Though the outlook for Washington was brightened by his success in New Jersey, it was still depressing enough.The British had taken New York, they could probably take Philadelphia when they liked, and no place near the seacoast was safe.According to the votes in Parliament, by the spring of 1777 Britain was to have an army of eighty-nine thousand men, of whom fifty-seven thousand were intended for colonial garrisons and for the prosecution of the war in America.These numbers were in fact never reached, but the army of forty thousand in America was formidable compared 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 1777might 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 in supreme command, he had not authority to appoint even a corporal.Washington was hampered both by Congress and by the State Governments in choosing leaders.He had some officers, such as Greene, Knox, and Benedict Arnold, whom he trusted.Others, like Gates and Conway, were ceaseless intriguers.To General Sullivan, who fancied himself constantly slighted and ill-treated, Washington wrote sharply to abolish his poisonous suspicions.
Howe had offered easy terms to those in New Jersey who should declare their loyalty and to meet this Washington advised the stern policy of outlawing every one who would not take the oath of allegiance to the United States.There was much fluttering of heart on the New Jersey farms, much anxious trimming in order, in any event, to be safe.Howe's Hessians had plundered ruthlessly causing deep resentment against the British.Now Washington found his own people doing the same thing.Militia officers, themselves, "generally" as he said, "of the lowest class of the people," not only stole but incited their men to steal.It was easy to plunder under the plea that the owner of the property was a Tory, whether open or concealed, and Washington wrote that the waste and theft were "beyond all conception." There were shirkers claiming exemption from military service on the ground that they were doing necessary service as civilians.Washington needed maps to plan his intricate movements and could not get them.Smallpox was devastating his army and causing losses heavier than those from the enemy.When pay day came there was usually no money.It is little wonder that in this spring of 1777 he feared that his army might suddenly dissolve and leave him without a command.In that case he would not have yielded.Rather, so stern and bitter was he against England, would he have plunged into the western wilderness to be lost in its vast spaces.
Howe had his own perplexities.He knew that a great expedition under Burgoyne was to advance from Canada southward to the Hudson.Was he to remain with his whole force at New York until the time should come to push up the river to meet Burgoyne? He had a copy of the instructions given in England to Burgoyne by Lord George Germain, but he was himself without orders.
