SWEDEN. 
(avus in a very noble speech determined the matter, and set 
forth in such strong terms the virtuous motives by which he was 
actuated, that every thing was granted which he could require. 
A sanguinary series of battles, managed by the Swedish 
king, with consummate address took place, and in these, in 
various successes and defeats, and in the siege and capture of 
many of the finest towns in Germany, the time was con¬ 
sumed, until the year 1633, when Gustavus was killed at the 
battle of Lutzen, and the crown devolved on Christiana, 
daughter of Gustavus, an infant of six years old ; the nation 
vras engaged in an expensive foreign war, without any per¬ 
son equal to the arduous task of commanding the armies, or 
regulating domestic affairs. Christiana was immediately 
proclaimed queen. The regency devolved on the grand 
bailiff, the marisehal, the high admiral, the chancellor, and 
the treasurer of the crown. And Oxtenstiern was invested 
with the chief management of affairs. 
The chief that employed Christiana while she was upon 
the throne, was the peace of Westphalia, in which many 
clashing interests were to be reconciled, and many claims to 
be ascertained. It was concluded in the month of October, 
1648. The success of the Swedish arms rendered Christiana 
the arbitress of this treaty; at least as to the affairs of Swe¬ 
den, to which this peace confirmed the possession of many 
important countries. No public event of importance took 
place during the rest of Christiana’s reign; for there were 
neither wars abroad, nor troubles at home. This quiet might 
be the effect of chance; but it might also be the effect of 
a good administration, and the great reputation of the queen ; 
and the love her people had for her ought to lead us to this 
determination. Her reign was that of learning and genius; 
and she drew about her, wherever she was, all the distin¬ 
guished characters of her time. 
Charles Gustavus, Count Palatine, having gained the 
favour of Christiana, was appointed generalissimo of the 
forces, and heir-apparent to the crown. A marriage was 
proposed between them; but the queen would never listen 
to this or any other proposal of the kind. In 1650, the ce¬ 
remony of the queen’s coronation was performed; but in four 
years after, she resigned the crown in favour of Gustavus. 
The new king found himself involved in considerable 
difficulties on his accession to the throne. The treasury was 
quite exhausted; great part of the revenue was appointed 
for the support of Christiana’s household ; the people were 
oppressed with taxes; and the nation having been disarmed 
for several years, began to lose its reputation among foreign¬ 
ers. To remedy these evils, Charles proposed to resume all 
the crown-lands which had been alienated by grants to fa¬ 
vourites during the late reign ; to repeal a duty which had 
been laid on salt; to put the kingdom in a posture of de¬ 
fence ; and to enter on a war with some neighbouring state. 
Under a pretence that Casimar king of Poland had questioned 
his title to the throne, he prepared to invade that kingdom. 
The Poles were defeated, and the kingdom reduced. 
In 1656, a war took place with the elector of Brandenburgh. 
While Charles was employed in the conquest of Poland, 
that prince had invaded Royal and Ducal Prussia, and re¬ 
duced the most considerable towns with little opposition. 
The kind of Sweden took umbrage at his progress; and 
having marched against him, defeated his forces in several 
slight encounters, and obliged him to acknowledge himself a • 
vassal of Sweden, These rapid conquests alarmed all Europe; 
and the Poles were no sooner assured that they should be 
assisted by foreign powers, than they every where revolted 
and massacred the Swedes. Charles immediately marched 
from Prussia to chastise the insolence of the Poles, and totally 
defeated a body of 12,000 men. This did not hinder all the 
Poles incorporated with his troops to desert; which consi¬ 
derably reduced his army; and the campaign being per¬ 
formed in the depth of winter, he was at last obliged to re¬ 
treat to Prussia. In his march he was harassed by the Poles; 
and a body of 4000 Swedes was surprised and defeated by 
them at Warka. This loss, however, was soon after recom¬ 
pensed by a complete victory gained by Adolphus the king’s 
brother, and General Wrangel. 
787 
Charles now gained over the elector of Brandenburgh, 
by ceding to him the sovereignty of Prussia, that he might 
beat liberty to turn his whole strength against Poland; but 
the elector had so procrastinated matters, that the Poles 
having obtained assistance from the Tartars, had reduced the 
city of Warsaw. The Poles and Tartars were defeated with 
great slaughter. A more formidable enemy than the Poles 
now began to make their appearance. The Russians invaded 
the provinces of Carelia, Ingermania, and Livonia; they 
were repulsed in the provinces of Carelia and Ingermania ; 
but in Livonia they had better success. For seven months, 
however, they battered the walls of Riga, without venturing 
to pass the ditch or storm the practicable breaches. 
The king of Hungary, the Turks, the town of Austria and 
the Danes united the Poles in attacking Charles. After 
many brilliant and successful campaigns, he died of an epi¬ 
demic fever, and was succeeded by his son Charles XL in 
1660. 
The new king was a minor at the time of his father’s death; 
and as the kingdom was involved in a dangerous war with so 
many enemies, the regency determined to conclude a peace, 
if it could be obtained on reasonable terms. A treaty was 
accordingly concluded at Oliva; and during the minority of 
the king, nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Swe¬ 
den. In 1672, he entered into alliance with Louis XIV., 
which two years after involved him in a war with the elector 
of Brandenburg; and from this time the Swedes continued 
to fight with various success, during his reign. When he 
-made peace with Denmark, a marriage took place between 
Charles and Ulrica Eleonora, daughter to the king of Den¬ 
mark. From this time the Swedish monarch applied him¬ 
self to the reformation of the state; and by artfully managing 
the disputes between the nobility and peasants he obtained a 
decree empowering him to alter the constitution as he pleased. 
On the 15th of April, 1697, died Charles XI., leaving his 
crown to his son, the celebrated Charles XII., at that time a 
minor. On his accession he found himself under the tuition 
of his grandmother Eleonora, who had governed the king¬ 
dom during the minority of the late king. Though Charles 
was at that time only 15 years of age, he showed a desire 
of taking the government into his own hands; and was in¬ 
vested with absolute authority in three days after he had 
expresssed his desire. He was scarcely seated on the throne 
when a powerful combination was formed against him. 
Augustus, king of Poland, formed designs on Livonia; the 
king of Denmark revived the disputes he had with the duke 
of Holstein, as a prelude to a war with Sweden, and Peter 
the Great of Russia began to form designs on Ingria, for¬ 
merly a province of Russia. In 1699, the king of Denmark 
marched an army into Holstein. Charles sent a considerable 
body of troops to the duke’s assistance ; but before their 
arrival the Danes had ravaged the country, taken the castle 
of Gottorp, and laid close siege to Tonningen. Here the 
king of Denmark commanded in person; and was assisted 
by the troops of Saxony, Brandenburg, Wolfenbuttle, and 
Hesse Cassel. England and Holland, as guarantees of the 
last treaty with Denmark, in concert with Sweden, joined 
Charles against this confederacy, and sent fleets to the Baltic. 
In the year 1700, Charles, having entrusted the affairs 
of the nation with a council chosen out of the senate, set 
out on the 8th May from his capital, to which he never 
afterwards returned. He embarked at Carlscroon, and de¬ 
feated the fleet of the allies. Having made a descent on the 
island of Zealand, he defeated a body of cavalry that opposed 
his march, and then proceeded to invest Copenhagen by sea 
and land, and obliged the Danes to make peace; then he 
marched against the Russians. The contest that ensued 
between Charles and Peter, with the celebrated battles of 
Narva and Pultava, have been already related under Russia, 
so that we shall here confine ourselves chiefly to those events 
in which Peter the Great was not immediately concerned. 
In 1701, as early as the season permitted, Charles, having 
received a reinforcement from Sweden, marched against the 
Saxons, and entirely defeated them. He then formed a 
scheme for dethroning Augustus; and in 1704, this king was 
formally 
