Of the various military conventions, that of Kloster-Zeven, of September 8, 1757, between the Duke of Cumberland and Marshal Richelieu, most resembles that of Saratoga. In both the victors had the vanquished at their mercy; in both the terms of surrender, under the circumstances, were moderate beyond all necessity; in both the capitulations were unsatisfactory to the governments concerned; and in both the treaties were broken from motives of expediency, frivolous pretexts being used to cover the odium of bad faith. George II., as Elector of Hanover, "to clear himself", says Sir Edward Cust, "from the dishonor of the convention, disavowed his son's authority to sign it", recalled him from his command, and declared that the hero of Culloden had ruined his father and disgraced himself. We cannot enter into the reasons assigned by the British ministry for abrogating this compact, but they were at the least as invalid as those used by our Congress in suspending the execution of the Convention of Saratoga. When the Hanoverian army, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, took the field in contravention of agreement, Marshal Richelieu declared his own fidelity in keeping the treaty, and that, should the enemy "commit any act of hostility", he, as authorized by the laws of war, "would push matters to the last extremity." The declaration of the French marshal "was seconded", says Smollett, the British historian, "by the Count de Lynar, the Danish ambassador, who had meditated the Convention of Kloster-Zeven under direction of his master to save Hanover from the horrors of war." EDITORIAL NOTES ON THE AUTHORITIES. =I.= THE CAMPAIGN AROUND NEW YORK CITY IN 1776.—The Americans had been early warned of the British plans to secure the line of the Hudson (_Journal of the Provincial Congress of New York_, 172; Lossing's _Schuyler_, ii. 16), and on the American side plans of obstructing and defending the river had been made as early as Sept., 1775, and they ever after constituted a chief anxiety of the continental and provincial authorities.[743] Several early maps making record of these efforts have been preserved.[744] [Illustration: FORT MONTGOMERY, MAY 31, 1776.] [Illustration: CHAIN AT FORT MONTGOMERY. Reduced from the cut in Ruttenber's _Obstructions to the Navigation of Hudson's River_, p. 64. KEY. A, Fort Montgomery. B, Fort Clinton. C, Poplopen's Kill. D, Anthony's Nose. _a_, floats to chain. _b b b_, boom in front of chain. _c c c_, chain. _d_, rock at which the chain was secured and large iron roller. _e e_, cribs and anchors. _f_, blocks and purchase for tightening chain. _g h_, ground batteries for defence of chain. [S, section showing floats and chain; _c c c_, chain; _f f f_, floats.] The cut follows the original drawing found in the papers of the secret committee. There is a plate showing the boom and chain at West Point in Boynton's _West Point_, p. 70.]