here were elements of danger
in the two first. After the death of Maria Theresa, in 1780, her son
Joseph II. changed the general direction of Austria's policy. He was
restless and full of great schemes which he looked to Russia rather than
France to support. The growth of Russian power under Catherine had
changed the political state of Europe. The treaty of Kutchuk Kainardji,
in 1774, at the close of a successful war against the Turks, saw Russia
strongly established on the Black Sea; the partition of Poland augmented
her preponderance in the north: and in 1780 England found that her
maritime interests were threatened by a power seated both on the Baltic
and close to the Mediterranean. Catherine welcomed the overtures of
Joseph, for she contemplated further conquests from the Turks, and the
good-will of Austria was important to her. Of these two allied powers
Austria was the more dangerous to England and Prussia. Russia had
already gained much, Austria was hoping for gain; Catherine was looking
mainly to extension in eastern, Joseph's ambitions tended to disturb the
balance of power in western and central Europe. France was impoverished;
she desired peace and was anxious to restrain the emperor's ambition,
and Spain could do nothing without her. A quadruple alliance, then,
between the two imperial courts and France and Spain was impossible. The
late war had raised the Bourbon influence in Europe. England was unable
to detach Austria from France, and to form an alliance, as Carmarthen
wished, with the two imperial courts; and she was, as we shall see, led
by a conflict in Holland to enter into an agreement with Prussia which
had important results.

Her foreign policy between 1784 and 1788 was chiefly concerned with the
affairs of the United Provinces. Anxious to remove the restrictions
imposed by treaties on the Austrian Netherlands, Joseph set aside the
Barrier treaty of 1715, designed to check French aggression; and the
Dutch withdrew their garrisons from the border fortresses. He pressed
other claims upon them, relying on their weakness, for they paid dearly
for provoking a war with England; and he demanded that the Scheldt,
which was closed by the treaty of 1648, should be open to navigation.
His claim concerned England, for though Austria could never become a
great naval power even if Antwerp had access to the sea, the ports of
the Netherlands and, indeed, of the United Provinces might fall under
the control of some