[CHAPTER XVII.]
Arnold sails for England.—Anecdotes.—His Residence at St. John's, and in the West Indies.—His Death.
The capitulation at York town having virtually put an end to the war, and Arnold finding himself neither respected by the British officers, nor likely to be further employed in the service, obtained permission from Sir Henry Clinton to go to England. He sailed from New York with his family in December, 1781. Sir Henry gave him a letter of introduction to Lord George Germain, mentioning his "spirited and meritorious conduct since he had joined the British army," and commending him to his "Lordship's countenance and protection"; but, forbearing to recount the instances of his worthy deeds, he referred the minister on that head to the tenor of his previous correspondence.
Although Arnold lived twenty years after this date, yet so entirely did he sink out of notice, that hardly an incident respecting him has been related or remembered. Happily no one will regret the blank. All that can be ascertained, in regard to his subsequent history, may be gathered from half a dozen anecdotes. Some of these are characteristic; others show in what utter disgrace he was held by the whole world.
At the time he was about to sail from New York, two Scotch officers, wishing to return to England, requested a passage in the same vessel. The captain told them, that General Arnold had taken the whole cabin for himself and family, and that there was no more room for passengers; but, if they could make an arrangement with him, there would be no other obstacle. They accordingly consulted Arnold, who agreed to receive them into the cabin. Nothing further was said on the subject, till the vessel arrived in London. The Scotch gentlemen then went to the captain, and offered to pay for their passage, but he declined taking the money, and referred them to Arnold. He did not see them again, till they departed for Scotland. When Arnold came to pay his bill, he insisted that the proportion for their passage should be deducted. To this the captain would not consent, alleging that he had no claim upon the officers, and requiring a fulfilment of his contract. As this could not be evaded, Arnold was obliged to pay the demand, but he persuaded the captain to draw on the two officers, in favor of Arnold, and in his own name as captain of the ship, for their passage money. The draft came back protested. Arnold prosecuted the captain, and recovered the amount. It had also been paid to him by the officers before they left London.
It has been seen in the preceding narrative, that the horse on which Arnold rode in the second battle of Behmus's Heights was shot under him, just as he was entering the Hessian redoubt. The animal was a beautiful Spanish horse, which had formerly belonged to Governor Skene, but was now the property of Colonel Lewis, and borrowed by Arnold for the occasion. A short time after the action, Colonel Lewis called on him, and requested a certificate of the horse having been killed, that he might obtain the value of him, according to usage, from the public treasury. Arnold declined giving the certificate, saying it would have an ill appearance for a major-general to sign a certificate for a horse, that had been shot under him in battle. Lewis said no more, till Arnold was about to leave the camp, when he again went to him, and insisted on being allowed a proper compensation for the loss of his horse. Arnold still assigned motives of delicacy for refusing a certificate, but told Lewis that he had a fine Narraganset mare in the public stables, which he would give him in the place of his horse, and immediately wrote an order to the keeper of the stables, directing him to deliver the mare into the hands of Colonel Lewis. Meantime Arnold went off, and two or three days afterwards the order was presented. The keeper said there was no mare belonging to General Arnold in the stables; that there had been one of that description some time before, but she was sold to another officer, who had taken her away. It was subsequently ascertained, that Arnold sent in a certificate, and received pay from the government for the horse that had been shot.
Nor was this the end of the affair. When he was on the point of sailing for England, he borrowed two hundred dollars from a Captain Campbell in the British service, for which he gave an order on Colonel Lewis, telling Campbell that Lewis owed him for a mare purchased three years before, and that, as he was about to leave the country, and should not have an opportunity to collect the debt, it would be a convenience to him if Campbell would undertake that small service. Captain Campbell, having been acquainted with Colonel Lewis before the war and expecting to see him again, took the order as an equivalent for his two hundred dollars. When the news of peace arrived in New York, a passport was obtained from General Washington by the British commander, for a person to proceed through the country with the intelligence to the Governor of Canada. Captain Campbell was the bearer of the message, and on the way he visited his friend Lewis in Albany, and presented Arnold's order. Their mutual surprise may be imagined, both having been equal sufferers by this refinement of knavery.
Although the King, and a few persons in authority, were obliged from policy to take some notice of Arnold, after he went to England, yet he was shunned and despised by every body else. It is said, that when the petition for a bill authorizing a negotiation of peace was presented to the King in the usual form by Parliament, Arnold was standing near the throne, apparently in high favor with the sovereign. Lord Lauderdale is reported to have declared, on returning to the House, "that however gracious might be the language he had heard from the throne, his indignation could not but be highly excited at beholding his Majesty supported by a traitor." At another time, when Lord Surry had risen to speak, seeing Arnold in the gallery, he sat down quickly, pointing to him and exclaiming, "I will not speak while that man is in the House."