resolution she declared to me in express words._ When this
transpired--and Count Panin was the first who knew it--he became my
implacable and inveterate enemy. He not only thwarted by falsehoods and
by a most undue exertion of his influence my public negotiations, but
employed every means the lowest and most vindictive malice could suggest
to depreciate and injure me personally; and from the very infamous
accusations with which he charged me, had I been prone to fear, I might
have apprehended the most infamous attacks at his hands. This relentless
persecution still continues; it has outlived his Ministry.
_Notwithstanding the positive assurances I had received from the Empress
herself_, he found means, first to stagger, and afterwards to alter her
resolutions. He was, indeed, very officiously assisted by his Prussian
Majesty, who, at the time, was as much bent on oversetting our interest
as he now seems eager to restore it. I was not, however, disheartened by
this first disappointment, and, by redoubling my efforts, _I have twice
more, during the course of my mission, brought the Empress to the verge_
(!) _of standing forth our professed friend_, and, each time, my
_expectations were grounded on assurances from her own mouth_. The first
was when _our enemies conjured up the armed_ neutrality;[10] the other
WHEN MINORCA WAS OFFERED HER. Although, on the first of these occasions,
I found the same opposition from the same quarter I had experienced
before, yet I am compelled to say that the principal cause of my failure
was attributable to the very awkward manner in which we replied to the
famous neutral declaration of February, 1780. As I well knew from what
quarter the blow would come, I was prepared to parry it. _My opinion
was: 'If England feels itself strong enough to do without Russia, let it
reject at once these new-fangled doctrines; but if its situation is such
as to want assistance, let it yield to the necessity of the hour,
recognise them as far as they relate to_ RUSSIA ALONE, _and by a
well-timed act of complaisance insure itself a powerful friend._'[11] My
opinion was _not_ received; an ambiguous and trimming answer was given;
_we seemed equally afraid to accept or dismiss them. I was instructed
secretly to oppose, but avowedly to acquiesce in them_, and some
unguarded expressions of one of its then confidential servants, made use
of in speaking to Mr. Simolin, in direct contradiction to the temperate
and cordia