The wheat for the bread of
the British soldier, his beef and his pork, even the oats for his
horse, came, for the most part, from England, at vast expense for
transport, which made fortunes for contractors. It is said that
the cost of a pound of salted meat delivered to Burgoyne on the
Hudson was thirty shillings. Burgoyne had been told that the
inhabitants needed only protection to make them openly loyal and
had counted on them for supplies. He found instead the great mass
of the people hostile and he doubted the sincerity even of those
who professed their loyalty.
After Burgoyne had been a month at Fort Edward he was face to
face with starvation. If he advanced he lengthened his line to
flank attack. As it was he had difficulty in holding it against
New Englanders, the most resolute of all his foes, eager to
assert by hard fighting, if need be, their right to hold the
invaded territory which was claimed also by New York. Burgoyne's
instructions forbade him to turn aside and strike them a heavy
blow. He must go on to meet Howe who was not there to be met. A
being who could see the movements of men as we watch a game of
chess, might think that madness had seized the British leaders;
Burgoyne on the upper Hudson plunging forward resolutely to meet
Howe; Howe at sea sailing away, as it might well seem, to get as
far from Burgoyne as he could; Clinton in command at New York
without instructions, puzzled what to do and not hearing from his
leader, Howe, for six weeks at a time; and across the sea a
complacent minister, Germain, who believed that he knew what to
do in a scene three thousand miles away, and had drawn up exact
instructions as to the way of doing it, and who was now eagerly
awaiting news of the final triumph.
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