When general Arnold had reached Crown-Point with the army and the goods he had brought from Montreal (which he was careful to keep with, all he could) persons soon followed with invoices, and claimed pay for them. Silks and other valuable articles were missing. General Arnold upon this brought col. Hazens before a court-martial. He was tried on a charge, that the packages had been pillaged, and the goods lost, through his refusing to take care of them. The colonel was honorably acquitted; but such was the behavior of the general before the court, in challenging every man of them, and abusing them all, that they demanded of general Gates his being put under arrest; the moment the demand was made, general Gates thought himself obliged to act dictatorially, and to dissolve the court; that so the United States might not be deprived of the services of one whom he viewed as an excellent officer, at an important period, when they were much wanted. The court however, did not dissolve till they had finished their other business, and given judgment; and had prepared the account of the trial, and put it in the way to be forwarded to general Washington or the congress. Gates had fixed upon Arnold to command the American fleet to be opposed to the British, on Lake Champlain, and therefore would pay no attention to any charges brought against him. Colonel Brown complained of him, for accusing him of plundering the officers baggage taken at Sorel, contrary to the articles of capitulation, and praying that he might be put under arrest and brought to trial; but it was to no purpose. The command for which Arnold was destined, superseded all other considerations for the present. The utmost efforts were made on the side of Canada by the British, for obtaining a superiority on the lake, and for the reduction of Tyconderoga and Mount Independence. A fleet of above thirty fighting vessels, of different kinds and sizes, had been little less than created; though a few of the largest were re-constructions, having been first framed in Great-Britain, then taken to pieces and sent over. Add to this, that a gondola weighing thirty tons, with above four hundred batteaux, had been dragged up the rapids near Chamblee. The objects in view were answerable to all these exertions. If the royal army under Sir Guy Carleton could have forced their way down to, and possessed themselves of Albany before the severity of the winter set in, the northern states would have been exposed in their most defenceless parts, and have had the communication with the southern cut off, while one between generals Carleton and Howe would have been established; and thus Carleton’s army would have had a principal share in the honor of bringing the war to a speedy conclusion.