Untitled - 24grammata.com

Thus468 BISE OF THE CONTINENTALtimes. The contest must be decided by a land, and not bya naval force, and the formation of a league with the continental powers was the natural consequence. A series ofalliances, from Portugal to Russia, followed in the same year,1793. In order to estimate these, and to form an opinionof the general conduct of Pitt, we must place ourselves inhis position. England certainly was in a certain sense thecentre of the first league against France ;but this leagueremained to a certain degree ineffectual : it was not in*thepower of the British minister to direct the energies of theallies at his discretion. It was ineffectual with respect to aleading power, Russia. Although Catharine II., as early asMarch 25, 1793, surpassed all the others in her eagernessto conclude an alliance with England ;although she declaredherself in a state of war with France ;although her voicepredominated above all, she still, in spite of all this, did leastof any. Her views were directed to other objects; first, tothe renewal of the advantageous commercial treaty withEngland of the year 1766 ; secondly, and above all, to thecarrying into execution her new and unjust design of apartition of the too unhappy Poland, which was effectedin this very summer. .the certainty of not havingRussia for an antagonist was the only advantage whichEngland derived from this connexion. Among the othercontinental powers, Austria and Prussia were naturally thosewith which the first and strongest connexions were formed ;after these, came Spain, Sardinia, Portugal, and some smallerstates. Most of these states were in the situation which wehave already alluded to, their finances were greatly disproportionedto their military force. The natural consequencewas that they sought assistance, where alone they could findit, in Great Britain. Thus not only was the subsidy-systemof earlier times renewed, but carried to a much greater extent than it had been before. The war was for the mostpart carried on at the expense of England. During theeight years which elapsed between 1793 and Pitt's retirement from the ministry, loans to the amount of twenty-threemillions sterling had been on the average yearly advancedby the minister. The British ministry was certainly,on thisaccount, allowed to exercise a great influence in the conductof the war ; yet never so decisive a one as to have the