THE SEEVICES OF LIEUT.-COLONEL FEANCIS DOWN MAN, E.A. 171 
of Minden renown. The guns, it is true, were used with signal suc¬ 
cess and admirably and gallantly served on various occasions, yet in 
the end the train was an encumbrance, hampered the movements of 
the army at the most critical moment of its career, and was one of the 
causes which prevented its making good the retreat to Fort Edward. 
General Burgoyne has been too severely condemned for this misfor¬ 
tune, and the view held by his adversaries is no doubt a more just 
one than that of his own countrymen. The American historian Lee, 
one of the best and most impartial, and who commanded a partizan 
corps during the war, thus writes of Burgoyne :—“ Where is the 
General who ever more prodigally risked his life in his country’s 
cause than the unfortunate Burgoyne ? Where the army which more 
bravely executed its leader’s will, than did that which he conducted ? 
What danger was avoided ? What efforts unessayed ? What priva¬ 
tions not submitted to ? What difficulties not encountered ? But all 
terminated in disaster; and the army from whose prowess so much 
was expected, yielded to its equal in courage, to its superior in num¬ 
bers.” . . . General Burgoyne’s force which had left St.Johns on 
the river Sorel numbering 7,200 men exclusive of artillery, amounted 
to about 5,700 men when it surrendered on October 17th, 1777, to 
the 13,000 under the command of General Gates. 
Sir William Howe cannot be held clear of all responsibility for this 
misfortune. After his failure to draw Washington to a general action 
from his position at Morris Hill and his return to New York in June, 
he embarked a great part of his army during the hottest part of the 
year, kept it in idleness for three weeks on board the transports, and 
then sailed, when he was sure to meet contrary winds, around the 
Capes of Virginia for Chesapeake Bay. If instead of making this ex¬ 
pedition against Philadelphia, he had operated up the Hudson River 
towards Albany and stretched out a hand towards General Burgoyne, 
it is unlikely the Americans could have collected sufficient force to 
have overpowered his army. 
Some reference to the important results which the surrender at 
Saratoga produced on the history of the American War will render 
more intelligible the subsequent narrative. 
The early and rapid successes of the Canadian expedition under 
General Burgoyne at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, with the destruc¬ 
tion of the American flotilla on the lakes, had raised most sanguine 
expectations in England respecting the results to be attained from its 
favourable issue; it was therefore with proportionate disappointment 
and despondency that intelligence of the total loss of this army was 
received. In this state of popular feeling the ministry decided 
to adopt every possible means to put an end to the war, by re¬ 
pealing the tax on tea, and appointing Commissioners with the fullest 
powers to treat with the Colonists for the removal of all grounds of 
complaint, and for opening intercourse with the mother country. To 
frustrate these overtures, the court of France, which from the begin¬ 
ning of the rebellion had secretly encouraged the rebels, and clandes¬ 
tinely supplied them with money, arms, and ammunition, now threw 
