undeniable that it was within the spirit of the instructions
given to a later expedition, to "destroy any towns" that would not
submit.[137] The effect on the Americans, however, was very far from
teaching submission. The news of the burning of Falmouth did as much as
any other event to impress the provincials with the impossibility of an
agreement with the king.

In Gage's place now stood Howe, on whom the British hopes centred.
According to the Tory Samuel Paine, Howe united the spirit of a Wolfe
with the genius of a Marlborough. Without prizing him quite so highly,
both the army and the administration looked to Howe for action and
results. It seemed to them that now at last something must happen.

But Howe, though with a willing army at his back, disciplined and well
equipped, did nothing. He strengthened the Charlestown lines and the
fort on Bunker Hill, he improved the defences at Boston Neck, and he
began various batteries on Beacon Hill and the shores of the Common. He
demolished a number of buildings in the north end of the town, in order
to make communication between his posts more direct. But except for the
little expedition across the Back Bay to Lechmere's Point, which netted
a few cows, Howe attempted no offensive operations. As already shown,
the regulars returned from Lechmere's Point as soon as the provincials
assembled in numbers, and no attempt was made to hold the little hill.
Other skirmishes there were from time to time, but these were
insignificant, and they were all.

The fact is that Howe's opinion coincided exactly with those of Gage and
Burgoyne. The country was too strong to be forced, especially since the
Americans had spent a summer on their entrenchments. There was no
profit in taking a rebel fort if the army and its situation were to be
weakened thereby. Howe looked with longing eyes toward New York, took up
Burgoyne's idea of a post in Rhode Island, and believed that if he had
twenty thousand men holding all three positions the rebels would be
beaten. But such an army was not forthcoming, and the question arose
whether he had best stay in Boston or go to New York. In reply to
questions from the ministry, Howe pointed out that he had not a large
enough fleet to convey himself, his stores, and the Tories, from the
place. It was therefore understood that more ships and men should be
supplied him in the spring, and that meanwhile he should go into winter
quarters.

This was done. Building