In the end Arnold was tried by
court-martial and after long and inexcusable delay, on January
26, 1780, he was acquitted of everything but the imprudence of
using, in an emergency, public wagons to remove private property,
and of granting irregularly a pass to a ship to enter the port of
Philadelphia. Yet the court ordered that for these trifles Arnold
should receive a public reprimand from the Commander-in-Chief.
Washington gave the reprimand in terms as gentle as possible, and
when, in July, 1780, Arnold asked for the important command at
West Point, Washington readily complied probably with relief that
so important a position should be in such good hands.
The treason of Arnold now came rapidly to a head. The man was
embittered. He had rendered great services and yet had been
persecuted with spiteful persistence. The truth seems to be, too,
that Arnold thought America ripe for reconciliation with Great
Britain. He dreamed that he might be the saviour of his country.
Monk had reconciled the English republic to the restored Stuart
King Charles II; Arnold might reconcile the American republic to
George III for the good of both. That reconciliation he believed
was widely desired in America. He tried to persuade himself that
to change sides in this civil strife was no more culpable then to
turn from one party to another in political life.
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