Lavisse
et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VI., Chap. 17.]

Under Gustavus III. (1771-1792), nephew of Frederick the Great of
Prussia, the pendulum swung back again distinctly toward absolutism.
The Riksdag, according to its custom, sought at the opening of the
reign to impose upon the new sovereign a renunciatory coronation oath.
Gustavus, however, raised objection, and the contest became so keen
that the king resolved upon a _coup d'etat_ whereby to accomplish a
restoration of the pristine independence and vigor of the royal
office. The plan was laid with care and was executed with complete
success. August 20, 1772, there was forced upon the estates, almost at
the bayonet's point, a constitution which had been contrived
specifically to transform the weak and disjointed quasi-republic into
a compact monarchy. The monarchy was to be limited, it is true, but
the framework of the state was so reconstructed that the balance of
power was certain to incline toward the crown. Without the approval of
the Riksdag no law might be enacted and no tax levied; but the estates
might be summoned and dismissed freely by the king, and in him was
vested exclusively the power of legislative initiative. Under this
instrument the government of Gustavus III., and in even a larger
measure that of Gustavus IV. (1792-1809),[804] was pronouncedly
autocratic.

[Footnote 804: Gustavus IV., being a minor at his
accession, did not assume control of the government
until November 1, 1796.]

*630. Sweden in the Napoleonic Period.*--Sweden is one of the (p. 572)
many European nations which in the course of the Napoleonic period
acquired a new constitutional system, but one of the few in which the
fundamentals of the system at that time established have been
maintained continuously to the present day. Sweden was drawn into the
Napoleonic wars at an early stage of their progress. December 3, 1804,
Gustavus IV. cast in his fortunes on the side of the foes of France,
and although in 1806-1807 Napoleon sought to detach him from the
Allies, all effort in that direction failed. The position of Gustavus,
however, was undermined in his own country by his failure to defend
Finland on the occasion of the Russian invasion of 1808, and March 29,
1809, yielding to popular pressure, and hoping to save the crown for
his son, he abdicated. By the Riksdag the royal title, withheld from
the y