Enlightened Absolute Monarchy in Sweden

Gustav III

See also: Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

Adolf Frederick of Sweden

Adolf Frederick or Adolph Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach....

died on February 12, 1771. The elections held on the demise of the Crown resulted in a Gustav's

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

partial victory for the Caps

Caps (party)

The Caps were a political faction during the Age of Liberty in Sweden. The primary rivals of the Caps were known as the Hats. The Hats are actually responsible for the Caps' name, as it comes from a contraction of Night-cap, a name used to suggest that the Caps were the soft and timid party...

, especially among the lower orders; but in the estate

Estates of the realm

The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...

of the peasantry their majority was merely nominal, while the mass of the nobility was dead against them. Nothing could be done, however, till the arrival of the new king (then at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

), and every one felt that with Gustav III an entirely incalculable factor had entered into Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

politics. Unknown to the party leaders, he had already renewed the Swedish alliance with France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and had received solemn assurances of assistance from Louis XV of France

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

in case he succeeded in re-establishing monarchical rule in Sweden. France undertook, moreover, to pay the outstanding subsidies to Sweden, amounting to one and a half millions of livres annually, beginning from January 1772; and Vergennes

Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes

Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes was a French statesman and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1774 during the reign of Louis XVI, notably during the American War of Independence....

, one of the great names of French diplomacy, was to be sent to circumvent the designs of Russia at Stockholm as he had previously circumvented them at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. Immediately after his return to France, Gustav endeavoured to reconcile the warring factions by inducing the leaders to form a composition committee to adjust their differences. In thus mediating he was sincere enough, but all his pacific efforts were frustrated by their jealousy of him and of each other. Still worse, the factions now entrenched still further on the prerogative.

The new coronation oath contained three revolutionary clauses:

The first aimed at making abdications in the future impossible by binding the king to reign uninterruptedly.
The second obliged him to abide, not by the decision of all the estates
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...

together, as heretofore, but by that of the majority only, with the view of enabling, the actually dominant lower estates (in which was a large Cap majority) to rule without, and even in spite of, the nobility.
The third clause required him, in all cases of preferment, to be guided not "principally" as heretofore, but "solely" by merit, thus striking at the very root of aristocratic privilege. It was clear that the ancient strife of Hats
Hats (party)
The Hats were a Swedish political faction active during the Age of Liberty . Their name derives from the tricorne hat worn by officers and gentlemen. They vied for power with the Caps. The Hats, who ruled Sweden from 1738 to 1765, advocated an alliance with France and an assertive foreign policy,...

and Caps had become merged in a conflict of classes; the situation was still further complicated by the ominous fact that the non-noble majority was also the Russian faction.

All through 1771 the estates were wrangling over the clauses of the coronation oath. A second attempt of the king to mediate between them foundered on the suspicions of the estate of burgesses; and on February 24, 1772 the nobility yielded from sheer weariness. The non-noble Cap majority now proceeded to attack the Privy Council

Privy Council of Sweden

The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...

(Riksrådet), the last stronghold of the Hats, and, on April 25, succeeded in ousting their opponents. It was now, for the first time, that Gustav, reduced to the condition of a roi fainéant, began seriously to consider the possibility of a revolution

Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...

; of its necessity there could be no doubt. Under the sway of the now dominant faction, Sweden, already the vassal, could not fail speedily to become the victim of Russia. She was on the point of being absorbed in that Northern System, the invention of the Russian minister of foreign affairs, Nikita Panin

Nikita Ivanovich Panin

Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first eighteen years of her reign. In that role he advocated the Northern Alliance, closer ties with Frederick the Great of Prussia and the establishment of an advisory privy...

, which that patient statesman had made it the ambition of his life to realize. Only a swift and sudden coup d'état could save the independence of a country isolated from the rest of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

by a hostile league. The details of the famous revolution of August 19, 1772 are elsewhere set forth. Here we can only dwell upon its political importance and consequences.

The new constitution of August 20, 1772 which Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

imposed upon the terrified Riksdag of the Estates

Riksdag of the Estates

The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...

at the bayonet's point, converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong but limited monarchy, in which the balance of power inclined, on the whole, to the side of the monarch. The estates could only assemble when summoned by him; he could dismiss them whenever he thought fit; and their deliberations were to be confined exclusively to the propositions which he might think fit to lay before them. But these very extensive powers were subjected to many important checks. Thus, without the previous consent of the estates, no new law could be imposed, no old law abolished, no offensive war undertaken, no extraordinary war subsidy levied. The estates alone could tax themselves; they had the absolute control of the Riksbank

Sveriges Riksbank

Sveriges Riksbank, or simply Riksbanken, is the central bank of Sweden and the world's oldest central bank. It is sometimes called the Swedish National Bank or the Bank of Sweden .-History:...

- the Bank of Sweden, and the inalienable right of controlling the national expenditure. Thus the Riksdag held the purse; and this seemed a sufficient guarantee both of its independence and its frequent convention. The Privy Council, not the parliament, was the chief loser by the change; and, inasmuch as henceforth the Councillors were appointed by the king, and were to be responsible to him alone; a Council in opposition to the Crown was barely conceivable.

Abroad the Swedish revolution made a great sensation. Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

saw in it the triumph of her archenemy France

France

, with the prolongation of the costly Turkish War as its immediate result. But the absence of troops on the Finnish border, and the bad condition of the frontier fortresses, constrained the empress to listen to Gustav's pacific assurances, and stay her hand. She took the precaution, however, of concluding a fresh secret alliance with Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, in which the Swedish revolution was significantly described as "an act of violence" constituting a casus foederis, and justifying both powers in seizing the first favourable opportunity for intervention to restore the Swedish constitution of 1720.

In Sweden itself the change was, at first, most popular. But Gustav's first Riksdag, that of 1778, opened the eyes of the deputies to the fact that their political supremacy had departed. The king was now their sovereign lord; and, for all his courtesy and gentleness, the jealousy with which he guarded and the vigour with which he enforced the prerogative plainly showed that he meant to remain so. But it was not till after eight years more had elapsed that actual trouble began. The Riksdag of 1778 had been obsequious; the Riksdag of 1786 was mutinous. It rejected nearly all the royal measures outright, or so modified them that Gustav himself withdrew them. When he dismissed the estates, the speech from the throne held out no prospect of their speedy revocation.

Nevertheless, within three years, the king was obliged to summon another Riksdag, which met at Stockholm on the January 26, 1789. His attempt in the interval to rule without a parliament had been disastrous. It was only by a breach of his own constitution that he had been able to declare war against Russia

Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)

The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90, known as Gustav III's Russian war in Sweden, Gustav III's War in Finland and Catherine II's Swedish War in Russia, was fought between Sweden and Russia from June 1788 to August 1790.-Background:...

in April 1788; the Conspiracy of Anjala

Anjala conspiracy

The Anjala conspiracy of 1788 was a scheme by disgruntled Swedish officers to end Gustav III's Russian War of 1788–90. Declaring Finland an independent state was part of the plot, although it is disputed what importance the conspirators connected to that aspect.- Rising anger against the king...

(July) had paralysed all military operations at the very opening of the campaign; and the sudden invasion of his western provinces by the Danes, almost simultaneously (September), seemed to bring him to the verge of ruin. But the contrast, at this crisis, between his self-sacrificing patriotism and the treachery of the Russophil

Russophilia

Russophilia is the love of Russia and/or Russians. The term is used in two basic contexts: in international politics and in cultural context. "Russophilia" and "Russophilic" are the terms used to denote pro-Russian sentiments, usually in politics and literature...

aristocracy was so striking that, when the Riksdag assembled, Gustav found that the three lower estates were ultra-royalist, and with their aid he succeeded, not without running great risks in crushing the opposition of the nobility by a second coup d'état on February 16, 1789 and passing the famous Act of Union and Security

Act of Union and Security

The Union and Security Act , alternately Act of Union and Security was proposed by king Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag of 1789. It was a document, adding to the Swedish Constitution of 1772 new provisions and divisions of power...

which gave the king an absolutely free hand as regards foreign affairs and the command of the army, and made further treason impossible. For this the nobility never forgave him. It was impossible, indeed, to resist openly so highly gifted and so popular a sovereign; it was only by the despicable expedient of assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

that the last great monarch of Sweden was finally removed, to the infinite detriment of his country.

Reuterholm

The ensuing period was a melancholy one. The aristocratic classes loudly complained that the young king, Gustav IV of Sweden, still a minor, was being brought up among Jacobins

Jacobin (politics)

A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...

; while the middle classes, deprived of the stimulating leadership of the anti-aristocratic "Prince Charming" and becoming more and more inoculated with French political ideas, drifted into an antagonism not merely to hereditary nobility, but to hereditary monarchy likewise. Everything was vacillating and uncertain; and the general instability was reflected even in foreign affairs, now that the master-hand of Gustav III was withdrawn..
Sweden and renewed efforts of Catherine II to interfere in Sweden's domestic affairs were, indeed, vigorously repulsed, but without tact or discretion, so that the good understanding between the two countries was seriously impaired, especially when the proclivities of Gustaf Reuterholm

Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm

Baron Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm , was a Swedish statesman.-Early career:...

, who then virtually ruled Sweden, induced him to adopt what was generally considered an indecently friendly attitude towards the government at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Despite the execution of Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

on January 21, 1793, Sweden, in the hope of obtaining considerable subsidies, recognized the new French republic; and secret negotiations for contrading an alliance were actually begun in May of the same year, till the menacing protests of Catherine, supported as they were by all the other European powers, finally induced Sweden to suspend them.

The negotiations with the French Jacobins exacerbated the hatred which the Gustavians already felt for the Jacobin councillors of the duke-regent Charles

Charles XIII of Sweden

Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...

. Smarting beneath their grievances and seriously believing that not only the young king's crown but his very life was in danger, they formed a conspiracy, the soul of which was Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt

Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt

Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt was a Finnish and Swedish courtier and diplomat. In Finland, he is considered one of the great Finnish statesmen. Born in Tarvasjoki, Finland, he was the great grandson of Charles XII of Sweden's general, Carl Gustaf Armfeldt...

to overthrow the government, with the aid of a Russian fleet, supported by a rising of the Dalecarlians. The conspiracy was discovered and vigorously suppressed.

The one bright side of this gloomy and sordid period was the rapprochement between the Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n kingdoms during the revolutionary wars. Thus, on March 27, 1794, a neutrality compact was formed between with Denmark

Denmark

and Sweden; and their united squadrons patrolled the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

to protect their merchantmen from the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

cruisers. This approximation between the two governments was happily followed by friendly feelings between the two nations, under the pressure of a common danger. Presently Reuterholm renewed his coquetry with the French republic, which was officially recognized by the Swedish government on April 23, 1795. In return, Sweden received a subsidy and a treaty between the two powers was signed on September 14, 1795. On the other hand, an attempt to regain the friendship of Russia, which had broken off diplomatic relations with Sweden, was frustrated by the refusal of the king to accept the bride, the grand duchess Alexandra, Catherine II's

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

granddaughter, whom Reuterholm had provided for him. This was Reuterholm's last official act. On November 1, 1796, in accordance with the will of his father, Gustav IV, now in his eighteenth year, took the government into his own hands.

The government of Gustav IV of Sweden was almost a pure autocracy. At his very first Riksdag

Riksdag of the Estates

, held at Norrköping

Norrköping

Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...

in March 1800, the nobility were compelled, at last, to ratify Gustav III's

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

detested Act of Union and Security

Act of Union and Security

, which hitherto they had steadily refused to do. Shortly after this Riksdag rose, a notable change took place in Sweden's foreign policy. In December 1800 Denmark

Denmark

, Sweden

Sweden

and Russia acceded to a second League of Armed Neutrality

Second League of Armed Neutrality

The Second League of Armed Neutrality or the League of the North was an alliance of the north European naval powers Denmark–Norway, Prussia, Sweden and Russia. It occurred between 1800 and 1801 during the War of the Second Coalition and was initiated by Paul I of Russia...

, directed against Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

; and the arsenal of Karlskrona

Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...

, in all probability, was only saved from the fate of Copenhagen by the assassination of the emperor Paul of Russia, which was followed by another change of system in the north. Hitherto Sweden had kept aloof from continental complications; but the arrest and execution of the Duc d'Enghien in 1804 inspired Gustav IV with such a hatred of Napoleon that when a general coalition was formed against the French emperor he was one of the first to join it. (December 3, 1804), pledging himself to send an army corps to cooperate with the English and Russians in driving the enemy out of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

and Hanover

Electorate of Hanover

The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...

. But his senseless quarrel with Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

detained him in Pomerania

Swedish Pomerania

Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...

; and when at last in December 1805 he led his 6,000 men towards the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

district the third coalition had already been dissipated by the victories of Ulm

Battle of Ulm

The Battle of Ulm was a series of minor skirmishes at the end of Napoleon Bonaparte's Ulm Campaign, culminating in the surrender of an entire Austrian army near Ulm in Württemberg....

and Austerlitz

Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...

. In 1806 a rupture between Sweden and Prussia was only prevented by Napoleon's assault upon the latter power. After Jena

Jena

Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

Napoleon attempted to win over Sweden, but Gustav rejected every overture. The result was the total loss of Swedish Pomerania, and the Swedish Army

Swedish Army

The Swedish Army is one of the oldest standing armies in the world and a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces; it is in charge of land operations. General Sverker Göranson is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army.- Organization :...

itself was only saved from destruction by the ingenuity of Johan Christopher Toll

Johan Christopher Toll

Count Johan Christopher Toll , Swedish statesman and soldier, was born at Mölleröd in Scania Count Johan Christopher Toll (1 February 1743 – 21 May 1817), Swedish statesman and soldier, was born at Mölleröd in Scania Count Johan Christopher Toll (1 February 1743 – 21 May 1817), Swedish...

. At Tilsit the emperor Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

had undertaken to compel "Russia's geographical enemy," as Napoleon designated Sweden, to accede to the newly established "Continental Russian System". Gustav IV naturally rejected all the proposals of Alexander to close the Baltic against the English; but took no measures to defend Finland against Russia, though, during the autumn of 1807, it was notorious (obvious) that the tsar was preparing to attack the grand duchy. On February 21, 1808 a Russian army crossed the Finnish border without any previous declaration of war. On April 2 the king ordered a general levy of 30,000 men; but while two army corps, under Armfelt and Toll, together with a British contingent of 10,000 men under Moore, were stationed in Skåne and on the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

border in anticipation of an attack from Denmark

Denmark

, which, at the instigation of Napoleon, had simultaneously declared war against Sweden, the little Finnish army was left altogether unsupported.

The loss of Finland

Its immediate consequence in Sweden proper was the deposition of Gustav IV on March 13, 1809, and the subsequent exclusion of his whole family from the succession. The whole of this intermediate period is full of plots and counterplots, some still inexplicable, as, for instance, the Fersen murder on June 20, 1810 evidently intended to terrorize the Gustavians, whose loyalty to the ancient dynasty was notorious. As early as June 5, 1809 the duke regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

was proclaimed king, under the title of Charles XIII

Charles XIII of Sweden

Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...

, after accepting the new liberal constitution, which was ratified by the Riksdag of the Estates

Riksdag of the Estates

the same day. The new king was, at best, a useful stopgap, in no way likely to interfere with the liberal revolution which had placed him on the throne. Peace was what the exhausted nation now required; and negotiations had already been opened at Fredrikshamn. But the Russian demands did not lead to peace, and the war was resumed. But the defeats of at the Battle of Sävar and Battle of Ratan August 19 and August 20, 1809 broke the spirit of the Swedish Army

Swedish Army

; and peace was obtained by the surrender of the entire Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, the Åland islands, "the fore-posts of Stockholm," as Napoleon described them, and Västerbotten

Västerbotten

', English exonym: West Bothnia, is a province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders Ångermanland, Lapland, Norrbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is famous for the cheese with the same name as the province.- Administration :...

and Lappland as far as the rivers of Torneå

Tornio

Tornio is a town and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , with a total population of . It borders to the Swedish municipality of Haparanda...

and Muonio

Muonio

Muonio is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Lapland. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is...

at the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, on September 17, 1809.