ished at Morristown in the Jersey hills,
the left resting upon the Hudson, thus recovering touch with the
strategic centre of interest. This menacing position of the Americans,
upon the flank of the line of communications from New York to the
Delaware, compelled Howe to contract abruptly the lines he had
extended so lightly; and the campaign he was forced thus reluctantly
to reopen closed under a gloom of retreat and disaster, which
profoundly and justly impressed not only the generality of men but
military critics as well. "Of all the great conquests which his
Majesty's troops had made in the Jersies," writes Beatson, "Brunswick
and Amboy were the only two places of any note which they retained;
and however brilliant their successes had been in the beginning of
the campaign, they reaped little advantage from them when the winter
advanced, and the contiguity of so vigilant an enemy forced them to
perform the severest duty." With deliberate or unconscious humour
he then immediately concludes the chronicle of the year with this
announcement: "His Majesty was so well pleased with the abilities and
activity which General Howe had displayed this campaign, that on the
25th of October he conferred upon him the Most Honourable Order of the
Bath."

[Footnote 15: At the present day reduced by reclaimed land.]

[Footnote 16: Beatson's "Military and Naval Memoirs," vi. 44, give
34,614 as the strength of Howe's army. Clinton's division is not
included in this. vi. 45.]

[Footnote 17: Admiral James's Journal, p. 30. (Navy Records Society.)]

CHAPTER III

THE DECISIVE PERIOD OF THE WAR. SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE AND CAPTURE OF
PHILADELPHIA BY HOWE. THE NAVAL PART IN EACH OPERATION

1777

The leading purpose of the British government in the campaign of 1777
was the same as that with which it had begun in 1776,--the control
of the line of the Hudson and Lake Champlain, to be mastered by two
expeditions, one starting from each end, and both working towards a
common centre at Albany, near the head of navigation of the River.
Preliminary difficulties had been cleared away in the previous year,
by the destruction of the American flotilla on the Lake, and by the
reduction of New York. To both these objects the Navy had contributed
conspicuously. It remained to complete the work by resuming the
advance from the two bases of operations secured. In 1777 the
fortifications on the Hudson were inadequate to stop the progress of a
com