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BOOK IV. of Argyle with a dukedom; in acknowledgment 1700. of the eminent services performed by them in the course of this arduous business.

State of
Northern
Europe.

acy against

Sweden.

It is now necessary to advert to the state of affairs in the northern kingdoms of Europe, where, about this time, very striking scenes began to unfold themselves, of less moment indeed to England than those of the south, but by no means unconnected with her national and political interests.

Christiern V. king of Denmark had departed this life about the close of the preceding summer (1699), and was succeeded by his son Frederic IV. who, with the aspiring views common to princes, immediately conceived, and was impatient to carry into execution, great and extensive views of Confeder- aggrandisement. Finding a perfect concurrence of sentiment in all the powers bordering on the southern shores of the Baltic, a grand confederacy was formed, of which the czar of Muscovy, the kings of Poland and Denmark, and the elector of Brandenburg, were the high contracting parties, and which had for its object a joint and general attack upon the kingdom of Sweden, then under the government of Charles XII. a youth of eighteen years of age, and whose great and heroic. qualities were as yet unknown to the world, and probably even to himself. According to the plan concerted by the confederate powers,

1700.

Sweden was to be assailed, at one and the same BOOK IV. time, in Holstein by the king of Denmark, in western Pomerania by the elector of Brandenburg, in Livonia by the king of Poland, and in Ingria and the provinces lying eastward of the gulph of Finland by the czar of Muscovy. Holstein was not indeed a province of Sweden, but the duke of Holstein had married the eldest sister of the king of Sweden, and was united in the closest bonds of alliance and friendship with that monarch. On pretences too futile to enumerate, the king of Denmark entered the territories of the duke, and laid close siege to Toninghen.

The king of Sweden had not been inattentive to the dangers which threatened him. In the month of January this year (1700) he had concluded a treaty with the maritime powers, in which the contracting parties engaged for the reciprocal guarantee of each other's dominions: and the king of England resolved to maintain, by the most vigorous measures, the dignity of his character as the general guardian and mediator of Europe. The king of Denmark, knowing the situation of affairs in Great Britain, was indiscreet enough publicly to say, "that while the king of England was at variance with his parlia ment, he would be able to do but little in Eu rope." This being reported to king William, that monarch observed to the marquis de Foret,

1

1700.

BOOK IV. a Saxon nobleman attached to the Danish court that he would make Denmark know he was still able to do something in Europe." A formidable fleet was immediately equipped both in the English and Dutch ports: and in July 1700 sir George Rooke, who was appointed to the command, arrived in the Sound-and being soon after joined by the Swedes, the combined squadrons consisted of no less than fifty-two ships of the line of battle. The Danish fleet unable to resist so great a force, retired within the harbour of Copenhagen; and that metropolis was subjected to the insult of a slight bombardment.

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The princes of Lunenburg, acting in concert with England and Holland, at the same time passed the Elbe with a large body of troops, and, joining the Swedish and ducal army, obliged the Danes to raise the siege of Toninghen. The king of Denmark now declared his willingness to accept the mediation of the maritime powers in conjunction with France, and requested the English admiral to desist from all farther hostile operations. But sir George Rooke replied, that, though to effect a permanent accommodation was the great object of his expedition, he had no power to agree to any temporary cessation. In the beginning of August the king of Sweden landed in person on the isle of Zealand, and preparations began to be seriously made for the siege

1700.

of the Danish metropolis. But the English com- BOOK IV. mander not displaying all the alacrity which the impatience of she king of Sweden thought the occasion called for, some warm expostulations are said to have fallen from the lips of that monarchto which sir George Rooke coolly replied, "I was sent here to serve your majesty, not to ruin the king of Denmark."

Traven

His Danish majesty was now sufficiently hum- Treaty of bled to accept the mediation of the maritime dahl. powers without the concurrence of France-and a treaty of peace was, signed under their guaran tee, at a house of the duke of Holstein, called Travendahl, in the neighbourhood of both camps, August 18th, 1700, on the principle of mutual restitution-the king of Denmark paying to the duke of Holstein 260,000 rix-dollars for the charge of the war. The fleets of England and Holland did not leave the Baltic till the Swedish armies had reached in safety their native shores. They then returned in triumph from this memorable expedition, which entitled the king of England, beyond all dispute, to the glorious appellations of pacificator and arbiter of the north*.

* Bishop Burnet assures us, upon authority the most unquestionable, that the baron de Plesse, confidential mi nister to the late king of Denmark, not choosing, at the accession of the new king, to engage in what the infamous flatterers of the court no doubt styled " a just and

BOOK IV. An event happened in the course of this sum 1700. mer which excited great and universal concern. Death of The duke of Glocester, only son of the prince Glocester. and princess of Denmark, a youth of promising

the duke of

hopes, had completed his eleventh year on the 24th of July 1700, on which occasion a gala had been celebrated at Windsor. In consequence it was thought of being over-heated with dancing, he was seized the next day with a malignant fever, for which cordials were prescribed by the physicians, apparently with no other effect than to inflame the disorder: and on the 30th of that month he expired at midnight, to the inexpressible grief of his parents, being the only surviving child of a very large family. On this melancholy catastrophe, the eyes of the nation were turned to Sophia, electress dowager of Hanover, youngest daughter to the queen of Bohemia, and granddaughter of king James I. This princess was already by implication next in succession to the crown, after the princess of Denmark; the catholic branches of the royal family being ex

necessary war," voluntarily resigned his employmentswhich he had filled with great ability and reputation. The bishop styles him "one of the ablest and worthiest men he ever knew," but when things were taking another course, and the path of rectitude was to be abandoned, he shewed, by an illustrious example, that "the post of honour was a private station."

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