Art. I. The king obliges himfelf, during his whole life, to remain in and maintain the Lutheran religion, according to the Augfburgh confeffion, with his whole family, and all his fubjects. 11. He fhall not allow any perfon whatfoever, who does not profefs the faid religion, to hold or enjoy any place under the government; in particular fuch perfons as are known to be free-thinkers, irreligious, impious, and wicked perfons. III. Contains the repetition of the foregoing article, concerning the established religion; and that all officers, both military and civil, shall ftrictly be bound to obferve that it is firmly kept and adhered to. IV. His majefty obliges himself to refrain from buying, or endeavouring to get to himself or his family, any principality, province, caftle, or hotel, &c. which belong to any of his majefty's fubjects, and who have regularly paid the revenue to the crown, without the confent of the ftates. V. The king declares before God, that he will hold principally and preferably the adminiftration of the kingdom; maintaining the rights of the states, the liberty and fecurity of the fubjects; and reign with mildnefs and juftice, according to the form inftituted in this kingdom, anno 1720, in the bond or obligation act. VI. The king condemns and defpifes all fuch perfons as traitors to the kingdom, according to the declaration of the ftates, who openly or fecretly do bring, or intend to bring, into

VOL. XV.

this kingdom any fovereignty; for which purpofe, every fubject is to take the oath of allegiance, before he or they can hold any place under the crown. VII. Concerns the cabinet and the ftates; that the king fhall not do any thing concerning the crown, unless a plurality of voices of the states have been previously given, and never without their approbation, and against their counsel to reign. VIII. The king promifes further, never to intermeddle with the elec tion of the deputies of the diet, the marfhals, and the fpeakers, and not suffer any other perfon to do it. IX. Concerns the election of the Counsellors of the states, and the pofts which the king gives in the prefence of the states, and not in the cabinet; that is, from fieldmarshals to colonels, both inclufive. X. No perfon in this fervice, shall be cafhiered before he is firft condemned, not put into any other employment, against his will. XI. No privilege fhall be given to any of the ftates, without the confent of all the four orders, nor any thing altered without the confent of the whole four. XII. The revenues of the crown to be difpofed of according to the conventions of the states. XIII. No foreigner shall be naturalized, of what condition foever, without the confent of the states; nor fhall any foreigner be admitted to a place in the fenate, nor at court. XIV. The king is not permitted to go out of the kingdom, except in defence of the crown; the fame restriction is likewife laid on the prince, unless fo required to do by matters of importance. XV. In abfence of the king, or in cafe of fickness, the privy-council fhall fign all difpatches. XVI. The

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fenfe of the convention of the flates, from the 23d of June, 1743, concerning the heirdom to the crown of Sweden, and the heirs mentioned the rein, to remain unaltered. XVII. The king fhall not commence war, nor make new laws, nor alter the old ones; but if the frontiers of the kingdom fhould be attacked by an enemy, he shall defend them; and with the confent of the fenate, levy the neceflary fupplies till the diet can meet. XVIII. His majefly promifes to preferve the gold and filver fpecie in their intrinfic value, to maintain the bank of the counfellors of ftate, and confirm the XIX. The privileges thereof. king engages himself to fupport, according to the tenor of the laws, the ecclefiaftic ftate in general, and in particular whatever concerns its dignity, authority, prerogatives, and privileges, as alfo all the focieties and communities which depend on it. XX. The king promifes to take care, that the donations made by the monarchs his ancestors, or by private perfons, for the benefit of the young ftudents, be administered and employed conformably to the intentions and ordinances of the founders. XXI. All the towns of the kingdom are protected according

agriculture. XXIII. In order that the counsellors of state may be the more convinced of his majesty's inviolable intention, and of his fincere love for the general welfare, he declares them entirely difengaged from their oath of fidelity, in cafe he fhould premeditately in fringe his oath, and his capitula tion, or what the counsellors of ftare fhould judge neceffary to pres fcribe further, concerning the form of regency and its fecurity, the maintenance of the free and fure exercife of their religion. XXIV. Laftly, The king menaces with his high difpleasure, whofoever thould be fo inconfiderate as to dare to propofe one degree of power and fplendor more than is contained in this prefent act of capitulation, inafuch as his majesty defires nothing on the one hand, but to gaîn the hearts of his faithful fubjects; and on the other, to be their powerful defender against all attempts oà their legal liberties.

The king has folemnly confirmed thefe articles by oath, and his g nature.

The King of Sweden's Speech to the States, on the sft of June, 1792.

OU

order to confirm, in the manner of your ancestors, the band of union which ties you to me, me to you, and you to the whole commonwealth: we must therefore remember, with the molt fenfible gratitude, the benevolence of the Almighty, who has ordered things fo, that this very ancient kingdom of the Swedes and Goths, is fill exifting, after fo many foreign, as well as national fhocks; and that

I, on

I, on the throne of my ancestors, can yet addrefs free and independent ftates.

Affured of your hearts, moft fincerely purpofing to merit them, and to fix my throne upon your love and felicity, the public engagement, which you are going to enter into, would, in my opinion, be needlefs, if ancient cuftom, and the law of Sweden, did not require it of you; unhappy the king who wants the tye of oaths to fecure himfelf on the throne; and who, not affured of the hearts of his fub. jects, is conftrained to reign only by the force of laws, when he can not by the love of his fubjects.

I need not put you in mind of the weightiness of the engagement you are going to take; the ftates of Sweden know beft the extent of their duty to themselves and the commonwealth: may concord and harmony ever unite your hearts; may foreign views, and private gain, ever be facrificed to public interefts; may this alone be a perpetual band of union amongst you: and may the ambition of any part of you never raife any fuch difturb. ances, as may endangerthe freedom and independency of the whole commonwealth.

Gentlemen of the House of

Nobles,

Preferve always the honour and intrepidity of your ancestors; be an example to your fellow citizens; and, as you are the firft order of the kingdom, be alfo the firft in virtue, and love of your country.

Good Men of the Reverend Order of the Clergy, May mutual friendfhip, and peace, obedienos to the laws, re

Good Men of the worthy Order of Peasants,

May piety, diligence, temperance, and old Swedish faith and modefty, be the strongest confirmation of the honour always due to that order, which gives fubfiftence to all the others; an honour which the Swedish pealants have in all times attained.

This is all that I ask of you; when you cbferve this, you perform, in the beft manner, that duty to me and your country, which, according to the Swedish laws, I now call upon you to confirm by oath.

the truth in open day before you; fince the realm ftands upon the very brink of its deftruction; you muft not wonder that you are not received by me this day, with the fame heart-felt joy, which has at other times attended your affemblies before the throne. My heart does not upbraid me with having concealed any thing from you: twice have I fpoken to you with all the truth which my office demanded; and all the fincerity which true honour required. The fame fincerity fhall now condu& my fpeech in which the paft must be recapitulated, in order to fet right the prefent.

It is a melancholy, but a wellknown truth, that hatred and difcord have torn the realm: the people have been a long time fevered by two parties; divided as it were into two feparate nations, united only in the mangling of their parent country. You know how this difcord has produced rancour: ancour revenge: revenge perfecution; and perfecution new revolutions; which grew at last into a periodical difeafe; disfiguring and humiliating the whole commonwealth. Such commotions have fhook the realm, for the fake of a few people's ambition: ftreams of blood have flowed; poured out fometimes by one party, and fometimes by another and always the people have been facrificed to quarrels, in the event of which themfelves had very little concern; but whofe unfortunate confequences they were fure to feel the firft, and moft. The only end of the rulers has been to fortify their own power: all has of neceflity been adapted to that purpofe: often at the expence of their fellow citizens; always at

that of their country. Where the law was clear, the letter of it has been perverted: where it was palpably repugnant, it has been broken through. Nothing has been facred to a people inflamed with hatred and revenge: and the feeds of confufion have in the end fpread fo far, it has become a declared opinion, that a majority is above law; and owns no restraint but its own pleasure.

Thus liberty, the noblest of the rights of men, has been transformed into an infupportable aristocratical tyranny, in the hands of the ruling party; which was itself enflaved, and led at pleasure by a very fmail number of its body. The notice of a new affembly of the ftates, has made every one tremble; far from confidering how the affairs of the nation might be beft tranfacted, they have been only bufied in getting together a majority for their party: that they might be skreened from the infolence and lawless violence of the other. If the interior fituation of the realm ftood thus endangered; how hideous was its external afpect! I blush to speak about it: born a Swede, and a king of Sweden, it fhould be an impoffibility for me to believe that foreignfchemes could governSwedish men: nay more, that the very bafeft means fhould have been employed for that purpose. You know what it is I mean: my blushes ought to make you deeply fenfible into what contempt the kingdom bas been thrown by your quarrels.

I

Such was the fituation wherein found this kingdom, when I received, by the decrees of the Divine Providence, the Swedish fceptre. Your heart will tell you I have fpared no pains to unite you:

in

all

all my fpeeches from my throne, and on all other occafions, I have infifted upon concord, and fubmiffion to the law: I have given up as well what might concern me as a man, as what might be dear to me as a king. I have held no obligations too difficult to fubmit to, no fteps too rugged to pafs, in order to reach an end fo valuable to my parent country. If there be one among you, who can deny this folemn truth, let him freely stand and speak.

up,

I formed a hope that these endeavours on my part, would have releafed you from thofe chains which foreign gold, inteftine hatred, and avowed licentioufnefs, were on the point to fix upon you; and that the hideous examples of other countries thus enflaved,might have afforded you a threatening warning; but all has been in vain. You have been misguided on one part by your leaders; and on the other, infamed by your private animofities. All fences have been trampled to the earth; all ftipulations broken: licentioufnefs has had its free course; and has run on with the more violence, the more pains have been taken to check it. The most virtuous, the moft deferving, the first, and highest of your fellow-citizens, have been facrificed veterans in office, men of known capacity, and long-tried faith, have been degraded; whole magiftracies have been fufpended; nay, even the people crufhed: their juft complaints have been tortured into fedition and liberty itfelf at length transformed into an ariftocratic yoke no Swede can bear. Even the most high has appeared in anger at the unrighteoufnefs of thofe who governed; the earth re

:

fufed its natural increase; and famine and diftrefs fell heavy on the whole country. Yet even then, far from endeavouring at a timely remedy, when I infifted on fuch measures, you appeared more attentive to exert your own vengeances, than to find means of relief for your conftituents: nor could neceffity itself oblige you to look into the diftreffes of a miferable people, till it was very, very near too late. In this manner was a whole year spent, under one dyet; burthenfome to the country, yet deftitute of any good effect. My reprefentations to you proved all in vain, all my endea-. vours fruitlefs. I waited in filence, full of grief for ti:e diftreffes of my country, to fee what the nation would think of this conduct of its reprefentatives, toward me, and toward themfelves. Part have fubmitted to the tyranny, with fighs; but in filence, not knowing where help could be found, or by what means to feek it: defpair has feized one corner of the kingdom; and there they have taken up arms. In this fituation, when the whole country, when true liberty, and juft fecurity (not to speak of the danger of my own life), when all was thus at ftake, I faw no other way, next after the affiftance of the Divine Providence, but to apply to thofe meafures which have freed other generous and refolute nations; and which formerly freed Sweden herself, from unfufferable violence and oppreffion, under the conduct of Guftavus Vafa. God has been pleafed to blefs my undertaking: and I have feen that zeal for their country, which formerly glowed in the hearts of Engelbrecht, and Guftavus Erickson,

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