The suspicions that Gustavus III. was not satisfied with the share of power which he obtained in 1772, and that he was anxious to gain fame by the means of war, were found to be justified. In 1786 he called a Riksdag, at which most of his propositions, to his great surprise, were stubbornly opposed. Catherine II. of Russia was intriguing with the Finnish nobles for the purpose of establishing the independence of Finland under Russian protection. But she was careful not to commence hostilities. Attempts made by Gustavus III. to bring the Norwegian people in revolt against Denmark failed. And so Gustavus, who had no authority to begin a war of attack, arranged for a simulated Russian assault on the Finnish boundary, executed by Finnish peasants in disguise. He declared war on Russia, in June, 1788, although nobody was found willing to believe in the feigned cause of it. The actual hostilities were opened by a brilliant naval battle at Hogland, fought with success by the Swedish fleet under command of Prince Charles, the brother of the king, against the Russians. The king had arrived in Finland resolved to attack St. Petersburg, which plan he was obliged to change. All further operations came to a sudden standstill through mutiny among the Finnish officers in the royal camp at Anjala, 113 of them signing a document in which they pledged themselves to force the king to make peace and to convoke the Riksdag. Another document offering peace and a union of Finland to Russia was despatched to St. Petersburg with Jægerhorn, one of the leaders. The officers received a favorable answer from Russia, which was handed to the king, and the whole army was made acquainted with the proceedings. The king found himself in a most perilous position, out of which he was saved as by a miracle. Denmark declared war, and the king hastened to embrace the opportunity to leave with honor the trap in which his life and liberty were in danger.
Gustavus III. sent word to several provinces, asking the inhabitants to rise in defence of their country. He went himself to Dalecarlia, where he addressed the peasants when coming from church, as had Gustavus Vasa. Everywhere the population rose in arms. The king hastened to Gothenburg, which was threatened by the Danes, and had the city strongly fortified. England and Prussia sided with Sweden, and the Danes found it best to retire from Swedish territory.
Gustavus had won the game. Now for the stakes! He called a Riksdag in 1789. Through his personal courage and patriotism, Gustavus III. had recaptured the love of his people. The nobility was hated and despised on account of its responsibility for the mutiny at Anjala and for its intrigues with Russia. Gustavus III. consequently stood exceedingly well with the three lower Estates of the Riksdag, but lost their respect through the many violations of the law which he committed in forcing upon the Riksdag a new constitution which made him a ruler with almost absolute power. The nobility stubbornly refused to accept any change in the constitution. There were many stormy scenes, both among the nobles and in the presence of the king, who also paid a visit to the Riddarhus, which he left with the statement that the nobles were willing to subscribe, the latter loudly protesting. Axel von Fersen the Elder and several other aristocratic leaders were held in a prolonged arrest. Archbishop Troil told the king that he did not wish to be the first archbishop after Gustavus Trolle to sell the liberty of his country, and begged to be excused from being present at the deliberations. The poet and royal favorite Adlerbeth, himself a nobleman, pleaded in the Riksdag the right of his Estate to take action on the royal propositions. These were in private signed by the speakers of the four Estates and pronounced by the government as accepted, and were called an “Act of Union and Security.” This new constitution gave almost absolute power to the king. The state council was once more, and forever, swept away and not even mentioned in the constitution. It was divided into a supreme court and a department for “the preparation of public affairs.” By taking half of their members only from the nobility, the greatest privilege of that class was annulled. To the peasants was extended the privilege of buying land originally belonging to the nobility. By hard pressure, and in opposition to the nobles, the king forced the Riksdag to take the responsibility for the state debt, which had increased considerably.
Gustavus III. opened the Riksdag as the most popular man of the country. He closed it as an absolute sovereign who had lost the love of his people and aroused the revengeful hatred of the nobility. Gustavus III. was now enabled to continue the Russian war at will. His sub-commander Stedingk won a victory over the Russians at Porosalmi, the latter being led by Sprengtporten, the former supporter of Gustavus III., now a soldier of Empress Catherine. He was killed in the battle. Prince Charles won a victory at Œland, but was by negligence of his sub-commander detained from reaping its benefits, Charles August Ehrensverd defeated a superior Russian naval force at Svensksund with the “Skerry Fleet,” the creation of his father, Augustinus Ehrensverd. At the order of the king, he then met a still larger fleet and was defeated. Dissatisfied with the king and the result, the valiant hero and philosopher made his report in the following laconic phrase: “Your majesty has no longer any Skerry Fleet,” and resigned from his position as admiral-general. In the following year, 1780, the combined naval forces of Sweden were shut up by the Russian fleet in the bay of Viborg, and seemed doomed to destruction. But the king gave orders that all the ships should force a passage, and this heroic effort was successfully made, through the lines of colossal Russian warships chained together. The Russian losses were great, and also those of the Swedes, on account of an explosion on board one of the ships. The Russians were anxious to gain the victory that escaped them at Viborg, and decided on July 9th, the day of Empress Catherine’s coronation, as an appropriate date. The battle was fought at Svensksund, and turned into a humiliating defeat, the Russians losing 53 ships, 643 cannon and 14,000 men, and the imperial flag of state; twenty-six of these ships were entered in the Swedish navy. Peace was made at Værælæ a month later. No change of territory was involved, but an end was put to Russian intrigues, and Sweden had once more and forever demonstrated her power of taking care of her independence.
The revolution in France made a deep impression upon the factions which in Sweden were secretly continuing their struggle. The nobility, in their aristocratic republicanism, sided with the revolutionists, while the king, an intimate friend of Louis XVI., tried to save the monarchy. Gustavus III. left Sweden in the summer of 1791, in order to receive Louis XVI. and his family at the frontier, while Count Axel von Fersen the Younger, a son of the old aristocratic party leader who had taken part with distinction in the American revolutionary war, was very near to saving the royal family through a flight from Paris. King Gustavus III. waited in vain for the royal fugitives, but commenced active operations for the forming of an alliance between Sweden, Russia, Prussia, Austria and Spain against republican France. Sweden and Russia made a treaty of mutual defence, but the negotiations for a general alliance were not at a favorable point when Gustavus III. himself fell by the aristocratic republicans of his own country.
A conspiracy between the nobles had been formed, the majority being men of the highest station. Jacob John Anckarstrom, a retired officer, was found willing to commit the deed of killing the hated despot. After several unsuccessful attempts, the act was accomplished at a mask ball in the Royal Opera, the king being shot through the hip. All of the accomplices present were arrested, and, much to their disappointment, the king not dying instantly, their plan for a revolution was thus frustrated. Gustavus III. was shot March 16, 1792, and died March 26, 1792, suffering his fate with fortitude and great presence of mind. He appointed his brother Charles and his favorite, Charles Gustavus Armfelt, members of the government during the minority of his son, Gustavus Adolphus.
The devotion of his country returned to Gustavus III. at his deathbed, never to leave him. In spite of his superficiality, violation of the law, disregard for a constitutional government, and adventurous and expensive wars, solid reasons remain to love and respect his memory. His noble patriotism, frank heroism, brilliant genius and great generosity are worthy of high praise. His revolution of 1789 brought disastrous consequences, but he furthered the progress of democracy by annihilation of the aristocratic republic and saved his country from the tragic fate of Poland. Even if the Period of Liberty is to be credited for a great deal of the cultural development during his reign, Gustavus has a large share therein, and Esaias Tegnér is right in his eulogy when he says:
“There rests o’er Gustav’s days a golden shimmer,
Fantastic, foreign, frivolous, if you please;
But why complain when sunshine caused the glamour?
Where stood we now if it were not for these?
All culture on an unfree ground is builded,
And barbarous once the base of patriotism true;
But wit was planted, iron-hard language welded,
The song was raised, life more enjoyed and shielded,
And what Gustavian was, is, therefore, Swedish too.”
In the mixture of patriotism and unreserved cosmopolitanism, true genius and superficiality, earnestness and recklessness in the character of Gustavus III., the Swedes have recognized peculiarities of their own national temperament, for which they are tempted to love him as dearly, although not considering him to be as great, as his two predecessors and namesakes on the Swedish throne. By his eloquence, wit and amiability, his personality charmed even his enemies. In contrast to the sombre autocrats of the Barocco period, Gustavus III. was a typical Rococo monarch, and he tried to give the charms and grace of the Rococo epoch to his surroundings. In appearance, he was of middle size, slender and graceful, with a face which bespoke genius, and eyes of unusual size and brilliancy.
Gustavus IV. Adolphus was a boy of thirteen at the death of his father. His uncle, Prince Charles, was regent in name, but Baron Reuterholm, the latter’s favorite, was the real head of the government. Compared to the eccentric but energetic, generous and liberal despotism of Gustavus III., Reuterholm’s was a rule of pettiness, incapability, revenge and hypocrisy. Prince Charles was a good soldier, but early lost all energy through dissipation and a natural tendency to mysticism, secrecy and simulation. Reuterholm was a good worker, but of no ability as a statesman, sharing and increasing the love of mysticism and superstition characteristic of his master. The new policy was to estrange the friends and favorites of Gustavus III. as much as possible, they all being sent away under various pretexts. Prince Charles had from the start declared invalid the postscript of the king’s will, according to which Count Armfelt was to take part in the government. Later a conspiracy, with Armfelt as the leader, was detected, when he, who was abroad and later entered Russian service, was declared to have forfeited his property, rank and life. A young woman, Lady Madelaine Rudenschiold, who was one of the conspirators, was punished by being exhibited to the mob on the place of execution and afterward imprisoned.