o
be practically over. Unless all signs failed one short campaign would,
beyond all question, end it; for at no point were the Americans able to
show a respectable force. In the North a fresh army, under General
Burgoyne, was getting ready to break through Ticonderoga and come down
the Hudson with a rush, carrying all before them, as Cornwallis had done
in the Jerseys. This would cut the rebellion in two. On the same day
that Washington crossed the Delaware, Clinton had seized Newport,
without firing a shot. This would hold New England in check. In short,
should Howe's plans for the coming season work, as there was every
reason to expect, then there would be little enough left of the
Revolution in its cradle and stronghold, with the troops at New York,
Albany, and Newport acting in well-devised combination.

Brilliant only when roused by the presence of danger, Howe as easily
fell into his habitual indolence when the danger had passed by. In
effect, what had he to fear? Washington was beyond the Delaware, with
the debris of the army he had lately commanded, which served him rather
as an escort than a defence. If let alone, even this would shortly
disappear.

Under these circumstances Howe felt that he could well afford to give
himself and his troops a breathing-spell. This was now being put in
train. Cornwallis was about to sail for England, on leave of absence.
The garrison of New York disposed itself to pass the winter in idleness,
and even those detachments doing outpost duty in the Jerseys, after
having chased Washington until they were tired, turned their attention
exclusively to the disaffected inhabitants. The field had already been
reaped, and these troops were the gleaners.

[Sidenote: Chain of posts.]

To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across
the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Bordentown,
and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the depot, the first
being well placed either for making an advance, or for checking any
attempts by the Americans to recross the river. Washington believed that
the British would be in Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was strong
enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had
happened, no doubt the enemy's advanced troops would have taken
possession of the city at once. And it is even quite probable that this
contingency was considered a foregone conclusion, since British agents
were now a