This paper speculates on Benedict Arnold\u27s hatred of the French as a cause of his treason. It includes the text of Arnold\u27s Proclamation ... To all the officers and soldiers of the continental army which is presented as an apologia for his treason. It also includes an editorial comment from the first issue of the Gazette Francoise published in Newport, RI by the French navy

Desmarais, Norman

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Arnold’s Treason: The French Connection

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Providence CollegeDigitalCommons@ProvidenceLibrary Faculty and Staff papers Phillips Memorial LibrarySeptember 2005Arnold’s Treason: The French ConnectionNorman DesmaraisProvidence College, normd@providence.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/facstaff_pubsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Phillips Memorial Library at DigitalCommons@Providence. It has been accepted forinclusion in Library Faculty and Staff papers by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Providence. For more information, please contactmcaprio1@providence.edu, hposey@providence.edu.Desmarais, Norman, "Arnold’s Treason: The French Connection" (2005). Library Faculty and Staff papers. 28.http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/facstaff_pubs/28Arnold's Treason: The French Connection  Norman Desmarais  2nd Rhode Island Regiment  Historians ascribe several reasons to Benedict  Arnold's treason. Chief among them is Arnold's  constant need for more money and his resentment of  the slights he perceived from Congress. He felt that  Congress lacked confidence in him and did not  recognize him for his heroism in previous battles as  he saw himself passed over for several promotions.  One of Arnold's enemies once said of him  "Money is this man's God." After his marriage to  his second wile, Margaret ("Peggy") Shippen, a  prominent Loyalist, his expenses increased and he  needed more money to keep her in the style in which  she was accustomed to living. A month after his  marriage in 1779. Arnold offered to sell military  information to General Henry Clinton. Clinton  appointed John Andre. recently promoted to Major,  to serve as his contact with Arnold. Not only was  Major André the head of General Clinton's spy ring,  He was a personal friend of Peggy Shippen.  Another possible reason for Arnold's treason  was his growing hatred of the French. There is no  documentary evidence of this hatred before his  treason, though. In fact, after the Battle of Saratoga  convinced the French to join the American War for  Independence against England, Arnold wrote to  General Philip Schuyler on March 8,1777, welcom-  ing the prospect of France's participation:  The amazing preparations making for war, in France and  Spain, leave little doubt of their hostile intentions against  Great Britain. I hope and believe we shall have the burden  Of the war taken off our hand, this summer. [Schuyler  Papers. New York Public Library in Wallace, Willard M.  Traitorous Hero: the life and fortunes of Benedict Arnold.New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954 p.195]  If Arnold mistrusted the alliance between  France and America prior to 1780, he never admit-  ted it. However, after his treason Arnold justified  his action by claiming that the Americans were now  fighting for the interests of Catholic France. He  noted that the American cause was being supported  by a Catholic kingdom against whose soldiers he  had once fought. What happened in the interim?  The Count de Rochambeau landed in Newport,  RI with 5,800 French troops on July 10, 1780.  Arnold, a resident of New London, CT whose  grandfather of the same name had been a governor  of Rhode Island, now saw the French too close to  home. This may have been a factor in precipitating  his treachery.  Three months later and two and a half weeks  after Major John André's capture at Tarrytown, NY,  with evidence of the treason, Arnold issued the  following proclamation to the officers and soldiers  of the Continental Army inviting them to join him.  Although dated October 10, 1780, it was printed in  the Royal Gazette two weeks later on October 25,  1780.  Proclamation of Brigadier-General Arnold, formerly  Major General in the service of America and now head  of a band in the service of Great Britain.  To all the officers and soldiers of the continental army  which he claims to seduce.  Having reason to believe that the principles I have  avowed in my address to the public of the 7th instant,  animated the greatest [part] of this continent, I rejoice in  the opportunity I have of inviting you to join his Maj-  esty's Arms.  His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton has authorized me  to raise a corps of cavalry and infantry, who are to be  clothed, subsisted, and paid as the other troops are in the  British service; and those who bring in horses, arms, or  accoutrements, are to be paid their value, or have liberty  to sell them: To every non-commissioned officer and  private a bounty of three guineas will be given, and as the  Commander in Chief is pleased to allow me to nominate  the officers, I shall with infinite satisfaction embrace the  opportunity of advancing men whose valour I have  witnessed, and whose principles are favourable to a union  with Britain, and true American liberty.  The rank they obtain in the King's service will bear  a proportion to their former rank, and the number of men  they bring with them.  It is expected that a Lieutenant-Colonel of cavalry  will bring with him, or recruit in a reasonable time, 75  men,  Major of Horse   50 men, Captain of ditto   30 Lieutenant of ditto  15 Cornet of ditto   12 Serjeant of ditto   6 Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry 75 men Major of ditto                 50  Captain of ditto              30  Lieutenant of ditto         15  Ensign of ditto               12  Serjeant of ditto              6  N.B. Each field officer will have a company  Great as these encouragements must appear to such  as have suffered every distress of want of pay, hunger,  and nakedness, from the neglect, contempt, and corrup-  tion of Congress, they are nothing to the motives which  I expect will influence the brave and generous minds I  hope to have the honour to command.  I wish to lead a chosen band of Americans to the attainment of peace, liberty, and safety, (the first objects  in taking the field) and with them to share in the glory of  rescuing our native country from the grasping hand of  France, as well as from the ambitious and interested  views of a desperate party among ourselves, who in  listening to French overtures, and rejecting those from  Great Britain, have brought the colonies to the very brink  of destruction.  Friends, fellow soldiers, and citizens, arouse, and  judge for yourselves, -- reflect on what you have lost, --  consider to what you are reduced and by your courage  repel the ruin that still threatens you.  Your country once was happy, and had the proffered  peace been embraced, your last two years of misery had  been spent in peace and plenty, and repairing the desola-  tions of a quarrel that would have set the interest of Great  Britain and America in its true sight, and cemented their  friendship; whereas, you are now the prey of avarice, the  scorn of your enemies, and the pity of your friends.  You were promised liberty by the leaders of your  affairs; but is there an individual in the enjoyment of it,  saving your oppressors? Who among you dare speak, or  write what he think, against the tyranny which has robbed  you of your property, imprisons your persons, drags you  to the field of battle, and is daily deluging your country  with your blood?  You are flattered with independency as preferable to  a redress of grievances, and for that shadow, instead of  real felicity, are sunk into all the wretchedness of poverty  by the rapacity of your own rulers. Already are you  disqualified to support the pride of character they taught  you to aim at, and must inevitably shortly belong to one  or other of the great powers their folly and wickedness  have drawn into conflict. Happy for you that you may still  become the fellow subjects of Great Britain, if you nobly  disdain to be the vassals of France.  What is America now but a land of widows. orphans,  and beggars ? -- and should the parent nation cease her  exertions to deliver you. What security remains to you  even for the enjoyment of the consolations of that religion  for which your fathers braved the ocean, the heathen, and  the wilderness? Do you know that the eye which guides  this pen lately saw your mean and profligate Congress at  Mass for the soul of a Roman Catholic in Purgatory, and  participating in the rites of a Church, against whose anti-  christian corruptions your pious ancestors would have  witnessed with their blood.  As to you who have been soldiers in the continental  army, can you at this day want evidence that the funds of  your country are exhausted, or that the managers have  applied them to their own private uses? In either case you  surely can no longer continue in their service with honour  or advantage; yet you have hitherto been their supporters  in that cruelty, which, with an equal indifference to  your's, as well as to the labour and blood of others, is  devouring a country, that, from the moment you quit their  colours, will be redeemed from their tyranny.  But what need of arguments to such as feel infinitely  more misery than tongue can express. I therefore only add  my promise of the most affectionate welcome and atten-  tion to all who are disposed to join me in the measures  necessary to close the scene of our afflictions, which,  intolerable as they are, must continue to increase until we  have the wisdom (shown of late by Ireland) in being  contented with the liberality of the Parent Country, who  still offers her protection, with the immediate restoration  of our ancient privileges, civil and sacred, and a perpetual  exemption from all taxes, but such as we shall think fit to  impose on ourselves.  B. Arnold.  So why did Arnold's antipathy toward the  French emerge so suddenly and progress so rapidly?  During the spring and summer of 1780 Arnold tried  to settle financial accounts with the Board of Trea-  sury for his expenses earlier in the war. However,  there were missing vouchers and Arnold considered  Congress niggardly for underpaying him £2000.  Arnold's efforts to obtain payment indicate his  need for money at this time. He tried to obtain  repayment as if the sum were much larger than it  actually was. He was so hard-pressed to meet his  obligations that he turned to several French officers,  particularly the Chevalier de la Luzerne. All his  requests were denied which may have led to a  deterioration of his opinion of the French. Arnold  also quarreled with some of the officers. His dislike  of several Frenchmen may have quickly developed  into a distrust of all Frenchmen and France itself.  Willard Wallace (Wallace, Willard M. Traitor-  ous Hero: the life and fortunes of Benedict Arnold.New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954 p.214) thinks  that had the Chevalier de la Luzerne loaned him  money to meet his needs in the winter of 1780,  Arnold might not have turned to the British in the  spring to supply what neither the French minister  nor the Continental Congress was disposed to do.  To justify his treason, Arnold could unleash his  bitterness toward the French officers who denied his  requests for money by impugning their country. He  distrusted French motives and considered Catholic  France an enemy of the liberties of mankind and of  the Protestant faith, the predominant faith in the  colonies.  Arnold may also have consciously wanted to  recall the Quebec Act of May 20, 1774 to re-kindle  the fears that Act aroused. Passed along with the  Intolerable Acts, the Quebec Act allowed the French  inhabitants of Canada to maintain their traditions in  government and granted the Roman Catholic Church  a privileged position. As the Act also put the terri-  tory north of the Ohio River under the jurisdiction  of Quebec, the predominantly Protestant colonists  mistrusted Britain's motives and feared that a  Catholic bishop would be appointed for the region.  Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and  Virginia were particularly alarmed because they  claimed much of the territory now granted to Que-  bec. The Quebec Act angered the colonies and  helped push them to armed conflict. Arnold may  have wanted to remind his former countrymen of  their fears of six years earlier.  An Editorial Response to Arnold's Proclamation  When the French arrived in Newport, many of the officers and men could not speak or read English. The fleet established a newspaper, the Gazette Françoise or French Gazette, which was published at 641 Point Street. The newspaper intended to translate various news items printed in American newspapers to keep the officers and men abreast of political events in this emerging nation.  The first item of the first issue, published on Friday November 17, 1780, was a translation of Arnold's proclamation followed by this response:  "This broadside is characteristic of its author. It claims his treachery by slandering the respectable body which, by drawing him out of the void where the obscurity of his birth should have buried his little being forever, rewarded him with the prize of honor, a few acts of rashness. Such is the fatal impotence of the British that these proud and contemptuous warriors today place at their head, an object so worthy of the true soldier's and the honest man's scorn. But let us not be surprised, they already numbered savages and negroes among their colonels."  

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Arnold’s Treason: The French Connection

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