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Charles XIV John 327
of treason, and the punishment was imprisonment.
Such was the case with two persons who in a state of
intoxication had drunk to the health of Gustavus, re-
ferring to the son of Gustavus IV Adolphus,
It should be remembered, however, that this opposi-
tion to liberty, this anxious fear of everything new,
did not characterize Charles John alone. It possessed
nearly all European princes. The people of Europe
had passed through a period of violence and disruption
during the Revolution and the subsequent wars. What
Europe now wanted was rest. Hence, this period of
reaction.
Opposition to the King. The king’s arbitrary gov-
ernment and his opposition to reforms gave rise to an
opposition party, which grew in intensity from year
to year. In the newspapers and at meetings of the
Riksdag this party denounced the king’s arbitrary
measures, and demanded reforms throughout the king-
dom, especially extension of the freedom of the press
and the abolition of the four Estates in the Riksdag,
so that all the people would have an equal right to vote
for its members. The advocates of these reforms be-
came known as Liberals.
Their chief man among the nobility was Count
Anckarsvard. His eloquence was of a kind to arouse
his hearers and to carry them with him. In the long
run, however, he was not very dangerous to the reac-
tionary party. He dulled his weapons by his extreme
love of criticism. Before long the government could
not do a thing that Anckarsvard did not find fault with.
Among the peasants the opposition was led by
Anders Danielsson of West Gothland. He was a lordly
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