e ear of
Lord Grantham that Catherine II. was devoid of "judgment, precision of
idea, reflection, and _l'esprit de combinaison_"?[20]

On the other hand, take the cool impudence with which Sir George
Macartney informs his minister that because the Swedes were extremely
jealous of, and mortified at, their dependence on Russia, England was
directed by the Court of St. Petersburg to do its work at Stockholm,
under the British colours of liberty and independence! Or Sir James
Harris advising England to surrender to Russia Minorca and the right of
search, and the monopoly of mediation in the affairs of the world--not
in order to gain any material advantage, or even a formal engagement on
the part of Russia, but only "a strong glow of friendship" from the
Empress, and the transfer to France of her "ill humour."

The secret Russian despatches proceed on the very plain line that
Russia knows herself to have no common interests whatever with other
nations, but that every nation must be persuaded separately to have
common interests with Russia to the exclusion of every other nation. The
English despatches, on the contrary, never dare so much as hint that
Russia has common interests with England, but only endeavour to convince
England that she has Russian interests. The English diplomatists
themselves tell us that this was the single argument they pleaded, when
placed face to face with Russian potentates.

If the English despatches we have laid before the public were addressed
to private friends, they would only brand with infamy the ambassadors
who wrote them. Secretly addressed as they are to the British Government
itself, they nail it for ever to the pillory of history; and,
instinctively, this seems to have been felt, even by Whig writers,
because none has dared to publish them.

The question naturally arises from which epoch this Russian character of
English diplomacy, become traditionary in the course of the 18th
century, does date its origin. To clear up this point we must go back to
the time of Peter the Great, which, consequently, will form the
principal subject of our researches. We propose to enter upon this task
by reprinting some English pamphlets, written at the time of Peter I.,
and which have either escaped the attention of modern historians, or
appeared to them to merit none. However, they will suffice for refuting
the prejudice common to Continental and English writers, that the
designs of Russia were not und