News of these things came to Burgoyne just after the disaster at
Bennington. Since Fort Stanwix was in a country counted upon as
Loyalist at heart it was especially discouraging again to find
that in the main the population was against the British. During
the war almost without exception Loyalist opinion proved weak
against the fierce determination of the American side. It was
partly a matter of organization. The vigilance committees in each
State made life well-nigh intolerable to suspected Tories. Above
all, however, the British had to bear the odium which attaches
always to the invader. We do not know what an American army would
have done if, with Iroquois savages as allies, it had made war in
an English county. We know what loathing a parallel situation
aroused against the British army in America. The Indians, it
should be noted, were not soldiers under British discipline but
allies; the chiefs regarded themselves as equals who must be
consulted and not as enlisted to take orders from a British
general.
In war, as in politics, nice balancing of merit or defect in an
enemy would destroy the main purpose which is to defeat him. Each
side exaggerates any weak point in the other in order to
stimulate the fighting passions.
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