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YII . 241772 See also:Toll succeeded, by sheer See also:bluff, in winning the fortress of See also:Kristianstad. On the 16th See also:Sprengtporten succeeded in surprising Sveaborg. But contrary winds prevented him from See also:crossing to See also:Stockholm, and in the meanwhile events had occurred which made his presence there unnecessary. On the 16th of See also:August the Cap See also:leader, See also:Ture Rudbeck, arrived at Stockholm with the See also:news of the insurrection in the See also:south, and Gustavus found himself isolated in the midst of enemies. Sprengtporten See also:lay See also:weather-See also:bound in See also:Finland, Toll was five See also:hundred See also:miles away, the See also:Hat leaders were in hiding. Gustavus thereupon resolved to strike the decisive See also:blow without waiting for the arrival of Sprengtporten. He acted with military promptitude. On the evening of the 18th all the See also:officers whom he thought he could See also:trust received See also:secret instructions to assemble in the See also:great square facing the See also:arsenal on the following See also:morning. At ten o'See also:clock on the 19th Gustavus mounted his See also:horse and rode straight to the arsenal. On the way his adherents joined him in little See also:groups, as if by See also:accident, so that by the See also:time he reached his destination he had about two hundred officers in his See also:suite. After See also:parade he reconducted them to the guard-See also:room of the See also:palace and unfolded his plans to them. He then dictated a new See also:oath of See also:allegiance, and every one signed it without hesitation. It absolved them from their allegiance to the estates, and bound them solely to obey their lawful See also: The See also:national defences were at the same time See also:developed on a " Great See also:Power " See also:scale, and the See also:navy was so enlarged as to become one of the most formidable in See also:Europe. The dilapidated finances were set in See also:good See also:order by the " currency realization ordinance " of 1777. Gustavus also introduced new national economic principles. In 1775 See also:free See also:trade in See also:corn was promoted and a number of oppressive export-tolls were abolished. The poor See also:law was also amended, See also:absolute religious liberty was proclaimed, and he even succeeded in inventing and popularizing a national See also:costume which was in general use from 1778 till his See also:death. His one great economic blunder was the See also:attempt to make the See also:sale of See also:spirits a See also:government See also:monopoly, which was an obvious infringement upon the privileges of the estates. His See also:foreign policy, on the other See also:hand, was at first both See also:wise and wary. Thus, when the king summoned the estates to assemble at Stockholm on the 3rd of See also:September 1778, he could give a brilliant See also:account of his six years' stewardship. Never was a See also:parliament more obsequious or a king more gracious. " There was no room for a single No during the whole session." Yet, See also:short as the session was, it was quite See also:long enough to open the eyes of the deputies to the fact that their See also:political supremacy had II departed. They had changed places with the king. He was now indeed their See also:sovereign See also:lord; and, for all his gentleness, the See also:jealousy with which he guarded, the vigour with which he enforced the See also:prerogative, plainly showed that he meant to remain so. Even the few who were patriotic enough to acquiesce in the See also:change by no means liked it. The diet of 1778 had been obsequious; the diet of 1786 was mutinous. The consequence was that nearly all the royal propositions were either rejected outright or so modified that Gustavus himself withdrew them. The diet of 1786 marks a turning-point in Gustavus's See also:history. Henceforth we observe a determination on his part to See also:rule with-out a parliament; a passage, cautious and See also:gradual, yet unflinching, from semi-constitutionalism to semi-See also:absolutism. His opportunity came in 1788, .when the political complications arising out of his See also:war with See also:Catherine II. of See also:Russia enabled him by the See also:Act of Unity and See also:Security (on the 17th of See also:February 1789) to override the opposition of the rebellious and grossly unpatriotic gentry, and, with the approbation of the three See also:lower estates, establish a new and revolutionary constitution, in which, though the estates still held the power of the See also:purse, the royal authority largely predominated. Throughout 1789 and 1790 Gustavus, in the national interests, gallantly conducted the unequal struggle with Russia, finally winning in the Svensksund (9th-loth See also:July) the most glorious See also:naval victory ever gained by the Swedish arms, the Russians losing one-third of their fleet and 7000 men. A See also:month later, on the 14th of August 1790, See also:peace was signed between Russia and Sweden at Varala. Only eight months before, Catherine had haughtily declared that " the odious and revolting aggression " of the king of Sweden would be " for-given " only if he " testified his repentance " by agreeing to a peace granting a general and unlimited See also:amnesty to all his rebels, and consenting to a See also:guarantee by the Swedish diet (" as it would be imprudent to confide in his good faith alone ") for the observance of peace in the future. The peace of Varala saved Sweden from any such humiliating concession, and in See also:October 1791 Gustavus took the bold but by no means imprudent step of concluding an eight years' defensive See also:alliance with the empress, who thereby bound herself to pay her new ally See also:annual subsidies amounting to 300,000 roubles. Gustavus now aimed at forming a See also:league of princes against the See also:Jacobins, and every other See also:consideration was subordinated thereto. His profound knowledge of popular assemblies enabled him, alone among contemporary sovereigns, accurately to See also:gauge from the first the See also:scope and bearing of the See also:French Revolution. But he was hampered by poverty and the jealousy of the other See also:European See also:Powers, and, after showing once more his unrivalled mastery over masses of men at the brief See also:Gefle diet (22nd of See also:January–24th of February 1792), he See also:fell a victim to a widespread aristocratic See also:conspiracy. Shot in the back by Anckarstrom at a midnight masquerade at the Stockholm See also:opera-See also:house, on the 16th of See also: See also:Geijer, Konung Gustaf III.'s efterlemnade papper (See also:Upsala, 1843–1841) ; C. T. Odhner, Sveriges politiska historia under Konung Gustaf III.'s regering (Stockholm, 1885–1896) ; B. von See also:Beskow, Om Gustaf III. sdsom Konung och mdnniska (Stockholm, 186o–1861) ; O. See also:Levertin, Gustaf III. som dramatisk forfattare (Stockholm, 1894) ; Gustaf III.'s bref till G. M. See also:Armfelt (Fr.) (Stock-holm, 1883); Y. K. Grot, Catharine II. and Gustavus III. (Russ.) (St See also:Petersburg, 1884). (R. N. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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