English Translation

46 -43 - the English ambassador to Petersburg, Sir-Charles Whitworth emphasizes: "If we cannot consider the Russians as our friends, it is our interest to crush them as our enemies to the greatest possible weakness" and: "Russia must be pushed down to its proper place". Especially in the first of these sentences, the English self-examination is particularly clear, for it says in the complete English text: "If we are not to consider them as friends, it becomes our in- terest to render them as little formidable enemies as possible, and in so doing we ensure the equilibrium of the North, and rescue the greatest part of Europe from the calamities with which it isthrectened."l) The most effective means to bring Russia to its knees was to break down trade relations. England always prefers the economic war to the fight with the weapons. "If England can get along for a few years without the Russian materials or get them at higher prices from elsewhere, Russia will certainly ask for mercy and England will be able to impose the toughest conditions on it", wrote the Prussian envoy 2) in Petersburg Goltz to Berlin on 4 March l79l. But the prerequisite was that the English people and the authoritative English capitalists were prepared to take upon themselves the hardships associated with it. It soon became apparent that a struggle against Russia in England was anything but popular, since one did not see its necessity. Although the younger Pitt succeeds in obtaining the approval of his ministry for an ultimatum of ten days to Russia, which demanded the adoption of the status quo and, in the event of rejection, with the dispatch of a squadron of Prussia, which follows England's action and then is England' s mainland dedge against Russia 1) From 16 May 1790 to Gerhard, p.322, Amm,144. 3) Gerhard S.345,