188] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



the restoration of the relations of 

 peace and commerce between the 

 two nations on the footing whereon 

 they stood on the 1st of January 

 1791, and an engagement on the 

 part of the king of Great Britain 

 to concert measures with the 

 Swedish government for the secu- 

 rity and independence of Sweden, 

 in case she should undergo any at- 

 tack in resentment of the treaty 

 «now entered into. 



The interview between the 

 crown prince and the emperor of 

 Russia at Abo has already been 

 noticed. This circumstance, with 

 the assembling of a fleet at Gotten- 

 burgh apparently for the embarka- 

 tion of a body of troops, excited 

 great expectations in the north of 

 some immediate co-operation on 

 the part of Sweden with the armies 

 of Russia ; although the cautious 

 language of the king and prince to 

 the states seemed clearly to limit 

 the intentions of the Swedish go- 

 vernment to merely defensive mea- 

 sures. It is true, the opportunity 

 might have been taken, of an at- 

 tempt to recover Pomerania, while 

 the French armies were otherwise 

 employed ; but the final success of 

 the campaign was yet dubious ; and 

 Sweden, by keeping up a respect- 

 able neutrality, might hope to ob- 

 tain on easy terms by negociation, 

 what could only be gained at great 

 cost and hazard by war. The 

 marching of troops towards the 

 sea-ports was, however, continued 

 till the month of October, when 

 the lateness of the season began to 

 render faint the expectation of the 

 sailing of an expedition during the 

 current year. In fact, whateve» 

 might have been the motive for 

 Iteeping up appear;mces of this 

 kind, the Swedish government 



steadily adhered to a plan which 

 can scarcely be doubted to have 

 been dictated by the soundest 

 policy relative to the circumstances 

 of the country. Exhausted as it 

 was by a former war, and by no 

 means free from party dissension 

 at home (of which sufficient in- 

 timations are given in the king's 

 speech to the diet), it would have 

 been the height of imprudence to 

 have plunged into a dangerous 

 quarrel ; and the firm assertion of 

 the national independence was 

 glory enough for one of the se- 

 condary states of Europe, at a time 

 when so many of the first class 

 were reduced to a condition which 

 rendered them the mere satellites of 

 overgrown power. With respect 

 to Sweden we have only further 

 to mention, that its government 

 concluded a treaty of peace with 

 the regency of Spain acting in the 

 iiameof Ferdinand VII., thus bind- 

 ing itself still more firmly to the 

 cause opposed to that of France. 



Denmark, overawed, robbed, 

 impoverished, could scarcely do 

 more in this revolutionary state of 

 the north than give some tokens of 

 her existence as an independent 

 country. Her continental posses- 

 sions entirely at the mercy of 

 France, it could not be expected 

 that, even if willing, she should 

 desert the anti-commercial system 

 imposed by its ruler, how grievous 

 soever to her own mercantile in- 

 terest ; and it was enough not to 

 be compelled to follow in the train 

 of dependents which Napoleon led 

 to the subjugation of her former 

 great ally . She still carried on a 

 petty maritime war with England, 

 of which some of the events appear 

 i n our account of naval transactions ; 

 and her flotillas possessed enterprize 



and 



