ndies. No expedition can sail from hence
in time to prevent the enemy from pushing their operations in that
quarter, if they proceed thither in force and with despatch. The Dutch
are like to do nothing this year; their affairs draw to a crisis, and
it is to be hoped, that it will prove favorable to our friends. The
Emperor is occupied in ecclesiastical and civil changes, his health is
in a precarious state, and he runs the risk of losing entirely his
sight. The motions of Russia indicate a war with the Porte no longer
Sublime. The Empress negotiates loans in Holland and at Genoa. I have
taken measures to be informed of their success. The King of Great
Britain, as Elector of Hanover, is recruiting in all the imperial
cities, and it is said, he is endeavoring to obtain an additional body
of German troops for the next campaign. The preparations for war are
as vigorous as ever.

I have not yet received an answer on the affair of the Lord Howe,
mentioned in my last. I visit the Ministers, and pass offices on this
subject and that of the duties, and shall omit nothing that depends
on me to obtain satisfaction, and I hope the pains I take will not
prove wholly ineffectual. Besides the affairs above mentioned, I am
obliged to visit and write to the Judges of the Council of the Indies,
on account of law-suits in which some of our countrymen are
interested, and which are before them by appeal from the inferior
jurisdictions. Even justice here is obtained by favor and
solicitation. In other respects, my situation is more agreeable than I
could have expected. I live on the best footing with almost the whole
_corps diplomatique_. The Ministers of Saxony and Prussia seem much
disposed to induce their Courts to open a direct commerce with
America, particularly if the war continues. For this purpose, they
have demanded and obtained from me, all the information in my power to
give them, with every motive that I could employ, to persuade their
respective Courts to engage heartily in this measure. If it is
adopted, the Maritime Company at Berlin, under the King's immediate
protection, and the Elector or his Ministers in the name of companies
of commerce, will be concerned in the first speculations. I do not
enter into details on this subject until I see whether these Courts
are serious in their intentions.

The advances and offers made me by the Minister of Sweden, have
rendered me less sanguine. He assures me it was insinuated to his