Lord Sandwich in Search of a Policy, 1765

Abstract

The election was won; Rudbeck was lantmarskalk; benchmen, electors, Secret Committee, were all firmly in the hands of the friends of England. Their success confronted Lord Sandwich with the need to come to a decision on three closely interlinked issues. First: was he to continue to pursue the plan of 31 August, once the “preliminary stage” of that plan had been completed, and to draw on the Civil List for the purpose of “keeping the party together” thereafter? Secondly: what concrete advantage for England should he try to obtain, in exchange for the support which had already been given to the Caps, and might continue to be given to them in the future? And thirdly: how far was he prepared to go in collaborating with Catherine in Stockholm? — a question which involved the much larger one of whether, in the immediate future, an Anglo-Russian alliance was attainable.