CHAPTER V.THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA.
Though the outlook for Washington was brightened by his success in New Jersey, it was still depressing enough.

The British had taken New York, they could probably take Philadelphia when they liked, and no place near the seacoast was safe.

According to the votes in Parliament, by the spring of 1777 Britain was to have an army of eighty-nine thousand men, of whom fifty-seven thousand were intended for colonial garrisons and for the prosecution of the war in America.

These numbers were in fact never reached, but the army of forty thousand in America was formidable compared with Washington's forces.

The British were not hampered by the practice of enlisting men for only a few months, which marred so much of Washington's effort.