' So far the
letter. We know, otherwise, that Monsieur de St. Priest, who had set
out on his embassy to the Hague, has stopped at Antwerp, not choosing
to proceed further till new orders. This Court has been completely
deceived, first by its own great desire to avoid a war, and secondly by
calculating that the King of Prussia would have acted on principles
of common sense, which would surely have dictated, that a power, lying
between the jaws of Russia and Austria, should not separate itself from
France, unless, indeed, he had assurances of dispositions in those
two powers, which are not supposed to exist. On the contrary, I am
persuaded that they ask the alliance of France, whom we suppose to
be under hesitations between her reluctance to abandon the Turks, her
jealousy of increasing by their spoils the power of the two empires, and
her inability to oppose them. If they cannot obtain her alliance, they
will surely join themselves to England and Prussia.
Official advices are received, that the first division of the Russian
army has passed the Borysthenes into the Polish Ukraine, and is marching
towards the frontiers of Turkey.
Pages:
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528