FORTIA*S TRAVELS IN SWEDEN.

5 * 3

"We {hall haften their immediate expulfion, in order fo, if poffible, to efface the remem-brance of fuch a horrid crime, which, by their detention in the fortreffes of the king-dom, would only renew the remembrance of a misfortune in itfelf indelible. For everbe thefe unhappy wretches banifhed from that Sweden whofe calm and tranquillity theyhave difturbed; and in order to encreafe their remorfe, let them know that it is theKing, againft whofe life they dared to confpire, who, in his dying moments, gave themtheirs.

As for other perfons accufed fince, we are not authorifed by the will of His late Ma-•jefty to leffen the feverity of the law in their favour, neither can we in an affair of thisnature follow our innate inclination to clemency 5 whereupon we confirm, with refpe£tto them, the definitive fentence of the High tribunal: in confequence of which Coun-cillor Von Engeflrceum fhall be fufpended from his poft, and be confined for threeyears in a fortrefs. Major Hartmanfdorff fhall likewife be difplaced and imprifoned fora year; the Secretary Von Engeflrceum fhall be fufpended from his office for twelvemonths, and General Major Baron de Pecklin fhall be confined in a fortrefs until moreample information ; but the territorial judge Nodell, agreeably to the fentence of theParliament and the High Tribunal fhall be releafed from all charges.

His Royal Highnefs immediately appointed the fortrefs of Waxholm for theprifon ofCouncillor Von Engeflrceum, that of Malmoe for Major Hartmanfdorff, and that ofWarberg for General Major Pecklin.

The prefent verbal procefs and the fentence it contains having been read and col-lated, the Commiffion broke up its fitting, in jidem protocol}.

(Signed) N. JOHNSON.

We conceive that what will now have met the reader's eye requires no comment.A dying King pardons his affaffins: the laft aft of his power is to draw afide the venge-ful fword of the law, from punifhing thofe who had robbed him of life: how honour-able, how glorious fuch an end ! How well it crowns a reign, too fhort for Sweden , butlong enough for thofe Sovereigns difpofed to take him for a model, and enlightened■enough to follow his Heps.

The clemency of the King is fo well known to us, that upon the firft intelligence ofthis execrable aft, we declared as our opinion, that if His Majefty recovered, the mur-derer alone would be punifhed with death. The event has fhewn that we were notdeceived.

Chap. XVIII.— On the Death of Charles XII .

THIS event, fo important‘from its confequences, which paved the way for Sweden to obtain a peace wanted fo many years before, and which changed the form of go-vernment of the country, is related in fo many different manners, but each fo void ofproofs, that every hiftorian, without being liable to the charge of impofture, is left toadopt which he will. The ftatement of M. Voltaire has had mofl partizans, yet do weconfider it wrong, and the refearches we have been able to make put our opinion be-yond all doubt. We fhall prefently difcufs that of Mr. Coxe, given at great length inhis Second Voyage to the North, publifhed in 1791 : but fhall firlt begin with the account■of Lagerbring, Profeffor at Lund, taken from his Hiftory of Sweden , vol. iv. part 3. whichtreats of the reign of Charles XII. Stockholm , 1779 ; in it will befeen the effential dif-ferences which chara&erize the account of each hiftorian.vol, vi. 3 u <( 0a