^{page 148 note 1} Burges was Under-Secretary in the Foreign Office.

^{page 149 note 1} Lord Thurlow.

^{page 149 note 2} Cabinet Councils held for the purpose .of determining who of the numerous prisoners condemned to death should be actually hung.

^{page 149 note 3} This had reference to a petition presented to the House of Lords on March 1, regarding certain informalities in the next preceding election of representative Peers for Scotland.

^{page 150 note 1} The Russian armament, as it was called, was undertaken to pnt pressure upon Russia to make peace with the Porte. The three allied powers, England, Holland, and Prussia, had taken a prominent part in the convention of Reichenbach between Austria and Prussia, by which Austria agreed to make peace with the Porte. This peace was concluded by the mediation of the three powers at Szistova. The war still continued between Russia and Turkey, and great pressure was brought to bear on Russia by Prussia and England to compel her to make peace. The good offices of Denmark were offered for conciliation. After some delay the peace of Jassy was signed between Russia and Turkey on January 9, 1792.

^{page 151 note 1} Livonia was a Russian province. Catharine had 54,000 men there, under Ingelstrom, and Frederick William an army of 80,000 on the German frontier.

^{page 152 note 1} The Duke of Leeds wrote to Lord Whitworth on this date: "It is now determined that preparation should be made without delay for an active interference on the part of Great Britain and Prussia, in order to obtain the terms which have hitherto been repeatedly recommended without effect." He enclosed a representation which was to be delivered in conjunction with the Prussian Minister, and the omission to send an answer within ten days would be considered a refusal.

^{page 152 note 2} Ninety-seven to thirty-four in the Lords; 228 to 135 in the Commons.

^{page 159 note 1} Sixty; 94 to 34, including proxies. An impartial acconnt of these transactions is to be found in Hermann, Geschiohte del Runisehen, Staats, vi. 388 foil. He says, p. 406: "On April 5, Jackson in Berlin received intelligence that both Houses had approved of the strengthening of the English fleet, and was ordered at the same time to lay before the Prussian Ministers both the conventions concerning Russia and Poland which had been agreed upon, even to the smallest details. England undertook, (1) to send a fleet into the east sea, in May, upon which Prussia was at the same time to advance with an army of 88,000 men into Livonia, and to march upon Eiga; and, (2) as a basis of a commercial treaty between England, Prussia, and Poland, the toll on the Vistula was to be reduced from twelve to three per cent, on the condition that the republic ceded Dantzick to Prussia. Immediately upon the signature of these treaties Jackson was to send a courier to St. Petersburg with a peremptory warning to the Empress that she was either to surrender all her conquests or to prepare for a war with England, Prussia, and their allies.

"Frederick William had already despatched to his generals in command the orders which the urgency of the situation required, and was preparing to depart for Preussen on the 13th to hold a review. To everyone's astonishment, Jackson received on April 7 the ambiguous counter-order to defer the signing of the convention and the despatch of the ultimatum to St. Petersburg for the present.

"This ‘temporary delay’ was, as was soon apparent, nothing less than the forerunner of an entire abandonment of the great and common interests which Prussia had undertaken to support with its army on the Continent in accordance with the alliance subsisting between it and the sea powers. Just as it was about to draw the sword in defence of their interests Prussia saw itself deserted. Prussia was treated with great injustice. On the contrary, England had been quite justified at Eeichen-bach in not surrendering the status quo. Prussia now saw itself, to the great loss of its prestige in Europe, compelled to give way in all those questions on which, for the sake of her power and position, it was necessary for her to hold her own against the imperial courts. Nothing remained for her but, as Frederick William expressed it, t o submit to the imperious law of necessity."

^{page 163 note 1} Lady Holdernesse was the mother of the first Duchess of Leeds. The Miss Anguishs were the sisters of the second.

^{page 164 note 1} On Tuesday, April 12, the numbers were 253 to 173; on Friday, April 15, 254 to 163.

^{page 164 note 2} Any one who has studied the original documents preserved in the English Record Office will know that a large number of the most important foreign despatches, signed by Lord Carmarthen and Lord Grenville, are really the composition of Mr. Pitt.

^{page 164 note 3} Mr. Fawkener was being sent to St. Petersburg "in order to conduct in concert with Mr. Whitworth the details of any negociations which may arise there."

^{page 169 note 1} The proposals of Denmark were that England should not insist upon the strict status quo and the absolute cession of Oczakow and its district, but, 1, the demolition of the fortress of Oczakow with an agreement not to restore it, or to build any other fortress within the district ceded; 2, the agreeing not to establish any Russian colonies, or to build towns, or to introduce any inhabitants within the district; and, 3, that the cession should be made so as not to give to Russia the command of the navigation of the Dniester and the consequent influence which she might thereby acquire in Poland.—Lord GrenTille's instructions to Mr. Ewart, April 22, 1791. Mr. Drake, our representative at Copenhagen, was ordered on April 20 to ask that immediate orders may be sent to the Danish minister at St. Petersburg to help in making peace with Russia on the terms proposed. Lord Grenville informs Lord Auckland in a private letter, dated April 16, 1791, "with respect to our present measures the great fear which I entertain is that the line of concession which what has happened here compels us to adopt will too evidently betray our weakness, and that the Empress will rise in her demands, instead of being disposed to modify them." This probably is what the Duke of Leeds was afraid of.

^{page 172 note 1} This minute of Cabinet is not to be found in the Duke of Leeds' papers.