Character of the late KING OF SWEDEN, with an Account of the Swedish Revolution.

(From THOMSON's Travels in Sweden.)

BEFORE I went to Sweden, I was strongly impressed with a high opinion of the late King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus IV. as it had been drawn with so much zeal and apparent truth in the British Newspapers. I disapproved of the Swedish revolution, and was eager to learn the opinion entertained of it by well informed people in Sweden. I found every person concur in the same opinion, while the picture drawn of the conduct of Gustavus Adolphus was so different from what I had conceived from the statements in the English newspapers, that I was unwilling to admit it, and I yielded only to the evidence of well authenticated facts.

Gustavus IV. possessed certain qualities which gave him a resemblance to Charles XII. the prince whose conduct he considered as a model for his imitation. Like Charles, he had an obstinacy of character so great, that it was impossible to induce him to alter any resolution, however absurd or ridiculous, which he had once formed, even though it were demonstrated to him by the clearest evidence, that persisting in it could lead only to disaster and ruin. Another quality in which he resembled Charles XII. was in his capacity of enduring cold, which was uncommonly great. He used to travel in the winter with only a slight covering, when his courtiers were trembling with cold under the load of two or three great-coats and surtouts.

Instead of defending his own fromtiers, he left them defenceless to the invading enemy, while the whole of his attention was turned to romantic schemes, altogether beyond the power of his resources to realize. had early become the submissive votary of religion, or, more accurately

He

speaking, of superstition, and during his travels in Germany, he got hold of a commentary on the Revelation, by a man of the name of Jung, which, though originally written in German, had been translated into Swedish. This book became the subject of his assiduous study; the opinions which it contained were implicitly adopted, and regulated all his conduct. The second beast, described in the 13th chapter of the Revelation, whose power was to be but of short duration, was considered by him as Bonaparte; because some commentator had shewn that the letters in the name Napoleon Buonaparte make out the number 666, which is the mark of the beast.

In consequence of this discovery, he ordered the name of the French Emperor, in all the Swedish newspapers, to be always printed N. Buonaparte, and as the real reason of this whimsical charge was concealed by his ministers, it excited considerable curiosity in the country, and nobody was able to explain it in a satisfactory manner. He easily persuaded himself that he was the person destined by Heaven to overturn the dominion of the beast, and that the verse in the 6th chapter of the Revelation, which is as follows, applied to himself:

"And I saw and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer."

Gustavus IV. possessed some skill as a practical painter. At Gripsholm he drew a picture of himself seated upon a white horse, and trampling the beast under his feet. So firmly was he convinced of the truth of all these predictions, that he thought nothing more was necessary than to refuse to treat with Bonaparte. No preparations on his part would be requisite to enable him to fulfill the intention of heaven. When besieged in Stralsund by a French army, he expected the visible interpo

sition of an angel in his behalf. But when this angel, who was to be four German miles in height, did not appear, and the French batteries were nearly completed, he thought it requisite to attend to his own safety, and retreat to the island of Rugen."

His own notion of military tactics, like that of some other princes, was, that it consisted in nothing else than regulating the military uniforms; this was with him a point of such importance, that when the supplementary troops were raised, he spent the greatest part of a year in devising the shape of their coats, while, in the mean time, the poor recruits were left so entirely without every means of comfort, that many actually died of cold and hunger.

I am conscious that this picture of the conduct and capacity of Gustavus IV. is very different from what is generally entertained in this country. It is very different from what has been uniformly inculcated in all our newspapers, and, indeed, as different as possible from the opinion which I myself entertained before I went to Sweden. But it is an opinion which must be adopted by every person who will make himself acquainted with the facts which took place in Sweden daring his reign.

Three powerful nations were preparing to invade and divide the kingdom of Sweden among them. Gustavus had quarrelled with his only ally, and obstinately refused to listen to any terms of peace with France and Russia; though it was demonstrated that such a peace was essentially necessary for the interests of his country, and that perseverance in the war could lead to nothing else than complete ruin.

The liberty of the press had been totally annihilated in Sweden, so that the people, in consequence, were but imperfectly acquainted with the state of Europe. The king had all along been very popular with the people,

who, ignorant of his real character, ascribed all his errors in Germany to the want of capacity of his ministers. Even the commencement of the Russian and Danish war did not alter their sentiments, and the losses sustained in Finland served only to irritate the minds of the people. Popular enthusiasm was raised to the highest pitch, and the most glorious results would have taken place had the throne heen filled by a prince who understood how to profit by the disposition of his subjects. But the management of the war in the summer and autumn of 1808, opened the eyes of the whole Swedish nation. The deplorable state of the finances, the determination of the King never to make peace, and the absurd plans which he had projeoted for the next campaign, awakened in the mind of every thinking man the necessity of taking some immediate step to save their tottering country.

Colonel Adlesparre, who commanded the western army, conducted his troops to Carlstadt, harangued the different regiments in succession in the market place, informed them of the hazardous enterprize which he had undertaken, and the necessity of such measures for the safety of their country. The troops unanimously entered into his views, and offered to sacrifice their lives for the salvation of their country. A detachment was sent to take possession of Gottenburg, while Colonel Adlesparre marched with the rest of his army to Orebro.

The conspirators, at Stockholm, were sensible that the King's retreat ought, at all hazards, to be prevented, and, therefore, resolved upon attempting to seize his person next day, the 13th of March, before he should have leisure to put any of his plans in execution. Baron Adlercreutz, who had come to Stockholm on purpose, and who had acquired reputation by his conduct in the Finland war, agreed to take the lead on this occasion.

Baron

Baron Adlercreutz, Count Klingspor, Colonel Silfversparre, and many other officers who were in the secret, assembled in the palace by eight o'clock in the morning. The number of conspirators within the palace amounted to about fifty.

Baron Adlercreutz now went round and desired those who were stationed at the gates and the other parts of the palace to be vigilant on their parts, and having collected a number of officers, he entered the King's room. When the door opened, the King seemed surprised; the Baron immediately approached and said, "That the public mind was in the utmost irritation from the unfortunate state of the country, and particularly from his Majesty's intended departure from Stockholm: that the higher officers of state, the troops, and the most respectable citizens, had encouraged him to represent the consequences to his Majesty, for which purpose" here the King loudly exclaimed, "Treason! you are all corrupted, and shall be punished!" The Baron answered, "We are no traitors, but wish to save your Majesty, and our country." The King immediately drew his sword, the Baron rushed upon him and seized him round the waist, while Colonel Silfversparre took the sword out of his hand; the King then cried out, "They are going to murder me, help! help!They endeavoured to re-assure the King, and he promised to be more composed if they would return his sword; he was told that in this respect he could not be gratified, nor be permitted any more to interfere in the management of the kingdom.

The Duke of Sudermania took upon him the government. The change was immediately proclaimed, and received with acclamations by the people. Hardly any revolution - was ever brought about with greater facility. No tumult ensued; no blood was shed in any part of the

IN your Magazine for last October,

I was pleased with observing some very pertinent remarks, on a fmode by which reading may be rendered instructive.

Reading is certainly one of the most pleasing, as well as useful, of the domestic arts; and the person, by whose aid we are enabled to extend its utility, may safely be pronounced a benefactor to mankind.

The mode alluded to is undoubtedly deserving of every attention from those teachers of youth who have it in their power to adopt it, and might be practised with great advantage in private teaching. My intention at present is to point out several obstacles which, as yet, lie in the way of this judicious mode, in hopes that the parents and guardians of youth (who alone can) may render it practicable for teachers to adopt it in its full ex

tent.

The first obstacle I shall state is, the short time that children, especially boys, are generally allowed to continue at an English school. This is scarcely sufficient for initiating them into the mechanical art of reading, and so soon as they can imitate the mechanism of language, by uttering a succession of sounds with sufficient rapidity, they are deemed good English sholars, and must then be engaged in the more important object of acquiring a smattering of Latin and Greek; and English is afterwards

considered

The second obstacle is, the difficulty of finding subjects level with the capacities of children: all the school books that have come within my observation are extremely defective in this respect; the matter and language being infinitely beyond the compretension of weak understandings. We all know with what difficulty we can make children understand even a message, and how frequently they misconceive the most common expressions. How then shall they be made to comprehend those difficult dramatic pieces which have exercised, and often baffled, the ingenuity of professed critics? and, of such pieces, most of the modern school books are entirely composed. What instruction can children derive from reading such pieces, containing numerous allusions to sciences and customs of which they are quite ignorant, and in which it would, as yet, be impossible to instruct them? To remove this obstacle, it would be proper, for the first three or four years, to put into the hands of children no books except upon subjects which they could be made thoroughly to understand, by the excellent method suggested by your Correspondent. They would thus be accustomed to investigate the meaning of what they read, and would proceed in the higher species of composition with pleasure and profit.

The third, and last obstacle, I shall state, is the anxiety which some parents manifest for pushing their children forward to reading, which it is impossible for them to understand; this is indeed an evil of great magnitude, and commonly influences all their future transactions in life. They are thereby taught to believe, that excellence consists not in being thoroughly acquainted with a subject,

but in being through with it, right or wrong. To the above might be added the continual interruption of the teacher in many schools arising from different branches, such as English, Arithmetic, &c. being taught in the same school, and at the same hour, as also the multiplicity of classes in many schools where English alone is taught. The eminent teacher mentioned by your correspondent, has the advantage of most others in this respect, the initiatory department being performed by his partner and assistant. Indeed, the mode practised by that teacher, is so similar to that delineated by your correspondent, that, upon glancing over it, without having read the prefatory matter, I had in my mind set him down as the author.That teacher has the merit of having introduced a method of teaching upon rational principles, the excellence of which is sufficiently evinced by the masterly manner in which his pupils always acquit themselves on public occasions. "May his retirement be happy, as his life has been useful!"

There is another very useful purpose to which this mode is applicable, as youth may thus be informed that there are many words by which the same idea may be expressed, that few of the words generally termed synonimous are strictly so, and that much of the perspicuity and elegance of composition depends on a judicious choice of words.

With this view, the pupil is directed, instead of the chief vocables used by the author, to substitute those which approach the nearest to them in signification, either by writing out the passage thus altered, or by introducing the synonomies in reading.The latter method is the preferable, as it is presumed most children will require to recur to their dictionary several times before they can recollect the significations, so as to introduce them with promptitude.

The

THERE

are causes which prevent the accumulation of wealth among Hindoos, that seem to be peculiar to that country; one of them is, the law of inheritance to property among the Hindoos by this law all property is divided equally among all the sons; after such division, the property still remains in common; those sons, supposing them to be four or five, still remain together under the same roof; it is a kind of copartnership. Among the poor class it is often dissolved in one or two years, but among all the trading and mercantile classes it frequently continues ten, fifteen, or even fifty years; it is not necessary to the existence of this copartnership that they should remain together under the same roof, or even in the same country; they may go out of it and pursue different occupations, some may be bank rupt, some may be successful; until a formal dissolution, by which each member gives his acquittance to the

other, and takes his share, the copartnership is not dissolved, so that it frequently happens, that in a family of five brothers, one who has acquired a large property is obliged, after a period of twenty or thirty-years, to divide it equally among the other four brothers, who are beggars; if the division does not take place during the life of the father, it is continued to the son, and even to the grandson. I have known instances of it after a period of forty and even of fifty years. This cause I apprehend, though it contributes to place all the members of a Hindoo family, in some degree likewise tends to preabove poverty, vent the accumulation of such wealth in any one person, as to leave him the means of making large purchases of any foreign commodities. Even when the Hindoo has by a long life of successful industry acquired a competency, he has many ways of expending his property, without making any demand for European articles. Every Hindoo must marry. Marriage is a most expensive ceremony amongst all Hindoos. Even among the poorest the expence is never less than the amount of the savings of three, four, or five years among the richer class, the marriage expence is only measured by the extent of their fortunes; men frequently dissipate half their property in the course of a few days, in a marriage; in marriage the man is not always left to his own discretion in judging of the extent of the expence to which he should go, there are thousands of mendicants, brahmins, and fakeers, who always know when a rich man is to be married, and who are as jealous of his honour in this respect as he can be himself: it is not left to his own will to limit his expence; they assemble in parties of three or four hundred, and live with him several days, during which he is obliged to distribute food, clothes, and sometimes money, to the whole party. I remember an instance myself, of a

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