Chap, 
and its Inhabitants. 
beneficial Employments,' enables them fufficiently to 
fupport their Dignity with becoming Magnificence. 
The King is not at Liberty to fill up the Number, 
upon a Vacancy, but muft wait till the Dyet aflembles ; 
when the Secret Committee propofes to his Majefty the 
Names of three Perfons for each Vacancy, one of which 
he appoints. The Order of Peafants was formerly ex- 
cluded from the Secret Committee, which they thought 
very hard, and, made frequent Struggles in order to gain 
Admittance ; in which, till within thefe few Years, they 
were always unfuccefsful. But the laft War with Rujfia 
enabled them to carry their Point, and to gain En- 
trance for their Deputies ; the other Ordefs, however, 
attempted to exclude them again in the prefent Dyet, but 
mifcarried *, fo that in all Probability they will be con- 
ftantly admitted for the: future. 
9. The Conquefts made by Sweden in the laft Age, 
were not fo much owing to its native Strength, as to the 
foreign AlTiftance of Germans^ French^ Englijh^ and efpe- 
cially Scots^ of whom they have ufed great Numbers in 
all their Wars with Mufccvy^ Poland^ Germany^ and Den- 
mark ; and by them the Art of War and Military Difci- 
pline has been by Degrees introduced into this Nation, 
that in former Times had only the Advantage of Courage 
and Numbers : For though the original Conlfitution of the 
Country, and its Divifion into Hundreds and other large 
Portions, that ftill retain Military Names, feems to have 
been the Work of Armies, and the frequent Expeditions 
of the Goths, and other Inhabitants of thofe Parts, fhew 
that in all Ages they were addifted to War and Violence, 
yet it was in a tumultuous manner, their Infantry always 
confifting of unexperienced Peafants raifed for the Occa- 
lion, and difbanded as foon as it was over. 
The Feudal Laws indeed provided for a competent 
Number of Cavalry, all Eftates of the Nobility and 
Gentry being held by Knights-Service : And while the 
Kingdom was eleftive, the Kings were bound to maintain 
fome Horfe out of the Revenue of the Crown. But this 
Eftablilhment had been in a great meafure corrupted, 
and the Kingdom fo fliattered by domeftic Broils, that it 
made a very inconfiderable Figure, and was little known 
in Europe till the Crown became hereditary, and the In- 
terefl; of the Royal Family confifted in the Strength and 
Profperity of the Nation. Since that Time the ftanding 
Forces of the Kingdom have been augmented, yet not fo 
effeftually eftabliihed as its Neceffides required •, for it 
generally happened that the Nobility and Gentry were fo 
backward in fitting out their Florfe, and the Levies of 
Foot not being to be made without the Confent of the 
Peafants in the Aifembly of the States, it was fo hardly 
obtained, that the Regiments were very thin, and Recruits 
extreme difficult j nor were the Officers Salaries fo 
pimaually paid as to enable them to be in Readinefs on 
all Occafions. 
To remedy thefe Inconveniences, Charles the Xlth, on 
whom the States had conferred an abfolute Power to put 
the Militia into fuch a Method as he fhould think fit, 
made fuch Regulations in all the Particulars relating to 
this Matter,^ as were required to bring it to Perfeftion. 
The new Injundfions he made about the Cavalry that 
the Nobility and Gentry Ynrnifhed, are fo exadf, that it is 
not in their Power to put either the Men or the Horfe, 
that are once liiled, to other Employments than what are 
there fpecified ; but muft have them in a continual Rea- 
dinefs whenever they are called upon, with fuch Arms 
and Equipage as his Majefty hath directed ; in default of 
which, fevere Penalties are inflided, and the Eftates they 
hold by that Service, fubjed to Confifcation. 
For the Infantry the King has taken the like Care *, and 
whereas formerly Levies could not be made but by Confent 
of the States, and that but by fmall Parcels at a time, and 
with fuch Difturbance, that on thefe Occafions it was 
ufual for half the Peafants to run into the Woods and 
other hiding Places, to efcape being Soldiers : This has 
been remedied by the King’s Commiffioners, who have 
diftribiited the Infantry of each Province proportionably 
to the Number of Farms, each of which of the Value 
of above fixty or feventy Pounds aYear (not being appro- 
priated to the Officers or other peculiar Services) is 
charged with one Foot Soldier, who receives from the 
Farmer, Diet, Lodging, ordinary Cloths, and about 
twenty Shillings a Year in Money ; or elfe a little wooden 
Houfe is built for him at the Farmer’s Charge^ who 
muft alfo furniffi him with as much Flay as will keep a 
Cow in Winter, and Pafture in Summer, and plough and 
fow for him fuch a Parcel of Ground as Will afford him 
Bread : They that are married generally accept this latter 
Condition. The unmarried Soldiers ufually lodge with 
the Farmer ; but are not bound to do him any Service 
without Wages. When they have onCe taken the Farmer’s 
Money, and are lifted into the King’s Service, they can 
never quit it fo long as they are able to ferve j and if 
they defert are punifhed with Death. 
The firft Inftitution of this Method was Very burden- 
fome to the Peafants, who were at great Charge to hire 
their Men, which coft fourteen, and fometimes twenty 
Pounds apiece; and the fame whenever their Soldiers diedi 
This in peaceable Times will not be fo chargeable as it 
is in Times of War, when Men are unwilling to ferve, 
and Recruits more frequently needed. As all die common 
Soldiers are thus provided for at the Country’s Expence, fo 
all Officers both of Horfe and Foot, are maintained by 
the King, who hath appointed fo much of the Lands 
lately reunited, or formerly belonging to the Crown, to 
that Purpofe : So that every Officer hath a convenient 
Houfe and competent Portion of Land to live upon, 
fituate in that part of the Country where the Regiment 
he belongs to is quartered ; as alfo the Rent of fo many 
other Farms as make up his Pay eighteen Pounds, though 
it befomewhat lefs than formerly *, yet, being punctually 
paid either in Money, Corn, or other Commodities, they 
find it more profitable than when they were to follicit for 
it at the Treafury : A Colonel of Foot has of thefe Lands 
the yearly Rent of about three hundred Pounds, and the 
reft proportionably *, which amounts to about two thou- 
fand five hundred Pounds aYear for all the Officers of 
one Foot Regiment ; and there being in Sweden, Finland, 
and Leifland, twenty Regiments of Foot under this 
Eftablifhment, the Maintenance of all the Officers be- 
longing to them cofts the King about fifty thoufand 
Pounds a Year. What Charge the Cloathing of the com- 
mon Soldiers once in two or three Years, their Arms 
and other Neceffaries may put the King to, cannot be fo 
eafily computed. 
The Officers of Horfe are provided for after the fame 
manner, with fuch larger Allowance as is requifite : There 
are fifteen Regiments of Horfe thus eftablillied, and the 
Maintenance of their Officers is computed to be about 
eighty thoufand Pounds a Year ; all which arifes from 
the Rents of Crown- Lands, as do alfo the Wages of 
Civil Officers in the Country, who have Farms annexed 
to their Employments in the fame Manner as the Militia, 
The Laws the King has made for maintaining this Con- 
ftitution are very exaCt, and provide with great Caution, 
that neither the Peafants fhall be oppreffed, nor the Lands 
and Houfes ruined ; to which End all fuch Lands are 
yearly vifited, and the Poffeffor compelled to make fuch 
Repairs as are found needful ; And as every Officer upon 
his firft coming to fuch anEftate, fubfcribes an Inventory 
of it, fo upon Advancement he cannot take Poffeffion of 
another Charge till he hath put the Eftate into as good a 
Condition as he found it ; and in Cafe of Death, his Heirs 
cannot inherit till that be done. 
In Times of Peace, all Trefpafles committed by the 
Soldiery fall ordinarily under the Cognizance of a Civil 
Magiftrate, who has the fame Authority over them, as 
over the reft of the King’s Subjedls, except when they 
are encamped, or in Garrifon, or any way under flying 
Colours ; in ail which Cafes, as alfo in Matters that re- 
late folely to their Profeffion, their Officers have Jurif- 
didion over them, without whofe Leave a private Soldier 
is not permitted to lodge out of his Quarters, or be out a 
Day from the Parifli he belongs to. 
The inferior Officers cannot be abfent from their Charge 
but by the Colonel’s Permiffion ; nor Captains, nor thofe 
above them, without the King’s Leave ; and the good 
Effed of the Officers conftant Refidence upon their re- 
fpedive Charges, appears in the quiet and peaceable Be- 
haviour 
