ese being confided to his chief friend and confidant,
Charles Piper.

The tidings of the manner in which the new king of Sweden occupied
himself spread to the neighboring monarchs, who, fancying that they had
nothing to fear from a frivolous and pleasure-loving boy, deemed this a
good opportunity to recover some of the lands conquered from them by the
preceding Swedish kings. A secret understanding to this effect was
entered into by Frederick IV. of Denmark, King Augustus of Poland, and
Peter the Great, czar of Russia, and the ball was opened early in 1700 by
an invasion of Livonia on the part of the Polish king, while the Danes
attacked Holstein-Gottorp, ruled by Charles's brother-in-law, taking
Gottorp and laying siege to Tonnigen. Peter of Russia was the most
dangerous of the three confederates, he being then full of the idea of
introducing western civilization among his rude subjects and making
Russia a sea power. To accomplish this he was eager to gain a foothold on
the Baltic by the conquest of Finland.

The kingly conspirators, who had begun war against Sweden without a
declaration, little dreamed of the hornet's nest they were arousing.
Filled with consternation, some of the Swedish councillors of state
proposed to avert the danger by negotiation. Charles, then a youth of
eighteen and of whose real metal no one dreamed, listened to these words
with a grave face, and then rose and spoke:

"Gentlemen, I am resolved never to begin an unjust war, nor ever to end a
just one but by the destruction of my enemies. My resolution is fixed. I
will attack the first that shall declare war against me, and having
conquered him, I hope I shall be able to strike terror into the rest."

The old councillors were surprised by the resolute demeanor of the young
king, who seemed suddenly transformed into a man before them. They little
knew the boy. Familiar with the careers of Alexander and Caesar, he was
inspired with the ambition to attempt the role of a great conqueror and
prove himself one of the world's ablest soldiers.

Forsaking his favorite sports, he set himself with intense energy to
prepare for the war which had been precipitated upon him, and sent word
to the Duke of Holstein that he would speedily come to his assistance,
eight thousand men being at once despatched to Pomerania for this
purpose. Instantly the natives were stirred up, Central Germany sending
troops to reinforce the Danes, while England and Holland sent