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The king took command. A sea-fight at Hogland was undecisive and among officers a conspiracy came to be known as the Anjala League. The conspirators opened nego tiations with the Russian empress, to bring about peace. News came that Denmark had entered the war as Russia's ally and Gustavus was obliged to hurry back to Sweden. The Swedish people became animated by patriotism and the king talked to the peasants as Gustavus Vasa had done of old. England and Prussia brought pressure to bear on Denmark to leave Sweden in peace and a truce was concluded. By the beginning of the following year, 1789, Gustavus was strong enough to have the leaders of the Anjala League imprisoned. The Riksdag was called together at the beginning of February. The meeting was a stormy one, the king, supported by the unprivileged estates, driving through the so-called Act of Union and Security which embodied a number of far-reaching constitutional innovations : the council ceased to exist ; the king acquired full powers over the administration of the State and the appointing of officials; and the Riksdag lost its ini tiative in legislation. Once again the authority of the king be came dominant. The Riksdag became responsible for the national debts, the management of which was placed in the hands of the riksgiildskontor, which was dependent on the Riksdag and which was given the right to take up new loans and to issue credit notes. A number of the leaders of the opposition had been imprisoned in the course of the session. Such was the king's second revolu tion. (See GUSTAVUS III. ; WALLQVIST, OLAF.) The Russian war became a war of exhaustion on land. During the years 1789-90 there were several sea-fights, the second of which, at Svensksund in 179o, constituted a fine victory under the king's command. In Aug. 179o, peace was concluded without modification of frontiers. But Sweden's finances were destroyed and the internal strife brought to a head. One result was a con spiracy against the king's life. He died on March 29, 1792, from the effects of a murderous attack by Captain J. J. Anckarstrom at a ball in the Opera House on March 16, 1792.
At the age of 13 Gustavus IV. Adolphus (1792 1809) became king of Sweden with his uncle Duke Charles as Regent. Duke Charles's closest associate was Gustav Adolf Reuterholm (q.v.), a man of great powers of work, but pedantic and of little intelligence. The Regency brought order into the higher grades of Government service and sought above all to further the prosperity of agriculture. Reuterholm was not lack ing in appreciation of the latest reforms : the freedom of the press was at first increased, but when the horrors of the French Revolution broke out it was restricted, and the repute of the Regency did not stand very high. It wavered between a French and a Russian alliance. The king, the duke and Reuterholm vis ited the Russian court in order to arrange a marriage between the king and a Russian princess, but the whole thing fell through when the king refused to give a guarantee of the princess's religious freedom. On the basis of a treaty concluded in 1794 between the two countries, the fleets of both Denmark and Sweden sought to protect neutral trade against privateers of England and other nations.
In 1796 Gustavus Adolphus took over the Government him self. He was scantily gifted but he knew how to make himself felt and combined obstinacy with passionate temper. So bad were the finances that the town of Wismar had to be mortgaged to Mecklenburg in i8oi. In the course of a long journey in Germany in the years 18o3–o4 Gustavus Adolphus came into touch with French emigrants, and was filled with hate of Napoleon. He took part in the coalition against France in 18o5–o7, with the result that Pomerania and Stralsund were lost. In the Treaty of Tilsit Napoleon and the Emperor Alexander agreed to attack Sweden unless she were willing to declare war against England and to pre vail on Denmark to do the same. The army in Finland gave way before the Russians. The strong fortress of Sveaborg was treach erously surrendered without any real struggle. In the Spring the Swedes marched again to the south of Finland and won several fine victories, afterwards immortalized by the poet Runeberg. In Dec. 1808 the Swedish forces vacated Finland. Gustavus Adol phus's measures became more and more thoughtless and he an noyed even England, his only ally. The feeling grew that the king must be dethroned. Lieut. Colonel Adlersoarre started a revolu tionary movement in Varmland, but before he reached Stockholm Adjutant General Karl Johan Adlercreutz had secured possession of the king's person (March 13, 1809). The king died in exile in 1837.
The Riksdag was called together on May 1 by the provisional Government and it decided to draw up a new constitution and elect a king. A form of Government resulted which in its fundamental parts still (1928) holds good and which is based on a division of power between the ministry, the representatives of the people and the judicature. The king was to be advised by a ministry the members of which were to be appointed by the king but to be answerable to the Riksdag. General legislature was to be the work of the king and the Riksdag, and the Riksdag's con trol over taxation was confirmed. As soon as this constitution had been adopted Charles XIII. was recognized as king (1809 18). The credit of drafting the new constitution belongs in the first place to Hans Jarta.
King Charles was childless and it was necessary to choose a successor to the throne. Public opinion in Sweden at this period occupied itself with Norway's union with Sweden as a compen sation for Finland. The Riksdag chose as successor to the throne Prince Christian Augustus of Augustenburg who was commander in-chief in Norway, manifestly in the hopes that the choice would help to bring this union about. The prince declared that he could accept this offer only after a declaration of peace. During the late summer of 1809 the Russian war was extended to the north of Sweden and the Swedish forces met with two defeats. The Russians in the meantime had become weary of the war and in September peace was declared at Fredrikshamn; Sweden lost Fin land and Aland. Soon treaties of peace followed with her other enemies. Pomerania was returned to Sweden.