HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



249 



accommodated the Swedish go- 

 vernment with tlie loan of more 

 than 300,000^. sterling, at four per 

 cent interest. These acts of be- 

 neficence he had promised before 

 his election; and he kept his 

 word. 



His installation took place on 

 the first of November, in the pre- 

 sence of the assembled diet. The 

 speech he addressed on this occa- 

 sion to the States was highly flat- 

 tering ; perhaps it was not altoge- 

 ther insincere. " The favours." 

 he said, '■ they had conferred on 

 him, he felt the more, as they 

 were unexpected, and he was 

 firmly resolved to fulfil the duties 

 they had imposed on him with 

 zeal and integrity. Bred in camps, 

 I bring you a frank and loyal 

 soul ; an absolute devotcdness to 

 the king, my august father ; an 

 ardent desire to do every thine for 

 the happiness of my new countr}'. 

 With such intentions I hope to do 

 good. Peace is the only glorious 

 object of a wise and enlightened 

 government. The laws, the in- 

 dustry, the national spirit of a 

 state, and not its extent, consti- 

 tute its strength and independence. 

 It behoves the Swedes to perse- 

 vere in maintaining their honour 

 untarnished ; and while, submit- 

 ting to the decrees of Providence, 

 to recollect, that it had left them 

 a soil sufficient to supply their 

 wants, and iron to defend it." 



About the middle of November, 

 the Swedish government, at the 

 requisition of Buonaparte.declared 

 its adherence to the continental 

 system. War was declared against 

 Great Britain and Ireland ; all in« 

 tercourse with the British domi- 

 nions was prohibited ; and the 



importation of colonial produce in- 

 terdicted. 



On the 13th of November, the 

 late king of Sweden, the unfor- 

 tunate Gustavus IV. in the course 

 of a languishing and wandering 

 life, arrived in England, under the 

 title of count Gottorp. The par- 

 ticular object of this visit has not 

 transpired, though it may easily 

 be divined. He was received with 

 due sympathy, honour, and regard 

 by the court, the government, and 

 the nation. He avoided all state, 

 declined to accept the offer of pe- 

 cuniary aid, and lived, for the short 

 time he remained in this country, 

 as a private gentleman. He left 

 London, March 26, 1811, for 

 Yarmouth, and proceeded from 

 thence to Heligoland on board a 

 British frigate. 



Gustavus Adolphus was an he- 

 roic prince, in a corrupt age ; pos- 

 sessed of all the virtues except 

 prudence : for, without discretion, 

 heroism itself is but a splendid 

 madness ; though it seems strange 

 to affirm, that what would be 

 virtue in an heroic, that is, a vir- 

 tuous age, ceases to be virtue in 

 an age, not heroic, and not virtu- 

 ous. If all the sovereign princes 

 of Europe had acted like the king 

 of Sweden, the ancient thrones 

 would have been preserved, and 

 public law, the law of nature and 

 nations, still respected. Yet it must 

 be admitted that his dethronement 

 was an act of necessity. Like 

 his renowned predecessor, Charles 

 XII. and his father, Gustavus III. 

 who was also an hero, in courage 

 and firmness of mind, not inferior 

 to Charles, he was more concern- 

 ed for personal glory than for the 

 good of his subjects. But the de* 



