The project of an invasion of Canada, urged by Allen and Arnold, had at first met with no favor, the Continental Congress having formally resolved to make no hostile attempts upon that province. Intelligence subsequently received, induced it to change its plans. Carleton was said to be strengthening the fortifications and garrison at St. Johns, and preparing to launch vessels on the lake wherewith to regain command of it, and retake the captured posts. Powerful reinforcements were coming from England and elsewhere. Guy Johnson was holding councils with the fierce Cayugas and Senecas, and stirring up the Six Nations to hostility. On the other hand, Canada was full of religious and political dissensions. The late exploits of the Americans on Lake Champlain, had produced a favorable effect on the Canadians, who would flock to the patriot standard if unfurled among them by an imposing force. Now was the time to strike a blow to paralyze all hostility from this quarter; now, while Carleton’s regular force was weak, and before the arrival of additional troops. Influenced by these considerations, Congress now determined to extend the revolution into Canada, but it was an enterprise too important to be entrusted to any but discreet hands. General Schuyler, then in New York, was accordingly ordered, on the 27th June, to proceed to Ticonderoga, and “should he find it practicable, and not disagreeable to the Canadians, immediately to take possession of St. Johns and Montreal, and pursue such other measures in Canada as might have a tendency to promote the peace and security of these provinces.” It behooved General Schuyler to be on the alert, lest the enterprise should be snatched from his hands. Ethan Allen and Seth Warner were at Bennington, among the Green Mountains. Enlistments were going on, but too slow for Allen’s impatience, who had his old hankering for a partisan foray. In a letter to Governor Trumbull (July 12th), he writes, “Were it not that the grand Continental Congress had totally incorporated the Green Mountain Boys into a battalion under certain regulations and command, I would forthwith advance them into Canada and invest Montreal, _exclusive of any help from the colonies_; though under present circumstances I would not, for my right arm, act without or contrary to order. _If my fond zeal for reducing the King’s fortresses and destroying or imprisoning his troops in Canada be the result of enthusiasm_, I hope and expect the wisdom of the Continent will treat it as such; and on the other hand, if it proceed from sound policy, that the plan will be adopted.”[10] Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the 18th of July. A letter to Washington, to whom, as commander-in-chief, he made constant reports, gives a striking picture of a frontier post in those crude days of the Revolution.