In spite of this, Burgoyne seemed to lose resolution, uncertain whither to turn.  He instinctively groped for a way that would take him down the Hudson and bring him to Albany, where he was to meet British reenforcements.  But he missed his bearings and found himself near Saratoga.  Here General Gates confronted him with an army larger than his own in regulars.  On October 7th they fought a battle, which the British technically claimed as a victory, as they were not driven from their position, but it left them virtually hemmed in without a line of escape.  Burgoyne waited several days irresolute.  He hoped that something favorable to him might turn up.  He had a lurking hope that General Clinton was near by, coming to his rescue.  He wavered, gallant though he was, and would not give the final order of desperation—­to cut their way through the enemy lines.  Instead of that he sought a truce with Gates, and signed the Convention of Saratoga (October 17th), by which he surrendered his army with the honors of war, and it was stipulated that they should be sent to England by English ships and paroled against taking any further part in the war.

The victory of Saratoga had much effect on America; it reverberated through Europe.  Only the peculiar nature of the fighting in America prevented it from being decisive.  Washington himself had never dared to risk a battle which, if he were defeated in it, would render it impossible for him to continue the war.  The British, on the other hand, spread over much ground, and the destruction of one of their armies would not necessarily involve the loss of all.  So it was now; Burgoyne’s surrender did little to relieve the pressure on Washington’s troops on the Hudson, but it had a vital effect across the sea.

Since the first year of the war the Americans had hoped to secure a formal alliance with France against England, and among the French who favored this scheme there were several persons of importance.  Reasons were easily found to justify such an alliance.  The Treaty of Paris in 1763 had dispossessed France of her colonies in America and had left her inferior to England in other parts of the world.  Here was her chance to take revenge.  The new King, Louis XVI, had for Foreign Minister Count de Vergennes, a diplomat of some experience, who warmly urged supporting the cause of the American Colonists.  He had for accomplice Beaumarchais, a nimble-witted playwright and seductive man of the world who talked very persuasively to the young King and many others.

The Americans on their side had not been inactive, and early in 1776 Silas Deane, a member of Congress from Connecticut, was sent over to Paris with the mission to do his utmost to cement the friendship between the American Colonies and France.  Deane worked to such good purpose that by October, 1776, he had sent clothing for twenty thousand men, muskets for thirty thousand and large quantities of ammunition.  A fictitious French house, which went by the name of Hortalaz et Cie, acted as agent and carried on the necessary business from Paris.  By this time military adventurers in large numbers began to flock to America to offer their swords to the rebellious Colonials.  Among them were a few—­de Kalb, Pulaski, Steuben, and Kosciuszko—­who did good service for the struggling young rebels, but most of them were worthless adventurers and marplots.