Post by Nalkarj on Oct 22, 2017 15:01:48 GMT
LOL! You don't know history. During the American Revolution, the British considered Benedict Arnold a hero...
I certainly don't know anything about "Black Panther" (didn't even know a superhero of that name even existed), but I think the historical record needs to be set straight here. Arnold was not hailed as a hero by the British after his defection.
"He remained a general, which is to say he was so addressed; but England gave him no military post and his anxious and frequently repeated efforts to obtain one were fruitless. In 1784, restless and without occupation, he applied for a position with the East India Company. The answer to his application, written by George Johnstone, a director of the company, was a masterpiece of icy English honesty. The gist of it was that even successful traitors are 'seldom greatly loved' by their beneficiaries."1
And Arnold, let us not forget, was not even a successful traitor.
The British public at the time hated the idea of continuing the war, which led to the Whigs' sweeping into power in 1782 (Lord Rockingham quickly replacing Lord North as prime minister). Prominent Whig (and my political hero) Edmund Burke had previously "...expressed the hope that the government would not put the traitor 'at the head of a part of a British army' lest 'the sentiments of true honour, which every British officer [holds] dearer than life, should be afflicted'"--to wit, it breaks traditional bonds of honor and decency if a traitor, even one who benefitted the king, were lionized.1
In fact, a series of letters to the editor were written to the London General Advertiser and Morning Intelligencer, decrying Arnold as a "mean mercenary," a drunk, and a "common criminal."2 In Johnstone's letter (mentioned above), he wrote that "the generality" are not "...satisfied with the purity of your conduct..."3
All that is to say, simply, that, no, the British did not think Arnold a hero after the war; they thought him a base, unethical traitor. Indeed, it seemed that no one liked the man.
Sources:
1Lomask, Milton. "Benedict Arnold: The Aftermath of Treason." American Heritage Magazine, Oct. 1967. Available via Internet Archive.
2Murphy, Jim. The Real Benedict Arnold. p. 228. 2007. Available on Google Books.
3Brandt, Clare. The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold. 1994. p. 257. Available on Google Books.