t intermeddles in their affairs, and
particularly so of their neighbours the Russians. This is the reason
assigned to me for this Court's desiring that we and they should act
upon SEPARATE bottoms, still preserving between our respective Ministers
a confidence without reserve. That our first care should be, not to
establish a faction under the name of a Russian or of an English
faction; but, as even the wisest men are imposed upon by a mere name, to
endeavour to have OUR friends distinguished as the friends of liberty
and independence. At present we have a superiority, and the generality
of the nation is persuaded how very ruinous their French connections
have been, and, if continued, how very destructive they will be of their
true interests. M. Panin does by no means desire that the smallest
change should be made in the constitution of Sweden.[5] He wishes that
the royal authority might be preserved without being augmented, and that
the privileges of the people should be continued without violation. He
was not, however, without his fears of the ambitious and intriguing
spirit of the Queen, but the great ministerial vigilance of Count
Oestermann has now entirely quieted his apprehensions on that head.

"By this new alliance with Denmark, and by the success in Sweden, which
this Court has no doubt of, if properly seconded, M. Panin will, in some
measure, have brought to bear his grand scheme of uniting the Powers of
the North.[6] Nothing, then, will be wanted to render it entirely
perfect, but the conclusion of a treaty alliance with Great Britain. I
am persuaded this Court desires it most ardently. The Empress has
expressed herself more than once, in terms that marked it strongly. Her
ambition is to form, by such an union, a certain counterpoise to the
family compact,[7] and to disappoint, as much as possible, all the views
of the Courts of Vienna and Versailles, against which she is irritated
with uncommon resentment. I am not, however, to conceal from your
lordship that we can have no hope of any such alliance, unless we agree,
by some secret article, to pay a subsidy in case of a Turkish war, for
no money will be desired from us, except upon an emergency of that
nature. I flatter myself I have persuaded this Court of the
unreasonableness of expecting any subsidy in time of peace, and that an
alliance upon an equal footing will be more safe and more honourable for
both nations. I can assure your lordship that a Turkish