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We have obferved that Adolphus Frederic left but the title of a King to his fon.The date was torn by two oppofite parties ; the fenate by its arbitrary exactions wasopprefiively grievous ; the fovereign alone enjoyed no prerogative, but was fubjedt tothe mod humiliating vexations ; in ftiort, things had arrived to fuch a pitch that thecrown could but be confidered as a burthen to a Prince who knew himfelf capable oflupporting alone the whole of its weight.
Let us not be furprized then that Guftavus III. endowed with a ftrong mind, withgreat energy of character, fhould feel himfelf indifpofed to tolerate fuch a fhameful yoke.The revolution of 1772 is known to all the world, even in its moll nice minutiae; this wefliall not attempt to defcribe, yet (hall we communicate to our readers an anecdote butvery little known, for the truth of which we can vouch. The King of Sweden had confidedhis project to none but Louis XV. ; neverthelefs the fecret tranfpired, was known inEngland, and mentioned to the Englifh minifter at Stockholm . Judge of the aftonifh-ment of Guftavus; this unfeafonable difcovery engaged him to execute his plan fomedays before the time he at firlt intended, which did him not however any injury. Thisis the manner in which the fecret tranfpired. Madame du Barry had noticed the Kingreading a difpatch with much attention; whether out of fimple curiofity,- whether atthe mitigation of the Englifh ambafiador, fhe picked His Majefty’s pocket of the letterupon his falling afieep, and imparted its contents to the Ambafiador, (This is a fitmoment to obferve that, notwithflanding it be made to amount to a much largerfum,thereal afliftance offered by France to theKing of Sweden at this critical juncture was no morethan 500,000 livres.) it got wind among many people at Stockholm , who even knew theday fixed for the purpofe : but when they faw Guftavus the evening before prefent at anew piece at the opera till eleven o’clock, and appear perfectly gay and unconcerned,they could not imagine it would take place on the Succeeding day. We fhall juft remarkhere that when this Prince projedled any important affair he always affedted to give ballsand entertainments, into the fpirit of which he appeared to enter with fo much glee thatno one could think it poflible his mind could be intent on aught but mirth and pleafure.
This revolution, brought about by a Prince but fix-and-twenty years old, totallychanged the conftitution of Sweden ^ and was effedted without the lofs of a fingle dropof blood. As Frenchmen we may be allowed, in comparing it with our own, to heavea bitter figh. It proves that the exceffes which will live an immortal fiain in our hiftorymight have been avoided ; however philofophers and the reafoners of the day aflurethat revolutions cannot happen without violent convulfions and numerous victims : ifyou objedt the revolution in Sweden , they anfwer, Oh, that was quite a differentthing : and indeed it was, and therefore do we figh ; but why was it different ? Inboth the one and the other country the conftitution of the government was changed,the exifting laws were annulled for the fubftitution of others; one power was an-nihilated for the creation of a different one: thefe are juft and very ftriking refem-blances ; in what then does the difference confift? In this : in Sweden , he who effecteda revolution had no one to confult; he had the genius to caufe it to be adopted by allhis fubjedts, and excited the admiration of Europe: in France , thofe who caufed therevolution poffeffed beforehand the good wifhes of the people, yet found the fecret ofdiffatisfying and difgufting a great part of the kingdom, and all Europe ; they havebeen unable to fix their edifice upon a folid bafe, whilft in Sweden the fame ftrudturerequired but a few days for its perfedl completion. We cannot tell if thefe differenceswill be found available in juftifying the misfortunes and atrocities of the revolution.
Guftavus III. unites to thofe qualities which conftitute a great King, thofe the moftamiable in individuals; he has an inexhauftible fund of anecdotes of all defcriptions.
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