CHARLES XII., of Sweden, was born at Stockholm, in June 1632, At fifteen years of age, in 1697, he succeeded his father, Charles XI., a harsh and despotic prince, who had abolished the authority of the senate and rendered himself absolute. Charles was brought up in his father's principles, and he showed from his earliest youth great self will and obstinacy, and an excessive fondness for military exercises. When he was eighteen, a league was formed against him by Frederio IV., king of Denmark, Augustus, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, and Peter I. of Russia, the object of which was to dismember Sweden. Charles sailed immediately with an army for Copenhagen, besieged that city, and in a few weeks obliged the king of Denmark to sue for peace. He next sailed for the coast of Livonia, then a Swedish pro vince as well as Ingria ; which latter was invaded by the Russians, elm besieged Nerve. On the 30th November 1700, Charles, at the bead of 8000 well disciplined Swedes, attacked a disorderly body of 80,000 Russians, and completely defeated them. He next turned his arms against King Augustus; but not satisfied with defeating him repeatedly and taking Courland from him, he determined upon deposing him and placing on the throne of Poland a young Polish nobleman, Stanislaus Leckzinski, palatine of Posnania, who by his manner and address had won the favour of Charles. In this project he was favoured by a con siderable faction among the Polish magnates, always dissatisfied with their sovereigns, and ever ready for change. After several battles and negociations, Charles, having overrun the greater part of Poland, dictated to the Diet the nomination of his favourite, and Stanislaus was proclaimed kiug of Poland in July 1704. Augustus however, at the head of his Saxon troops and a party of Poles and Lithuanians, assisted by Russian auxiliaries, kept up a desultory warfare in several provinces of Poland; but Charles, at the head of part of his army, having crossed the Oder and entered Saxony, Augustus was obliged to sue for peace, which was concluded at Leipzig in the beginning of 1707. Augustus resigned the crown of Poland to Stanislaus, and retired to his hereditary Saxon dominions. [AtmosTus II.] Charles, in his head-quarters near Leipzig, at the head of a victorious army of nearly 50,000 Swedish veterans, had for a while the eyes of all Europe fixed upon him. He received ambassadors from ail the principal powers, and the Duke of Marlborough himself wont to Leipzig, and had long interview nith Charles, whom he wished to induce to join the allies Louis XIV. But Cherie.** views were directed to the north ; his great object was to dethrone his rival, Peter of Made. 11. however obliged the emperor Joseph I. to sub aeribe to several conditions which he dictated ; among others, he required that the Protestants of Silesia should have the free exercise of their religion, and certain number of churches giecn to them by the government Having eroded these affairs, ho marched out of Saxony in September 1707, at the head of 43,000 men, to carry the war into Muscovy. Another corps of 20,000 Swedes, under Geuerai Lowenhanpt, was stationed in Poland. In January 1703, Charles wowed the Niemen near Groan°, and defeated the Russian troops which had catered Lithuania. In Juno 1703 ho met Peter on the banks of the Berezina. The Swedes creased the river, and the ftwelane ded precipitately to the Dnieper, which Charles creased after them near Mohilow, and pursued them as far as Smolensk, towards the end of September. But here Charles began to experience the real difficulties of Itu shin campaign. The country was desolate, the roads wretched, the winter approaching, and the army bad hardly provisions far fortnight Charles therefore abandoned his plan of marching upon Moscow, and turned to the south towards the Ukraine, where Ilareppe. Lotman or chief of the Cosaake, had agreed to join him
against Peter. Charles advanced towards the river Desna, an affluent of the Dnieper, which it joins near Kiew; but be missed his way among the extensive marshes which cover a great part of the country, and in which almost all his artillery and waggons were lost. Meantime the Russians had dispersed Mazeppa's Coasaks, and Mazeppa himself maw to join Charles as fugitive with a small body of followers. lewenbaupt also, who was coming from Poland with 15,000 men, was defeated by Peter in person. Charles thus found himself in the wilds of the Ukraine, hemmed in by the Russians, without provisions, and the winter setting in with unusual severity. His army, thinned by cold, hunger, and fatigue, as well as by the sword, was now reduced to 24,000 men. In this condition Charles passed the winter in the Ukraine, his army subsisting chiefly by the exertion, of Mazeppa. In the spring, with 19,000 Swedes and as many Cossaks, he laid siege to the town of Pultawa, where the Russians had collected largo stores. During the siege he was severely wounded in the foot; and soon after Peter himself appeared to relieve Pultawa, at the 'head of 70,000 men. Charles had now no choke but to risk general battle, which was fought on the 8th of July 3709, and ended in the total defeat of the Swedes, 9000 of whom remained on the field of battle. With the remainder Charles fled towards the frontiers of Turkey, which he reached almost alone at Ocsakow, on the limen of the Bog and Dnieper. He claimed the hospitality of Soltan Achmet III., who assigned to him liberal allowance, and the town of Bender on the Dniester for his residence. We shall not here speak of the foolish behaviour of Charles while refugee at Bender, of his arrogance towards the Turks, his generous entertainers, whom he absolutely obliged to fight him and his ratio band of followers, and at last to remove him to Demotic* near Adrianople, where they continued to treat him with a generous forbearance. At last in October 1714, Charles left Turkey, and crossing Hungary and all Germany, arrived in sixteen days at Stral sund. Without going to Stockholm, ho immediately took the field against Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, and Russia leagued against him, obtained some advantages, was afterwards besieged in Stralsund, and obliged to retire to Sweden at the end of 1715. In March 1716 ho invaded Norway at the bead of 20,000 men, and advanced to Chris tiania, but was obliged by want of provisions to return to Sweden. Ile entered into negotiations with Peter, but still pursued the war against the Danes, and in October 1718 he again invaded Norway, and besieged Friedrichaball In the midst of winter. On the evening of the 11th of December, while he was inspecting the trenches exposed to the fire of battery, he was struck in the head by a shot, and died Instantly, in his thirty-seventh year. For the particulars of his adven turous career, Voltaire's ' Ilistoire de Charles X IL' is the chief authority ; it 1. generally considered correct, and is warranted by the testimonT of SuMblaue, king of Poland. (See the ' Attestation' prefissd oltalre's Life of Charles XII?) Charles WAS a true specimen of conqueror for mere glory, as it is celled; his passion for war engrossed all his thoughts, and be seems to hays bad DO idea that nation could be glorious and happy In a state of peace. In one respect he was superior to most conquerors. Ile maintained a most exemplary moral discipline in his army, which did not disgrace itself by the licentiousness and the atrocities which bavc marked the steps of moat other invaders.