Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"
1785. After being educated at a convent school in Fritzlar, she lived
6977 words | Chapter 115
for a while with her grandmother, the novelist, Sophie Laroche
(1731-1807), at Offenbach, and from 1803 to 1806 with her
brother-in-law, Friedrich von Savigny, the famous jurist, at Marburg. In
1807 she made at Weimar the acquaintance of Goethe, for whom she
entertained a violent passion, which the poet, although entering into
correspondence with her, did not requite, but only regarded as a
harmless fancy. Their friendship came to an abrupt end in 1811, owing to
"Bettina's" insolent behaviour to Goethe's wife. In this year she
married Ludwig Achim von Arnim (q.v.), by whom she had seven children.
After her husband's death in 1831, her passion for Goethe revived, and
in 1835 she published her remarkable book, _Goethes Briefwechsel mit
einem Kinde_, which purported to be a correspondence between herself and
the poet. Regarded at first as genuine, it was afterwards for many years
looked upon as wholly fictitious, until the publication in 1879 of G.
von Loeper's _Briefe Goethes an Sophie Laroche und Bettina Brentano,
nebst dichterischen Beilagen_, which proved it to be based on authentic
material, though treated with the greatest poetical licence. Equally
fantastic is her correspondence _Die Gunderode_ (1840), with her unhappy
friend, the poet, Karoline von Gunderode (1780-1806), who committed
suicide, and that with her brother Klemens Brentano, under the title
_Klemens Brentanos Fruhlingskranz_ (1844). She also published _Dies Buck
gehort dem Konig_ (1843), in which she advocated the emancipation of the
Jews, and the abolition of capital punishment. Among her other works may
be mentioned _Ilius Pamphilius und die Ambrosia_ (1848), also a
supposititious correspondence. In all her writings she showed real
poetical genius, combined with evidence of an unbalanced mind and a
mannerism which becomes tiresome. She died at Berlin on the 20th of
January 1859. Part of a design by her for a colossal statue of Goethe,
executed in marble by the sculptor Karl Steinhauser (1813-1878), is in
the museum at Weimar.
Her collected works (_Samtliche Schriften_) were published in Berlin
in 11 vols., 1853. Goethe's _Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde_ has been
edited by H. Grimm (4th ed., Berlin, 1890). See also C. Alberti, _B.
von Arnim_ (Leipzig, 1885); Moritz Carriere, _Bettina von Arnim_
(Breslau, 1887), and the literature cited under Ludwig von Arnim.
ARNIM, HARRY KARL KURT EDUARD VON, COUNT (1824-1881), German
diplomatist, was a member of one of the most numerous and most widely
spread families of the Prussian nobility. He was born in Pomerania on
the 3rd of October 1824, and brought up by his uncle Heinrich von Arnim,
who was Prussian ambassador at Paris and foreign minister from March to
June 1848, while Count Arnim-Boytzenburg, whose daughter Harry von Arnim
afterwards married, was minister-president. It is noticeable that the
uncle was brought before a court of justice and fined for publishing a
pamphlet directed against the ministry of Manteuffel. After holding
other posts in the diplomatic service Arnim was in 1864 appointed
Prussian envoy (and in 1867 envoy of the North German Confederation) at
the papal court. In 1869 he proposed that the governments should appoint
representatives to be present at the Vatican council, a suggestion which
was rejected by Bismarck, and foretold that the promulgation of papal
infallibility would bring serious political difficulties. After the
recall of the French troops from Rome he attempted unsuccessfully to
mediate between the pope and the Italian government. He was appointed in
1871 German commissioner to arrange the final treaty with France, a task
which he carried out with such success that in 1871 he was appointed
German envoy at Paris, and in 1872 received his definite appointment as
ambassador, a post of the greatest difficulty and responsibility.
Differences soon arose between him and Bismarck; he wished to support
the monarchical party which was trying to overthrow Thiers, while
Bismarck ordered him to stand aloof from all French parties; he did not
give that implicit obedience to his instructions which Bismarck
required. Bismarck, however, was unable to recall him because of the
great influence which he enjoyed at court and the confidence which the
emperor placed in him. He was looked upon by the Conservative party, who
were trying to overthrow Bismarck, as his successor, and it is said that
he was closely connected with the court intrigues against the
chancellor. In the beginning of 1874 he was recalled and appointed to
the embassy at Constantinople, but this appointment was immediately
revoked. A Vienna newspaper published some correspondence on the Vatican
council, including confidential despatches of Arnim's, with the object
of showing that he had shown greater foresight than Bismarck. It was
then found that a considerable number of papers were missing from the
Paris embassy, and on the 4th of October Arnim was arrested on the
charge of embezzling state papers. This recourse to the criminal law
against a man of his rank, who had held one of the most important
diplomatic posts, caused great astonishment. His defence was that the
papers were not official, and he was acquitted on the charge of
embezzlement, but convicted of undue delay in restoring official papers
and condemned to three months' imprisonment. On appeal the sentence was
increased to nine months. Arnim avoided imprisonment by leaving the
country, and in 1875 published anonymously at Zurich a pamphlet entitled
"Pro nihilo," in which he attempted to show that the attack on him was
caused by Bismarck's personal jealousy. For this he was accused of
treason, insult to the emperor, and libelling Bismarck, and in his
absence condemned to five years' penal servitude. From his exile in
Austria he published two more pamphlets on the ecclesiastical policy of
Prussia, "Der Nunzius kommt!" (Vienna, 1878), and "Quid faciamus nos?"
(_ib._ 1879). He made repeated attempts, which were supported by his
family, to be allowed to return to Germany in order to take his trial
afresh on the charge of treason; his request had just been granted when
he died on the 19th of May 1881.
In 1876 Bismarck carried an amendment to the criminal code making it an
offence punishable with imprisonment or a fine up to L250 for an
official of the foreign office to communicate to others official
documents, or for an envoy to act contrary to his instructions. These
clauses are commonly spoken of in Germany as the "Arnim paragraphs."
(J. W. He.)
ARNIM, LUDWIG ACHIM (JOACHIM) VON (1781-1831), German poet and novelist,
was born at Berlin on the 26th of January 1781. He studied natural
science at Halle and Gottingen, and published one or two essays on
scientific subjects; but his bent was from the first towards literature.
From the earlier writings of Goethe and Herder he learned to appreciate
the beauties of German traditional legends and folk-songs; and, forming
a collection of these, published the result (1806-1808), in
collaboration with Klemens Brentano (q.v.) under the title _Des Knaben
Wunderhorn._ From 1810 onward he lived with his wife Bettina, Brentano's
sister, alternately at Berlin and on his estate at Wiepersdorf, near
Dahme in Brandenburg, where he died on the 21st of January 1831. Arnim
was a prolific and versatile writer, gifted with a sense of humour and a
refined imagination--qualities shown in the best-known of his works,
_Des Knaben Wunderhorn_, deficient as this is in the philological
accuracy and faithfulness to original sources which would now be
expected of such a compilation. In general, however, his writings, full
as they are of the exaggerated sentiment and affectations of the
romantic school, make but little appeal to modern taste. There are
possible exceptions, such as the short stories _Furst Ganzgott und
Sanger Halbgott_ and _Der tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau_ and the
unfinished romance _Die Kronenwachter_ (1817), which promised to develop
into one of the finest historical romances of the 19th century. Among
Arnim's other works may be mentioned _Hollins Liebesleben_ (1802), _Der
Wintergarten_ (1809), a collection of tales; _Armut, Reichtum Schuld,
und Busse der Grafin Dolores_ (1810), a novel; _Halle und Jerusalem_
(1811), a dramatic romance; and one or two smaller novels, such as
_Isabella von Agypten_ (1812).
Arnim's _Samtliche Werke_ were edited by his widow and published in
Berlin in 1839-1840; second edition in 22 vols., 1853-1856. Selections
have been edited by J. Dohmke (1892); M. Koch, _Arnim, Klemens und
Bettina Brentano, Gorres_ (1893). _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_ has been
frequently republished, the best edition being that of A. Birlinger
and W. Crecelius (2 vols., 1872-1876). See R. Steig, _Achim von Arnim
und Klemens Brentano_ (1894).
ARNIM-BOYTZENBURG, HANS GEORG VON (1581-1641), German general and
diplomatist, was born in 1581 at Boytzenburg in Brandenburg. From 1613
to 1617 he served in the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus, took part
in the Russian War, and afterwards fought against the Turks in the
service of the king of Poland. In 1626, though a Protestant, he was
induced by Wallenstein to join the new imperial army, in which he
quickly rose to the rank of field marshal, and won the esteem of his
soldiers as well as that of his commander, whose close friend and
faithful ally he became. This attachment to Wallenstein, and a spirit of
religious toleration, were the leading motives of a strange career of
military and political inconstancy. Thus the dismissal of Wallenstein
and the perilous condition of German Protestantism after the edict of
Restitution combined to induce Arnim to quit the imperial service for
that of the elector of Saxony. He had served under Gustavus many years
before, and later he had defeated him in the field, when in command of a
Polish army; the fortune of war now placed Arnim at the head of the
Saxon army which fought by the side of the Swedes at Breitenfeld (1631),
and indeed the alliance of these two Protestant powers in the cause of
their common religion was largely his work. The reappearances of
Wallenstein, however, caused him to hesitate and open negotiations,
though he did not attempt to conceal his proceedings from the elector
and Gustavus. During the Lutzen campaign, Arnim was operating with
success at the head of an allied army in Silesia. In the following year
he was under the hard necessity of opposing his old friend in the field,
but little was done by either; the complicated political situation which
followed the death of Gustavus at Lutzen led him into a renewal of the
private negotiations of the previous year, though he did nothing
actually treasonable in his relations with Wallenstein. In 1634
Wallenstein was assassinated, and Arnim began at once more active
operations. He won an important victory at Liegnitz in May 1634, but
from this time he became more and more estranged from the Swedes. The
peace of Prague followed, in which Arnim's part, though considerable,
was not all-important (1635). Soon after this event he refused an offer
of high command in the French army and retired from active life. From
1637 to 1638 he was imprisoned in Stockholm, having been seized at
Boytzenburg by the Swedes on suspicion of being concerned in various
intrigues. He made his escape ultimately, and returned to Saxony. Arnim
died suddenly at Dresden in 1641, whilst engaged in raising an army to
free German soil from foreign armies of all kinds. (See THIRTY YEARS'
WAR.)
See K.G. Helbig, "Wallenstein und Arnim" (1850) and "Der Prager
Friede," in Raumer's _Historisches Taschenbuch_ (1858); also E.D.M.
Kirchner, _Das Schloss Boytzenburg, &c._ (1860) and _Archiv fur die
sachsische Geschichte_, vol. viii. (1870).
ARNO, ARN or AQUILA (c. 750-821), bishop and afterwards archbishop of
Salzburg, entered the church at an early age, and after passing some
time at Freising became abbot of Elnon, or St Amand as it was afterwards
called, where he made the acquaintance of Alcuin. In 785 he was made
bishop of Salzburg and in 787 was employed by Tassilo III., duke of the
Bavarians, as an envoy to Charlemagne at Rome. He appears to have
attracted the notice of the Frankish king, through whose influence in
798 Salzburg was made the seat of an archbishopric; and Arno, as the
first holder of this office, became metropolitan of Bavaria and received
the pallium from Pope Leo III. The area of his authority was extended to
the east by the conquests of Charlemagne over the Avars, and he began to
take a prominent part in the government of Bavaria. He acted as one of
the _missi dominici_, and spent some time at the court of Charlemagne,
where he was known by the assembled scholars as Aquila, and his name
appears as one of the signatories to the emperor's will. He established
a library at Salzburg, furthered in other ways the interests of
learning, and presided over several synods called to improve the
condition of the church in Bavaria. Soon after the death of Charlemagne
in 814, Arno appears to have withdrawn from active life, although he
retained his archbishopric until his death on the 24th of January 821.
Aided by a deacon named Benedict, Arno drew up about 788 a catalogue of
lands and proprietary rights belonging to the church in Bavaria, under
the title of _Indiculus_ or _Congestum Arnonis_. An edition of this
work, which is of considerable value to historical students, was
published at Munich in 1869 with notes by F. Keinz. Many other works
were produced under the protection of Arno, among them a Salzburg
consuetudinary, an edition of which appears in _Quellen und Erorterungen
zur bayrischen und deutschen Geschichte_, Band vii., edited by L.
Rockinger (Munich, 1856). It has been suggested by W. von Giesebrecht
that Arno was the author of an early section of _Annales Laurissenses
majores_, which deals with the history of the Frankish kings from 741 to
829, and of which an edition appears in _Monumenta Germaniae historica.
Scriptores_, Band i. pp. 128-131, edited by G.H. Pertz (Hanover, 1826).
If this supposition be correct, Arno was the first extant writer to
apply the name _Deutsch_ (_theodisca_) to the German language.
ARNO (anc. _Arnus_), a river of Italy which rises from the Monte
Falterona, about 25 m. E.N.E. of Florence, 4265 ft. above the sea. It
first runs S.S.E. through a beautiful valley, the Casentino; near Arezzo
it turns W., and at Montevarchi N.N.W.; 10 m. below it forces its way
through the limestone rock at Incisa and 10 m. farther on, at
Pontassieve, it is joined by the Sieve. Thence it runs westward to
Florence and through the gorge of Golfolina onwards to Empoli and Pisa,
receiving various tributaries in its course, and falls into the sea
7-1/2 m. west of Pisa, after a total course of 155 m. In prehistoric
times the river ran straight on along the valley of the Chiana and
joined the Tiber near Orvieto; and there was a great lake, the north end
of which was at Incisa and the south at the lake of Chiusi. The distance
from Pisa to the mouth in the time of Strabo was only 2-1/2 m. The
Serchio (anc. _Auser_), which joined the Arno at Pisa in ancient times,
now flows into the sea independently. The Arno is navigable for barges
as far as Florence; but it is liable to sudden floods, and brings down
with it large quantities of earth and stones, so that it requires
careful regulation. The most remarkable inundations were those of 1537
and 1740; in the former year the water rose to 8 ft. in the streets of
Florence. The valley between Incisa and Arezzo contains accumulations of
fossil bones of the deer, elephant, rhinoceros, mastodon, hippopotamus,
bear, tiger, &c.
ARNOBIUS (called _Afer_, and sometimes "the Elder"), early Christian
writer, was a teacher of rhetoric at Sicca Venerea in proconsular Africa
during the reign of Diocletian. His conversion to Christianity is said
by Jerome to have been occasioned by a dream; and the same writer adds
that the bishop to whom Arnobius applied distrusted his professions, and
asked some proof of them, and that the treatise _Adversus Gentes_ was
composed for this purpose. But this story seems rather improbable; for
Arnobius speaks contemptuously of dreams, and besides, his work bears no
traces of having been written in a short time, or of having been revised
by a Christian bishop. From internal evidence (bk. iv. 36) the time of
composition may be fixed at about A.D. 303. Nothing further is known of
the life of Arnobius. He is said to have been the author of a work on
rhetoric, which, however, has not been preserved. His great treatise, in
seven books, _Adversus Gentes_ (or _Nationes_), on account of which he
takes rank as a Christian apologist, appears to have been occasioned by
a desire to answer the complaint then brought against the Christians,
that the prevalent calamities and disasters were due to their impiety
and had come upon men since the establishment of their religion. In the
first book Arnobius carefully discusses this complaint; he shows that
the allegation of greater calamities having come upon men since the
Christian era is false; and that, even if it were true, it could by no
means be attributed to the Christians. He skilfully contends that
Christians who worship the self-existent God cannot justly be called
less religious than those who worship subordinate deities, and concludes
by vindicating the Godhead of Christ. In the second book Arnobius
digresses into a long discussion on the soul, which he does not think is
of divine origin, and which he scarcely believes to be immortal. He even
says that a belief in the soul's immortality would tend to remove moral
restraint, and have a prejudicial effect on human life. In the
concluding chapters he answers the objections drawn from the recent
origin of Christianity. Books iii., iv. and v. contain a violent attack
on the heathen mythology, in which he narrates with powerful sarcasm the
scandalous chronicles of the gods, and contrasts with their grossness
and immorality the pure and holy worship of the Christian. These books
are valuable as a repertory of mythological stories. Books vi. and vii.
ably handle the questions of sacrifices and worship of images. The
confusion of the final chapter points to some interruption. The work of
Arnobius appears to have been written when he was a recent convert, for
he does not possess a very extensive knowledge of Scripture. He knows
nothing of the Old Testament, and only the life of Christ in the New,
while he does not quote directly from the Gospels. He is also at fault
in regard to the Jewish sects. He was much influenced by Lucretius and
had read Plato. His statements concerning Greek and Roman mythology are
based respectively on the _Protrepticus_ of Clement of Alexandria, and
on Antistius Labeo, who belonged to the preceding generation and
attempted to restore Neoplatonism. There are some pleasing passages in
Arnobius, but on the whole he is a tumid and a tedious author.
EDITIONS.--Migne, _Patr. Lat._ iv. 349; A. Reifferscheich in the
_Vienna Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat._ (1875).
TRANSLATIONS.--A.H. Bryce and H. Campbell in _Ante-Nicene Fathers_,
vi.
LITERATURE.--H.C.G. Moule in _Dict. Chr. Biog._ i.; Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopadie_; and G. Kruger, _Early Chr. Lit._ p. 304 (where
full bibliographies are given).
ARNOBIUS ("the younger"), Christian priest or bishop in Gaul, flourished
about 460. He is the author of a mystical and allegorical commentary on
the Psalms, first published by Erasmus in 1522, and by him attributed to
the elder Arnobius. It has been frequently reprinted, and in the edition
of De la Barre, 1580, is accompanied by some notes on the Gospels by the
same author. To him has sometimes been ascribed the anonymous treatise,
_Arnobii catholici et Serapionis conflictus de Deo trino et uno ... de
gratiae liberi arbitrii concordia_, which was probably written by a
follower of Augustine. The opinions of Arnobius, as appears from the
commentary, are semi-Pelagian.
ARNOLD, known as "ARNOLD OF BRESCIA" (d. 1155), one of the most ardent
adversaries of the temporal power of the popes. He belonged to a family
of importance, if not noble, and was born probably at Brescia, in Italy,
towards the end of the 11th century. He distinguished himself in his
monastic studies, and went to France about 1115. He studied theology in
Paris, but there is no proof that he was a pupil of Abelard. Returning
to Italy he became a canon regular. His life was rigidly austere, St
Bernard calling him "homo neque manducans neque bibens." He at once
directed his efforts against the corruption of the clergy, and
especially against the temporal ambitions of the high dignitaries of the
church. During the schism of Anacletus (1131-1137) the town of Brescia
was torn by the struggles between the partisans of Pope Innocent II. and
the adherents of the anti-pope, and Arnold gave effect to his abhorrence
of the political episcopate by inciting the people to rise against their
bishop, and, exiled by Innocent II., went to France. St Bernard accused
him of sharing the doctrines of Abelard (see _Ep._ 189, 195), and
procured his condemnation by the council of Sens (1140) at the same time
as that of the great scholastic. This was perhaps no more than the
outcome of the fierce polemical spirit of the abbot of Clairvaux, which
led him to include all his adversaries under a single anathema. It seems
certain that Arnold professed moral theology in Paris, and several times
reprimanded St Bernard, whom he accused of pride and jealousy. St
Bernard, as a last resort, begged King Louis VII. to take severe
measures against Arnold, who had to leave France and take refuge at
Zurich. There he soon became popular, especially with the lay nobility;
but, denounced anew by St Bernard to the ecclesiastical authorities, he
returned to Italy, and turned his steps towards Rome (1145). It was two
years since, in 1143, the Romans had rejected the temporal power of the
pope. The urban nobles had set up a republic, which, under forms
ostensibly modelled on antiquity (e.g. patriciate, _senatus populusque
romanus_, &c.), concealed but clumsily a purely oligarchical government.
Pope Eugenius III. and his adherents had been forced after a feeble
resistance to resign themselves to exile at Viterbo. Arnold, after
returning to Rome, immediately began a campaign of virulent denunciation
against the Roman clergy, and, in particular, against the Curia, which
he stigmatized as a "house of merchandise and den of thieves." His
enemies have attributed to him certain doctrinal heresies, but their
accusations do not bear examination. According to Otto of Freising
(_Lib. de gestis Friderici_, bk. ii. chap. xx.) the whole of his
teaching, outside the preaching of penitence, was summed up in these
maxims:--"Clerks who have estates, bishops who hold fiefs, monks who
possess property, cannot be saved." His eloquence gained him a hearing
and a numerous following, including many laymen, but consisting
principally of poor ecclesiastics, who formed around him a party
characterized by a rigid morality and not unlike the Lombard Patarenes
of the 11th century. But his purely political action was very
restricted, and not to be compared with that of a Rienzi or a
Savonarola. The Roman revolution availed itself of Arnold's popularity,
and of his theories, but was carried out without his aid. His name was
associated with this political reform solely because his was the only
vigorous personality which stood out from the mass of rebels, and
because he was the principal victim of the repression that ensued. On
the 15th of July 1148 Eugenius III. anathematized Arnold and his
adherents; but when, a short time afterwards, the pope, through the
support of the king of Naples and the king of France, succeeded in
entering Rome, Arnold remained in the town unmolested, under the
protection of the senate. But in 1152 the German king Conrad III., whom
the papal party and the Roman republic had in vain begged to intervene,
was succeeded by Frederick I. Barbarossa. Frederick, whose authoritative
temper was at once offended by the independent tone of the Arnoldist
party, concluded with the pope a treaty of alliance (October 16, 1152)
of such a nature that the Arnoldists were at once put in a minority in
the Roman government; and when the second successor of Eugenius III.,
the energetic and austere Adrian IV. (the Englishman, Nicholas
Breakspear), placed Rome under an interdict, the senate, already rudely
shaken, submitted, and Arnold was forced to fly into Campania (1155). At
the request of the pope he was seized by order of the emperor Frederick,
then in Italy, and delivered to the prefect of Rome, by whom he was
condemned to death. In June 1155 Arnold was hanged, his body burnt, and
the ashes were thrown into the Tiber. His death produced but a feeble
sensation in Rome, which was already pacified, and passed almost
unnoticed in Italy. The adherents of Arnold do not appear actually to
have formed, either before or after his death, a heretical sect. It is
probable that his adherents became merged in the communities of the
Lombard Waldenses, who shared their ideas on the corruption of the
clergy. Legend, poetry, drama and politics have from time to time been
much occupied with the personality of Arnold of Brescia, and not seldom
have distorted it, through the desire to see in him a hero of Italian
independence and a modern democrat. He was before everything an ascetic,
who denied to the church the right of holding property, and who occupied
himself only as an accessory with the political and social consequences
of his religious principles.
The bibliography of Arnold of Brescia is very vast and of very unequal
value. The following works will be found useful: W. von Giesebrecht,
_Arnold van Brescia_ (Munich, 1873); G. Gaggia, _Arnaldo da Brescia_
(Brescia, 1882); and notices by Vacandard in the _Revue des questions
historiques_ (Paris, 1884), pp. 52-114, by R. Breyer in the _Histor.
Taschenbuch_ (Leipzig, 1889), vol. viii. pp. 123-178, and by A.
Hausrath in _Neue Heidelberg. Jahrb._ (1891), Band i. pp. 72-144.
(P. A.)
ARNOLD, BENEDICT (1741-1801), American soldier, born in Norwich,
Connecticut, on the 14th of January 1741. He was the great-grandson of
Benedict Arnold (1615-1678), thrice colonial governor of Rhode Island
between 1663 and 1678; and was the fourth in direct descent to bear the
name. He received a fair education but was not studious, and his youth
was marked by the same waywardness which characterized his whole career.
At fifteen he ran away from home and took part in an expedition against
the French, but, restless under restraint, he soon deserted and returned
home. In 1762 he settled in New Haven, where he became the proprietor of
a drug and book shop; and he subsequently engaged successfully in trade
with the West Indies. Immediately after the battle of Lexington Arnold
led the local militia company, of which he was captain, and additional
volunteers to Cambridge, and on the 29th of April 1775 he proposed to
the Massachusetts Committee of Safety an expedition against Crown Point
and Ticonderoga. After a delay of four days the offer was accepted, and
as a colonel of Massachusetts militia he was directed to enlist in the
west part of Massachusetts and in the neighbouring colonies the men
necessary for the undertaking. He was forestalled, however, by Ethan
Allen (q.v.), acting on behalf of some members of the Connecticut
Assembly. Under him, reluctantly waiving his own claim to command,
Arnold served as a volunteer; and soon afterwards, Massachusetts having
yielded to Connecticut, and having angered Arnold by sending a committee
to make an inquiry into his conduct, he resigned and returned to
Cambridge. He was then ordered to co-operate with General Richard
Montgomery in the invasion of Canada, which he had been one of the first
to suggest to the Continental Congress. Starting with 1100 men from
Cambridge on the 17th of September 1775, he reached Gardiner, Maine, on
the 20th, advanced through the Maine woods, and after suffering terrible
privations and hardships, his little force, depleted by death and
desertion, reached Quebec on the 13th of November. The garrison had been
forewarned, and Arnold was compelled to await the coming of Montgomery
from Montreal. The combined attack on the 31st of December 1775 failed;
Montgomery was killed, and Arnold was severely wounded. Arnold, who had
been commissioned a brigadier-general in January 1776, remained in
Canada until the following June, being after April in command at
Montreal.
Some time after the retreat from Canada, charges of misconduct and
dishonesty, growing chiefly out of his seizure from merchants in
Montreal of goods for the use of his troops, were brought against him;
these charges were tardily investigated by the Board of War, which in a
report made on the 23rd of May 1777, and confirmed by Congress, declared
that his "character and conduct" had been "cruelly and groundlessly
aspersed." Having constructed a flotilla on Lake Champlain, Arnold
engaged a greatly superior British fleet near Valcour Island (October
11, 1776), and after inflicting severe loss on the enemy, made his
escape under cover of night. Two days later he was overtaken by the
British fleet, which however he, with only one war-vessel, and that
crippled, delayed long enough to enable his other vessels to make good
their escape, fighting with desperate valour and finally running his own
ship aground and escaping to Crown Point. The engagement of the 11th was
the first between British and American fleets. Arnold's brilliant
exploits had drawn attention to him as one of the most promising of the
Continental officers, and had won for him the friendship of Washington.
Nevertheless, when in February 1777 Congress created five new
major-generals, Arnold, although the ranking brigadier, was passed over,
partly at least for sectional reasons--Connecticut had already two
major-generals--in favour of his juniors. At this time it was only
Washington's urgent persuasion that prevented Arnold from leaving the
service. Two months later while he was at New Haven, Governor Tryon's
descent on Danbury took place; and Arnold, who took command of the
militia after the death of General Wooster, attacked the British with
such vigour at Ridgefield (April 27, 1777) that they escaped to their
ships with difficulty.
In recognition of this service Arnold was now commissioned major-general
(his commission dating from 17th February) but without his former
relative rank. After serving in New Jersey with Washington, he joined
General Philip Schuyler in the Northern Department, and in August 1777
proceeded up the Mohawk Valley against Colonel St Leger, and raised the
siege of Fort Stanwix (or Schuyler). Subsequently, after Gates had
superseded Schuyler (August 19), Arnold commanded the American left wing
in the first battle of Saratoga (September 19, 1777). His ill-treatment
at the hands of General Gates, whose jealousy had been aroused, led to a
quarrel which terminated in Arnold being relieved of command. He
remained with the army, however, at the urgent request of his brother
officers, and although nominally without command served brilliantly in
the second battle of Saratoga (October 7, 1777), during which he was
seriously wounded. For his services he was thanked by Congress, and
received a new commission giving him at last his proper relative rank.
In June 1778 Washington placed him in command of Philadelphia. Here he
soon came into conflict with the state authorities, jealous of any
outside control. In the social life of Philadelphia, largely dominated
by families of Loyalist sympathies, Arnold was the most conspicuous
figure; he lived extravagantly, entertained lavishly, and in April 1779
took for his second wife, Margaret Shippen (1760-1804), the daughter of
Edward Shippen (1729-1806), a moderate Loyalist, who eventually became
reconciled to the new order and was in 1799-1805 chief-justice of the
state. Early in February 1779 the executive council of Pennsylvania,
presided over by Joseph Reed, one of his most persistent enemies,
presented to Congress eight charges of misconduct against Arnold, none
of which was of any great importance. Arnold at once demanded an
investigation, and in March a committee of Congress made a report
exonerating him; but Reed obtained a reconsideration, and in April 1779
Congress, though throwing out four charges, referred the other four to a
court-martial. Despite Arnold's demand for a speedy trial, it was
December before the court was convened. It was probably during this
period of vexatious delay that Arnold, always sensitive and now incited
by a keen sense of injustice, entered into a secret correspondence with
Sir Henry Clinton with a view to joining the British service. On the
26th of January 1780 the court, before which Arnold had ably argued his
own case, rendered its verdict, practically acquitting him of all
intentional wrong, but, apparently in deference to the Pennsylvania
authorities, directing Washington to reprimand him for two trivial and
very venial offences. Arnold, who had confidently expected absolute
acquittal, was inflamed with a burning anger that even Washington's
kindly reprimand, couched almost in words of praise, could not subdue.
It was now apparently that he first conceived the plan of betraying some
important post to the British. With this in view he sought and obtained
from Washington (August 1780) command of West Point, the key to the
Hudson River Valley. Arnold's offers now became more explicit, and, in
order to perfect the details of the plot, Clinton's adjutant-general,
Major John Andre, met him near Stony Point on the night of the 21st of
September. On the 23rd, while returning by land, Andre with
incriminating papers was captured, and the officer to whom he was
entrusted unsuspectingly sent information of his capture to Arnold, who
was thus enabled to escape to the British lines. Arnold, commissioned a
brigadier-general in the British army, received L6315 in compensation
for his property losses, and was employed in leading an expedition into
Virginia which burned Richmond, and in an attack upon New London (q.v.)
in September 1781. In December 1781 he removed to London and was
consulted on American affairs by the king and ministry, but could obtain
no further employment in the active service. Disappointed at the failure
of his plans and embittered by the neglect and scorn which he met in
England, he spent the years 1787-1791 at St John, New Brunswick, once
more engaging in the West India trade, but in 1791 he returned to
London, and after war had broken out between Great Britain and France,
was active in fitting out privateers. Gradually sinking into
melancholia, worn down by depression, and suffering from a nervous
disease, he died at London on the 14th of June 1801.
Arnold had three sons--Benedict, Richard and Henry--by his first wife,
and four sons--Edward Shippen, James Robertson, George and William
Fitch--by his second wife; five of them, and one grandson, served in the
British army. Benedict (1768-1795) was an officer of the artillery and
was mortally wounded in the West Indies. Edward Shippen (1780-1813)
became lieutenant of the Sixth Bengal Cavalry and later paymaster at
Muttra, India. James Robertson (1781-1854) entered the corps of Royal
Engineers in 1798, served in the Napoleonic wars, in Egypt and in the
West Indies, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, was an
aide-de-camp to William IV., and was created a knight of the Hanoverian
Guelphic order and a knight of the Crescent. George (1787-1828) was a
lieutenant-colonel in the Second Bengal Cavalry at the time of his
death. William Fitch (1794-1828) became a captain in the Nineteenth
Royal Lancers; his son, William Trail (1826-1855) served in the Crimean
War as captain of the Fourth Regiment of Foot and was killed during the
siege of Sevastopol.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Jared Sparks' _Life and Treason of Benedict Arnold_
(Boston, 1835), in his "Library of American Biography," is biassed and
unfair. The best general account is Isaac Newton Arnold's _Life of
Benedict Arnold_ (Chicago, 1880), which, while offering no apologies
or defence of his treason, lays perhaps too great emphasis on his
provocations. Charles Burr Todd's _The Real Benedict Arnold_ (New
York, 1903) is a curious attempt to make Arnold's wife wholly
responsible for his defection. Francois de Barbe-Marbois's _Complot
d'Arnold et de Sir H. Clinton contre les Etats-Unis_ (Paris, 1816)
contains much interesting material, but is inaccurate. Two good
accounts of the Canadian Expedition are Justin H. Smith's _Arnold's
March from Cambridge to Quebec_ (New York, 1903), which contains a
reprint of Arnold's journal of the expedition; and John Codman's
_Arnold's Expedition to Quebec_ (New York, 1901). Arnold's _Letters on
the Expedition to Canada_ were printed in the Maine Historical
Society's _Collections_ for 1831 (repr. 1865). See also William
Abbatt, _The Crisis of the Revolution_ (New York, 1899); _The Northern
Invasion of 1780_ (Bradford Club Series, No. 6, New York, 1866); "The
Treason of Benedict Arnold" (letters of Sir Henry Clinton to Lord
George Germaine) in _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_,
vol. xxii. (Philadelphia, 1898); and _Proceedings of a General Court
Martial for the Trial of Major-General Arnold_ (Philadelphia, 1780;
reprinted with introduction and notes, New York, 1865).
ARNOLD, SIR EDWIN (1832-1904), British poet and journalist, was born on
the 10th of June 1832, and was educated at the King's school, Rochester;
King's College, London; and University College, Oxford, where in 1852 he
gained the Newdigate prize for a poem on Belshazzar's feast. On leaving
Oxford he became a schoolmaster, and went to India as principal of the
government Sanskrit College at Poona, a post which he held during the
mutiny of 1857, when he was able to render services for which he was
publicly thanked by Lord Elphinstone in the Bombay council. Returning to
England in 1861 he worked as a journalist on the staff of the _Daily
Telegraph_, a newspaper with which he continued to be associated for
more than forty years. It was he who, on behalf of the proprietors of
the _Daily Telegraph_ in conjunction with the _New York Herald_,
arranged for the journey of H.M. Stanley to Africa to discover the
course of the Congo, and Stanley named after him a mountain to the
north-east of Albert Edward Nyanza. Arnold must also be credited with
the first idea of a great trunk line traversing the entire African
continent, for in 1874 he first employed the phrase "a Cape to Cairo
railway" subsequently popularized by Cecil Rhodes. It was, however, as a
poet that he was best known to his contemporaries. _The Light of Asia_
appeared in 1879 and won an immediate success, going through numerous
editions both in England and America. It is an Indian epic, dealing with
the life and teaching of Buddha, which are expounded with much wealth of
local colour and not a little felicity of versification. The poem
contains many lines of unquestionable beauty; and its immediate
popularity was rather increased than diminished by the twofold criticism
to which it was subjected. On the one hand it was held by Oriental
scholars to give a false impression of Buddhist doctrine; while, on the
other, the suggested analogy between Sakyamuni and Christ offended the
taste of some devout Christians. The latter criticism probably suggested
to Arnold the idea of attempting a second narrative poem of which the
central figure should be the founder of Christianity, as the founder of
Buddhism had been that of the first. But though _The Light of the World_
(1891), in which this idea took shape, had considerable poetic merit, it
lacked the novelty of theme and setting which had given the earlier poem
much of its attractiveness; and it failed to repeat the success attained
by _The Light of Asia_. Arnold's other principal volumes of poetry were
_Indian Song of Songs_ (1875), _Pearls of the Faith_ (1883), _The Song
Celestial_ (1885), _With Sadi in the Garden_ (1888), _Potiphar's Wife_
(1892) and _Adzuma_ (1893). In his later years Arnold resided for some
time in Japan, and his third wife was a Japanese lady. In _Seas and
Lands_ (1891) and _Japonica_ (1892) he gives an interesting study of
Japanese life. He received the order of C.S.I. on the occasion of the
proclamation of Queen Victoria as empress of India in 1877, and in 1888
was created K.C.I.E. He also possessed decorations conferred by the
rulers of Japan, Persia, Turkey and Siam. Sir Edwin Arnold died on the
24th of March 1904.
ARNOLD, GOTTFRIED (1666-1714), German Protestant divine, was born at
Annaberg, in Saxony, where his father was a schoolmaster. In 1682 he
went to the Gymnasium at Gera, and three years later to the university
of Wittenberg. Here he made a special study of theology and history, and
afterwards, through the influence of P.J. Spener, "the father of
pietism," he became tutor in Quedlinburg. His first work, _Die Erste
Liebe zu Christo_, to which in modern times attention was again directed
by Leo Tolstoy, appeared in 1696. It went through five editions before
1728, and gained the author much reputation. In the year after its
publication he was invited to Giessen as professor of church history.
The life and work here, however, proved so distasteful to him that he
resigned in 1698, and returned to Quedlinburg. In 1699 he began to
publish his largest work, described by Tolstoy (_The Kingdom of God is
within You_, chap, iii.) as "remarkable, although little known,"
_Unparteiische Kirchen- und Ketzerhistorie_, in which he has been
thought by some to show more impartiality towards heresy than towards
the Church (cp. Otto Pfleiderer, _Development of Theology_, p. 277). His
next work, _Geheimniss der gottlichen Sophia_, published in 1700, seemed
to indicate that he had developed a form of mysticism. Soon afterwards,
however, his acceptance of a pastorate marked a change, and he produced
a number of noteworthy works on practical theology. He was also known as
the author of sacred poems. Gottfried Arnold has rightly been classed
with the pietistic section of Protestant historians (_Bibliotheca
Sacra_, 1850).
See Calwer-Zeller, _Theologisches Handworterbuch_, and the account of
him in Albert Knapp's new edition of _Die erste Liebe zu Christo_
(1845).
ARNOLD, MATTHEW (1822-1888), English poet, literary critic and inspector
of schools, was born at Laleham, near Staines, on the 24th of December
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