Shelburne, as follows: "Lord George Germain, having among other
peculiarities a particular dislike to be put out of his way on
any occasion, had arranged to call at his office on his way to
the country to sign the dispatches; but as those addressed to
Howe had not been faircopied, and he was not disposed to be
balked of his projected visit to Kent, they were not signed then
and were forgotten on his return home." These were the dispatches
instructing Sir William Howe, who was in New York, to effect a
junction at Albany with Burgoyne, who had marched from Boston for
that purpose. Burgoyne got as far as Saratoga, where, failing the
expected reinforcement, he was hopelessly outnumbered, and his
officers picked off, Boer fashion, by the American
farmer-sharpshooters. His own collar was pierced by a bullet. The
publicity of his defeat, however, was more than compensated at
home by the fact that Lord George's trip to Kent had not been
interfered with, and that nobody knew about the oversight of the
dispatch. The policy of the English Government and Court for the
next two years was simply concealment of Germain's neglect.
Burgoyne's demand for an inquiry was defeated in the House of
Commons by the court party; and when he at last obtained a
committee, the king got rid of it by a prorogation. When Burgoyne
realized what had happened about the instructions to Howe (the
scene in which I have represented him as learning it before
Saratoga is not historical: the truth did not dawn on him until
many months afterwards) the king actually took advantage of his
being a prisoner of war in England on parole, and ordered him to
return to America into captivity. Burgoyne immediately resigned
all his appointments; and this practically closed his military
career, though he was afterwards made Commander of the Forces in
Ireland for the purpose of banishing him from parliament.