The Coolidge examiner., 1933-10-20

might not have struck out those
words "is yet heartily welcome" for, according
to some historians, this "fne Baby" was des-
tined to prove herself. in the judges strangely
prophetic words, "of the worst Sex" indeed and
1t is not unlikely that there came times when
the judge wished she had never been born
For this baby, who given her mothers
name of Margaret, was to become one of the
most glamorous figures in American history was
to be belle of colonial days, the toast of both
British and Continental officers during the Revo-
luton. the young wife of distinguished Ameri-
can general and a participant in the chain of
events which was to blacken his name with in
fanny among his countrymen for all time and to
besmirch her name well.
Was Peggy Shippen Arnold an innocent victim
of the treason of her husband, Benedict Arnold
or was she the arch-conspirator who used her
wles to lead him into the mire of that unforgv-
able crime7 Did she really love him for himself
and prove her devotion to him by voluntarily
sharing his disgrace and exile from his native
land. or did she marry him while she was In love
with another man and because of her infatuation
aid that other man In carrying forward the plot
which was TO ruin the man whose name she bore?
Those are the questions that have been brought
up by research into documents of the RevoIu-
tionary war period which have recently become
available to the historians and 1t seems impos-
torians themselves do not agree. The traditional
view of Peggy Shipper Arnold is that she was
an innocent victim.
A recent biographer of Arnold, Charles Cole
man Sellers in his Benedict Arnold, the Proud
Warrior" declares: 81 know Of no evidence suf-
ficient to implicate Peggy Shlppen Arnold in the
Arnold treason plot. l do not attach any impor
tance to her correspondence with Major Andre,
for she writing to other British friends also.
she was under suspicion after the plot was ex-
posed and had to leave Philadelphia. think it
is rather far-fetched though, to accuse her Of be-
ing traitor"
Just as positive on the other side Is E. Irvine
Hanes author of two articles on this subject In
the New York Times Magazine last year. He
says "A careful study Of evidence heretofore un-
known or overlooked leads to the conviction that
she was not only guilty but, even more than her
husband. of the arch-consprators. Recent
discoveries in the private correspondence of Sir
Henry Clinton, In an almost unknown diary of
Aaron Burr, and in Peggy's own letters, some of
them addressed in code to Major Andre himself
furnish testimony too damning for Peggy to con-
trovert were she alive and on trial.
''If we reread the story of the Revolutions
greatest personal tragedy in the light of what
we know now, 1t becomes drama of ambitious
femininity unique in American annals. 1t was
not the game-legSeu, nOI-teHlpereu, ulSSTuHtleu
hero of Quebec and Saratoga who was the real
mover in the plot on the Continental side. but
the ambitious Tory girl. the spy and tool of Cln
ton who schemed so cleverly that she deceived
such astute politicians as John Hancock, John
Adams Alexander Hamilton and even Washing
ton himself Ii was Clinton acting on the Sug
gestion of Lord George Germain. the British
colonial secretary, who conceived the conspir
acy, but it was Peggy Shippen. with a skill and
effrontery amazing in one so young, who carried
it out"
A more moderate view-one which takes
somewhat middle ground between these two ex-
tremes-is that of Randolph G. Adams. custodian
OF the William l.. Clements library of American
History at the University of Michigan which ac-
ouired the military papers of Sir Henry Clinton
a few years ago. From these papers Alr. Adams
has pieced together the "inside story" of Ar
nold's treason and he says: Historians have
usually acquitted Peggy Shppen OF any COM
plcitv in her husbands treason. but the Clinton
napers give many indications of another story.
IF is difficult now to avoid the conclusion that
Mrs Arnold certainly handled some of the secret
dsnatches and that the same spies who carried
tbe DISPATCHES were also used to carry personal
messages to Andre and the other British officers
she had known in Philadelphia"
In telling the story of the tragedy of Peggy
Shippen ArEoi Oily has available 4 few
"A very few, albeit-known facts over which
there can lie no dispute and larger number OF
other facts which capable of different inter
-,retations depending upon the writer's point of
rev towards the different actors in the drama