Berlin, April 17th, 1799.
If I am behind-hand, my dearest brother, in thanking you for your
two letters of the 11th and 24th of March, I am less so than those
dates would lead you to imagine, for the messengers did not bring
me the first of them till a week ago, and the last arrived here
only the day before yesterday. The amities of the 'Proserpine' are
out of date with me, and would long ago have been forgotten, if
they were not daily recalled to me by new and continued proofs of
the affectionate interest which has been taken in them. To know
what you would feel in a state of anxiety and suspense which I
could not relieve, was a distress greater to me than the fatigue
and danger which accompanied my escape. It has ended well, and I
trust it will not be long before we shall laugh over it together.
I presume that you will have heard from William how exactly the
politics of Berlin have continued to remain in _statu quo_; how
much more occupied they are in enumerating the follies and
disgraces of Austria, than in adapting their own conduct to any
wise system or any liberal principles, and how little applicable
are the measures which they take, either to the danger which they
fear, or to the hopes which they entertain. Their fear of France
is, however, not dissembled by them, and certainly is not affected
by them; it engrosses all their attention, and furnishes to them
great and constant disquietude in the present, and serious
apprehension for the future. But as there is no man of leading and
commanding talents enough to show them the greatness of their
danger, and to provoke from the public the adequate means of
resisting it, there is nothing done by the Government, and they are
living on from day to day, conscious of all they have to fear, but
destitute of energy and activity, and submitting to a state of
things which could only be produced by the most extreme weakness
and incapacity; for you will certainly have remarked that the
little influence which Prussia exercises, either from her hopes or
fears, in Europe, is not owing to the defeat of any great and
ambitious projects, is not to be attributed to the disappointment
of any great plans, civil or military, but to a total absence of
any leading and governing talents in those who direct the measures
which prevail here.
It has been the fashion, I know, to consider the influencing men
here as having views and principles of a bad description, and as
being engaged in a systematic course of conduct pursued by them
with great address and dissimulation. It is perhaps presumptuous in
a stranger, as I am, to trust to any opinion formed upon so short a
residence amongst them, but if I am sure of anything, I tell myself
I may be sure that the miserable policy which is seen here is very
much more weak than wicked, and the wretched state of Government
much more to be attributed to the absence of great talents than the
influence of deep and dangerous designs. Whatever be the cause, the
effect is the same; and although it seems to be a pretty universal
opinion that Prussia must and will at length be driven into war,
they are content rather to let their enemy choose that moment for
the commencement of hostilities, than make common cause and fight
one common battle, which in my conscience I believe would be
successful. Indeed, the Austrian successes in driving the French to
the Rhine, if they are followed by similar success in Switzerland,
will almost justify one's hope that, even without Prussia, the
French may in this campaign be pushed back upon their own country;
and the continued state of insurrection in the Low Countries, where
the republican troops can scarcely restrain the inhabitants, give
good hopes on that side as soon as any solid force could be made to
bear in that quarter. The zeal and enthusiasm of the Court of
Petersburg increases every hour, and they will become very
immediately principals in the war against France, both by word and
deed.
In this immediate state of the negotiation, I am remaining here
more because there is an inclination in London to think I can do
good, than from any great good that is likely to be done. I am
very much obliged to you for your offer of a loan, which, however,
I hope will be unnecessary by the shortness of my stay. If that
should unexpectedly be prolonged, I will then have recourse to you
to assist by an advance the tardy payment of His Majesty's Envoys
Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary, who are always left in
arrears seven quarters for the better credit of the Court that
employs them. I hope my loss by the 'Proserpine' will turn out not
to exceed L600, as many things have been saved.
I trust you are now happy and well at Stowe. God bless you, dearest
brother.
By this time, Lord Buckingham had returned to England, and the next
despatch from Berlin is addressed to Stowe. The account of the
vacillation of the Court, and the sketch Mr. Grenville gives of the
King, are full of interest. Since he had last written, Suwaroff had
taken the command of the Austro-Russian armies in Italy, and in a short
time had expelled the French from the principal towns of the North,
which forced Macdonald to evacuate Naples, and cross the Apennines.