aris. Choiseul in France and Grimaldi, who
succeeded Wall in Spain, worked together heartily in promoting a Bourbon
policy, and looked forward to the reconquest of the lost possessions of
France and Spain. The allies were strengthened by the good-will of
Austria. Schemes of aggrandisement were formed, which included the
acquisition of Corsica by France and of Portugal by Spain. There were
unsettled causes of dispute between them and England touching the
fortification of Dunkirk and the Manila ransom, and Spain was also
aggrieved by a British settlement in the Falkland islands. Against
France the natural ally of England was Russia, for she had a strong
interest in opposing French influence in Denmark and Sweden; while on
the side of England a Russian alliance would, in the event of war,
secure her Baltic trade and enable her fleet to act elsewhere, and would
be a defence for Hanover. An alliance with Russia had already been
discussed, but Catherine II. had far less interest in the matter than
England, and insisted that any alliance should include her Turkish war,
to which England would not consent. Catherine was in alliance with
Frederick of Prussia, and Chatham, hoping that the adhesion of England
would be welcomed, designed a defensive alliance between Great Britain,
Prussia, and Russia, which might take in Denmark, Sweden, the
States-General, and any other power interested in withstanding Bourbon
aggrandisement. To Catherine her alliance with Prussia was much more
important than anything which she could obtain from England, and
Chatham's design therefore depended on Frederick's good-will. He
declined the proposal of Great Britain: he had not forgiven the
ill-treatment which he believed he had received from Bute; he admired
Chatham, but had no assurance that he would remain in power; and he
considered any possible danger to himself from the Bourbon alliance to
be too remote to make it advisable for him to join in a concert to
prevent it. He was already meditating the partition of Poland, and the
proposed combination would have been contrary to his policy. Chatham's
great design was consequently defeated.

[Sidenote: _CHATHAM'S DIFFICULTIES._]

His arbitrary temper soon brought him into difficulties. He desired to
reward a new adherent with the office of treasurer of the household,
then held by Lord Edgcumbe, and on Edgcumbe's refusal to vacate the
office, he deprived him of it. Edgcumbe was connected with the
Rocking