In this matter also he strove for the just and the right course. He urged Congress to regulate the supplies for the army and showed the unfortunate consequences which must ensue if it became their custom to take possession of the necessaries of life by force. “Such a proceeding,” he says, in one of his letters, “must, even though it should afford temporary relief, have the most disastrous consequences eventually. It spreads discontent, hatred, and fear amongst the people, and never fails, even among the best disciplined troops, to fan the flame of degeneracy, plunder, and robbery, which is later hard to subdue; and these habits become ruinous, not only to the populace, but especially to the army. I shall consider it as the greatest of misfortunes if we are reduced to the necessity of adopting such methods.” In spite of all this the General was continually the victim of slanders. Foolish people misunderstood him, ambitious ones strove to procure his position. Like General Lee, earlier in the war, General Gates now schemed to supersede the commander-in-chief. In some parts of the army there were mutinies. To Congress, which demanded relentless punishment, Washington said: “One must consider that the soldiers are not made of stone or wood, invulnerable to hunger and thirst, frost and snow.” It sometimes happened that the roads were marked with the bloody footprints of the soldiers, who were mostly without shoes even in winter! But at the same time he appealed to the soldiers, explained to them with urgent words the situation of their country, the dignity of their profession, and the demands which the country had a right to make on them. Among other things he said: “Our profession is the most chaste of any; even the shadow of a fault sullies the purity of our praiseworthy deeds.” While appealing thus to the better elements in human nature, he had the satisfaction of seeing that his procedure was meeting with success. The iron hand of severity and its attendant horrors he kept for the most extreme cases, but in these he let the military laws take their course inexorably. Mutineers were sometimes shot and spies were delivered up to the rope. In the Fall of 1777 the fortunes of war were twice in quick succession favorable to the British in the battles of the Brandywine and Germantown. A second British army under Burgoyne was to advance from Canada. Washington had sent a division to meet him under Gates and Arnold. An engagement took place which was undecided, but soon afterward, at Saratoga, the British general was obliged to capitulate and Congress was notified that: “This fortunate day’s work has given us six generals and five thousand soldiers, five thousand guns and twenty-seven cannon, with their ammunition. During the campaign we have, besides, taken two thousand prisoners, among them several of the higher officers.”