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488 FORTIA’S TRAVELS IN SWEDEN.
oppofite advice, the King yet refolved on the paffage, adhering to the opinion of Count
Dahlberg *, a foldier of fortune, then major of artillery, who pledged himfelf for its
fuccefs. A fquadron of guards and the King’s carriage were loft; the reft all arrived :
orders were iffued for every one to take care of himfelf, and fuccour none on pain of
death. Shortly after the peace, Charles, fufpeCting the Danes might attack him when
he fhould be otherwife employed, and wifhing to put it out of their power to injure
him, himfelf firft broke the treaty ;. fo that he had on his hands at once Denmark, Po-
land, the Empire, and Holland, and bravely oppofed all his enemies. A premature
death carried him off at Gottenburg in 1660, in the thirty-fixth year of his age, and
fixth of his reign. This Prince was intrepid, indefatigable, and endowed with great ta-
lents for war, which he was continually waging. To him the pacific virtues, which
alone complete the happinefs of a nation, were unknown; yet throughout his reign,
Sweden continued to be refpeéted abroad, on account of her maintaining the reputation
fo long acquired. It is on this account alone that Charles deferves to be reckoned
among the fovereigns who have graced the throne of Guftavus Vafa. His fon, five years
of age, fucceeded him.
CHARLEs XI.
Charles XI. refembled neither his father nor his fon; neverthelefs he was at war for
feveral years, and gained in perfon two battles from the Danes, under command of
their King, Chriftian V. (that of Lund in 1676, and that of Landfcron in 1677.)
Peace being concluded in 1679, Charles cemented it by marriage with the fifter of the
King of Denmark. He immediately limited the power of the fenate; and managed,
in. 1682, in fpite of the oppofition of the nobility, to be invefted with abfolute power,
which he preferved to the day of his death. He took advantage of his authority to
recruit the finances of the ftate and the police of the kingdom ; he knew how to make
himfelf refpeéted as well by his fubjects as foreign powers: the flourifhing {tate in
which he left the army, commerce, and finances, is folely attributable to the ufe
he made of his ability for governing, and his acting without controul and by him-
felf. He handed down unlimited power to his fon, which that Prince frequently
abufed.
Charles XI. died in 1697, forty-two years of age ; he had prepared the peace of Ryf-
wick, which was not concluded until after his death. Charles XI. reigned feven-and-
thirty years, and reigned a defpot f. s
Although
* General Count Dahlberg, who was prefent at this paflage, an attempt which ftands unequalled in the
annals of war, ferved under Charles XI., and accompanied him in all his battles, and particularly at Lund,
on the 14th December 1676: he was afterwards made governor of Riga, and was with Charles XII. at
the famous paflage of the Dwina, then nearly ninety years of age; he confequently was prefent at the
moft memorable aétions of three feveral reigns. Heit is who publifhed Swecia antiqua, a collection of plans
and views in Sweden. Heleft no fon: by the female fide, Count Oxen/fiern, formerly prime minifter, de-
fcends from him. Since an opportunity offers to {peak of this fenator, though we may rill: offending his
modefty, we yet cannot fuffer it to efcape without obferving of him what we thall be joined in by all who
know him. ‘To a name rendered fo famous by the grand chancellor under Chriftina, he unites the moft
frank and noble manners, elegance of language, an abundance of fenfe, mildnefs, amiability, and information
void of pedantry, which in gur efteem encreafes its value.
+ Many people deteft the name of de/pot, confidering that word fynonimous with tyrant ; what, however,
conftitutes defpotifm, is the power of making laws, of cancelling fuch as exiit, of impofing taxes at will,
and of leffening the freedom of the people: Hence a number of perfons in France, where clear ideas on
government are extremely rare indeed, notwithftanding it is a fubjeét which has employed them ineffectually
for thefe four years paft, confound the power with the will. Ruffia undoubtedly is a defpotic ftate 5 itill
; more
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