lties in his way.

[Sidenote: Commissioners Sent to France.]

Congress about this time sent commissioners to France to solicit money
and arms. These commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, and
Arthur Lee. They were not immediately successful; for the French king,
doubtful of the result of the struggle, did not wish to incur
prematurely the hostility of Great Britain; but they induced many to
join the American cause, and among others, the young Marquis de La
Fayette, who arrived in America in the spring of 1777, and proved a
most efficient general, and secured the confidence and love of the
nation he assisted.

[Sidenote: Capture of Burgoyne.]

The campaign of 1777 was marked by the evacuation of the Jerseys by
the English, by the battles of Bennington and Brandywine, by the
capture of Philadelphia, and the surrender of Burgoyne. Success, on
the whole, was in favor of the Americans. They suffered a check at
Brandywine, and lost the most considerable city in the Union at that
time. But these disasters were more than compensated by the victory at
Bennington and the capture of Burgoyne.

[Sidenote: Moral Effects of Burgoyne's Capture.]

This indeed was the great event of the campaign. Burgoyne was a member
of parliament, and superseded General Carleton in the command of the
northern army--an injudicious appointment, but made by the minister in
order to carry his measures more easily through the House of Commons.
The troops under his command amounted to over seven thousand veterans,
besides a corps of artillery. He set out from St. John's, the 16th of
June, and advanced to Ticonderoga, which he invested. The American
forces, under General Schuyler, destined to oppose this royal army,
and to defend Ticonderoga, were altogether insufficient, being not
over five thousand men. The fortress was therefore abandoned, and the
British general advanced to the Hudson, hoping to open a communication
between it and Lake Champlain, and thus completely surround New
England, and isolate it from the rest of the country. But the delays
attending the march of the English army through the forests enabled
the Americans to rally. The defeat of Colonel Baum at Bennington, by
Colonel Stark, added to the embarrassments of Burgoyne, who now was
straitened for provisions; nevertheless, he continued his march,
hoping to reach Albany unmolested. But the Americans, commanded by
General Gates, who had superseded Schuyler, were strongly intren