XVII. BOOK subsisting between the courts of Petersburg, ~ Vienna, and Berlin, not meeting with encouragement from England, perished in enabryo*. 1776, The situation of the Scandinavian courts yet remains to be described. Frederick V. king of Denmark had departed this life in January 1766. He was a just, wise, and beneficent prince; the friend and father of his subjects, by whom he was beloved with unfeigned ardor, and who bedewed his monument with the tears of gratitude and affection. He was succeeded by his son Christian VII. who in a few months after his accession espoused the princess Carolina Matilda, youngest sister of the king of England. Soon after this marriage the young monarch left his kingdom, actuated by a restless and roving desire of visiting foreign countries. In the year 1768 he arrived in England, where he was en * This is a fact well known in France, and mentioned by several French writers. In Mr. Burke's Memorial on the state of affairs, A. D. 1791, he confirms their testimony in the following terms:----" To my certain knowledge, if Great Britain had at that time been willing to concur in preventing the execution of a project so dangerous in the example, even exhausted as France then was by the preceding war, she would at every risk have taken an active part in this business. But a languor with regard to so remote an interest, and the principles and passions which were then strongly at work at home, were the causes why Great Britain would not give France any encouragement in such an enterprise." XVII. tertained with great magnificence; whence he воок passed into France and Germany, and did not return to his dominions till the following year. 1776, The apparent weakness and incapacity of the king, on his assuming the reins of government, sufficiently demonstrated that he had gained no valuable accession of knowledge by his late travels. A certain German physician, of the name of Struensee, who had attended the king abroad, had acquired the entire ascendancy over him, and being created a count, was placed at the head of affairs; the ministers of the late king, counts Bernstorf, Holke, &c. being previously disgraced. With the rash presumption incident to sudden and unmerited prosperity, this man attempted to introduce many innovations into the government and police of the kingdom, by which he made himself universally odious. The very high favor in which he evidently stood with the queen also gave rise to imputations little to the advantage of her majesty's character. At length, by an unexpected and extraordinary court-revolution, conducted by the queen dowager and her son prince Frederick, Struensee and his principal partisans were arrested under the sanction of a warrant compulsorily signed by the king. The queen herself was committed close prisoner to the castle of Cronenburg, January 1772. In the sequel, Struensee suffered on a воок public scaffold; and the queen, against whom it XVII. was for some time a subject of doubt whether a 1776. capital process should not be instituted, was allowed, through the powerful interposition of England, to retire from the Danish dominions, and found an asylum in the city of Zell, where, after residing some years, she died in neglect and obscurity. The events which passed nearly at the same time in Sweden were of a nature, in a political view, far more important and interesting. High disputes had for many years subsisted between the king and the senate. At length, in consequence of a refusal of the senate to convoke an extraordinary diet, which the king declared to be absolutely necessary to remedy the evils which distracted the state, an instrument was signed by the king, and delivered by the prince royal to the different colleges of justice, of finance, and of war, by which the king notified to them in form, that until the states were convoked he found himself under the necessity of abdicating the government. This was a measure of deep policy, and at the same time of great popularity, the senate having rendered themselves universally odious by the abuse of the powers entrusted to them by the constitution. The different executive departments of the state refusing to act after this notification, the senate most reluctantly S XVII. convened the diet, which met at Norkioping BOOK in the month of April 1769. The secret committee in a short time brought twenty-four arti- 1776.. cles of accusation against the senators, and allowed them forty-eight hours only to prepare for their defence; and they were in the result degraded from their offices. The court nevertheless failed in the grand point of effecting an extension of its powers. On the question being put, "Whether it be proper to make any innovations in the fundamental constitution of the kingdom," it was carried in the negative, in the orders of nobles, by 457 to 431 voices. The orders of burghers and peasants also severally decided against any alterations of the existing political system. Things continued therefore nearly in the same state till the death of the king, which took place early in the year 1771. He was succeeded by his son Gustavus the Third, who was at that period absent at the court of Versailles. On his return to Sweden, he passed some days at Berlin; and at these two courts the project of a revolution in the government of Sweden was undoubtedly concerted, although the king, in his letter to the states, gave them the most solemn assurances that he would inviolably adhere to the constitution or formula of government settled in the year 1720. In his speech at the opening of the diet in June, XVIL. 1776. BOOK he declared, that he considered it as his greatest glory to be the first citizen of a free country; and at his coronation, which took place in the month of February, 1772, he not only took the customary oath, but by a voluntary declaration, he formally absolved the states from their allegiance should he ever attempt any infringement of the capitulations to which he had then sworn. All this however was the result of a studied and consummate hypocrisy. After a long train of the most artful preparations, he at length determined, on the morning of the 19th of August 1772, to throw off the mask. Summoning the officers of the royal guard, he insinuated to them that his life was in danger from the machinations of the senators, painted in strong colors the wretched state of the kingdom, and declared, that his only design was to banish corruption, establish true liberty, and revive the ancient lustre of the Swedish name. "Will you," said he, "be faithful to me as your forefathers were to Gustavus Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus? I will then risk my life for your welfare and that of my country." The officers expressing in warm terms their attachment to the king, and their readiness to concur in his designs, a detachment of grenadiers were posted with bayonets fixed at the door of the council chamber, where the senators were actually engaged in delibera |