ARNOLD. 



277 



animating his men by his example, when a ball 

 shattered the leg already wounded at Hie siege of 

 Quebec. As he was borne from the ranks to his 

 tent, he still issued orders for the continuance of the 

 assault. The boldness of Arnold was so great, that 

 he was accused of a disposition to entangle himself 

 rashly in perilous situations ; but it could not be de- 

 nied, that his rapid discernment supplied him, in the 

 midst of danger, with the surest expedients, and that 

 success always justified his daring. The admiration 

 of his fellow-citizens kept pace with his services. 

 His love of glory was accompanied with an equally 

 strong love of pleasure and dissipation, and he was 

 very unscrupulous about the mode of obtaining the 

 means of gratifying it. His ill-gotten wealth he 

 -squandered in frivolous expenses, or mere ostentation. 

 Montreal, the second city of Canada, was, under his 

 command, a scene of injustice and rapacity, and the 

 Canadians soon abandoned the design of joining the 

 confederation. The attempt on Canada was aban- 

 doned, and, the wounds of Arnold being not yet 

 healed, he could be invested only with some station- 

 ary command. Washington, though he detested his 

 vices, did not wish to leave his talents idle. The 

 English having evacuated Philadelphia, he directed 

 Arnold to take possession of that city with some 

 troops of the Pennsylvania line, a delicate charge 

 for a man so prone to extend his powers, and define 

 them according to his interests. It was no long be- 

 fore he displayed in this city a magnificence as fo- 

 reign to the habits of the country, as it was unsea- 

 sonable in the midst of the calamities of war. He 

 even lodged in his house the French envoy and all 

 his suite on their arrival. From this time, too, he 

 began to profess an extraordinary attachment to the 

 French, and great zeal for an alliance with them. 

 To relieve himself from the difficulties into which his 

 extravagance had plunged him, he resorted to the 

 same oppression and extortion which had rendered 

 his authority odious to the Canadians. Under pre- 

 tence of the wants of the army, he forbade the shop- 

 keepers to sell or buy ; he then put their goods at 

 the disposal of his agents, and caused them after- 

 wards to be resold with a profit. He prostituted his 

 authority to enrich his accomplices, and squabbled 

 with them about the division of the prey. The citi- 

 zens applied for redress to the courts of justice. But, 

 with his military authority as his shield, he set at 

 defiance both justice and the laws. At length, how- 

 ever, a representation of the grievances which the 

 state was suffering, was made to congress by the 

 president of the executive council of Pennsylvania, a 

 man of firm and upright character, who had endea- 

 voured in vain to repress the overweening and 

 predatory spirit of Arnold, and a committee was 

 appointed to inquire into the subject. Arnold re- 

 plied to the charges with arrogance. Some mem- 

 bers of congress were of opinion that he should be 

 suspended from his military functions until the inves- 

 tigation of his public conduct was brought to an issue ; 

 but the accusation had become an affair of party, and 

 he had influence enough to cause this proposition to 

 be set aside. Congress at length resolved to lay the 

 complaints against him before the commander-in- 

 ihief. As soon as Arnold saw that the resolutions of 

 congress would be of this tenor, he resigned the 

 command which he held in. Philadelphia. He was 

 tried before a court martial, and condemned, January 

 20, 1779, to be reprimanded by the comma nder-in- 

 chief. Congress ratified the sentence and Washing- 

 ton, having caused the culprit to appear before him, 

 performed the task with the considerate delicacy 

 which he thought due to so distinguished an officer. 

 Arnold, however, quitted the army, and, thenceforth, 

 nourished an implacable hatred towards the cause 



which he had so brill iantly defended. The embarrass- 

 ment of his affairs was at this time such, that private 

 aid would not suffice to extricate him. He had, some 

 time before, formed a partnership with some owners 

 of privateers, who paid his share of the expenses of 

 equipment, and expected to be compensated, for 

 their advances, by his countenance and protection ; 

 but the chances were adverse, and, instead of profits 

 to be divided, there were losses to be borne. Arnold, 

 now without credit or authority, was no longer re- 

 garded by the owners as any tiling more than an 

 ordinary partner. They exacted his proportion of 

 the loss, and their knowledge of his difficulties only 

 served to render them more urgent in their suit. In 

 this extremity, he tried a last resource. Congress, at 

 the commencement of the revolution, committed an 

 error which proved of great detriment to the finances. 

 It intrusted some officers with agencies which had 

 no immediate connexion with the business of com- 

 mand or military service. Arnold, the least proper 

 for such trusts, was charged with considerable ones, 

 and had large claims for monies and stores furnished 

 in the expedition to Canada. The commissioners, to 

 whom they were referred for settlement, reduced 

 them very considerably. He appealed from their de- 

 cision to congress, who pronounced that the commis- 

 sioners had shown more lenity than rigour in the 

 liquidation of his accounts. Disappointed in all his 

 expectations, Arnold at last determined to betray his 

 country, and to make his treason in a high degree 

 useful to Britain, that it might procure him a full 

 pardon for his share in the revolt of the colonies. 

 He wished to be regarded as a subject returned to 

 his allegiance, and worthy of the honourable rewards 

 due to faithful and virtuous citizens. As a first step, 

 the British commanders were to be made acquainted, 

 with his discontent, but in so guarded a manner, as 

 to leave a retreat open, in case the offers, which 

 might be made to him, should not prove satisfactory. 

 Particular circumstances facilitated the communica- 

 tions between them. As soon as the British com- 

 mander was apprized of the disposition of Arnold, he 

 despatched emissaries charged with such offers as 

 were most likely to determine a man whose hesitation 

 was only about the means and conditions. Some of 

 Arnold's proceedings, about this period, warrant the 

 supposition, that he at first meant to tamper with his 

 brother officers, but relinquished this design on more 

 mature reflection. He took good care that nothing 

 of his real intentions should be divined by the subal- 

 tern British agents ; but there was, at New York, a 

 man whom he thought he could trust without risk. 

 This was Charles Beverley Robinson, an American 

 by birth, and a colonel in the British army, whose 

 property all lay within the U. States. His mansion, 

 situated on the Hudson, was included in the Ameri- 

 can lines, and three miles lower than the forts upon 

 the opposite bank. The commanding officers of West 

 point, having found it deserted, had made it their 

 quarters. Arnold wrote to this officer, that the in- 

 gratitude of his country, and other considerations to 

 be afterwards disclosed, had produced a cliange in 

 his political sentiments ; that he aspired to merit, 

 thenceforward, the favour of the king ; tliat he could 

 render signal services ; and wished to enter into a 

 correspondence on the subject with Sir Henry Clinton. 

 This overture was well received, and, a direct 

 communication with the British general being estab- 

 lished, it was agreed that Arnold should dissemble, 

 with the utmost care, his discontent ; that lie should 

 make every effort to obtain a command from general 

 Washington ; that, as soon as he succeeded, he 

 should consult with Sir Henry Clinton as to his^ future 

 movements, and be guided by the instructions which 

 would be given to him. From this time, he 



