OF THE BRITISH COMMANDERS. provision had not been made for securing such co-operation. It has been said, that jealousy prevented the commander-in-chief from sending Clinton a sufficient reinforcement to enable him to act in concert with Burgoyne; but we have seen that Howe's force was no more than sufficient for the main purpose of the campaign, the capture of Philadelphia; nor is it just to load the memory of a respectable officer with an imputation so grave as that of at once betraying a colleague and frustrating a great enterprise, which, if successful, must have been attended with the most important results. The fact, that reinforcements were sent to Clinton direct from England, is in itself sufficient to refute the suggestion that Howe was expected to supply them. The truth is, that these reinforcements, amounting to seventeen hundred men, arrived too late. They reached New York about three weeks before the capitulation of Saratoga. Had they arrived a few days sooner, the operations which Clinton by their aid was enabled to effect, by destroying some villages and forts on the North River, thus clearing the passage of Burgoyne's army to Albany, and at the same time effecting an important diversion, might have wholly changed the fortune of the northern expedition. 341 Ch. 21. 1776 Burgoyne's The effective force of Burgoyne's army at the Number of time of its surrender was about three thousand troops. four hundred English and Germans, besides Canadians. Gates had upwards of thirteen thousand 342 Ch. 21. 1776 CONVENTION OF SARATOGA men under arms; he was fully provisioned; his communications were open; and he had the command of the fortified posts in his rear. Upon such a relative state of affairs, there can be no doubt that Burgoyne was fully justified in the step which he took. It is no part of my task to criticise the military conduct of this officer; and I doubt whether materials exist for the formation of a satisfactory opinion on this point, even by competent authority. The reliance which was placed upon the Canadian and Indian auxiliaries proved delusive; the cruelties perpetrated by the savages entirely alienated the good will of the inhabitants, and stimulated a resistance to the British arms, which they might not otherwise have encountered. The harassing march from Skenesborough across a difficult country, which furnished no supplies, caused great delay and distress. Both might have been avoided, had the troops been conveyed by water. The boats, it is true, were on Lake Champlain, and not on Lake George; but they might have been conveyed across the narrow slip of land which separates these waters. They were left behind, and destroyed by the enemy. By thus abandoning the lakes, Burgoyne lost his communication with Canada, and exposed his flank and rear to those attacks which every prudent general seeks to avoid when marching through a hostile country. A diversion by Lake Ontario and the Mohawk River, by means of a detachment under General DECISIVE IN ITS RESULTS. St. Leger, entirely failed; and this force, which was to have joined Burgoyne at a point of the Hudson between Saratoga and Albany, had been dispersed in their retreat from an unsuccessful attack on Fort Stanwix. 343 Ch. 21. 1776 convention of The convention of Saratoga decided the for- Results of the tune of the American war. An army which Saratoga. had sustained a series of military reverses, and been beaten in every pitched battle they had fought, yet still maintained the conflict with unflinching firmness, could scarcely fail to be elated by an event, the importance of which it was hardly possible to exaggerate. Throughout the States, the surrender of the famous General Burgoyne was a theme of exultation; and a people never diffident of their own merits and resources, now spoke of the time as fast approaching when the British invader should be expelled for ever from the soil of free America. The news of Saratoga immediately gave a decisive tone to the councils of Versailles. Towards the close of the year 1777, the ministers of Louis not only recognized the independence of the United States, but entered into a treaty, by which they engaged to give the Americans military aid, on condition only that they should undertake never to acknowledge the supremacy of the British crown. Ch. 22. 1777 Re-appearance of Chatham. CHAPTER XXII. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT · - CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PUBLIC IN SUPPORT OF THE WAR-CONCILIATORY ACTS AND APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERS TO TREAT WITH THE AMERICANS DEATH OF CHATHAM RACTER. PARLIAMENT assembled HIS CHA for the usual autumnal session a few days before the disaster of the great northern expedition was known in London. Rumours of Burgoyne's difficulties had already been briskly circulated, and gloomy apprehensions were entertained. At this critical period, Chatham once again appeared in his place; and his appearance excited no ordinary degree of interest. The country was becoming uneasy. An insurrection, which by a prudent policy might have been prevented, or by prompt measures might have been suppressed, had already lasted two years, and was not yet put down. The. fortunes of the country were declining, as they had declined twenty years before, when they were suddenly retrieved and carried to the height of prosperity and glory by the genius and patriotism PUBLIC NEED OF LORD CHATHAM. That man was still living, his public 345 Ch. 22. 1777 called for. of one man. spirit unimpaired, his eloquence resounding as in days of yore. Why should not Chatham be once Lord Chatham more the saviour of his country? Who so fit to redeem the honor of England, and to prevent the dissolution of the empire, as the man who had chastised the insolence of our ancient foe, and added rich provinces to the dominion of Great Britain? Men of all parties cast their eyes in the same direction. Lord Bute came forth from the retirement in which he had passed his later years, to urge the paramount importance of calling back the minister whom he had supplanted at the commencement of the reign. Mansfield declared, with an emotion which he rarely exhibited, that his old rival was the only man who could save the state. Such was the prevalent feeling when Chatham went down to the House of Lords, to move an amendment to the address on opening the session. He invited the Peers to concur with him in recommending the Crown to take immediate measures for restoring peace. His speech on that occasion was, in some passages, very striking. You cannot,' said, he' conquer America. It is impossible. You may swell every expense and every effort still more extravagantly; pile and accumulate every assistance you can buy or borrow, traffic and barter with every little pitiful German prince that sells his subjects to the shambles of a foreigner; your efforts are for ever vain and impotent-doubly so from this merce |