He was in this situation when Burgoyne capitulated, and then Gates was
enabled to detach more troops to the aid of Putnam. The English general
therefore recalled Vaughan; destroyed all the forts he had taken;
re-embarked his men, and returned to New York. The main design of his
diversion had failed, and it chiefly served to prove, that had Howe
co-operated with Burgoyne, and have sailed up the Hudson during
the summer months, the campaign in this quarter, instead of being
disastrous, would have enhanced the glory of the British arms.
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
The British parliament assembled on the 18th of November. The
all-engrossing topic of the king's speech was the war with America. In
it he declared the necessity of continuing the war; and hinted, that
there was a probability that the land-forces must not only be kept up
to their full establishment, but even augmented by new contracts. Of
the disposition of foreign powers, his majesty now spoke in a doubtful
manner. They had given friendly assurances, he said, but as the
armaments of France and Spain continued, he thought it necessary that
his own naval force should be augmented. He had neither lost any of his
firmness, nor abated any of his hope, as to the issue of this contest.
He would always guard, he said, the honour of the British crown
faithfully; and he hoped that the Americans would yet return to their
allegiance; that the remembrance of their former happiness, and the
sense of their present misery, under the tyranny of their leaders, would
rekindle their loyalty and attachment to their mother country; and that
they would enable him, with the concurrence of parliament, to accomplish
peace, order, and confidence in the colonies.
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