Paine was right.
The Americans were gaining more ground in Northern New York than they
had lost in Pennsylvania. Burgoyne, who,
"Unconscious of impending fates,
Could push through woods, but not through
Gates,"
had capitulated. The news reached Philadelphia on the 18th of October.
This winter ought to have closed the war. The alliance with France,
Burgoyne's capture, two campaigns without useful results, Washington's
admirable patience and management at Valley Forge, with starvation and
mutiny in the ranks and disaffection to his person in the officers of
the Gates faction, ought to have convinced every Englishman in America
that the attempt to reduce the Colonies was now hopeless. Paine was so
indignant with the reckless obstinacy of the British government, that
he conceived the idea of carrying the war into England with pen and
paper,--weapons he began to think invincible in his hands. "If I could
get over to England," he wrote to his old chief, General Greene,
"without being known, and only remain in safety until I could get out a
proclamation, I could open the eyes of the country with respect to the
madness and stupidity of its government." Greene had no confidence in
the success of this appeal to the English people, and advised Paine not
to attempt it.
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