l, and limited
himself to assuming an attitude of defence. He then wrote a begging
letter to the Czar, intimating that he had given up his Schonen fancy,
and requested the Czar to do the same and find his way home: a request
the latter could not but comply with. When Peter at last left Denmark
with his army, the Danish Court thought fit to communicate to the Courts
of Europe a public account of the incidents and transactions which had
frustrated the intended descent upon Schonen--and this document forms
the starting point of _The Northern Crisis_.

In a letter addressed to Baron Goertz, dated from London, January 23,
1717, by Count Gyllenborg, there occur some passages in which the
latter, the then Swedish ambassador at the Court of St. James's, seems
to profess himself the author of _The Northern Crisis_, the title of
which he does not, however, quote. Yet any idea of his having written
that powerful pamphlet will disappear before the slightest perusal of
the Count's authenticated writings, such as his letters to Goertz.

"THE NORTHERN CRISIS; OR IMPARTIAL REFLECTIONS ON THE POLICIES OF THE
CZAR; OCCASIONED BY MYNHEER VON STOCKEN'S REASONS FOR DELAYING THE
DESCENT UPON SCHONEN. A TRUE COPY OF WHICH IS PREFIXED, VERBALLY
TRANSLATED AFTER THE TENOR OF THAT IN THE GERMAN SECRETARY'S OFFICE IN
COPENHAGEN, OCTOBER 10, 1716. LONDON, 1716.

1.--_Preface_---- ... 'Tis (the present pamphlet) not fit for lawyers'
clerks, but it is highly convenient to be read by those who are proper
students in the laws of nations; 'twill be but lost time for any
stock-jobbing, trifling dealer in Exchange-Alley to look beyond the
preface on't, but every merchant in England (more especially those who
trade to the Baltic) will find his account in it. The Dutch (as the
courants and postboys have more than once told us) are about to mend
their hands, if they can, in several articles of trade with the Czar,
and they have been a long time about it to little purpose. Inasmuch as
they are such a frugal people, they are good examples for the imitation
of our traders; but if we can outdo them for once, in the means of
projecting a better and more expeditious footing to go upon, for the
emolument of us both, let us, for once, be wise enough to set the
example, and let them, for once, be our imitators. This little treatise
will show a pretty plain way how we may do it, as to our trade in the
Baltic, at this juncture. I desire no little _coffee-house pol