Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/118

96 1776-'77; and the American cause would thus become so hopeless that an opportunity would be offered for negotiation. Arnold was assured that Lord North would renew the liberal terms already offered in 1778, which conceded everything that the Americans had demanded in 1775. By rendering a cardinal service to the British, he might hope to attain a position of such eminence as to conduct these negotiations, end the war, and restore America to her old allegiance, with her freedom from parliamentary control guaranteed. In order to realize these ambitious dreams, Arnold resorted to the blackest treachery. In July, 1780, he sought and obtained command of West Point in order to surrender it to the enemy. When his scheme was detected by the timely capture of André, he fled to the British at New York, a disgraced and hated traitor. Instead of getting control of affairs, like Gen. Monk, he had sold himself cheap, receiving a brigadier-general's place in the British army and a paltry sum of money. In the spring of 1781 he conducted a plundering expedition into Virginia; in September of the same year he was sent to attack New London, in order to divert Washington from his southward march against Cornwallis. In the following winter he went with his wife to London, where he was well received by the king and the tories, but frowned upon by the whigs. In 1787 he removed to St. John's, New Brunswick, and entered into mercantile business with his sons Richard and Henry. In 1791 he returned to London and settled there permanently. In 1792 he fought a bloodless duel with the earl of Lauderdale, for a remark which the latter had made about him in the house of lords. His last years were embittered by remorse. The illustration on page 95 is a view of Col. Beverley Robinson's house, opposite West Point, which was occupied by Arnold as his headquarters. It is now the property of Hon. Hamilton Fish. His life has been written by Sparks in vol. iii. of his &ldquo;American Biographies,&rdquo; and more fully by Isaac Newton Arnold, &ldquo;Life of Benedict Arnold, his Patriotism and his Treason&rdquo; (Chicago, 1880). &mdash; His fifth son, Sir James Robertson, British soldier, b. in Philadelphia in 1780; d. in London, England, 27 Dec., 1854. He entered the royal engineers in 1798, and attained the rank of colonel. From 1816 to 1823 he was at the head of the engineers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In 1841 he was transferred from the engineers, and in 1851 was made lieutenant-general. He served with credit in various parts of the world, displaying especial courage in the attack on Surinam, where he received a severe wound. He was aide-de-camp to both William IV. and Victoria. He bore a strong personal resemblance to his father. &mdash; Benedict's seventh son,, the only one that left issue, b. 25 June, 1794, was a captain in the British army. His son, , rector of Barrow in Cheshire, inherited the family seat of Little Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire, and the grant of land near Toronto, now of great value.

ARNOLD, George, author, b. in New York city, 24 June, 1834; d. at Strawberry Farms, N. J., 3 Nov., 1865. While he was still an infant his parents removed to Illinois, but in 1849 returned to the east and settled at Strawberry Farms. As he showed a talent for drawing, he was placed m the studio of a portrait painter in New York; but he soon abandoned the idea of becoming an artist, and adopted literature as a profession. He became a contributor to "Vanity Fair," the "Leader," and other periodicals, writing stories, poems, sketches, and art criticisms. Some of his poems are of remarkable sweetness. He was best known during his lifetime as the author of the "McArone" papers, which established his reputation as a humorist. These were begun in "Vanity Pair " in 1860, and continued there and in other papers until his death. He was also the author of several biographical works. During the civil war Mr. Arnold did military duty for a long time at one of the forts on Staten Island. His poems were collected and edited, with a memoir, by William Winter, appearing in two volumes (1867-' 68), afterward consolidated in one. The "Jolly Old Pedagogue " is his best-known poem.

ARNOLD, Isaac Newton, lawyer, b. in Hartwick, Otsego CO., N. Y., 30 Nov., 1815; d. in Chicago, 24 April, 1884. His father, Dr. George W. Arnold, was a native of Rhode Island, whence he removed to western New York in 1800. After attending the district and select schools, Isaac Arnold was thrown on his own resources at the age of fifteen. For several years he taught school a part of each year, earning enough to study law, and at the age of twenty was admitted to the bar. In 1836 he removed to Chicago, where he spent the rest of his life, and was prominent as a lawyer and in politics. He was elected city clerk of Chicago in 1837, and, beginning in 1843, served several terms in the legislature. The state was then heavily in debt, and Mr. Arnold became the acknowledged champion of those who were opposed to repudiation. In 1844 he was a presidential elector, and in 1860 was elected to congress as a republican, serving two terms. At the battle of Bull Run he acted as volunteer aide to Col. Hunter, and did good service in caring for the wounded. While in congress he was chairman of the committee on the defences and fortifications of the great lakes and rivers, and afterward chairman of the committee on manufactures, serving also as member of the committee on roads and canals. He voted for the bill abolishing slavery in the district of Columbia, and in March, 1862, he introduced a bill prohibiting slavery in every place under national control. This bill was passed on 19 June. 1862, after much resistance, and on 15 Feb., 1864, Mr. Arnold introduced in the house of representatives a resolution, which was passed, declaring that the constitution of the United States should be so amended as to abolish slavery. His ablest speech in congress was on the confiscation bill, and was made 2 May, 1862. In 1865 President Johnson appointed him sixth auditor to the U. S. treasury. Mr. Arnold was an admirable public speaker, and delivered addresses before various literary societies, both at home and abroad. He had been intimate with Abraham Lincoln for many years before Mr. Lincoln's election to the presidency, and in 1866 he published a biography of him (new ed., rewritten and enlarged, Chicago, 1885). This was followed in 1879 by a "Life of Benedict Arnold," which, while acknowledging the enormity of Arnold's treason, vindicates and praises him in other respects. The author claimed no relationship with the subject of his work. His life of Lincoln is valuable for the clearness with which it shows the historical relations of the president to the great events of his administration; and the author's death is said to have been caused, m part, by his persistent labor in completing his last revision of this work. Mr. Arnold was for many years president of the Chicago historical society, and Hon. E. B. Washburne delivered an address on his life before the society, 21 Oct., 1884 (Chicago, 1884).

ARNOLD, Jonathan, statesman, b. in Providence, R. I., 14 Dec, 1741 ; d. in St. Johnsbury,