It has been the fashion to treat Washington as wise and prudent, but as distinctly slow, and when he was obliged to concentrate public opinion, either military or civil, or when doubt overhung his course, he moved with great deliberation.
When he required no concentration of opinion, and had made up his mind, he could strike with a terribly swift decision, as at Trenton or Monmouth.

So when a new situation presented itself he seized with wonderful rapidity every phase and possibility opened by changed conditions.
The moment he learned from Lafayette that the French succors were actually on the way, he began to lay out plans in a manner which showed how he had taken in at the first glance every chance and every contingency.

He wrote that the decisive moment was at hand, and that the French succors would be fatal if not used successfully now.
Congress must improve their methods of administration, and for this purpose must appoint a small committee to cooeperate with him.

This step he demanded, and it was taken at once.

Fresh from his interview with Lafayette, he sent out orders to have inquiries made as to Halifax and its defenses.