t to hear very soon of the attack of
Alexandria by the Turks.

Ever yours,
G.

Dec. 12.

By a mistake this was omitted to be sent to you yesterday. No mails
in to-day, nor anything new of any kind. By the newspaper accounts,
Canning seems to have made an admirable speech yesterday.

1799.

ENGLAND ENTERS INTO A TREATY WITH RUSSIA AGAINST FRANCE--MR. THOMAS
GRENVILLE'S MISSION TO THE CONTINENT--THE UNION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND--SUSPENSE RESPECTING THE FATE OF MR. GRENVILLE--PROGRESS OF
EVENTS ON THE CONTINENT--AUSTRIA JOINS THE COALITION--VACILLATIONS AND
INACTIVITY OF PRUSSIA--EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND--FURTHER AUGMENTATION OF
THE MILITIA--PROJECTS FOR THE ENSUING YEAR.

About the middle of December, 1798, a provisional treaty had been
entered into between Russia and England, by which the Emperor bound
himself, on condition of a monthly subsidy from Great Britain, to have a
contingent of forty-five thousand men ready for the field, whenever the
common cause should require their services. The original object of this
treaty was to induce Prussia to join the confederacy of European powers
which England was now endeavouring to form against France, with a view
to bring the war to a conclusion by an overwhelming military
combination; but Prussia, guarded and timid, declined to embark in the
coalition; and, failing that result, Russia accepted the alternative of
a subsidy proposed and guaranteed by the treaty. The value of her
co-operation was not limited merely to the force she brought to bear
against the enemy. England hoped that the influence of her example would
stimulate the other Powers to concur in a general movement to repel the
aggressions of the French, who were rapidly extending the scene of
hostilities, and who, in the course of this year, carried their arms
over the whole surface of Italy, swept the banks of the Rhine,
penetrated Holland, and ravaged the valleys of Switzerland.

When Mr. Thomas Grenville set out upon his mission to the Courts of
Vienna and Berlin, intelligence had arrived of the disasters that had
recently befallen the King of Naples, who, alarmed at the approach of
the French, had taken the field with twenty thousand men, and was driven
back by Championet with a much inferior force, and compelled to act upon
the defensive. The last news was that Naples had surrendered to the
French after a gallant resistance, chiefly sustained by the Lazz