a, and of his final attack upon Savannah and its
results; how completely disappointed were the American revolutionists
thus far in their unnatural alliance with France against England; how
little mutual respect or good-will, and what quarrels occurred, whenever
they came or attempted to act together, whether at Boston, or Long
Island, or Charleston, or Savannah; and how much feebler the army and
more gloomy the prospects of the Congress party were at the end of 1779
than they were two years before, when the alliance with France was
formed. Dr. Ramsay well sums up these events as follows:

"The campaign of 1779 is remarkable for the feeble exertions of the
Americans. Accidental causes, which had previously excited their
activity, had in a great measure ceased to have influence. An enthusiasm
for liberty made them comparatively disregard property and brave all
dangers in the first years of the war. The successes of their arms near
the beginning of 1777, and the hope of capturing Burgoyne's army in the
close of it, together with the brisk circulation of a large quantity of
paper-money, in good credit, made that year both active and decisive.
The flattering prospects inspired by the alliance with France in 1778
banished all fears of the success of the revolution, but the failure of
every scheme of co-operation produced a despondency of mind unfavourable
to great exertions. Instead of driving the British out of the country,
as the Americans vainly presumed, the campaigns of 1778 and 1779
terminated without any direct advantage from the French fleet sent to
their aid. Expecting too much from their allies, and then failing in
these expectations, they were less prepared to prosecute the war with
their own resources than they would have been if D'Estaing had not
touched on their coast. Their army was reduced in its numbers and badly
clothed.

"In the first years of the war, the mercantile character was lost in the
military spirit of the times; but in the progress of it the inhabitants,
cooling in their enthusiasm, gradually returned to their former habits
of lucrative business. This made distinctions between the army and
citizens, and was unfriendly to military exertions. While several
foreign events tended to the embarrassment of Great Britain,[28] and
indirectly to the establishment of independence, a variety of internal
causes relaxed the exertions of the Americans, and for a time made it
doubtful whether they would ultimate