that said, he then turned his attention to getting benedict arnold. while arnold was in new york, he got his calvary officer harry lee to find an officer that could infiltrate the british, pose as a deserter and get arnold and they had to take arnold alive. they were going to see that he received justice, and so, this soldier's job in december, within months of all of this, was to ingratiate himself with arnold and he did exactly that and he had it all planned. he was going to -- he knew that arnold every night around midnight would walk around his property and go to the outhouse and come back. and so, he was waiting for him and even pushed a piece of the gate open and he was going to grab him and bodily take him to a boat waiting on the shore and row across the hudson where he would get justice. it was on that very day that henry clinton orders arnold to head south and to go to virginia and it didn't happen. i won't go into detail, but then arnold would once again fight brilliantly. he would burn richmond. jefferson would be forced to flee monticello.

i followed benedict arnold's trail into the interior of maine to quebec. up there, up north, there is still nothing up there. if there is a street name, it says arnold. he led his men up there. it is an incredible story on its own. he is there with daniel morgan. the great rifleman. aaron burr. it is an amazing cast. they make it and get to uebec. he would be known as the american hannibal. he was a hero. they finally would storm quebec at the end of the year in a snowstorm. montgomery, who had teamed up with him by that point, would be killed in the early going. benedict arnold would be badly injured when a bullet ricocheted off his left leg. it would not succeed, but it was still an amazing feat. he would be reassigned in ontreal and be a vital element in leading the retreat from canada back down lake champlain. chapter two of this book takes us 360 miles north of new york to lake champlain, right near the canadian border. it is benedict arnold with a fleet of about 15 vessels. many of them hacked from the trees surrounding the southern end of lake champl

they are not of benedict arnold. this was done by french portrait painter while he was military governor in philadelphia. and washington is with lafayette, and others at the heart for conference in downtown hartford, informing for three days with his--. the same stretch of time, the same 22nd is win alexander hamilton, benedict arnold, is meeting with john andre and they are meeting just south of west point, it's on the same day after that conference, back to west point to meet with arnold to go over there fortifications at west point. arnold is absent, gone and wondering. it's clear that he has decided he wants to escape on the vulture and hamilton decides immediately that he must prepare the army for a possible counterattack. first, he attempts to capture arnold himself. he dumps on horseback with james mchenry and gallop at top speed for 12 miles, along the river ferry. that's a helpless mission, but right after that, he writes this attempt to george washington's boss and tells them is also planning on writing to

benedict arnold cited the peace commission in a letter justifying his decision to switch sides in 1780. he wrote, the whole world saw the teams terms for ending the war exceeded our wishes and expectations and made congress, not parliament, look like the aggressors. in his writings on the loyalist behalf, galloway of pennsylvania, took a similar placing thecey -- blame on congress and the independents, who worried the overtures will be popular with americans. rather than jeopardize the power that you served from the british king, congress refused to negotiate with carlisle for a simple reason. his terms threatened to reduce their own political standing. there is a battle over ambition, over pride, arrogance. from the standpoint of these two guys, we probably take galloway seriously, britain had gone the better with this offer. during the war's final campaigns, dish officers -- british officers turned carlisle's union into at attempts at pacification. reaching out to disaffected patriots and using the promise of brand new self-government to encourage loyalists, following the capitulatio

in lieu of that, isn't it hypocritical for america to keep calling benedict arnold a traitor? >> well, i thought it was very diplomatic on that stained glass window to say that he served each country in turn. it's strange that we think of our -- the people who rebelled against britain as the patriots, but basically they were all traitors to britain. and i guess it was franklin who said if we don't hang together, we shall all be hanged separately. that was really dangerous to have taken on britain. so i -- you know, i think that, you know, he was a traitor to the side that won. if britain had won the war or if we had negotiated, which is what a lot of people had hoped, he might have been considered a hero. he chose wrong. he had spent all this time and sacrificed his fortune and his health and everything, all his property was taken. he could never go home. it was really sad. i called the book "the tragedy of benedict arnold" because it really is a tragedy. >> when he decided to go to the british, did he do so because he thought the british was going to win the war at that point

by the assad forces, they will not be viewed as thomas jefferson's but they will be viewed as benedict arnold's, and my fear is their fate will be in our hands. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator for connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i want to thank my colleague from virginia for his advocacy on this critical measure, and i support him on it, and also for his advocacy on the fire act, very similar to the measure on which i am going to ask for unanimous consent. he's done wonderful and dedicated work on both measures. i want to make the request as if in legislative session for unanimous consent that the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1247, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, and that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. i ask that that be done. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. paul: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for kentu