Arnold ordered to be tried by a Court Martial.—His Trial, Verdict, and Punishment.—Its Effects.
the former, in throwing aside the report of their own committee, by which he had been acquitted, and listening to the proposals of men who, he said, were moved by personal enmity, and had practiced unworthy artifices to cause delay. After the lapse of three months, the Council of Pennsylvania were not ready for the trial, and requested it to be put off, with the plea that they had not collected all their evidence. Arnold considered this a subterfuge, and plainly told all parties so. He was anxious to have the matter settled, for he was unemployed; for on the 18th of March, 1779, after the committee of Congress had reported on the charges preferred hy the Council of Pennsylvania, he had resigned his commission. He was vexed that Congress, instead of calling up and sanctioning the first report, should yield to the solicitations of his enemies for a military trial. *
The day fixed for the trial was the 1st of June; the place, Washington's head-quarters at Middlebrook. The movements of the British prevented the trial being held, and it was deferred until the 20th of December, (a) when the court assembled for the purpose, at Morristown. ** The trial commenced, and continued, with slight interruptions, until the 26th of January, (b) when the verdict was rendered. Arnold made an elaborate 1779 defense, in the course of which he magnified his services, asserted his entire innocence of the criminal charges made against him, cast reproach, by imputation, upon some1780 of the purest men in the army, and solemnly proclaimed his patriotic attachment to his country. "The boastfulness and malignity of these declarations," says Sparks, "are obvious enough; but their consummate hypocrisy can be understood only by knowing the fact that, at the moment they were uttered, he had been eight months in secret correspondence with the enemy, and was prepared, if not resolved, when the first opportunity should offer, to desert and destroy his country."
Arnold was acquitted of two of the four charges; the other two were sustained in part. The court sentenced him to the mildest form of punishment, a simple reprimand by the commander-in-chief. *** Washington carried the sentence into execution with all possible delicacy; **** but Arnold's pride was too deeply wounded, or, it may be, his treasonable schemes were too far ripened, to allow him to take advantage of the favorable moment to regain the confidence of his countrymen and vindicate his character. He had expected from the court a triumphant vindication of his honor; he was prepared, in the event of an unfavorable verdict, to seek revenge at any hazard.
* Sparks's Life and Treason of Arnold, 131, 133.
** Arnold continued to reside in Philadelphia after resigning his command. No longer afraid of his power, the people testified their detestation of his character by various indignities. One day he was assaulted in the streets by the populace. He complained to Congress, and asked a guard of twenty men to be placed around his residence. Congress declined to interfere, and this added another to the list of his alleged grievances. In the mean while, Arnold devised several schemes by which to relieve himself of his pecuniary embarrassments. He proposed to form a settlement in Western New York for the officers and soldiers who had served under him. He also conceived the idea of joining some of the Indian tribes, and, uniting many of them in one, become a great and powerful chief among them.
*** Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt, of West Chester county, recorded the following in his diary: "General Arnold being under arrest for improper conduct in Philadelphia while he commanded there, I was chosen one of the court martial, Major-general Howe, president. There were also in that court four officers who had been at Ticonderoga when Colonel Hazen was called on for trial, &c. We were for cashiering Arnold, but the majority overruled, and he was finally sentenced to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. Had all the court known Arnold's former conduct as well as myself, he would have been dismissed the service."
**** "When Arnold was brought before him," says M. de Marbois, "he kindly addressed him, saying, 'Our profession is the chastest of all. Even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the luster of our finest achievements. The least inadvertence may rob us of the public favor, so hard to be acquired. I reprimand you for having forgotten that, in proportion as you had rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have been guarded and temperate in your deportment toward your fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you, as far as it may be in my power, with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your country.'"
Arnold's Interview with Luzerne.—His Wife and Major André.—Sympathy of Schuyler and Livingston.
In manifest treason there was great danger, and, before proceeding to any overt acts of that nature, Arnold tried other schemes to accomplish his desire of obtaining money to meet the claims of his creditors and the daily demands of his extravagant style of living. He apparently acquiesced in the sentence of the court martial, and tried to get Congress to adjust his accounts by allowing his extravagant claims. This he could not accomplish, and he applied to M. de Luzerne, the French minister, who succeeded Gerard, for a loan, promising a faithful adherence to the king and country of the embassador. Luzerne admired the military talents of Arnold, and treated him with great respect; but he refused the loan, and administered a kind though keen rebuke to the applicant for thus covertly seeking a bribe. * He talked kindly to Arnold, reasoned soundly, and counseled him wisely. But words had no weight without the added specific gravity of gold, and he left the French minister with mingled indignation, mortification, and shame. From that hour he doubtless resolved to sell the liberties of his country for a price.