1778. mother, the queen dowager, was appointed governess of the Swedish provinces in Germany. In the first diet, however, which met A. D. after the revolution, it was manifest that the seeds of dissention had taken deep root in the minds even of those who filled the highest offices of the state. In this assembly the king endeavoured to re-establish the ancient classes of the Swedish nobles; the high nobility, the equestrian order, and the gentry. Each class was to vote separately; and, as every question was to be decided by the majority of the classes, which Gustavus flattered himself would be easily obtained, he hoped that the people would be amused with the show of representation, while the real power remained in his own hands. But in this expectation, the views of the sovereign were disappointed the higher orders, who felt their own consequence, became untractable; and the lower house, who saw themselves degraded by this arrangement, entered into a state of implacable opposition. A motion was made to ascertain and limit the royal prerogative, and Gustavus found it necessary to dissolve the states. Another diet, which the Swedish monarch assembled, was not more satisfactory to his views. Most of the measures proposed by the king were rejected; and, in order to obtain one point, the establishment of granaries under his inspection, he was obliged to relinquish a prerogative attached to the crown by the old constitution, from the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, that, when the orders of the diet should be divided on any question, the determination should be referred to the sovereign. This diet was dissolved with unequivocal symptoms of dis Dd 3 A. D. 1786. dissatisfaction, and with mutual recriminations between the king and its leading members. Hurried on by that love of glory which all nations extol, though it is generally the cause of their misfortunes, Gustavus was not satisfied with the celebrity that he had acquired by the revolution affected in his own country: he had frequently said that a war was necessary, in order to characterize a reign; and in vain did his uncle, the Great Frederic of Prussia, recommend to him pacific measures. The Swedish monarch, not contented with repose, desired at all events to be a conqueror. Though Gustavus had added to the royal power in Sweden, he was still the monarch of a proud and independent people: his rights, though extended, were not unlimited; and the constitution, which he himself had digested and sworn to maintain, invested him with every power necessary to defend his dominions; but expressly denied him that of undertaking an offensive war, without the consent of the four orders of the kingdom. He pretended to be alarmed at the armament which the empress of Russia was fitting out against the Ottoman Porte, and presented to the Russian court a menacing note, by which he required Catharine to disarm, and to ac1788. cept his mediation between her and the Turks, to restore to Turkey all that had been taken from it during the last war, and to reinstate Sweden in the possession of Finland and Ingria, even to within two leagues of Petersburg. He insisted that the court of Russia should return a Yes or No, without modification, and declared war in case of refusal. A.D. Not waiting for an answer to this extraordinary note, pote, he put himself at the head of his army, and advanced to the frontiers of Finland. He refused all conference with generals, whom the empress sent to negociate with him; and he every where spread the assertion that the Russians intended to invade Sweden, and had already committed hostilities. Catharine, who was proud of her power, and intoxicated by the splendour of her reign, had been lulled into an imprudent confidence, and could not believe that the Swedish monarch would dare to attack her. The infatuation of the empress was so great, that her squadron had received orders to sail for the Archipelago; and, if Gustavus had been four days later in declaring war, he would have found the sea open, Cronstadt without ships, and Petersburg destitute of defence. In proportion as the empress had been blinded by security, the more lively was her alarm. All the peasants and domestics were armed, and sent into Finland. Consternation and dismay reigned at Petersburg; the most alarming and false reports were propagated; the Swedes were every moment expected to arrive; and the departure of Catharine for Moscow was considered as certain. But the tardiness of Gustavus, and the activity of the Russian ministers, soon dispelled this fear. The two hostile fleets met and engaged; Te Deum was sung by each party, and both claimed the victory. Both armaments suffered considerably; but that of Catharine kept the sea, while the Swedish squadrons returned to port. In this engagement the duke of Sudermania acquired reputation, as a naval commander. Gustavus having intercepted a let-ter, by which he understood that twelve thou sand sand Russians were advancing against him, reembarked his troops with precipitation, and no affair of importance followed. This unsuccessful attempt, and the declaration of Denmark, which had espoused the cause of Russia and was making formidable preparations in Norway, excited a murmur in the Swedish army; which was increased by its being known that the Russians had not meditated an attack upon Sweden, and that the king had engaged in an unconstitutional war, the commencement of which was humiliating, and the consequences dangerous. Enraged at seeing themselves at once deceived and abandoned, the commanders openly expressed their dissatisfaction, and did not dissemble their uneasiness. Every thing announced another revolution, which the faults of Gustavus had prepared; but from which his activity and good fortune preserved him. The kings of England and Prussia, by their menaces, stopped the Danes, and compelled them to make peace. The Swedish monarch, supported by the people whom he knew how to animate, terrified the troops, and kept the nobles within bounds. The army, perceiving the union of the king and the people, and learning the defection of the Danes, denounced and abandoned the authors of the sedition, whose schemes it had previously approved. Gustavus imprisoned the leaders of the revolt; and, by judiciously distributing largesses, by promises, by severely punishing some of the rebels, and extending clemency to others, he reestablished discipline among the troops, and by his presence re-animated their courage. Having thus restored order to the army, the Swedish monarch was indebted for some advantages to the skilful valour of general Steding. His flotilla, which had been beaten by the Russians, and shut up in the gulph of Viburg, had exposed Gustavus to the loss of his ships and his liberty. But, at the moment when he was considered as destitute of resourses, he heroically quitted this dangerous position, made his way through the Russians who surrounded him, braved the terrible fire they poured on him, and at once fulfilled the duties of a general and a soldier. Having forced the enemy's line, he rejoined his ships of war, destroyed the gallies of the prince of Nassau, and captured or sunk forty-four vessels. By this victory he frightened the empress, who might almost have heard from her palace the report of the enemy's cannon. He then returned to his own posts crowned with glory; but disgusted with a war which had exposed him to so many dangers, cost him so much blood, and the success of which had realised none of the hopes he had conceived. At length the courts of Russia and Stockholm abjured their hatred of each other, renounced their pretensions, terminated their hostilities, and, through the intervention of Spain, concluded a peace, by which each retained what it before pos- A. D. sessed. The treaties of Abo and of Nistadt were renewed and confirmed; and Gustavus renounced all claims to the possessions conquered by his ancestors. 1790. Whilst the war continued, Gustavus had been compelled to assemble the states of the kingdom, in order to raise supplies for the exigencies of the government; and the discontents, which had prevailed in the former sessions, seemed to in crease |