hall, in Norway, belonging to the Danes, in 1718, when he was no more than thirty-fix years of age. It has been fuppofed that Charles was not in reality killed by a fhot from the walls of Fredericfhall, but that a piftol, from one of thofe about him, gave the decifive blow which put an end to the life of this celebrated monarch. This opinion is faid to be very prevalent among the beft informed perfons in Sweden. And it appears that the Swedes were tired of a prince under whom they had loft their richest provinces, their braveft troops, and their national fiches; and who yet, untamed by adverfity, pursued an unsuccessful and pernicious war, nor would ever have confented to restore tranquillity to his country.

Charles XII. was fucceeded by his fifter, the princefs Ulrica Eleanora, wife to the hereditary prince of Heffe. We have seen in what manner the Swedes recovered their liberties; and given fome account of the capitulation figned by the queen and her husband. Their first care was to make peace with Great-Britain, which the late king intended to have invaded. The Swedes then, to prevent farther loffes by the progrefs of the Ruffian, the Danish, the Saxon, and other arms, made many and great facrifices to obtain peace from thofe powers. The French, however, about the year 1738, formed that dangerous party in the kingdom under the name of the Hats, which has already been mentioned, and which not only broke the internal quiet of the kingdom, but led it into a ruinous war with Ruffia. Their Swedish majefties having no children, it was neceffary to fettle the fucceffion; efpecially as the duke of Holftein was defcended from the queen's eldest fifter, and was at the same time the prefumptive heir to the empire of Ruffia. Four competitors appeared; the duke of Holstein Gottorp, prince Frederic of Heffe Caffel, nephew to the king, the prince of Denmark, and the duke of Deux-Ponts. The duke of Holftein would have carried the election, had he not embraced the Greek religion, that he might mount the throne of Ruffia. The czarina interpofed, and offered to reftore all the conquests she had made from Sweden, excepting a small diftrict in Finland, if the Swedes would receive the duke of Holstein's uncle, the bishop of Lubeck, as their hereditary prince and fucceffor to their crown. This was agreed to; and a peace was concluded at Abo, under the mediation of his Britannic majefty. This peace was fo firmly adhered to by the czarina, that his Danish majefty thought proper to drop all his refentment, and forget the indignity done to his fon. The fucceffor of this prince, Adolphus Frederic, married the princess Ulrica, fifter to the king of Pruffia, and entered into the poffeffion of his new dignity in 1751. He was a prince of a mild and gentle temper, but much haraffed by the contending Swedish factions, and found his fituation extremely troublesome, in confequence of the reftraints and op pofition which he met with from the fenate. He paffed the greatest part of his reign very difagreeably, and was at length, through the in trigues of the queen, brought over to the French party. He died in February 1771, and was fucceeded by his fon, Guftavus the Third, the late king, who poffeffed abilities greatly fuperior to those of his father.

Guftavus was about five and twenty years of age when he was proclaimed king of Sweden: his understanding had been much cultivated; he had an infinuating addrefs, and a graceful and commanding elocution. He was at Paris at the time of his father's death, whence he wrote in the most gracious terms to the fenate, repeatedly affuring them that he defigned to govern according to the laws. In confequence of

the death of his predeceffor, an extraordinary diet was called to regi late the affairs of the government, and to fettle the form of the co nation-oath. Some time after his arrival in Sweden, on the 28th March, 1772, his majefty folemnly figned and fwore to obferve twe ty-four articles relative to his future adminiftration of governmen This was termed a capitulation; and among the articles were the f lowing: "The king promifes before God to fupport the governmen of the kingdom, as now established; to maintain the rights and libe ties of the states, the liberty and fecurity of all his fubjects, and to reig with gentleness and equity according to the laws of the kingdom, th form of the regency as it was established in the year 1720, and conform able to the prefent act of capitulation. In confequence of the decla ation of the states, the king will regard any person who fhall ope ly or clandeftinely endeavour to introduce abfolute fovereignty as enemy to the kingdom, and as a traitor to his country, fince every perfo mutt take an oath to this purpose before he can receive poffeffion any employment. With regard to the affairs of the cabinet and th fenate, the king promifes to follow the regulations of the year 1720 up on that head, according to which they are to be directed always by majority of votes, and he engages never to act without, and much le againft, their advice. To the end that the council of ftate may be i much the more convinced of the inviolable defigns of his majefty, and c his fincere love for the good of his people, he declares them to be entire! difengaged from their oath of fidelity, in cafe that he wilfully acts cor trary to his coronation-oath, and to this capitulation. And lastly, th king threatens any perfon with his higheft difpleasure who fhall b fo inconfiderate as to propofe to him a greater degree of power an fplendor than is marked out in this act of capitulation, as his majet defires only to fecure the affections of his faithful fubjects, and to be the powerful defender against any attempts which may be made upon the lawful liberties."

But fcarcely had the king taken thefe folemn oaths to rule according to the then established form of government, and accepted the crow upon these conditions, before he formed a plan to govern as he thoug, proper; regarding thefe oaths only as matters of ceremony. He ma ufe of every art, the most profound diffimulation, and the utmoft do terity and addrefs, in order to render this hazardous enterprife fucce ful. On his firft arrival at Stockholm, he adopted every method whi could increase his popularity. Three times a week he regularly ga audience to all who prefented themfelves. Neither rank, fortune, I intereft, were neceffary to obtain accefs to him; it was fuflicient have been injured, and to have a legal caufe of complaint to lay t fore him. He liftened to the meaneft of his fubjects with affability, an entered into the minuteft details that concerned them: he inform himself of their private affairs, and feemed to intereft himself in th happiness. This conduct caufed him to be confidered as truly the ther of his people, and the Swedes began to idolife him. In the m time there happened fome contentions between the different orders the Swedish flates; and no methods were left untried to foment th jealoufies. Emiffaries were likewife planted in every part of the dom, for the purpofe of fowing difcontent among the inhabitants, rendering them difaffected to the ettablished government, and of ex ing them to an infurrection. At length, when the king found fcheme ripe for execution, having taken the proper meafures for br

ing a confiderable number of the officers and foldiers into his intereft, on the 19th of Auguft, 1772, he totally overturned the Swedish conftitution of government. In less than an hour he made himself master of all the military force of Stockholm. He planted grenadiers, with their bayonets fixed, at the door of the council-chamber in which the fenate were affembled, and made all the members of it prifoners. And that no news might be carried to any other part of Sweden of the tranfaction in which the king was engaged, till the fcheme was completed, cannon were drawn from the arfenal, and planted at the pa lace, the bridges, and other parts of the town, and particularly at all the avenues leading to it. Soldiers ftood over these with matches ready lighted; all communication with the country was cut off, no one without a palport from the king being allowed to leave the city. The fenators were then confined in feparate apartments of the palace; and many others who were fuppofed to be zealously attached to the liberties of Sweden were put under arreft. The remainder of the day the king employed in vifiting different quarters of the town, in order to receive oaths of fidelity to him from the magiftrates, the colleges, and city militia. Oaths were alfo tendered the next day to the public in general, to whom he addreffed a speech, which he concluded by declaring that his only intention was to restore tranquillity to his native country, by fuppreffing licentiousness, overturning the ariftocratic form of government, reviving the old Swedish liberty, and restoring the ancient laws of Sweden, fuch as they were before 1680. "I renounce now," faid he, "as I have already done, all idea of the abhorred abfolute "power, or what is called fovereignty, efteeming it now, as before, my "greatest glory to be the firft citizen among a truly free people." Heralds then went through the different quarters of the town to proclaim an affembly of the ftates for the following day. This proclamation contained a threat, that if any member of the diet should absent himself, he fhould be confidered and treated as a traitor to his country.

On the morning of the 21ft of Auguft, a large detachment of guards was ordered to take poffeffion of the fquare where the house of nobles ftands. The palace was invested on all fides with troops, and cannon were planted in the court facing the hall where the states were to be affembled. These were not only charged, but foldiers ftood over them with matches ready lighted in their hands. The feveral orders of the states were here compelled to affemble by the king's command; and thefe military preparations were made in order to affift their deliberations. The king being feated on his throne, furrounded by his guards, and a numerous band of officers, after having addreffed a speech to the ftates, ordered a fecretary to read a new form of government, which he offered to the ftates for their acceptance. As they were furrounded by an armed force, they thought proper to comply with what was required of them. The marthal of the dict, and the fpeakers of the other orders, figned the form of government; and the ftates took the oath to the king, which he dictated to them himself. This extraordinary transaction was

Du

The fidelity which was manifefted by a private foldier, on this occafion, deferves to be recorded. The night preceding the revolution, the king being defirous of vifiting the arfenal, went thither, and ordered the centinel to admit him. The latter refufed. you know who you are speaking_to?” said the king. "Yes," replied the foldier: but I likewife know my duty."-Vide a very judicious and well-written account of this extraordinary revolution in Sweden, published by Charles Francis Sheridan, efq. who was fecretary to the British envoy in Sweden at the time of the revolution.

concluded in a manner equally extraordinary. The king drew a book of pfalms from his pocket, and, taking off his crown, began to fing Te Deum, in which he was joined by the affembly. He afterwards gave them to understand that he intended in fix years' time again to convene an affembly of the ftates. Thus was this great revolution completed without any bloodshed, in which the Swedes furrendered that conftitution which their forefathers had bequeathed to them after the death of Charles the Twelfth, as a bulwark against any defpotic attempts of their future

monarchs.

The exorbitant power which Guftavus the Third had thus affumed, he exercised with fome degree of moderation; and at an assembly of the states in 1786, after many points were referred to them by the king, and debated with great freedom, he difmiffed them with condefcenfion and gentleness, at the fame time remitting á tenth part of the subsidy which they had granted him.

On the 12th of July, 1788, hoftilities commenced on the frontiers of Finland, between a body of Ruffian light troops, and a detachment of the Swedes pofted on the bridge of Pomalafund. After various engagements both by land and fea, in which Guftavus difplayed the greatest abilities, an agreement for establishing an everlasting peace, and fixing the frontiers of Ruffia as they were before the war broke out, was figned at Werela, on the river Kymene, between the plenipotentiaries of the emprefs of Ruffia and the king of Sweden.

A diet fummoned by the king to meet at Gefflé, a folitary place on the Bothnic Gulf, near feventy miles from Stockholm, excited much attention. Some imagined that the diet might affert the national freedom against a defpotic monarch; but Guftavus had guarded againft any fuch defign, by his choice of the spot, and furrounding it with his mercenary troops. He found fome difficulty in gaining his only intention, that of raifing money, and was obliged to be fatisfied with a part of his demand.

The diet being diffolved, the king returned to Stockholm, where, at a masquerade in the opera-house, on the night of the 16th of March, 1792, he was shot with a piftol by an affaffin, named Ankerftroem, in confequence of a confpiracy among fome of the difcontented nobles; and having furvived in great pain till the 29th of that month, he expired in the forty-fifth year of his age.

The reflexion of dying ingloriously by the hand of a vile affaffin is faid to have embittered the last moments of the king's life much more than even the agonifing pain of his wounds. He fhowed the fame noble and brave fpirit on his death-bed as he had done before his enemies during his life-time. He retained all his mental faculties to the laft, which enabled him fo well to arrange the future government of his country.

The wounds at firft indicated the moft promifing appearance of recovery, and the flugs were all extracted: but fome rulty pieces of iron had penetrated fo far into the body as to render any furgical operation immediate death. The prefence of mind fhown by Guftavus during his illness was very great. While he waited for the arrival of his furgeons in an apartment adjoining to the faloon of the opera-house, feveral of the foreign minifters prefented themselves, to whom he faid, "I have given orders, gentlemen, that the gates of the city fhall be fhut. "You will therefore not take it ill, if you should be unable to fend cou"riers to your courts until after three days. Your advices will then be more certain, fince it will be probably known whether I can furvive or not." His converfation then related to the effects which the acci.

dent might produce in Europe: and the love of fame, which was always his predominant paffion, was perceptible in his remarks.

Finding that he was not likely to furvive, he settled all his affairs with the greateft compofure imaginable. He fent for his fon the prince-royal, and addreffed a speech to him on the nature of good government, in a manner fo truly affecting, that all who were prefent fhed tears. At eight o'clock, on the morning of his death, he received the facrament. The queen had taken leave of him the evening before; and at half past ten he died in great agonies.

The prince-royal, being fourteen years of age, was immediately proclaimed king, by the name of Guftavus Adolphus: and the duke of Sudermania, his uncle, and brother to the late king, in compliance with his majefty's will, was declared fole regent, and guardian of the young fovereign, till he should attain his majority, which was fixed at the age of eighteen. We have only to add, that the prudence and conciliatory mea. fures of the regent have eftablished the tranquillity of this kingdom beyond expectation.

Guftavus Adolphus IV. the prefent king of Sweden, was born Nov. 1, 1778; and fucceeded his father Guftavus III. March 29, 1792.

Guftavus III. the late king, was born Jan. 24, 1746; married Oct. 17, 1766, to the princess-royal of Denmark, by whom he had iffue Guftavus Adolphus, the present king.

Brothers and fifters to the late king:

1. Charles, duke of Sudermania, born Oct. 7, 1748.

2. Frederic Adolphus, duke of West-Gothland, born July 18, 1750. 3. Sophia Albertina, abbefs of Quedlingburg, born in Oct. 1753.

MUSCOVY, OR THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN EUROPE AND ASIA.

SITUATION AND extent of the RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN EUROPE.

Ruffia in Europe contains 1,194,976 fquare miles, with 17 inhabitants

NAMES.

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to each.

DIVISIONS AND ACCORDING to the most authentic accounts of this mighty empire it confifts of forty-two provinces, or governments; befides part of Carelia, Efthonia, Ingria, Livonia, and part of Finland, which were conquered from Sweden the Crimea, or Crim Tartary, anciently the Taurica Cherfonefus, a peninfula in the Euxine Sea, fubject to the Turks formerly, but added in the year 1783 to the Ruffian empire, with the ifle of Taman, and part of Cuban; alfo the duchy of Courland, and a great part of Lithuania in Poland, together with another large portion of the latter country, united to the Ruffian empire, in confequence of a fecond

The Ruffians are fuppofed to have gained above a million of fubjects by this ceffion.