differences resulted in civil war. Sigmund was deposed and Charles made king.

Christian IV ascended the Danish throne at the age of twelve. After reaching his majority he took an active interest in promoting good government, especially in Norway, and made a voyage around the north cape into the White Sea. Then disputes with Charles of Sweden and war followed, which was continued after the death of Charles by his son, Gustavus Adolphus. After great suffering by both parties a peace was concluded. Gustavus waged successful war against Poland, in which he gained great glory and great numbers of his people lost their lives. At a meeting of the Saxon states at Lauenburg in 1625, while the Thirty Years' war was in progress, Gustavus was chosen captain general of the confederate army of Danes, Germans, Scotch, English and Swedes. His brilliant career in that memorable war ended with his life. in 1632 on the hard fought field of Lutzen. As a result of this war the power and territory of Sweden were greatly increased, though at a fearful cost of life and property to the people.

In Denmark power and landed property had steadily centered in the hands of a few, till the national assembly was no longer convened, and a few great lords dominated in the councils of the state. In 1660 Frederick convened the national diet, to which the nobles, the clergy and deputies from the towns were summoned, but there was no longer a free peasantry to be called. Norway was not called on for representatives. At this diet the crown was made hereditary, and the king absolved from the ancient limitations of his authority in favor of the nobility. The great lords were forced to swear fealty to the hereditary and unlimited monarch. This was one of the most remarkable revolutions in history and completely changed the character of the Danish government, from one in which each king had been forced at his accession to power to swear to observe the very extensive privileges of the nobility, leaving him little more than a nominal ruler, to an absolute monarchy in which the king engrossed all executive, legislative and judicial powers and was raised above the law, save that the order of succession to the throne, which the king was authorized to

establish, could not thereafter be changed. This gave to the king power to crush the great nobles, whose counsel he was no longer required to take, and to fill all offices with persons of his own selection, devoted to his interests. The motive for the change influencing the clergy and lower orders in the diet was to obtain relief from the tyranny of the oligarchy, who were exempt from public burdens while owning a great share of the land. The union of the multitude in support of a single head of the state in order to overthrow an obnoxious oligarchy is not unprecedented, but no other instance is recalled where absolute hereditary power has been deliberately conferred in a time of peace. Christian V, soon after coming to the Danish throne, took advantage of the war in which Charles XI of Sweden had engaged with the elector of Brandenburg to attack the now most dreaded foe of Denmark. The Danes and their allies were at first successful by sea and land, but the youthful Charles at last took the field and defeated them. After many battles with varying fortunes a peace was concluded, which left both parties with the same possessions as at the beginning of the war.

In Sweden Charles convoked a diet in 1680 for the purpose of remodeling the government, as a result of which a new board, called the Grand Commission, was established with power to inquire into the transactions of the ministers and punish the usurpations of the senators. Steps were also taken to recover grants of royal domains from the great nobles, to whom they had passed by grant or mortgage, on repayment of the original price paid the crown for them. Another diet, convened the following year, gave the king authority to change the constitution. This change was promoted by the same influences as those which changed the Danish constitution. In 1693 an act was passed which in terms made the king absolute and authorized him to govern the realm according to his will and pleasure without being accountable to any earthly power.

Charles XII, 1697, was a minor of fifteen years at his father's death, but notwithstanding the will of his father, which extended his minority to eighteen, in six months he assured the exercise of the unlimited kingly powers. He was

soon involved in war with a combination formed by Denmark, Saxony and Prussia. He met this formidable array with such marvelous courage, energy and success, as to challenge the admiration of all Europe and raise him to the first rank of military heroes. Not waiting for the allies to combine their forces, he at once assumed the offensive, attacked and crushed Denmark first, then sailed over the Baltic, landed at Pernau on the Gulf of Riga, attacked the poorly equipped and undisciplined Russians and destroyed army after army, far exceeding his own in numbers. Having disposed of the Russian armies, he turned upon the Saxons and passing through Lithuania he entered Poland, took Warsaw and Cracow, deposed the Saxon Augustus and caused the election of Stanislaus in his place. Thence he marched into Saxony and the imperial domains. Augustus was forced to sue for peace and make such terms as the victorious Charles saw fit to impose. These required the renunciation of the crown of Poland and the abrogation of his treaty with the Czar. After resting a while in Saxony, during which he drilled and perfected his army, Charles entered on the task of invading Russia and overthrowing the Czar. Peter had not been idle, but had profited by the bitter experience of former defeats and devoted his attention to the improvement of his army. Charles advanced but encountered stubborn resistance and an exceptionally severe Russian winter. Instead of pushing on toward Moscow, he turned to the south and passed through the Ukraine to join forces with the Cossack chief, Mazeppa, whom he expected to join him with a force of 30,000. Instead of Cossacks he was met by Russians. After suffering heavy losses from the severity of the weather and the want of supplies, as well as from frequent engagements, in the summer of 1709 he again attempted to force his way to Moscow with the remnant of his once splendid army. Peter met him at Pultowa on July 8 with 70,000 men, and, though he fought obstinately, overwhelming numbers decided. the day and the Swede's army was destroyed. With a small band of horsemen Charles made his escape into the Turkish domains, where he remained, supported by an allowance from the sultan, whom he sought to induce to raise an army with

which to renew the contest. Having played the rôle of a most troublesome guest to the Turks till Oct. 1714, Charles, in company with only two officers, started back to the north, reaching Stralsund safely on Nov. 21. He was most enthusiastically received by the army, but his presence was not sufficient to enable the small Swedish garrison to resist the combined besieging army of Danes and Prussians. He succeeded in escaping in a boat, just as the town capitulated, and made his way across the Baltic into Sweden. Still bent on conquest, he raised a new army, with which he invaded Norway. On his second invasion of that country at the siege of Frederickhall on Dec. 11, 1718, he was struck by a ball and killed. The career of Charles affords a striking example of the misfortune it is to a kingdom to have a great military hero for a king. It also illustrates the strange infatuation, which causes the multitude to applaud and follow a leader who marches them to destruction, so long as he succeeds in gaining battles and inflicting greater misery on his enemies than his own troops suffer. Had Charles been content to make peace after his early wars, which though carried on in the enemies' country were really defensive, he might have claimed to be a protector of his people, but his insane thirst for conquest caused him to drain his country of men, to be killed or maimed in war or sold into slavery as prisoners. His early campaigns brought booty and wealth, but loss, disaster and poverty alone resulted from the later ones. The great mass of men who followed him to his wars never returned but met death or slavery. The people at home endured the misery of the loss of friends, the sharp pinch of poverty and distress resulting from the destruction of war. Like the barbarous idol worshippers, the Swedes continued to worship their hero and to furnish him victims by tens of thousands. Rejoicing in the early days of success in the destruction and misery he and his followers caused others, they at last felt a full measure of it themselves. This is in the very nature of war, yet savage man still worships the war god in Christian churches, as well as in pagan grove or temple, and still immolates on his altar the bravest and strongest of the youths, leaving the perpetuation of the race to those physi

cally weaker and less courageous. By this system the race of the peaceful, though weak and defective, is preserved and propagated, while the more warlike element is destroyed.

Ulrica, younger sister of Charles, was chosen by the states to be his successor, but she was required to renounce all claims to despotic power and all hereditary right to the crown. A new constitution in forty articles was framed, which provided among other things; that all offices of trust or profit should be filled by the native nobility; that all taxes should be approved by the assembly; that the senate should manage public affairs in the absence of the sovereign and in case of a vacancy, and that cities and towns were to be confirmed in their corporate rights. This constitution was accepted by the queen. The policy of the new reign was to make peace, and this after some delay was accomplished, but with large concessions of territory to Russia. Ulrica soon abdicated and asked the election of her husband Frederick in her stead. This was done in 1720 with a further extension of the guarantees of the constitution. The king might propose laws, but the legislative power was vested in the states. Sweden enjoyed the blessings of peace till 1741, when bad counsel prevailed in the diet, and war was again declared against Russia. In the campaign which followed the advantage was with the Russians, and the Swedes lost Finland. as the price of peace. For blood and treasure wasted there was no return but humiliation.

In Frederick IV, Christian VI and Frederick V, Denmark found peaceful rulers, who devoted their energies to the improvement of the condition of their subjects, but were yet without power, and perhaps lacking in disposition, to do justice to the peasants and poor, who still submitted to the grinding oppression of the nobles.

Sweden again became involved in war with Frederick of Prussia, 1755 to 1762, but the drain of men and resources was not so severe as in her former greater struggles. Gustavus III ascended the throne of Sweden in 1771. He delayed his coronation until he could make sure of the fidelity of the soldiers, when he threw off the mask and refused to recognize the constitution, under which his predecessor had been sub