The northern courts: Containing original memoirs of the sovereigns of Sweden and Denmark, since 1766, including the extraordinary vicissitudes in the lives of the grand-children of George the Second

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1818. Excerpt: ... CHAP. III. Renewal of the war in Finland.--The campaigns of 1789 and 1790.--The ruin of the Swedish navy.--Sudden conclusion of peace.--Anecdote of the Empress Catherine and a pug dog,--Catherine the Second subsidises Gustavus the Third.--His intrigues against the French nation.--Anecdote of Mr. Pitt, related by William Augustus Miles, Esq.--Gustavus the Third goes to Spa.---Prepares to make war against France.--The death of the king resolved on,--Circumstances attendant on his assassination.--Anecdotes relative to the conspirators.--The death of Gustavus the Third, Peace, if not amity, being thus restored between Sweden and Denmark, the work of havoc and slaughter was renewed in Finland, as soon as the winter of 1789 broke up. The local consequences of warlike operations are always terrific; but more peculiarly so in a sterile province, where the productive powers of the soil are so feeble, that the most favorable seasons in the bosom of peace, did not at this period bring forth a sufficiency of bread-corn to serve the thinly scattered population; and where the ravages of a single campaign required the labours of an age of tranquillity to replace its waste. The history of the military movements afford but little interest for foreign readers. The first enterprize was led by General Baron Stedingk, towards Nyslot. On the 5th of June, 1789, the king arrived in Finland, and put himself at the head of the chief division of the Swedish army. The plan of the campaign that was formed by this monarch, bespoke the daring character, rather than the military science of its projector, namely, the capture of the strong fortresses Nyslot, Frederikshamn, and Wiborg, by the army; of Hogfors and Cronstadt, by the grand fleet, assisted by a powerful fleet of gun-boats; and...