In view of the great effort on the part of Washington to arrest Arnold, it is well to consider some incidents that disclose Arnold’s true position in the British army. In none of his expeditions in Virginia did he face Continental troops. He attempted to open a correspondence with Lafayette, and threatened to send any prisoners he might capture, to the West Indies; but Lafayette never acknowledged a communication, simply forwarding them to Washington. Among papers of General Phillips which came to light upon his decease, was a letter from Clinton showing that Phillips’ assignment to duty, on the eleventh of April, was “for the security of Arnold and the troops under his command, and for no other purpose.” The reader, familiar with the Burgoyne campaign, will remember the brilliant and explosive burst of Arnold into the British lines, near Bemis Heights. General Phillips, then serving under Burgoyne, was one of the severest sufferers by that assault; and the relations of the two officers, in Virginia, were of the most constrained character. Upon the death of Phillips an attempt was made on the part of Arnold to conceal the knowledge of that fact; and some direct correspondence of Arnold with London officials had disturbed Clinton, so that he desired to have him under his immediate control. The departure of Arnold from Virginia resolved the Virginia campaign into a series of spirited marches, counter-marches, skirmishes and sharp encounters, which ultimately drove Cornwallis behind the intrenchments at Yorktown; and there he was securely inclosed, until all things could be prepared for the presence of the American Commander-in-Chief. On the thirty-first of May, Washington wrote to Lafayette, and thus closed his letter: “Your conduct upon every occasion meets my approbation, but in none more than in your refusing to hold a correspondence with Arnold.” CHAPTER XXXIII. NEW YORK AND YORKTOWN THREATENED.—CORNWALLIS INCLOSED BY LAFAYETTE. On the twenty-first day of May, 1781, which proved to have been that of the arrival of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Washington held a conference with Count de Rochambeau and General Chastellux at Wethersfield, Conn., as to the details of the approaching summer campaign. As one result of this interview, Count de Rochambeau requested Count de Grasse, then in the West Indies, to coöperate for a while with Count de Barras, and close the port of New York. The French fleet could not be very well spared from the West India Station, for the reason that while coöperating with the Americans, and on a foreign coast, it had neither accessible docks nor other means of refitting and supply, in case of disaster. Pending the disposition of this matter, the immediate junction of the two armies was definitely settled.