Three days later Fort Lee fell, and Washington repeated the order.

Lee did not budge.

He was safe where he was and could cross the river and get away into New Jersey when he liked.

He seems deliberately to have left Washington to face complete disaster and thus prove his incompetence; then, as the undefeated general, he could take the chief command.

There is no evidence that he had intrigued with Howe, but he thought that he could be the peacemaker between Great Britain and America, with untold possibilities of ambition in that role.