Burgoyne sailed from Rhode Island for England in April, 1778.[871] On arriving, he had an early interview with Lord George Germain, but the king refused to see him. He appeared in Parliament,[872] where he had earlier been a firm but not bellicose upholder of the government,[873] on May 21st, and on the 26th and 28th made speeches in his own defence, which were published in London, June 16, 1778, as The substance of General Burgoyne's speeches, ... with an appendix containing Gen. Washington's letter to Gen. Burgoyne.[874]
The king, piqued at finding Burgoyne on the side of the opposition in Parliament, ordered him to return to his imprisoned troops, and, rather than go, the general resigned his civil and military offices, and printed an explanation in A letter from Lieutenant-General Burgoyne to his constituents, with the correspondence between the secretaries of war and him, relative to his return to America (London, 1779).[875]
ATTACK ON CLINTON AND MONTGOMERY.
After the plan in Leake's Life of Lamb, p. 176. The legend in northwest corner of the map reads by error "Halt of the right [should be left] column." Other eclectic maps are given in Sparks's Washington, v. 92; in Boynton's West Point; and in Carrington's Battles, p. 362.
Lord George Germain, or, as some have thought, Sir John Dalrymple, published a Reply to Lieutenant-General Burgoyne's letter to his constituents[876] (London, 1779), pronouncing it a libel upon the king's government, and this was seconded by an anonymous Letter to Lieutenant-General Burgoyne on his letter to his constituents (London, 1779).[877]
The further controversy over Burgoyne's failure includes the following publications:—
A brief examination of the plan and conduct of the Northern expedition in America in 1777, and of the surrender of the army under the command of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne (London, 1779),—a severe attack.[878]
An Enquiry into and remarks upon the Conduct of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne; the plan of operations for the campaign of 1777; the instructions from the Secretary of State, and the circumstances that led to the loss of the northern army (London, 1780).[879]
Essay on modern martyrs, with a letter to General Burgoyne (London, 1780),[880]—charging him with being the personal cause of his own misfortunes.