233 



GUSTAVUS III. 



GUSTAVUS IV. 



234 



and Germany, groaning beneith the crueltits of a profligate soldiery, 

 had frequent occasion to regret the memory, and to wish for the 

 moderation and the discipline observed by the Swedish soldiers of 

 Gustavus. 



Gustavus Adolphus married, in 1621, Maria Eleonora, the sister of 

 the Duke of Mecklenburg, by whom he had one daughter, Christina, 

 who was hia successor. 



(Schiller; Westenrieder, Geschichte dea dreiasiy-jiihrigtn Erieget.) 



GUSTAVUS III., King of Sweden, bora in 1746, was the eldest 

 son of Adolphua Frederic, duke of Holstein, who, in consequence of 

 his marriage with Ulrica Louisa, the sister of Frederic II., had been 

 called to the Swedish throne in 1743. On the 12th of February 1771, 

 Gnatavus III. succeeded to the crown on the death of his father. The 

 country was at this time divided by two factions, the Hats and Caps, 

 as the aristocratic adherents to the Russian or French policy 

 respectively called themselves, who sacrificed the general good to 

 their own interests. Both parties were detested by the people on 

 account of their pride and oppression, and both parties were dangerous 

 to the crown through their aristocratic privileges. Gustavus took the 

 bold resolution of subverting both these parties with the assistance of 

 the people, and of acquiring more power and importance to the crown, 

 and giving more influence and effect to the democratic principle. 

 With this purpose he endeavoured to gain the good will of the militia 

 by the institution of hia new order of Vaaa, and by bestowing prefer- 

 ment upon subaltern officers of talent. Prince Charles, the brother of 

 the king, also travelled through the country, and secured the principal 

 military chiefs to his interest. The execution of the king's plans 

 against the States was commenced by the insurrection of the com- 

 mandant of Christianstadt, who issued a violent proclamation against 

 tho States-General. Gustavus behaved ai though he were much 

 irritated at this step, and sent Prince Charles with a powerful force 

 against Christianstadt, ostensibly to subdue the rebel, but in reality to 

 unite with him. On the 19th of August 1772, the king began to 

 follow out his plans in person. lie entered into the assembly of the 

 States, and fell into a violent dispute with some of the members. In 

 the meantime hia agents had secretly assembled all the military 

 officers of the capital, and from the chamber of the States the king 

 hurri d to tho meeting of officers. These officers, who had been long 

 attached to his cause, received his plan for the abrogation of the State 4 

 and the alteration of the constitution with loud applause. The 

 different regiments were assembled under arms, and the soldiers, in 

 the midst of continued cheers, swore inviolable obedience to the king. 

 Gustavus next proceeded to arrest the heads of the parties and the 

 most powerful members of the States, and publicly announced his 

 plans for the abolition of the old and the establishment of a new con- 

 stitution. On the same evening he received the congratulations of the 

 foreign ambassadors, and gave a grand dinner to celebrate his success. 

 The next day the magistracy of the capital took the oaths of fidelity, 

 and the States-General were invited to assemble. Gustavus, having 

 surrounded the assembly-house with soldiers and cannon, entered the 

 assemblage accompanied by his military staff, in order to submit to 

 them the proposed new constitution. This armed force was appa- 

 rently sufficient to subdue every scruple of the assembly ; but it iniut 

 be acknowledged that this constitution only restricted and circum- 

 scribed the privileges of the nobility, and did not infringe the liberties 

 of the citizens. It was accordingly received by the majority with real 

 satisfaction, and confirmed by oaths and signatures. Those who had 

 been arrested were immediately afterwards released, and the revolution 

 was completed. 



The nobility were silenced, but they nourished a secret hatred, 

 which at length broke out in the year 1738, when by their intrigues 

 they prevailed upon the States to refuse the supplies to the king while 

 engaged in hostilities with Russia and Denmark. The fidelity of the 

 Dalecarliana however, who proffered their services to the king, and 

 repulsed the enemy from Gothenburg when it was hardly pressed, 

 delivered the country. In order to free himself from the ever-active 

 intrigues of the nobles, the king resolved upon a new coup d'etat, 

 which he carried into execution on the 3rd of April 17&9, when he 

 caused the leaders of the opposition in the Diet to be arrested, and a 

 law to be passed, by which the royal prerogatives were very consider- 

 ably increased. The first revolutionary measure of Gustavus was 

 excusable on account of its patriotic object; but this second act of 

 violence must be condemned as a selfish and arbitrary measure. After 

 varying fortunes in the war, Quatavus concluded a peace on the 14th 

 of August 1790 with his foreign enemies, that he might be at liberty 

 to humble his domestic adversaries ; but the nobility, who appre- 

 hended the loss of all their privileges, resolved upon his death. 

 Accordingly they formed a conspiracy under the direction of Counts 

 Horn and Ribbing and Colonel Lilienhorn, and a nobleman named 

 Ankerstroem, whom he had personally offended, undertook to murder 

 him. Aukerstroem chose a marked ball, which was given on the 16th 

 of March 1792, at Stockholm, as the fittest opportunity for carrying 

 his design into effect. The king was warned by some anonymous 

 friend ; but he went to the ball, and was pointed out to the assassin 

 by Count Horn, who tapped him on the shoulder, and said " Good 

 evening, pretty m;i-k." Upon this Ankerstroem shot the king through 

 the body from behind, and mingled with the crowd of masks. Tho 

 kin; suffered with much firmness, and died on the 29th of March. Hig 



murderer was discovered and executed, and many of the conspirators 

 were banished out of the country. 



Gustavus III. was a prince of very distinguished talents; his original 

 intentions were noble, but prosperity corrupted him, and it became 

 his object to acquire despotic power. It is noteworthy that this king, 

 who as a statesman was so cool and self-possessed, was distinguished 

 as a poet by his warmth of feeling and his fancy. He was the author 

 of several highly-esteemed dramatic works ; and iu the Swedish 

 Academy, of which he was a member, he displayed a high degree of 

 eloquence iu various discourses upon historical and philosophical 

 subjects. Gustavus III. was a memorable example of a king uniting 

 himself with the democratic party in order to oppose the encroach- 

 ments of a powerful aristocracy. Had he been satisfied with his first 

 success, and firmly secured to himself the sympathy of his people, 

 the ambitious nobility, however unscrupulous, would hardly have 

 ventured on the perpetration of such a crime. 



(Posselt, Gustav III. von Schweden.) 



GUSTAVUS IV., King of Sweden, was born on the 1st of November 

 177S, and, after the murder of his father Gustavus III., ascended the 

 throne on the 29th of March 1792. This king, who by his conduct so 

 completely alienated the national feelings, that, forgetting his great 

 ancestors, they gave the throne of Gustavus Adolphus to a French- 

 man, displayed, while a prince, a capricious humour and an obstinacy 

 that bordered upon madness. He entered into a negociation for a 

 marriage with the grand-daughter of the Empress Catharine of Russia, 

 and suffered it to proceed so far that the whole court was assembled 

 in order to be present at the solemn ratification of the marriage 

 treaty. But instead of confirming the treaty, he departed secretly, 

 and shortly afterwards married a German princess of the house of 

 Baden. Of all the European monarchs he was the most zealous 

 partisan of legitimacy, and he proposed, as the great object of his life, 

 the restoration of the dethroned family of the Bourbons to the crown 

 of France. In 1803 he made a journey through Germany in order to 

 unite all the sovereign princes of the empire in arms against 

 Napoleon L; and to show his detestation of the usurper, he sent 

 back to the King of Prussia the order of the Black Eagle, because the 

 same distinction had been given to Napoleon. When Bonaparte con- 

 cluded peace with Germany in 1806, Gustavus IV., through his 

 ambassador, declared that he would no longer take any part in tho 

 proceedings of the Diet while it remained under the influence of a 

 usurper. Nothing more was required to make him break off all diplo- 

 matic relations with the most powerful courts of Europe than an 

 approach on their part to friendly relations with Napoleon. He thus 

 involved his country iu indescribable difficulties, irritated all his 

 neighbours, and showed by his conduct that he would not scruple to 

 sacrifice his people's welfare to his unreasoning obstinacy. His wars 

 and negotiations exhausted the poverty of Sweden, and the inhabit- 

 ants sighed beneath an intolerable burden of taxes. Even England, 

 his only ally, whom he certainly could not reproach with any friendly 

 feelings towards Napoleon, he contrived to offend by his conduct. 

 Upon the English government sending him a message with some well- 

 grounded complaints, he broke off with this power also, and ordered 

 all the English ships in Swedish harbours to be laid under embargo. 



The Swedes Boon became tired of seeing themselves sacrificed to 

 the extravagant follies of this Don Quixote of legitimacy, and the 

 most influential patriots began seriously to consider how they could 

 rescue their country from total destruction. Gustavus appears to 

 have discovered through his spies that a storm was gathering about 

 him, and either in order to avert it, or to make himself safe in any 

 event, he endeavoured to possess himself of the funds deposited in the 

 Bank of Sweden. At first he made an attempt to get the money into 

 his hands by means of a proposed loan of eighty-two millions of 

 Swedish rix-dollars (about twelve millions sterling), but as the bank 

 commissioners refused to comply with this demand he resolved to 

 carry his plan into effect by force. 



On the 12th of March 1809 he repaired to tho bank, accompanied 

 by a detachment of military, with the intention of taking possession 

 of the money deposited there. The commissioners of the bank had 

 applied for protection to the Diet, and the Diet had directed Generals 

 Klingspor and Adlerkreutz to divert the king from his intention by 

 persuasion, or to prevent him by force. The generals met the king 

 in the court of the bank buildings, and endeavoured to make him 

 aware of the impropriety of his conduct ; but Gustavus treated them 

 as rebels, and ordered the soldiers to remove them from his presence 

 by force. Adlerkreutz then advanced, seized the king by tho breast, 

 and cried with a loud voice " In the name of the nation, I arrest 

 thee, Gustavus Vasa, as a traitor." Of the soldiers who were present, 

 about forty endeavoured to defend the king, but the majority 

 followed the call of the general to carry into effect the orders of the 

 Diet. Gustavus defended himself with desperation, and it was only 

 by force that they could disarm him. He tore himself loose from the 

 hands of the soldiers, and had very nearly escaped, but was again 

 secured, and confined in an apartment, wheie for several hours he 

 raged like a madman. Immediately upon the arrest of Gustavus, 

 Duke Charles of Sudermania issued a proclamation, in which he 

 announced that he had been called to tho head of a regency, and 

 exhorted the people to quietness till the decision of the States-General 

 should be promulgated. On the 2 1th of March Gustavus was brought 



