The record-union., 1892-04-25
BENEDICT ARNOLD.
Professor Fiske Describes the Traitors
Character.
He Was Man of Warm Impulses, but
Weak and Easily Influenced by
Designing Men.

Professor John Fiske of Cambridge,
Mass, delivered lecture at the Congre-
gat:onal Church on Saturday evening,
under the auspices of the Sacramento
Lecture Association. The attendance was
not as large as that with which the asso-
ciation is usually favored, but a good
audience was present.
Professor Raymond, in few pleasant
remarks, gave a brief synopsis of Pro-
lessor Fiske's career as lecturer and
man of letters. He said that owing TO
change in the programme Professor
Fiske would lecture on benedict Ar
mold" instead of ANDREW Jackson and
the Democracy of Sixty Years Age" as
heretofore announced. he then intro
duced the speaker.
Professor Fiske promised his disserta-
ton by stating that the character of Ar
mold was rather too darkly drawn, and
the general impression of him as being
man of hendish cruelty and base in
stlnctS was not warrantable. On the con-
trary, the notorious traitor was person
of kindly and sympathetic nature, but
toe impuisiye and easily Led toward what
might seem the easiest and least trouble
some way out of difficulty or danger
While not seeking to mitigate or excuse
Arnold's course, the lecturer explained
how he was influenced by designing men,
and through his marriage being thrown
in contact with British sympathiZers.
AS illustrations of his character, the
Professor told how, in his boyhood, Ar
mold ran away from home to join some
British troops on their way TO the north
ern frontier, but soldering not proving
as enjoyable as he had anticipated, he de-
serted and returned home, and how,
when fired upon at the close of a battle,
he saved the life of his assailant. His
first connection with the war for indie
pendence was when he went to Cam
bridge, and through his popularity with
his countrymen he easily headed a body
OF recruits, with which he Joined Ethan
Allen, and with him entered Ticonderoga.
He served in many places of responsible
ity, and gained the esteem and confidence
of Washington.
In the darkest days of the struggle for
independence, when the cause seemed
well nigh defeated, Arnold was APP
preached and too easily induced to be-
lieve that the Americans were doomed TO
defeat, and that the sooner they laid down
their arms the better it would be for
them. At this time Arnold commanded
the important fortress at West Point, and
yielding to the plots of the British con-
federates he contided plans to Major An
Dire by which the fort and its defenders
would be yielded to the British with a
mere pretense of resistance.
Fate decreed otherwise. Major Andre
was met by Americans on the road, with
the plans of the plot concealed in his
boots, and was executed as a spy. Ar
mold escaped to England on the ship Vul-
ture, which lay awaiting the return of
Andre, and died lamenting that he had
not remained faithful TO his country.
One of his last acts was to don his old
Continental uniform and accoutrements
and express wish to die thus attired.
The lecturer detailed minutely many
incidents in the career of Arnold, and
dwelt upon lesser ones of the great plot
not generally understood.
The lecture was very interesting, al
though it treated to some extent of minor
incidents and characters not the most
conspicuous in the history of the great
struggle for American independence.