sailed for England in November, to lay before the king
a plan for subduing the colonies in a single campaign. Burgoyne was a
good soldier, popular with the army and government, brave to rashness,
but vain and headstrong. He knew the Americans were not to be despised,
for he had seen them fight at Bunker Hill, as well as in the campaign
just closed, in which he himself had taken part; yet an easy confidence
in his own abilities led Burgoyne into committing many grave errors, not
the least of which was underestimating this very enemy.[13]

[Sidenote: George III. wants the war pushed.]

Any plan that promised to put down the Americans, was sure of gaining
the king's ear. Justice was never tempered with mercy in this monarch's
treatment of his rebellious subjects. His heart was hardened, his hand
ever ready to strike them the fatal blow. Moreover, the Americans had
just now declared themselves independent of Great Britain. They had
crossed their Rubicon. To crush them with iron hand was now the king's
one thought and purpose. No half measures would do for him. He told his
ministers, in so many words, that every means of distressing the
Americans would meet with his approval. Mercenaries, savages,
refugees--all who could fire a shot, or burn a dwelling, were to be
enrolled under the proud old banner of the isles. No more effectual
means could have been devised to arouse the spirit of resistance to the
highest pitch.

Burgoyne's ambition was kindled by the hope of making himself the hero
of the war. He combined the qualities of general and statesman without
being great as either. He wrote and talked well, was eloquent and
persuasive, had friends at court, and knew how to make the most of his
opportunity. On his part, the king wanted a general badly. He had been
grievously disappointed in Sir William Howe, whose victories seemed
never bringing the war any nearer to an end. Burgoyne brought forward
his plan at the right moment, shrewdly touched the keynote of the king's
discontent by declaring for aggressive war, smoothed every obstacle away
with easy assurance, and so impressed the ministers with his capacity,
that they believed they had found the very man the king wanted for the
work in hand.

The plan proposed for making short work of the war was briefly this: The
American colonies were to be divided in two parts, by seizing the line
of the Hudson River; just as in later times, the Union armies aimed to
split the Southe