Baltic, whilst those in Germany were divided among the confederates: Swedish Pomerania was annexed to Prussia, and Bremen and Verden fell into the hands of the Danes, whose king disposed of them to the elector of Hanover, afterwards king George the First of England. Thus were the accessions of territory, which had been made by the princes of the house of Vasa, severed from that kingdom. A peace being ratified in 1714, Charles regained his liberty; but his passion for war hurrying him into fresh broils, he met his death by a cannon-ball at the siege of Fredericshall, when he had invaded Norway, in 1718.

Two more extraordinary characters never appeared on the stage of human life at one time, than Peter the Great of Russia, and Charles the Twelfth of Sweden. Of the former we shall speak more at large anon: of the latter it may be safely asserted, that no dangers, however sudden or imminent, ever occasioned in him the least dismay, even when they have shaken the constancy of the firmest among his followers: he seems, in short, to have been a man divested of the smallest particle of fear: and the manner in which he is related to have endured cold and hunger shew him to have been a prodigy of strength as well as of courage. His rapid successes against the combined forces of Denmark, Poland, and Russia, prove him to have been an able general; but although his successes astonished all Europe, yet in their consequences they were fatal to the kingdom which he governed. A strong resentment against the unprovoked attacks upon him, led him to meditate enterprises against his enemies, extravagant and impracticable in their nature; and the cool and undismayed perseverance of his great adversary, the czar Peter, at length prevailed over his ill-directed ardour.

Upon the death of Charles, his sister Ulrica Eleanor ascended the throne, by the free election of the states; but first gave up all pretensions to arbitrary power; and in 1720, by consent of the diet, transferred the government to her husband Frederic, hereditary prince of Hesse Cassel. Frederic having no issue, the states, in 1743, nominated Adolphus Frederic, duke of Holstein and bishop of Lubec, his successor, by a majority of only two votes. Adolphus, on the decease of Frederic, in 1751, assumed the reins of government. He married Louisa Ulrica, sister to the king of Prussia, who lived to the year 1782. The new form of government established at this juncture, consisted of fifty-one articles, all tending to abridge the powers of the crown, and to render the Swedish sovereign the most limited monarch in Europe. It was settled, that the supreme legislative authority should reside absolutely and solely in the states of the realm assembled in diet, which, whether convened by the king or not, must regularly assemble once in three years, and could only be dissolved by their own consent. During the recess of the diet, the executive power resided in the king and senate; but, as the king was bound in all affairs to abide by the opinion of the majority, and as he possessed only two votes, and the casting voice in case of equal suffrages, he was almost entirely subordinate to that body, and could be considered in no higher view than as its president. At the same time, the senate itself ultimately depended upon the states; as its members, though nominally appointed for life, yet were in a great measure under the control of the states, being amenable to that assembly, and liable to be removed from their office in case of real or pretended malversation. Thus the supreme authority resided in a tumultuous assembly, composed of the four orders. Although all the statutes were signed by the king, and the ordinances of the senate issued in his name, yet in neither case did he possess a negative: and, in order to obviate the possibility of his attempting to exercise that power, it was enacted in the diet of 1756, that "in all affairs, without exception, which had hitherto required the sign-manual, his majesty's name might be affixed by a stamp, whenever he should have declined his

signature at the first or second request of the senate In consequence of this, the king was only an ostensible instrument in the hands of one of the two great parties which at that time divided and governed the kingdom, as either obtained the superior influence in the diet. Fully determined to wrest from the senate their assumed power, and to recover that participation of authority which the constitution had assigned to the crown, the king proceeded to a measure both bold and decisive. On the 13th of December, 1768, he signed a declaration, by which he formally abdicated the crown of Sweden; and, by giving public notice throughout his dominions of this step, at once suspended all functions of government. The senate felt their authority insufficient to counteract such a measure, for their orders were disputed by all the colleges of state, who had ceased to transact the business of their several departments. The magistrates of Stockholm, agreeably with the form of government, were proceeding to convoke the order of "burghers," which compelled the senate to consent to the desired assembly of the diet; and the king's concurrence was requested to confirm the proclamation for that purpose, which being given, he resumed the reins of government. At the meeting of the diet, which took place on the 19th of April, 1769, though it coincided in some particulars with the king's views, yet was far from effecting everything which he aimed at.

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Adolphus Frederic died February 12th, 1771, and was succeeded by Gustavus III., his eldest son, then twenty-five years of age. The accession of this young prince to the throne, with the prepossession of the peoole strongly in his favour, was a favourable period for extending the pow er of the crown by the reduction of that of the senate. An aristocracy naturally and rapidly degenerates into despotism; the yoke of which is rendered more intolerable to a people in proportion as the oppressions of a number of tyrants are more grievous than those of a single one. The new king found his people divided into two great political parties, distinguished by the name of "hats" and "caps;" the former espoused the interest of the court, the latter the country or patriotic party. The most masterly strokes of policy, as well as the most profound dissimulation, were used by this monarch to circumvent and destroy the influence of the senate. The people were grievously oppressed; for besides the rigorous exactions made on the common people by their rulers, they suffered every calamity which a year of great scarcity necessarily occasions. The army was devoted to his interest; and his two brothers, Prince Charles and Prince Frederic Augustus, each commanded a body of troops. The next year, while the king was amusing the senate at Stockholm with the warmest professions of disinterestedness, and his wishes to be thought only the first citizen of a free country, an insurrection of the military happened at Christianstadt, in the province of Scano; which was set on foot by one Hellichius, who commanded there. The plea made use of to justify it was, the tyranny and oppression of the governing powers. Prince Charles, who was purposely in those parts, made this a pretence to assemble the troops under his command, while the king, his brother, who was at Ostrogothia, put himself at the same time at the head of the troops there. The senate was much alarmed at these proceedings, while the king, with the most consummate dissimulation, expressed his resentment against the insurgents, and his zeal to suppress them; at the same time, by stationing the military force in Stockholm so as to surround the senate-house, he effectually controlled the deliberations carried on there. In this exigency the senate found themselves totally abandoned by the soldiery, while the king, being thus supported, was enabled to accomplish a great and almost unparalleled revolution, and to deprive an extensive nation of its liberties in a single morning, without bloodshed, without noise, without tumult, and without opposition; while

the people flocked together with as much indifference and tranquility as if it had been merely some holiday sport.

It is said that only five persons in the kingdom were entrusted with the design. Very few were imprisoned, and that only for a short time; nor dil any one experience, in the smallest degree, a diminution of the royal favour on account of their opposition. The senate took a new oath of allegiance to the prince, and tranquility was restored throughout the kingdom. Six years after this revolution took place the king convened the senate; but finding the house of nobles very much disposed to oppose the views of royalty, he suddenly dissolved that assembly. On the 16th of March, 1792, the king being at a masked ball, an assassin, named Ankerstroem, discharged a pistol behind him, the contents of which lodged between the hip and the back-bone, with which wound the king languished until the 29th, and then expired. The day after he received it, he sanctioned an edict, by which his brother the duke of Sudermania was appointed regent of the kingdom, and guardian of his only son, then a minor, being fourteen years of age. This prince, upon the death of his father succeeded to the crown, under the title of Gustavus IV.

He accordingly assumed the government, under the guardianship of the duke of Sudermania. No sooner, however, had he attained his majority than he embroiled himself in hostilities with France. He next engaged in an unequal contest with Russia; the consequence of which was that the latter overran Finland, and threatened an attack on Stockholm. As Sweden was at the time in alliance with England, a British army, under Sir John Moore, was sent over to the assistance of Gustavus; but that general refusing to submit to the dictates of the eccentric, if not insane, king, soon returned home. Though the Swedes fought with great courage, they were unable to resist the overwhelming force of the Russians, especially as the limited resources of Sweden were wasted by Gustavus in senseless and impracticable enterprises. At length the Swedes grew weary of a sovereign whose conduct threatened the ruin of their country; he was arrested by some of his officers, deposed, and the crown transferred to the duke of Sudermania, who took the title of Charles XIII. (A. D. 1809); Prince Christian of Holstein-Augustenburg (who adopted the name of Charles Augustus) being at the same time declared crowprince and successor. The new monarch was forced to purchase peace from Russia by the cession of Finland, and the exclusion of British vessels from the ports of Sweden. The crown-prince, however, dying sud denly, Marshal Bernadotte, prince of Ponte Corvo, was elected successor to the crown by a diet held at Orebro in 1810; and having accepted the honour, and been adopted by the king under the name of Charles John, he soon after arrived in Sweden, of which he became king on the death of Charles XIII. in 1818.

Sweden now declared war against Great Britain; but the pressure of the war, and the increasing encroachments of France, produced a change of policy in 1812, aud she joined the allies against Napoleon. By the peace with Denmark, concluded at Kiel, Jan. 14, 1814, Sweden received Norway as an independent, free, indivisible, and inalienable kingdom, in return for her possessions in Pomerania and the island of Rugen.

Since the union of Norway and Sweden, this double kingdom has com bined, under one king and two very different constitutions, two proud and free-spirited nations, each jealous of its peculiar privileges. The politi cal condition of of Sweden and Norway forms a permanent partition between them; there, a jealous aristocracy is perpetually watching over its ancient privileges; here, the democracy struggles to defend its new-born rights. In both kingdoms the peasantry and the citizens hold a higher rank than in most European states. In Norway there is no hereditary nobility, and the veto of the king is only conditional. These circun

stances seem to separate the Scandinavian peninsula from the European system of politics, with which, however, it is closely connected. To the discrepancy of domestic and foreign relations is added an incessant struggle with the climate and soil, with obstructions in trade, depreciated paper money, and an oppressive public debt. Charles XIV. is a sovereign suited to the country and the age. Looking steadily to the future, he meets present difficulties with firmness and wisdom. He possesses the affections of the majority of the nation, and especially of the army; and has imbued his successor with his own principles. The crown-prince, Oscar, lives and thinks, as a Swede. He met with a distinguished reception, at Verona, at the time of the Congress, in 1822, where the visits of the two emperors seemed to confirm the opinion that his succession to the throne was guaranteed by Russia. Soon afterwards, the marriage of the prince with Josepha Maximiliana, daughter of Eugene Beauharnois, duke of Leuchtenberg (whose wife was Augusta Amelia, princess of Bavaria), took place at Stockholm, June 18,1823.

Some intrigues and conspiracies for the restoration of the family of Vasa occurred in Sweden; but the estates took the opportunity to give the king and the crown-prince the strongest assurances of fidelity. The king and the Swedish estates, in order to interrupt all communication with the exiled family, determined to transfer to it all its property remaining in the kingdom, and to extinguish its pension by the payment of a certain sum, mutually agreed upon by the two parties, which was done in 1824. The personal character and constitutional principles of the king have secured him the love and fidelity of his subjects. He often visits the remote provinces of his two kingdoms, relieving distress wherever he finds it, usually from his private purse, and takes no important measures without being assured of the concurrence of the estates, which meet every six years, and of the majority of the nation.

The nobility of Sweden are subdivided into three classes-the lords, including counts and barons; the knights, or those whose ancestors have held the place of royal councillors; and the simple noblemen. The clergy are represented by the bishop of each diocese, and the citizens and peasants, the latter comprising only the free peasants of the crown, by deputies. The sovereign disposes of the higher civil and military offices, from which foreigners are excluded by law. Without the consent of the states, the king cannot enact new laws or abolish old ones; and the constitution requires the king to assemble the states once in five years. The legislative power in Norway is lodged in the "storthing," which meets every three years. A viceroy, or governor-general, resides at Christiana. The revenue and troops of the kingdoms are kept distinct; and the fortifications of Norway are only in part occupied by Sweden. For the levying of taxes, the consent of the states is necessary; and all the troops and officers are required to take the oath of allegiance to them as well as to the king. The sovereign has the right to make war and peace, to regulate the judiciary, and to conduct the general administration without restraint. The succession to the throne is hereditary in the male line, according to the law of primogeniture; on the extinction of the male line the states have full power to elect a king. Before his coronation, the king is required to take the inaugural oaths, and to subscribe an engagement to maintain inviolate the evangelical Lutheran religion. A Swede who abandons the Lutheran religion loses his civil rights.

DENMARK.

THE aborigines of Denmark are supposed to have come from Germany and to have gained their support from the sea. The Cimbri, who derived

their origin from them, dwelt in the peninsula of Jutland, the Chersonesus Cimbrica of the Romans. They first struck terror into the Romans by their incursion, with the Teutones, into the rich provinces of Gaul. After this, led by the mysterious Odin, the Goths broke into Scandinavia, and appointed chiefs from their own nation over Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. But the early history of this country is involved in fable, and presents nothing that is interesting to a stranger. All that is known with certainty is, that at the period of which we are speaking, Denmark was divided into many small states, that the inhabitants gained their subsist ence by piracy, and spread terror through every sea, and along every coast, wherever they came.

In the eighth century the Danes became formidable to their neighbours by their piratical depredations on the coasts of England, Flanders, Normandy, and Germany; which desultory warfare was maintained for more than two centuries, till at length their rude and savage manners being somewhat meliorated, they became cultivators of their native soil, instead of adventurers at sea. Other causes likewise concurred to put an end to these outrages; that redundant population, which had been the means of pouring forth such swarms of plunderers, no longer continued; many had fallen by the sword in those invasions; conquests had been made, and emigrants had settled on the acquired territories in vast numbers; the introduction of Christianity, in the tenth century, served likewise to abate their ferocity, while the increased strength of the neighbouring states, and the force they had acquired at sea, became too formidable to contend with.

Canute, or Knute, commonly called the Great, who died in England, in the year 1036, advanced the dignity of this kingdom to its highest pitch; but the sovereigns who succeeded him were little distinguished until towards the close of the fourteenth century; when Margaret obtained the regal power on the death of her son Olaus, or Orlaf III, who had united the kingdom of Norway to that of Denmark. In the year 1388 (three years after hér accession), having defeated and taken prisoner Albert, king of Sweden, she was enabled to urge her pretensions to that crown; of which she obtained possession by the consent of the states, at the assembly of the representatives of the three kingdoms held at Calmar, in the year 1397, at which time a confederated constitution was formed of the greatest consequence to the northern states, and called "the union of Calmar." This wise and heroic princess, to whom historians have given the distinguishing appellation of "the Semiramis of the north," reigned over Denmark and Norway twenty-six, and over Sweden sixteen years. After this a century elapsed without anything highly important occurring in the history of this country.

Christian I., count of Oldenburg, who came to the throne in 1448, was the founder of the Danish royal family, which has ever since kept possession of the throne, and from which, in modern times, Russia, Sweden, and Oldenburg have received their rulers. He connected Norway, Sleswick, and Holstein with the crown of Denmark, but was so fettered by his capitulations, that he seemed to be rather the head of a royal council than a sovereign king. In the year 1523, Frederic, duke of Holstein, was raised to the throne by the voice of the people, who had deposed their king Christian II. for his cruelty and tyranny, in whose reign the crown of Sweden had been dismembered from that of Denmark, and placed on the patriotic brow of Gustavus Vasa. Frederic I. having embraced the doctrines of Luther, the tenets of that reformer spread with great rapidity through the kingdom.

The event which chiefly distinguishes the history of this kingdom since the reign of Frederic I. is the unprecedented revolution which took place in the seventeenth century, and which merits particular notice here.