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68*] ANNUAL REGISTER For the YEAR 1772. [*69

they had redeemed all their past misdeeds. He describes the instantaneous change in their conduct, disposition, and temper, as little less than miraculous; and indeed it would appear than some supernatural power was requisite, to work so sudden and wonderful a conversion as that which he represents. From the lowest state of reprobation, they are in a few days risen to the highest degree of virtue; all those vices and passions, that corrupt the human heart, are suddenly fled, and those glorious principles which the most adorn it, and which, it is said, they all along possessed, but unfortunately knew nothing of them, are as suddenly displayed; in a word, they are at once illuminated with all the piety, loyalty, patriotism, courage, and concord, which inspired the ancient Swedes. The King concluded his speech with an information, that he hoped to meet them again at the end of six years. 

The different orders of the states, through the mouths of their respective marshals, were not at all behind-hand in professions or compliments. The sincerity of their loyalty was indeed as suspicious, from the grossness of their adulation, as the excessive professions and acknowledgments of gratitude they made to Heaven, for it's share in the present happy event, were from other obvious causes. The order of the clergy, however, went greater lengths, both in adulation and in professions of piety, than any of the others; though it must be acknowledged that the peasants, in this instance, fully justified Shakespeare's observation, and trod very close upon the heels both of the nobility and clergy. Indeed their marshal, upon this occasion, seemed to be a very different character from him who in the days of Whitelocke made the celebrated speech to Queen Christina. The whole language, on the side of the King, was that of a patriot, who had just redeemed his country from the most deplorable tyranny; and, on the other, of a people who knew no bounds to the gratitude which they owed to Heaven and to their deliverer. 

The imputation, which had been so artfully and industriously thrown upon the diet, of its being the cause of the distresses which the people underwent from the famine, had such an effect upon an ignorant populace, who, in their remote and solitary dwellings, have scarcely any means of information with respect to public affairs, but that which is designedly communicated to them to answer some particular purpose, that several of the senators were afraid to return to their respective countries, and were obligated to apply to the King for such special marks of his protection as might preserve them from the consequences.

In the mean time the King was not negligent in putting the internal government of the kingdom into such hands as were fully to be confided in; nor did he forget to provide for those who had distinguished themselves by their services in bringing about the revolution. The great and principal governments were, so far as it might be, retained within the royal family. Prince Charles was created Duke of Sudermania, and appointed to the government of the provinces of Scania, Holland, Bleckingen, Bahur-Lehn, and Smaland; Prince Frederic Frederic-Adolphus, Duke of Ostrogothia, and he important government of Finland; and the King's mother, the Queen Dowager, was appointed governess of the Swedish provinces in Germany. 

Hellichius, and the garrison of Christianstadt, had opened their gates to Prince Charles as soon as he appeared before them. As the King did not now think it necessary to pay attention to appearances which were no longer essential, he wrote a letter to his brother, in which he applauded, in the highest terms, the bravery, fidelity, and conduct, of that officer, and his garrison, and acknowledged him to be the chief leader in the late great event, and his own obligations to him, to be in proportion to its importance. He accordingly soon after brought him into the rank of nobility, and ordered a regiment to be raised on purpose for him: to these he added a species of honour which is singular in the present times; he seems in a certain degree to have adopted him in the manner of the ancients, by giving the name of Gustavuschild, by which for the future he is to be distinguished.
 
Every thing that had any relation to the late revolution, or any connection with it, was to be distinguished, and made an object of remembrance or admiration. The circumstance of the white handkerchief, which the King had tied round his arm at the beginning of the revolt, was made the foundation of a new order of knighthood, to be called the order of fidelity, the members of which are to wear a white ribband tied round the right arm; the officers of the guards were gratified with this new dignity. New classes were added to the old orders, and different appendages of honour annexed to them, in order to reward all those of superior rank, in proportion to the services they had rendered, or the zeal they had manifested. Public thanks were returned to the burghers, for their conduct, and the share they has in this event, and all the officers were permitted to wear gold-laced hats, and yellow cockades, whether in or out of service; gold and silver medals, to be worn at the button-hole, were also distributed amongst them, in proportion to the degrees of zeal which they had shewed upon the occasion. Great promotions were also made in the army and the navy, and nothing was left undone, that could contribute to reconcile the minds of the people, and to soften those reflections which must naturally arise, on so great and so sudden an alteration in their government.

It may be considered as one of the most extrardinary circumstances of this extraordinary revolution, that not a drop of blood, either by legal or military exertion was shed in the progress, or in consequence of it.  A striking instance, how much the manners of mankind have been softened within a few ages, and that whatever progress the meaner or baser qualities of the mind may have made, the more dreadful ones, which proceed from ferocity and cruelty, are in a great degree worn out.

Too much cannot be said, of the extraordinary abilities and wisdom which the King has displayed in every part of his conduct.  The profound dissimulation, the republican cloak with which he covered his
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