lly for some time, there is great
danger that all the republican elements she contains will be animated
by the new French spirit, and of this I believe the king is very
sensible.

[Sidenote: Russia.]

The Russian government is of all others the most liable to be subverted
by military seditions, by court conspiracies, and sometimes by headlong
rebellions of the people, such as the turbinating movement of Pugatchef.
It is not quite so probable that in any of these changes the spirit of
system may mingle, in the manner it has done in France. The Muscovites
are no great speculators; but I should not much rely on their
uninquisitive disposition, if any of their ordinary motives to sedition
should arise. The little catechism of the Rights of Men is soon learned;
and the inferences are in the passions.

[Sidenote: Poland.]

[Sidenote: Saxony.]

Poland, from one cause or other, is always unquiet. The new Constitution
only serves to supply that restless people with new means, at least new
modes, of cherishing their turbulent disposition. The bottom of the
character is the same. It is a great question, whether the joining that
crown with the Electorate of Saxony will contribute most to strengthen
the royal authority of Poland or to shake the ducal in Saxony. The
Elector is a Catholic; the people of Saxony are, six sevenths at the
very least, Protestants. He _must_ continue a Catholic, according to the
Polish law, if he accepts that crown. The pride of the Saxons, formerly
flattered by having a crown in the house of their prince, though an
honor which cost them dear,--the German probity, fidelity, and
loyalty,--the weight of the Constitution of the Empire under the Treaty
of Westphalia,--the good temper and good-nature of the princes of the
House of Saxony, had formerly removed from the people all apprehension
with regard to their religion, and kept them perfectly quiet, obedient,
and even affectionate. The Seven Years' War made some change in the
minds of the Saxons. They did not, I believe, regret the loss of what
might be considered almost as the succession to the crown of Poland, the
possession of which, by annexing them to a foreign interest, had often
obliged them to act an arduous part, towards the support of which that
foreign interest afforded no proportionable strength. In this very
delicate situation of their political interests, the speculations of the
French and German _Economists_, and the cabals, and the secre