Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XVI. Reign of Gustavus III, 1771–1792 - E. The King’s Reverses
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Reverses of Gustavus HI 291
before, during, and after services.
Iiyfoie parish, for
instance, it is said that there were twelve dramshops,
and as a result no one got any servicei^rom
his hired
help on Mondays. ^^
Private, or Illegal, Distilling. People could not under-
stand why they should not be allowed to turn their
own grain into whiskey. So they began to distill
secretly. Officers made tours of inspection, seized the
stills, and imprisonments or heavy fines followed. The
peasants then combined in large groups and established
their stills in secluded places in the forests. Should
the officers of the law venture to interfere there would
be bloody fights that might result in loss of life. In
some places the people were ruined through heavy
fines. Thus the government monopoly had caused yet
greater evils among the people, and instead of furnish-
ing the government an income, it had caused it losses.
Finally the monopoly had to be abandoned. At the close
of the 70’s there were plain signs that the popularity
of Gustavus was waning.
Various Causes of Discontent. The liquor question
was not alone the cause of Gustavus’ failure. During
the early years of his reign, his weak nature had been
strengthened by the dangers that threatened the realm.
But gradually as the dangers seemed to disappear, the
king’s weaker side came to the fore his love of pleas-
ure and his vanity. The many court festivals, which
consumed the revenues of the realm, sapped the king’s
strength, and set a bad example to his subjects, called
most forcibly to mind the times of Christina. The
king’s expensive foreign travels also aroused much
criticism; especially expensive were his visits to
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