ARNOLD. 



281 



other papers taken from the prisoner. But the com- 

 mander-in-chief, who set out on the same day, the 

 ^3d of September, to return to his army, had pursued 

 a different route from that by which he went to 

 Hartford, and the messenger was compelled to re- 

 trace his steps without having seen him. This de- 

 lay proved the salvation of Arnold. Jameson was a 

 gallant soldier, but a man of an irresolute temper, 

 and no great sagacity ; moreover, treachery on the 

 part of Arnold appeared impossible to one of an in- 

 genuous and honourable character. He began to 

 view his first suspicions as an outrage to an officer 

 distinguished, as Arnold was, by so many noble ex- 

 ploits, and, wishing to reconcile the deference due to 

 him with the performance of his own duty, he wrote 

 him, that Anderson, the bearer of his passport, had 

 been arrested on the 23d. Arnold did not receive 

 this intimation until the morning of the 25th. It 

 was on a Monday ; and the sairie day, or the one 

 following, had been selected for the consummation 

 of the plot. Until that moment, he had believed 

 success infallible. The exhilaration which this be- 

 lief produced was even remarked, and he ascribed it 

 to his expectation of the speedy arrival of his gene- 

 ral, " for whom he had pleasant news." He was 

 busy with the appropriate arrangements for the re- 

 ception of a body of more welcome visitors, when he 

 received the letter of Jameson. Those who were 

 present on the occasion recollected, afterwards, that 

 he could not, at first, conceal his dismay and extreme 

 agitation; but that, recovering himself quickly, he 

 said, in a loud voice, that he would write an answer ; 

 and, dismissing all about him, withdrew, to reflect on 

 the course which it was best to adopt. The entrance 

 of two American officers, however, interrupted his 

 musings. They were sent by the commander-in- 

 chief, and informed Arnold, that he had arrived that 

 morning at Fishkill, a few leagues from West point; 

 that he was to have set out a few hours after them, 

 and could not be far distant. Thus did the most 

 alarming circumstances rapidly succeed each other. 

 The traitor had no resource but a precipitate flight. 

 Suppressing his emotion, he told the two officers that 

 he wished to go and meet the general alone, and 

 begged them not to follow him. He then entered 

 the apartment of his wife, exclaiming "All is dis- 

 covered : Andre is a prisoner : The commander-in- 

 chief will know every thing : The discharge of can- 

 non which you hear, is a salute, and announces that 

 he is not far off: Burn all my papers:- I fly to 

 New York." He embraced her, as well as their in- 

 fant child, whom she carried in her arms, and, solely 

 intent on his escape, left her, without waiting for her. 

 reply, mounted the horse of one of the two officers, 

 and rushed towards the Hudson, which was not far 

 from his house. He had taken the precaution to 

 have always ready a barge well-manned, he threw 

 himself headlong into it, and caused the boatman to 

 make for the British sloop, with all possible de- 

 spatch. The barge, bearing a flag of truce, was still 

 visible from the heights when Washington arrived. 

 The two officers related to him what they had wit- 

 nessed. Arnold had absconded. His wife, in the 

 agonies of despair, seemed to fear for her infant, and 

 maintained an obstinate' silence. No one knew how 

 to explain these extraordinary incidents. The com- 

 mander-in-chief repaired, witltbut delay, to the fort 

 of West point, where, however, he could learn nothing 

 of a decisive import. But .some orders issued by 

 Arnold the day before, redoubled his suspicions : he 

 returned to the quarters of the general, and at this 

 instant Jameson's messenger presented himself, and 

 delivered the packet with which he was charged. 

 Washington seemed, for a few minutes, as it were 

 overwhelmed by the discovery of a crime which 



ruined the fame of an American general, and wound 

 ed the honour of the American army. Those who 

 were near him anxiously interrogated his looks in 

 silence, which he broke by saying, " I thought that 

 an officer of courage and ability, who had often shed 

 his blood for his country, was entitled to confidence, 

 and I gave him mine. I am convinced now, and for 

 the rest of my life, that we should never trust those 

 who are wanting in probity, whatever abilities they 

 may possess. Arnold has betrayed us." Meanwhile , 

 the precautions required by the occasion were every 

 where taken. General Heath, a faithful and vigilant 

 officer, was substituted for Arnold at West point ; the 

 commanders of the other posts were admonished to 

 be on their guard. Greene, who had been invested 

 with the command of the army during the absence 

 of Washington, recalled within the forts the garrisons 

 which the traitor had dispersed, and marched a 

 strong division near to the lines. Hamilton lost not 

 an instant in repairing to King's ferry, the last 

 American post on the side of New York. He had 

 the mortification to learn, that a very short time be- 

 fore his arrival, Arnold's barge had glided by with 

 the swiftness of an arrow, and was then getting along 

 side the Vulture, some miles lower down, opposite 

 Teller's point, an anchorage situated at the head of 

 the great basin of the Hudson, which is called Tap- 

 pan bay. Livingston had remarked the barge that 

 carried the fugitive, and, his suspicions being roused 

 by the strange movements of the two or three days 

 previous, would have stopped it, had not the sailors 

 of his spy-boats been ashore when it passed. Mes- 

 sengers were sent to' all the states of the Union, and 

 to the French general, to inform them of this event. 

 The express which bore the news to congress travel- 

 led with such rapidity, that he reached Philadelphia 

 on the same day that the discovery was made in the 

 camp. The magistrates were immediately directed 

 to enter the house of Arnold, and to seize and ex- 

 amine his papers. They found nothing there relating 

 to the conspiracy ; but he had left memoranda which 

 furnished ample proof that he was guilty of the ex- 

 tortions and peculations of which he had been accused 

 two years before. Jameson caused his unknown 

 prisoner to be strictly guarded. The latter at first 

 suppressed his true name, from consideration for Ar- 

 nold ; but, the day after his capture, supposing that 

 the American general had time to make his escape, 

 he said to Jameson, " My name is not Anderson ; 

 I am major Andre." The death of Andre (q. v.), 

 though ignominious, was happiness in comparison 

 with the life of Arnold. Upon his establishment in 

 the army of Great Britain, he found it necessary to 

 make some exertions to secure the attachment of his 

 new friends. With the hope of alluring many of the 

 discontented to his standard, he published an address 

 to the inhabitants of America, in which he endea- 

 voured to justify his conduct. He had encountered 

 the dangers of the field, he said, from apprehension 

 that the rights of his country were in danger. He 

 had acquiesced in the declaration of independence, 

 though he thought it precipitate. But the rejection 

 of the overtures made by Great Britain, in 1778, and 

 the French alliance, had opened his eyes to the am 

 bilious views of those who would sacrifice the happi 

 ness of their country to their own aggrandizement, 

 and had made him a confirmed loyalist. He artfully 

 mingled assertions, that the principal members of 

 congress held the people in sovereign contempt. 

 This was followed, in about a fortnight, by a pro- 

 clamation, addressed " to the officers and soldiers ot 

 the continental army, who have the real interest of 

 their country at heart, and who are determined to be 

 no longer the tools and dupes of congress and of 

 France." To induce the American officers and sol- 



