Point was partly destroyed and abandoned by the retreating Americans. Soon after these occurrences in 1775, Carleton found to his chagrin that the command of the forces was given to Burgoyne, a much inferior man, who had influence with Lord Germain, better known in English history as that Lord George Sackville who had disgraced himself on the battlefield of Minden, but had subsequently found favour with the King, who made him one of his ministers, and gave him virtually the direction of the campaign in America. Carleton, however, remained Governor-General until 1778, when he was replaced at his own request by General Haldimand, a very energetic and capable man, to whom Canadian historians have, as a rule, never rendered adequate justice. During these years Carleton had his difficulties arising out of the unsettled condition of things in the province, the prospects of invasion, and the antagonism of Chief-Justice Livius, who replaced a far better man, Hey, and was himself superseded by the Governor-General on account of his efforts to weaken the authority of the government at a time when faction and rivalry should have ceased among those who wished to strengthen British interests in America. Livius appealed to the home authorities, and through the influence of Lord George Germain was reinstated, though he did not find even in this {288} quarter an approval in words of his own conduct, and never returned to fill his former position in Canada. It is not necessary to dwell here on the events of a war whose history is so familiar to every one. Burgoyne was defeated at Saratoga, and his army, from which so much was expected, made prisoners of war. This great misfortune of the British cause was followed by the alliance of France with the States. French money, men, and ships eventually assured the independence of the republic whose fortunes were very low at times, despite the victory at Saratoga. England was not well served in this American war. She had no Washington to direct her campaign. Gage, Burgoyne, and Cornwallis were not equal to the responsibilities thrown upon them. Cornwallis's defeat at Yorktown on the 19th October, 1781, was the death-blow to the hopes of England in North America. This disaster led to the resignation of Lord North, whose heart was never in the war, and to the acknowledgment by England, a few months later, of the independence of her old colonies. Before this decisive victory in the south, the Ohio valley and the Illinois country were in the possession of the troops of congress. George Rogers Clark, the bold backwoodsman of Kentucky, captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, and gave the new States that valid claim to the west which was fully recognised in the treaty of peace.