English Translation

- 33 Catherine II was also aware of the fact that Russia's advance to the Black Sea and further to the Middle Sea near England had to be rejected, since the direct connection between Russia and the Mediterranean countries which has now arisen meant an injury to English trade, which so far has mediated between these countries and Russia. As early as 1769, Katharina warns her ambassador in London of the English friendship testimony: "Friends and enemies envy us our successes, and already that we acquire access to the Black Sea is reason for the English to be jealous; they think The first division of Poland in 772 is accepted by England without any contradiction and without a single word of commitment to the Poles - despite France's attempts to cause England to 2) a joint protest. The American War of Independence in England strengthens the tendency for an alliance with Russia. It is hoped that, as one buys cannon fodder for America from German small princes, Russian troops will also be preserved for the fight against the insurgent colony. Katharina is willing to form an alliance, but demands the exclusion of the English-American war as an alliance fall. Of course, this was not the service of the English. In vain, the English envoy James Harris, the later Earl of Malmesbury, made an attack and defense alliance with Catherine in 1777-1778. With the growth of the American difficulties of the English and the progressive rapprochement of Russia and France on south-eastern European issues, Russia's tendency to an alliance is diminishing. The Russian envoy Simolin is instructed to deal with non-binding generalities compared to alliance proposals for 1) Gerhard, p.l08-109. 2) Čečulin S.45l; Aleksandrenko 2, p.42; Solov'ev, Ístorija Rossii, vol.28, Moskva 1878; p.4l3; Gerhard wrongly speaks of an English protest - correct against p.297. 3) Brückner S.389; Alecsandrenko 1, p.41-50. 4) AlekSandrenzo 1, pp.51.