226  GEORGE  WASHINGTON.
spring  opened  Washington  began  to  see  light  once
more.  To  have  held  on  through  that  winter  was  a
great  feat,  but  to  have  built  up  and  improved  the
army  at  such  a  time  was  much  more  wonderful.
It  shows  a  greatness  of  character  and  a  force  of
will  rarer  than  military  genius,  and  enables  us  to
understand  better,  perhaps,  than  almost  any  of  his
victories,  why  it  was  that  the  success  of  the  Rev-
olution lay  in  the  hands  of  one  man.
After  Howe's  withdrawal  from  the  Jerseys  in  the
previous  year,  a  contemporary  wrote  that  Washing-
ton was  left  with  the  remnants  of  an  army  "to
scuffle  for  liberty."  The  winter  had  passed,  and  he
was  prepared  to  scuffle  again.  On  May  11th  Sir
Henry  Clinton  relieved  Sir  William  Howe  at  Phi-
ladelphia, and  the  latter  took  his  departure  in  a
blaze  of  mock  glory  and  resplendent  millinery,
known  as  the  Mischianza,  a  fit  close  to  a  career  of
failure,  which  he  was  too  dull  to  appreciate.  The
new  commander  was  more  active  than  his  predeces-
sor, but  no  cleverer,  and  no  better  fitted  to  cope
with  Washington.  It  was  another  characteristic
choice  on  the  part  of  the  British  ministry,  who
could  never  muster  enough  intellect  to  understand
that  the  Americans  would  fight,  and  that  they  were
led  by  a  really  great  soldier.  The  coming  of  Clin-
ton did  not  alter  existing  conditions.
ExjDCcting  a  movement  by  the  enemy,  Washing-
ton sent  Lafayette  forward  to  watch  Philadelphia.
