“I have been detained several days by a severe rheumatic attack, but I shall, by the aid of Dr. Mann, be able to set off this day toward Lake Champlain, where I trust General Bloomfield will be able to move toward Montreal, and with the addition of three thousand regular troops that place might be carried and held this winter; but I cannot consent to crossing the St. Lawrence with an uncertainty of being able to remain there.” Whatever were Dearborn’s motives for undertaking the movement, his official report[319] explained that on arriving at Plattsburg he found General Bloomfield ill, and was himself obliged to take command, November 19, when he marched the army about twenty miles to the Canadian line. At that point the militia declined to go further, and Dearborn as quietly as possible, November 23, marched back to Plattsburg. His campaign lasted four days, and he did not enter Canada. Whether Dearborn, Smyth, or William Hull would have improved the situation by winning a victory or by losing a battle was a question to be answered by professional soldiers; but the situation at best was bad, and when the report of Smyth’s crowning failure reached Dearborn it seemed for a moment to overcome his sorely tried temper. “I had anticipated disappointment and misfortune in the commencement of the war,” he wrote to Eustis,[320] “but I did by no means apprehend such a deficiency of regular troops and such a series of disasters as we have witnessed.” He intimated his readiness to accept the responsibility which properly belonged to him, and to surrender his command. “I shall be happy to be released by any gentleman whose talents and popularity will command the confidence of the Government and the country.” To the President he wrote at the same time:[321] “It will be equally agreeable to me to employ such moderate talents as I possess in the service of my country, or to be permitted to retire to the shades of private life, and remain a mere but interested spectator of passing events.” CHAPTER XVII.