s no credit for the capture. Arnold
and Daniel Morgan deserve it, and deserve much; for, judged by its
results, Saratoga was one of the great battles of the world. The results
of the surrender were four fold:

1. It saved New York state.
2. It destroyed the plan for the war.
3. It induced the King to offer us peace with representation in
Parliament, or anything else we wanted except independence.
4. It secured for us the aid of France.

[Illustration: %Flag of the United States, 1777%]

%146. Valley Forge.%--The winter at Valley Forge marks the darkest
period of the war. It was a season of discouragement, when mean spirits
grew bold. Some officers of the army formed a plot, called from one of
them the "Conway cabal," to displace Washington and put Gates in
command. The country people, tempted by British gold, sent their
provisions into Philadelphia and not to Valley Forge. There the
suffering of the half-clad, half-fed, ill-housed patriots surpasses
description.

But the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Then it was that an able
Prussian soldier, Baron Steuben, joined the army, turned the camp into a
school, drilled the soldiers, and made the army better than ever. Then
it was that France acknowledged our independence, and joined us in
the war.

%147. France acknowledges our Independence.%--In October, 1776,
Congress sent Benjamin Franklin to Paris to try to persuade the French
King to help us in the war. Till Burgoyne surrendered and Great Britain
offered peace, Franklin found all his efforts vain.[1] But now, when it
seemed likely that the states might again be brought under the British
crown, the French King promptly acknowledged us to be an independent
nation, made a treaty of alliance and a treaty of commerce (February 6,
1778), and soon had a fleet on its way to help us.

[Footnote 1: For an account of Franklin in France, see McMaster's _With
the Fathers_, pp. 253-270.]

%148. The British leave Philadelphia.%--Hearing of the approach of
the French fleet, Sir Henry Clinton, who in May had succeeded Howe in
command, left Philadelphia and hurried to the defense of New York.
Washington followed, and, coming up with the rear guard of the enemy at
Monmouth in New Jersey, fought a battle (June 28, 1778), and would have
gained a great victory had not the traitor, Charles Lee, been in
command.[2] Without any reason he suddenly ordered a retreat, which was
fortunately prevented from becoming a rout by Washingt