dilatory commander, Sir William Howe, dragged out the winter without
doing any one thing to obtain the end for which he was commissioned.
Proclamation was issued after proclamation calling upon the people of
America to repair to the British standard, promising them remission of
their political sins and an assurance of protection in both person and
property, but these promises were confined merely to paper. The best
personal security to the inhabitants was an attack by the army, and the
best security of property was peace, and this to be purchased by
successful war. For had Sir William Howe led on his troops to action
victory was in his power and conquest in his train. During Sir William
Howe's stay at Philadelphia a number of disaffected citizens were
suffered to remain in the garrison; these people were ever upon the
watch and communicated to Washington every intelligence he could wish
for."

We have copied this passage from Stedman, with a view to show the
contrast between the situation of Washington and Howe and their
respective armies, as exhibited by an enemy to our cause. It is
literally the contrast between virtue and vice. The final result shows
that Providence in permitting the occupation of Philadelphia by the
British army was really promoting the cause of human liberty.

Stedman's statement of the numbers of Washington's army is erroneous,
even if it refers only to effective men, and his schemes for
annihilating Washington's army would probably not have been so easily
executed as he imagined. Still the army was very weak. Marshall says
that although the total of the army exceeded 17,000 men (February,
1778), the present effective rank and file amounted to only 5,012. This
statement alone suggests volumes of misery, sickness, destitution, and
suffering.