ed with Washington's forces. The British were not hampered by the
practice of enlisting men for only a few months, which marred so much of
Washington's effort. Above all they had money and adequate resources.
In a word they had the things which Washington lacked during almost the
whole of the war.

Washington called his success in the attack at Trenton a lucky stroke.
It was luck which had far-reaching consequences. Howe had the fixed idea
that to follow the capture of New York by that of Philadelphia, the most
populous city in America, and the seat of Congress, would mean great
glory for himself and a crushing blow to the American cause. If to this
could be added, as he intended, the occupation of the whole valley of
the Hudson, the year 1777 might well see the end of the war. An acute
sense of the value of time is vital in war. Promptness, the quick
surprise of the enemy, was perhaps the chief military virtue of
Washington; dilatoriness was the destructive vice of Howe. He had so
little contempt for his foe that he practised a blighting caution. On
April 12, 1777, Washington, in view of his own depleted force, in a
state of half famine, wrote: "If Howe does not take advantage of our
weak state he is very unfit for his trust." Howe remained inactive and
time, thus despised, worked its due revenge. Later Howe did move, and
with skill, but he missed the rapid combination in action which was the
first condition of final success. He could have captured Philadelphia
in May. He took the city, but not until September, when to hold it had
become a liability and not an asset. To go there at all was perhaps
unwise; to go in September was for him a tragic mistake.

From New York to Philadelphia the distance by land is about a hundred
miles. The route lay across New Jersey, that "garden of America" which
English travelers spoke of as resembling their own highly cultivated
land. Washington had his headquarters at Morristown, in northern New
Jersey. His resources were at a low ebb. He had always the faith that
a cause founded on justice could not fail; but his letters at this time
are full of depressing anxiety. Each State regarded itself as in danger
and made care of its own interests its chief concern. By this time
Congress had lost most of the able men who had given it dignity and
authority. Like Howe it had slight sense of the value of time and
imagined that tomorrow was as good as today. Wellington once complained
that, though