their acumen by threading the mazes of events up to remote
circumstances, pretend to trace the design of the partition of Poland
for more than a century back. Rulhiere seems to plume himself on the
idea. "The projects executed in our days against Poland," he observes,
"were proposed more than a hundred years ago. I have discovered this
important and hitherto unknown circumstance in the archives of foreign
affairs of France." This point had been canvassed under the reign of
John Casimir; and it only remains to be remarked that such very subtle
analysis of the motives and progress of actions generally overshoots the
mark, since no men can act always according to rule, but are in some
degree influenced by circumstances and caprice. It would be equally
absurd to imagine that Frederick, in the complicated intrigues which
preceded the first partition, was actuated by one deeply laid scheme of
policy to arrive at one end: the possession of Polish Prussia. It was,
indeed, absolutely essential for him to obtain this province, to
consolidate and open a communication between his scattered dominions,
which then, as Voltaire says, were stretched out like a pair of gaiters;
but it remained a _desideratum_ rather than a design, since he knew that
neither Russia nor Austria would be inclined to permit the aggression;
for the former had evidently marked out the whole of Poland for herself,
and would consider Frederick an unwelcome intruder; while Austria, which
had lately experienced the Prussian King's encroachments, was more
jealous than ever of his obtaining the slightest aggrandizement, and had
openly declared that she would not allow the seizure of the least Polish
village. His views, however, widened as he advanced, and no doubt he
spoke with sincerity when he told the Emperor Joseph that "he had never
followed a plan in war, much less any plan in policy, and that events
alone had suggested all his resolutions." Admitting the truth of this,
we proceed to trace out the circumstances which produced this crisis.

The relations of the three courts, at the commencement of the war
between Russia and Turkey (1768), did not portend anything like a
coalition; Frederick, indeed, was in alliance with Russia, but also
secretly favored the Sultan; Austria was all but an open enemy of both
Russia and Prussia. Circumstances, however, obliged Austria to forget
her hatred to Prussia, and Frederick thus became the mediator between
the courts of Vie