife
survived. Their family increased in
England. Arnold, finding himself
pinched upon an income Of f1,300 per
aunum, 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 employed him.
Mrs. Arnold lived to 1904, 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 grandchildren is a clergyman in
The Church of England, and, it is said, q
very worthy gentleman, who has con-
yersed with American visitors upon his
grandfather in rational and becoming
manner. Two of her sons settled ia
Canada, where they acquired competen,
estates and were living in 1920.
Monkeys as TsreH Bearers,