army, that he signed the celebrated convention. A brilliant troop,
covered with gold, filed out with Burgoyne: they encountered Gates and
his officers, all clothed in plain grey cloth. After a frugal repast,
the two generals beheld the conquered army filing out; and, as a
member of parliament said, "_five thousand men crossed the rebel
country to take up their winter quarters near Boston_." Clinton then
redescended to New York, and the militia returned to their domestic
hearths. Gates' chief merit consisted in his skilful choice of a
position; Burgoyne's misfortune was owing to the nature of the
country, which was impracticable and almost a desert. If the enemies
of the former criticised the terms of the convention, M. de Lafayette
loudly proclaimed how glorious he thought it; but he blamed Gates
afterwards for rendering himself independent of his general, and for
retaining the troops which he ought to have sent him. To obtain them,
it was necessary to despatch Hamilton, a young man of great talents,
whose counsels had justly acquired much credit.~[23]

The forts of the Delaware had not yet yielded: that of Red-Bank,
defended by four hundred men, was attacked, sword in hand, by sixteen
hundred Hessians. The work having been reduced by Mauduit, a young
Frenchman, the enemy engaged betwixt the old and new entrenchments.
They were driven back with the loss of seven hundred men and Count
Donop, their chief, whose last words were--"_I die the victim of my
own ambition, and the avarice of my sovereign_." That fort was
commanded by an old and respected colonel, Greene, who, three years
after, was massacred by the English to whom he had surrendered,
whilst, covering him with his own body, an old negro perished
heroically by his side. Fort Mifflin, although attacked by land and
water, did not defend itself less valiantly; the _Augusta_, an English
ship of the line, had been already blown up; a frigate also perished;