d Southern colonies. As this was thought to be precisely the
most fatal circumstance which could come to pass, an army, far larger
than that of Washington, was gathering to check if possible the advance
of Burgoyne. But Howe neither moved north to the relief of Burgoyne, nor
sent any part of his troops until it was too late. Wasting the early
summer in fruitless maneuvers in northern Jersey, he finally carried his
army by sea to the Chesapeake Bay, where he arrived on the 21st of
August. The general had sailed three hundred miles, and had now to march
fifty miles more, in order to reach Philadelphia, which was ninety-two
miles from the point where he first embarked; and the army of
Washington, the very army which he had sailed so far and wasted so many
precious weeks to avoid, still lay across his path. At Brandywine and
Germantown he fought, and easily won, the battles which could no longer
be avoided. The way to Philadelphia was indeed open; but the fate of the
northern army was already sealed. Caught in the difficult forests of the
Hudson Valley, with supplies exhausted, unable either to retreat or to
advance, on October 17, thirteen days after Howe won the battle of
Germantown, Burgoyne lost the battle of Saratoga and surrendered his
entire army to General Gates.

The loss of Philadelphia was almost forgotten in the general rejoicing
that followed the victory of Saratoga. And the surrender of Burgoyne was
indeed a decisive event; for it inspired Americans with new resolution
and was followed by the formal alliance with France. For months Franklin
had been in France preparing the way for a treaty. The very presence of
the man on the streets of Paris was an influence in favor of the
American cause. To the Frenchmen of that day, when Voltaire and Rousseau
and Fenelon had come into their own, this sage from the primitive
forest, already famous as a scientist, this homely preacher of the
virtues of frugality, with his unconventional wisdom and his genial
tolerance, was the ideal philosopher of that state of nature which they
had in imagination set over as a shining contrast to the artificial and
corrupt society in which they lived. The enthusiasm of the nation for an
oppressed people gave support to the Government when war was once
declared, but it cannot be said that it had much influence in inducing
the king to agree to the alliance with England's rebellious colonies.
Bringing to bear all the resources which native wit