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46] ANNUAL REGISTER
CHAP. V.
Some observations on the ancient and modern state of the Swedish government. Great change in the constitution by Gustavus Vasa. The nobleness of the Gustavus Adophus's nature. Despotism fully established by Charles XIth. Deplorable state of Sweden at the death of Charles the XIIth. Effects produced by the change of government which took place upon his decease. Bishop of Lubeck, father to the present king, elected presumptive heir to the crown, upon the death of the Queen Ulrica, Eleanora. Conduct of the present King from his accession. Matters preparatory to the revolution. Revold of the garrison of Christianstadt, and manifesto published by them. Declaration published by Prince Charles, the King's brother. Measures take by the senate, and the secret committee, for quelling the insurrection, and approved by the states. The revolution takes place in Stockholm, and is effected without tumult or blood. The ancient for on government abolished, and a new established, by the King, in a full assembly of the states. The revenues made perpetual, and all the powers of the state virtually lodged in the hands of the King. The Diet breaks up. Internal government of the kingdom. Rewards and honours to those who distinguished themselves in the revolution.
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|SWEDEN, has at different periods, been considered among the freest governments in Europe. It has been even thought to approach to a perfection in that respect, superior to any other of the modern states. Though governed by kings, these kings were originally elected by the people, and their power circumscribed within very narrow limits; the senate in a manner exercised the whole executive power; and the general diets, at their meetings, superintended and regulated the whole. The peasants, who are so little considered in other countries, had the peculiar privilege of being fully represented in those assemblies, and with the burghers, formed two, of the four grat orders, which composed the states of the nation. By this means they were a happy counterpoize to the ambition and power of the nobility and clergy; which|
|was rendered the more efficacious, as the kings found it occasionally their interest, to throw their own weight into the same scale.
However happy this system of government was in other respects, it would not avoid being clogged with those impediments, and liable to those fatal consequences, which are inherent to elective monarchies. The latent feeds of its destruction were contained within itself; and the introduction of the Danish tyrants, towards the close of the fourteenth century, the unhappy union of Calmar, which perpetuated their claims, together with the overgrown power and ambitious views of the clergy, brought them to their full growth. Sweden accordingly became a scene of war and calamity for upwards of 120 years, until the at length saw, almost, the whole body of the nobility murdered in cold blood, and little less than a general massacre of the nation take place, under Christian the second.

In this exigence, the celebrated Gustavus Vasa, rescued his country from the bloody hands, of one of the most detestable tyrants that ever degraded human nature. Though this young nobleman had many heroic qualities, he had too much ambition to restore the ancient constitution of his country; and the people in the excess of their joy and gratitude having furnished him and the means, he by degrees laid the foundation of that despotism, which was carried to its utmost extent by his descendants. Having seized on the vast possessions of the clergy, he formed a power that was independent of state; and became enabled thereby, to make that crown hereditary to his family, which he had only received from the free suffrages and election of the people. He however continued to retain, such of the ancient names and forms of government, as did not militate totally with his designs, and might be made use of in such a manner, as to take off from the crown a great share of that odium which it must necessarily incur, if all the violent and unpopular effects of its power, were to be considered its own direct and particular acts. Thus the form and name of a senate was preserved, and it was still liable to the imputation of all the miscarriages and exorbitancies of government, though it was now entirely composed of the King's creatures, who had not a will of their own, nor were possessed of a single power but what he chose to endow them with. In the fame manner, the diets were assembled and held, according to their usual forms; but the crown had obtained such an overruling influence in the elections, that few were returned but those who were recommended or approved of by it; and the few that came in upon other terms, were so overawed by the strong arbitrary powers that were lodged in its hands, and so terrified by a powerful standing army which depended upon its will, that they found it necessary to submit implicitly to the King's mandates, and the states of the nation were reduced to little more, than registers of the decrees of the crown.
The successors of Gustavus' gave the Swedes continued occasion, to lament the intolerable yoke which he had laid upon their shoulders. Even his son, Charles of Sudermania, who became king by dethroning his nephew Sigismund, sacrificed to his rage and covetousness, by proscriptions, executions and confiscutions, that ancient nobility, to whom the house of Vasa owed everything. It is however true, that Gustavus Adolphus, from the generosity and nobleness of his own nature, reconciled for once an arbitrary power (which in his hands could not be felt) with the interest and happiness of his people, and repaired, so far as it was possible to be done, the mischiefs that proceeded from his father's avarice and cruelty. 
The Swedes never fully experienced all the horrors of despotism, until the reign of Charles the Eleventh, who stripped the senate of its authority, and the nobility of their estates. As the Livonian soldiers, were neither attached to the persons or laws of the Swedes, he made use of them to compel the states, to give up every shadow of their