So  strongly  and  clearly   did  Washington    feel


MALICE  DOMESTIC,   AND  FOREIGN  LEVY.     199

all  this  that  his  counter-plan  was  at  once  ready,
and  before  people  had  fairly  grasped  the  idea  that
there  was  to  be  a  northern  invasion,  he  was  send-
ing, early  in  March,  urgent  letters  to  New  England
to  rouse  up  the  militia  and  have  them  in  readiness
to  march  at  a  moment's  notice.  To  Schuyler,  in
command  of  the  northern  department,  he  began
now  to  write  constantly,  and  to  unfold  the  methods
which  must  be  pursued  in  order  to  compass  the  de-
feat of  the  invaders.  His  object  was  to  delay  the
army  of  Burgoyne  by  every  possible  device,  while
steadily  avoiding  a  pitched  battle.  Then  the  militia
and  hardy  farmers  of  New  England  and  New  York
were  to  be  rallied,  and  were  to  fall  upon  the  flank
and  rear  of  the  British,  harass  them  constantly,  cut
off  their  outlying  parties,  and  finally  hem  them  in
and  destroy  them.  If  the  army  and  people  of  the
North  could  only  be  left  undisturbed,  it  is  evident
from  his  letters  that  Washington  felt  no  doubt  as
to  the  result  in  that  quarter.
But  the  North  included  only  half  the  conditions
essential  to  success.  The  grave  danger  feared  by
Washington  was  that  Howe  would  understand  the
situation,  and  seeing  his  opportunity,  would  throw
everything  else  aside,  and  marching  northward
with  twenty  thousand  men,  would  make  himself
master  of  the  Hudson,  effect  a  junction  with  Bur-
goyne at  Albany,  and  so  cut  the  colonies  in  twain.
From  all  he  could  learn,  and  from  his  knowledge  of
his  opponent's  character,  Washington  felt  satisfied
that  Howe   intended  to  capture  Philadelphia,  ad-


200  GEORGE  WASHINGTON.
