of 1776 Germain restricted
Carleton's command to Canada and put Burgoyne, a junior
officer, in command of the army destined to make the
counterstroke. The ship bearing this malicious order had
to put back; so it was not till the middle of May 1777
that Carleton was disillusioned by its arrival as well
as by a second and still more exasperating dispatch
accusing him of neglect of duty for not having taken
Ticonderoga in November and thus prevented Washington
from capturing the Hessians at Trenton. The physical
impossibility of a winter siege, the three hundred miles
of hostile country between Trenton and Ticonderoga, and
the fact that the other leading British general, Howe,
had thirty thousand troops in the Colonies, while Carleton
had only ten thousand with which to hold Canada that year
and act as ordered next year, all went for nothing when
Germain found a chance to give a good stab in the back.

On May 20 Carleton wrote a pungent reply, pointing out
the utter impossibility of following up his victory on
Lake Champlain by carrying out Germain's arm-chair plan
of operations in the middle of winter. 'I regard it as
a particular blessing that your Lordship's dispatch did
not arrive in due time.' As for the disaster at Trenton,
he 'begs to inform his Lordship' that if Howe's thirty
thousand men had been properly used the Hessians could
never have been taken, 'though all the rebels from
Ticonderoga had reinforced Mr Washington's army.' Moreover,
'I never could imagine why, if troops so far south [as
Howe's] found it necessary to go into winter quarters,
your Lordship could possibly expect troops so far north
to continue their operations.' A week later Carleton
wrote again and sent in his resignation. 'Finding that
I can no longer be of use, under your Lordship's
administration ... I flatter myself I shall obtain the
king's permission to return home this fall. ... I shall
embark with great satisfaction, still entertaining the
ardent wish that, after my departure, the dignity of the
Crown in this unfortunate Province may not appear beneath
your Lordship's concern.'

Burgoyne had spent the winter in London and had arrived
at Quebec about the same time as Germain's dispatches.
He had loyally represented Carleton's plans at headquarters.
But he did not know America and he was not great enough
to see the weak points in the plan which Germain proposed
to carry out with wholly inadequate means.

There was nothing wrong