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of military fkill, the cafe was altered. Ge- 

 neral Howe, finding himfelf unable to accom- 

 plifli the conqueft of America with the force 

 originally fent, wrote to due miniftry for g. 

 reinforcement, fir ft of 20,000, and then of 

 15,000 men. They were not fent; and why? 

 becaufe the population of the country was 

 not fufficient to fpare fuch a number. This 

 had, indeed, been originally put to the trial, 

 when the firft army was fent to America, and 

 where, in order to complete a force of 56,000 

 men, we were obliged to hire 1 7,000 merce- 

 naries from the fmall ftates of HefTe and 

 Brunfwick. But, how came thefe pitiful ftates 

 to be able to fpare fo many men ? The anfwer 

 is plain, they are not commercial countries, 

 and, therefore, they are ftrong and full of 

 people ; while Great Britain, notwithftanding 

 her fplendidlhew of power and riches, is, in 

 reality, weak, and unable to ftand any conteft 

 which requires a confiderable number of 

 men to fupport it. 



This was further manifeft throughout the 

 whole conteft with the Americans. The ar- 

 my under General Burgoyne did not amount 

 to 1 0,000 men; neverthelefs, the lofs of it 

 threw us into the utmpft defpondency, while 



the 



