Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
[Footnote 1: It is pleasant to witness manifestations of gratitude. God
frowns upon impiety. The wealthy, illustrious, and miserable Junot, in a
paroxysm of insanity, precipitated himself from his chamber window, and
died in agony upon the pavement.]
[Footnote 2: Andrè Massena rose from a common soldier to the rank of a
commander, and became Duke of Rivoli and Marshal of France. "He was,"
said Napoleon, "a man of superior talent. He generally, however, made
bad dispositions previously to a battle. It was not until the dead began
to fall about him that he began to act with that judgment which he ought
to have displayed before. In the midst of the dying and the dead, and of
balls sweeping away those who encircled him, he gave his orders, and
made his dispositions with the most perfect coolness and judgment. It
was truly said of him, that he never began to act with skill until the
battle was going against him. He was, however, _a robber_. He went
halves with the contractors and commissaries of the army. I signified to
him often, that if he would discontinue his peculations I would make him
a present of a hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand dollars, but he
had acquired such a habit that he could not keep his hands from money.
On this account he was hated by the soldiers, who mutinied against him
three or four times. However, considering the circumstances of the
times, he was precious. Had not his bright parts been sullied by
avarice, he would have been a great man." Massena lived through all the
wars of Napoleon, and died of chagrin, when the master, whom he adored,
was an exile at St. Helena.]
THE TREASON OF BENEDICT ARNOLD.
BY BENSON J. LOSSING.
[Illustration: BENEDICT ARNOLD.]
[The engravings which illustrate this article, are from Lossing's
_Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution_, now in course of publication
by Harper and Brothers.]
The defection of Arnold, and his attempt to betray the strong post of
West Point and its dependencies into the power of the British army, was
the ripened head of faction which had been festering in the Legislature
and the Camp for more than three years. The stern and disinterested
patriotism which marshaled a beleaguering army around Boston, and
declared, in solemn council, the thirteen Anglo-American colonies to be
free and independent states, had become diluted by the commingling of
selfish ambition. Already Church, Duché, Galloway, Zubley, and other
smaller traitors who, like Peter, were courageous when danger appeared
remote, and boasted loudly of their love for the patriot cause, until
the hour of its trial came, had denied their allegiance to the new faith
by words or deeds, and gave countenance to multitudes of the weak,
timid, and unprincipled, who openly espoused the cause of the king.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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