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4]  ANNUAL REGISTER For the YEAR 1772  [5
expected. The extraordinary power to which the houses of Austria and Brandenburg have risen within a few years, was already sufficiently alarming to the other parts of the body. Their natural jealousy, and acquired animosity, seemed however to counteract their ambition, and to afford a tolerable security, that they would not join in any scheme destructive to the other states; at the same time, that their near equality, made it impossible for one to be dangerous while opposed by the other.
The hopes founded upon these specious appearances were but short-lived. By one of those extraordinary movements of the human mind, which are as little to be foreseen as accounted for, and of those unexpected revolutions, which at certain times take place in all human affairs, the emperor is become a personal admirer of the King of Prussia, and these two irreconcilable enemies, enter into a combination with a third, whom they both mortally hated and feared, to join in the destruction of a power with whom they were all in alliance, who could not be dangerous or prejudicial to any of them, and whom they were all bound to protect by the most sacred of treaties, guarantees, and declarations. 
 It is but a poor satisfaction for the present sufferers to reflect, upon what may afford some instruction to posterity in the event, the the ruinous effects of this cruel, unjust, and short-sighted system of policy, may in all human probability, most fatally revert upon the two powers, who have so unnaturally entered into the combination. Poland was the natural barrier of Germany, as well as of the northern crowns, against the overwhelming power and ambition of Russia. Some small alterations in the system of government, which might have been accomplished with little violence, and infinite benefit to the Poles, would have rendered this barrier inexpugnable. If the princes of Saxony, who so long governed this country had profited of their advantage, this reformation in the government of Poland would have long since taken place. A great writer of a former age affirmed, that if ever the Turks conquered Germany, it must be through Poland; it may now with greater justice be affirmed, that it is the road by which the Russians will enter Germany.
 The two northern crowns are likely to be as much affected by this revolution in the state of Poland, as the Germanic body; tho' the effects may not be so speedily felt by the former. The Danish poffessions, in Holstein, particularly, will be in a very precarious situation. The Grand Duke of Russia is a dangerous neighbour to a weak state. In the prefent inftance, it is worse than neighbourhood, as the two princes have a joint dominion in a great number of districts, and even towns, in their mixed territories; the limits in others, can never be exactly ascertained; and the rights or claims in all, would afford room for endless litigation. Ancient griefs and injuries might also be easily revived, had not the present times already clearly demonstrated, that where there is sufficient force to support a claim, all appearances of right and justice are totally unnecessary.
 What effect this new partition may have upon the other states of Europe, will depend in a great measure upon situation, and upon the extent and nature of their commerce. France must behold with the greatest uneasiness a new arrangement of power, which threatens totally to unhinge the ancient system of Germany and the North. Though she had not been a member of the Germanic body, it would notwithstanding have been a matter of the greatest importance to her, from situation and neighbourhood only. Other causes also conspire, independent of security, to make this measure extremely odious. By the lead which she had for so many years assumed in the affairs of Europe, she had acquired a habit of being looked up to, and by the address and dexterity of her ministers, all negociation and intrigue seemed to originate from them. It must therefore be very galling, exclusive of all other considerations, to see a measure of so extraordinary a nature adopted and nearly executed, without her participation or consent; at the same time that it calls up an unwelcome recollection of that weakness, which has hitherto tied her down to be a mere spectator.
  It is however believed, and probably with justice, that she has disbursed very considerable sums of money in support of the confederacies in Poland. The number of French officers who were upon that service was also too great, to admit of any doubt of their having, at least, the sanction of government. It is alfo supposed, and seems equally probable, that France was neither wanting in her endeavours to engage the Porte in the war with Russia, nor in preventing the conclufion of a peace between those powers. What effect her negociations in Sweden, and her apparent influence upon the prefent king, may be productive of, cannot be determined: if it be true, as has been reported, that France is negociating with some of the German princes for their troops, there can be little doubt that she still intends to take an active concern in the affairs of Poland.
 The maritime powers are far from being uninterested in the fate of that country. Every thing commercial is interesting to them; and they carried on by the way of Dantzick and the Vistula a prodigious trade, even with the most remote and interior provinces. By the present partition, the King of Prussia becomes master of the whole sea coast, of the Vistula, and consequently of the whole commerce of that vast country. He at the same time takes possession of all the great trading cities and towns, of the richest and best cultivated provinces, and though his share is the least with respect to extent, he is at once seized of all the mercantile, manufacturing, and industrious part of the nation.
 What security the maritime powers have obtained for the continuance of their rights, and the preservation of their free liberty of commerce, has not yet been laid before the public. Undoubtedly they have obtained full security upon these heads, as the enterprizing character of that prince is too well known to admit of the smalleft negligence in these particulars.
 This prince had always a strong inclination to become a maritime power. He has, or may very soon have, all the means of becoming so; but a marine is a work of time, even with the greatest natural advantages. The King of Prussia is not young - and it might require
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