He occasionally by accident met his countrymen, who uniformly treated him in the most slighting and contemptuous manner. An officer of rank in the American army, who had known him in early life, was in London. Arnold called at the door of his lodgings, and sent in his name. "Tell the gentleman I am not at home," said the officer to the servant, "and never shall be for General Arnold."
Not long after the war, he took up his residence at St. John's, in New Brunswick, and resumed his old profession of a merchant, engaging principally in the West India trade. It is believed that the government granted him facilities, in the way of contracts for supplying the troops in Jamaica with provisions. At any rate he carried on a thriving and extensive business at St. John's, building ships on his own account and sending them to the West Indies.
His style of living was ostentatious and profuse, exhibiting more splendor than was usual in provincial towns, and thus enabling him to associate on terms of intimacy with the higher classes; but he contrived to make himself odious to the people, not less by his haughty deportment, than by his habits of dishonesty in business. The inhabitants of St. John's were principally refugees from the United States, who had settled there at the close of the war.
An incident happened, which had a tendency to increase the strong feeling of distrust and aversion, with which he had from the first been regarded. He had in use two warehouses. Upon one of these, which was supposed to be filled with goods, he procured an insurance for a large amount. It took fire in the night, and was burnt to the ground with all its contents. Arnold was himself absent on a voyage to England. Two of his sons slept in the warehouse, and were there when the flames broke out, but could give no account of the manner in which the fire was communicated. The circumstances of the case induced a suspicion, that the goods had been insured much above their value, and that the building was intentionally set on fire.
So many particulars favored this construction, that the insurers refused to pay their bonds. Arnold prosecuted them on his return from England, and a trial ensued, in which many witnesses were examined; but no proof was produced to establish the charge of design in setting the fire, and he recovered the full value for which the goods had been insured.
The judicial decision did not accord, however, with public sentiment, and the populace resolved to express their sense of the transaction in a manner, that could not be misunderstood. They made an effigy, which they called The Traitor, and hung it in a conspicuous place, so that it could be seen from Arnold's windows. A concourse of people was gathered around it, when a magistrate appeared among them and read the riot act. This dispersed or quieted them for the moment, but they soon reassembled, and exposed the effigy anew. The military at last interfered, and put an end to the proceedings, but not till the people had effected their object, and committed to the flames the symbol of their indignation; and indeed it may be supposed, that neither the magistrates nor the military were over-earnest to suppress the popular feeling on this occasion.
How long Arnold continued at St. John's is uncertain. He went back to England, where he resided the rest of his life, though he was sometimes absent on business in the West Indies. When the war with France commenced, he petitioned for employment in the army; but, as no officers would serve or associate with him, the petition could not be granted. A single adventure will include all that remains to be told of him.
He was at Point Petre, in Guadaloupe, engaged in commercial pursuits, when that Island, which had fallen under the power of the English, was retaken by the French. Having acted as an agent to furnish provisions for the British troops in the West Indies, chiefly obtained through a circuitous channel from the United States, he had accumulated a good deal of money, which was then in his possession. Fearful that it might be taken from him, or at least doubtful what treatment he would meet with if discovered, he assumed the name of Anderson. With other persons he was put on board a French prison-ship in the harbor. A sentinel told him, that he was known and exposed to great hazard.
Alarmed at this intelligence, he immediately formed a plan to escape. His ingenuity and resource had seldom failed him in cases requiring promptness of decision, and they proved equally true to him at the present critical juncture. He enclosed his treasure in an empty cask, which he let down into the sea as soon as it was dark, and the waves carried it ashore near the place where the English were encamped. He likewise took the precaution to put a letter into the cask, stating that the property belonged to him, and was to be given up when demanded. In the middle of the night he silently descended the side of the ship, and placed himself upon a raft of planks prepared for the purpose, with which he had the good fortune to reach a small boat moored at some distance. He then rowed towards the English fleet, guided by the lights on board. Although hailed by a French guard-boat, he escaped under the cover of darkness, and at four o'clock in the morning was safe on the deck of a British vessel.
Shortly after this adventure, Arnold returned again to England. He died in London, June 14th, 1801, aged sixty-one years.