l charges brought forward by his accusers: namely, first,
of encumbering himself with a needless amount of artillery; secondly, of
taking the Fort Anne route, rather than the one by way of Lake George;
thirdly, of sending off an expedition to Bennington, under conditions
inviting defeat; and, lastly, of crossing the Hudson after the disasters
of Bennington and Fort Stanwix had taken place.

The real criticism upon Burgoyne's conduct, so far as it relates to the
movement of his forces only, seems to be that from the moment when the
march was actually to begin, he found himself in want of everything
necessary to a rapid advance. Thus, we find him scarcely arrived at
Skenesborough before he is asking Sir Guy Carleton for reenforcements to
garrison Ticonderoga and Fort George with, to the end that his own force
might not be weakened by the detachments required to hold those
fortresses against the Americans, when he should move on. It would seem
that this contingency, at least, might have been foreseen before it
forced itself upon Burgoyne's attention. Yet it was of so serious a
nature, in this general's eyes, that he expresses a doubt whether his
army would be found equal to the task before it, unless Carleton would
assume the defence of the forts referred to above.

At this time, too, the inadequacy of his transportation service became
so painfully evident, that the expedition to Bennington offered the only
practicable solution to Burgoyne's mind.

These circumstances stamp the purposed invasion with a certain haphazard
character at the outset, which boded no good to it in the future.

Carleton having declined to use his troops in the manner suggested,
Burgoyne was compelled to leave a thousand men behind him when he
marched for Albany. Carleton, the saviour of Canada, was justly
chagrined at finding himself superseded in the conduct of this campaign,
by an officer who had served under his orders in the preceding one; and,
though he seems to have acted with loyalty toward Burgoyne, this is by
no means the only instance known in which one general has refused to go
beyond the strict letter of his instructions for the purpose of rescuing
a rival from a dilemma into which he had plunged with his eyes wide
open.

The Prelude with which our narrative opens, undertakes first, to briefly
outline the history of the Northern Army, which finally brought victory
out of defeat; and next, to render familiar the names, location, and