CHAPTER XXII. FROM VALLEY FORGE TO WHITE PLAINS AGAIN.—BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. The abandonment of Philadelphia by the British army, as anticipated by Washington, had become a military necessity. The city was too remote from the coast, unless its army of occupation could be so reënforced as to be independent of support from the British base at New York. The reënforcements of troops called for by General Howe had not been and could not have been furnished. The recommendation of General Amherst, military adviser of George III., “that forty thousand men be sent to America immediately,” had been positively disapproved. It was therefore of vital importance that General Clinton should reach New York with the least possible delay. Any attempt to return by sea was obviously impracticable. The incidents of the evacuation of Philadelphia were similar to those which marked the departure of Howe from Boston. The embarkation of three thousand citizens with their families, their merchandise, and their personal effects, upon vessels, to accompany the retiring fleet, was a moral lesson of vast significance. This withdrawal of the British garrison was no _ruse_, to entice the American army from its camp, for battle, but a surrender of the field itself, without a struggle. It announced to America and to the world, that the British army lacked the ability to meet the contingencies of field service, either in Pennsylvania or New Jersey; and that loyalists would be left to their own resources for protection and safety. Other considerations precipitated the action of Clinton. Congress had publicly announced the impending arrival of a formidable French fleet from the West Indies; and, as a matter of fact, so immediate was its advent, that the advance frigates entered the Delaware Bay, just after Admiral Howe turned Cape May, on his return to New York. Meanwhile, every movement in the city was hourly reported to Washington by his secret messengers, and by families who kept constantly in touch with all movements of the garrison. Hardly a ball or social dinner, during the entire winter, was without the presence of one or more of his representatives, who as promptly reported the secret influences which were making of the city a deadly prison-house for the British troops. Even at the playhouses, comedians had begun to jest upon the “foraging of the rebel scouts”; and it is said to have been hinted, on one occasion, that “there were chickens and eggs in abundance outside the lines, if the soldiers would take the trouble to go after them,” and that “it was hardly the right thing to let Washington’s ragged army have the pick of all country produce.”