That the diminution of the influence of the house of Bourbon is not an
empty opinion, which we easily receive, because we wish it to be true;
that other nations, likewise, see the same events with the same
sentiments, and prognosticate the decline of that power which has so
long intimidated the universe, appears from the declaration now made
by his majesty of the conduct of the Swedish court.
That nation which was lately governed by the counsels, and glutted
with the bounties of France, which watched the nod of her mighty
patroness, and made war at her command against the Russian empire, now
begins to discover, that there are other powers more worthy of
confidence and respect, more careful to observe their engagements, or
more able to fulfil them. She, therefore, requests the British monarch
to extricate her from those difficulties, in which she is entangled by
a blind compliance with French dictates, to restore to her the
dismembered provinces, and recall that enemy which now impends over
her capital, and whom the French have neither interest to appease, nor
strength to resist.
Such, my lords, is the present prospect which offers itself to him who
surveys Europe with a political view, and examines the present
interest and dispositions of neighbouring potentates; such is the
order which has been produced from general confusion, and such the
reestablishment of equal power, which has succeeded these concussions
of the world.
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