English Board of Admiralty that it overlooked the frequent case of Russian vessels conveying naval stores to the enemies of England, and that wherever such vessels had been by mistake arrested or hindered, liberal indemnity for the detention had been awarded by the Board. Every inducement was employed by the English Cabinet to de-tach Russia from the neutrality. Thus Lord Stormont writes to the Ambassador at St. Petersburg: "Is there no dear object with which to tempt the ambition of the Empress——no concession advantageous to her navy and her commerce, which may move her to help us against our rebellious colonies?" Harris replies that the cession of Minorca will be such a bait. In 1781 Minorca was proffered to Catherine——but not accepted.
In March, 1782, Fox entered the Cabinet, and immediately the Russian Minister at London was advised that England was ready to treat with Holland, with whom the previous Ministry had declared war on the strength of the Treaty of 1674——wherein it was conceded that free ships made free goods——and would at once conclude an armistice. Harris is instructed by Fox to represent these advances as an evi-dence of the deference which the King desires to pay to the wishes and opinions of the Empress. But Fox does not stop here. A Cabinet Council advises the King to make known to the Russian Minister residing near his Court, that his Majesty is desirous of sharing the views of the Empress, and of forming the most intimate relations with the Court of St. Petersburg, making the declaration of neutrality the basis of stipulations between the two countries.
Soon after this Fox resigned. His successor, Lord Grantham, certified that the rather favourable disposition of St. Petersburg towards London was the fruit of Fox's policy; and when Fox re-entered the Cabinet, the idea was proclaimed by him that an alliance with the Northern Powers was the policy for an enlightened Englishman, and should continue to be so for ever. In one of his letters to Harris he admonishes him to regard the Court of St. Peters-
R R
