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INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 405fortune never before witnessed, made it impossible that shecould interfere with energyin the affairs of the North. Shecontented herself with watching the proceedings of theSwedish hero, and was only anxious lest it should enter intohis head to become the ally of France, and strike in withthe sword in her behalf. But when by the peace of Utrecht(1713) she was released from this contest, it could not butbe expectedthat she should again become active in thatquarter.But it was no easy question for Englandto determinewhat side she should put herself on. All the former relations had been changed ;Sweden was exhausted, and whileRussia was rapidly developing her strength,the balance between Sweden and Denmark was no longer the only thingto be considered.But in what point of view was Englandto regard this growth of Russia in reference to her own interests ? On the one side it could not be a matter of indifference to British policy,that a power should be forming itselfin the North, which not only threatened the independenceand existence of all the other states, but was even directlybent upon becoming a great naval force, and thus graspingthe dominion of the Baltic. On the other hand it requiredno great foresightto perceive, more or less clearly,the advantages which would result toEngland from the civilization of Russia. An acquaintancewith the arts and the wantsof luxury in a state of such immense extent, laid open an inexhaustible market to the manufacturing and trading nationsof Europe and; althoughit could not then be foreseen whata preponderance England would afterwards obtain by thedecay of Dutch commerce, it was very clear that she couldnot be wholly shut out from these advantages. But themeasures adopted did not, as it appears, proceedfrom suchgeneral considerations. No care was taken of the future,and temporary relations only were looked to. Single opportunities were seized as they presented themselves, and thusEngland became involved in the question without havingany fixed system to guide herself by.The extension of thenorthern war into Germany, in which George I becameconcerned, as elector of Hanover, gavethe first occasion ofinterference.Sweden had been deprived by her enemies of almost all