Charles is on the score of insincerity. It is asserted that he never intended to fulfil the conditions imposed upon him. This can scarcely be denied; but it is equally certain that some of them might justly be deemed questionable, if not demanded with a direct view to produce that conduct in the king which so naturally followed. On the whole, though many may demur to his title of martyr, few will hesitate to regard him as a victim to a crisis which the growing power of the commons, and the unsettled nature of the prerogative, rendered sooner or later inevitable. His fate, like that of the house of Stuart generally, exhibits the danger and absurdity of those high theoretical notions of kingly prerogative, which, while they add very little to the real power of those whom they are intended to favor, too frequently seduce them into encounters with currents of principle and action, a resistance to which is always futile, and generally destructive.

CHARLES II, king of England and Scotland, son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France, was born in 1630. He was a refugee at the Hague on the death of his father, on which he immediately assumed the royal title. He first intended to proceed to Ireland, but was prevented by the progress of Cromwell. He therefore listened to an invitation from the Scots, who had proclaimed him their king; and, being obliged to throw himself into the hands of the rigid Presbyterians, they subjected him to many severities and mortifications, which caused him to regard that sect ever after with extreme aversion. In 1651, he was crowned at Scone; but the approach of Cromwell, with his conquering army, soon rendered his abode in Scotland unsafe. Hoping to be joined by the English royalists, he took the spirited resolution of passing Cromwell, and entering England. He was immediately pursued by that active commander, who, with a superior army, gained the battle of Worcester; and Charles, after a variety of imminent hazards, in one of which he was sheltered for 24 hours in the branches of a spreading oak, reached Shoreham, in Sussex, and effected a passage to France. He passed some years in Paris, little regarded by the court, which was awed by the power of the English commonwealth; and this indignity induced him to retire to Cologne. It is the province of history to state the circumstances that produced the restoration, which general Monk so conducted, that Charles, without a struggle, succeed

ed at once to all those dangerous prerogatives, which it had cost the nation so much blood and treasure, first to abridge, and then to abolish. This unrestrictive return was not more injurious to the nation than fatal to the family of the Stuarts, which, had a more rational policy prevailed, might have occupied the throne at this moment. On the 29th of May, 1660, Charles entered his capital amidst universal and almost frantic acclamations; and the different civil and religious parties vied with each other in loyalty and submission. His first measures were prudent and conciliatory. Hyde, lord Clarendon, was made chancellor and prime minister; and an act of indemnity was passed, from which those alone were excepted who were immediately concerned in the late king's death. A settled revenue was accepted in lieu of wardship and purveyance, and the army was reduced. In respect to religion, there was less indulgence; for not only were prelacy and the parliamentary rights of bishops restored, which was to be expected, but an act of uniformity was passed, by the conditions of which nearly all the Presbyterian clergy were driven to a resignation of their livings. In 1662, he married the infanta of Portugal, a prudent and virtuous princess, but in no way calculated to acquire the affection of a man like Charles. The indolence of his temper, and the expenses of his licentious way of life, soon involved him in pecuniary difficulties; and the unpopular sale of Dunkirk to the French was one of his most early expedients to relieve himself. In 1663, a rupture took place with Holland, which, as it proceeded from commercial rivalry, was willingly supported by parliament. It was attended, in the first instance, by various naval successes; but, France and Denmark entering into the war, as allies of the Dutch, the English were overmatched, and a Dutch fleet entered the Thames, and, proceeding up the Medway, burnt and destroyed ships as high as Chatham. Such was the naval disgrace of a reign, which, on many other accounts, is probably the most nationally discreditable one in the English annals. The domestic calamities of a dreadful plague, in 1665, and of the great fire of London, in 1666, added to the disasters of the period. Soon after, Clarendon, who had become very unpopular, and was personally disagreeable to Charles, was dismissed, and sought shelter from his enemies by a voluntary exile. A triple alliance between England, Holland and Sweden, for the purpose of checking

faction, met with universal belief; and, in relation thereto, the parliament exhibited nearly as much credulity and heat as the vulgar. Many Catholic lords were committed; Coleman, the duke of York's secretary, and several priests, were hanged; and a venerable nobleman, the earl of Stafford, was beheaded. The duke of York thought fit to retire to Brussels, and a bill for his exclusion from the throne passed the house of commons. Such was the state of the country, that Charles was obliged to give way to some popular measures, and the great palladium of civil liberty, the habeas corpus bill, passed during this session. The temper of the parliament was so much excited, that the king first prorogued and then dissolved it. The court now sought to establish a balance of parties; to distinguish which, the terms whig and tory were about this time invented. In 1680, a new parliament assembled, and the commons again passed the exclusion bill, which was rejected by the lords. This parliament was also dissolved in the next year, and a new one called at Oxford, which proved so restiff, that a sudden dissolution of it ensued; and, like his father, Charles determined henceforward to govern without one. By the aid of the tory gentry and the clergy, he obtained loyal addresses from all parts of the kingdom, and attachment to high monarchical principles came again into vogue. The charge of plots and conspiracies was now brought against the Presbyterians. A person named College was executed upon the same infamous evidence as had been previously turned against the Catholics; and the famous earl of Shaftesbury, who headed the popular party, was brought to trial, but acquitted. The nonconformists, generally, were also treated with much rigor; and a step of great moment, in the progress to arbitrary power, was the instituting suits at law (quo warrantos) against most of the corporations in the kingdom, by which they were intimidated to a resignation of their charters, in order to receive them back so modelled as to render them much more dependent than before. These rapid strides towards the destruction of liberty at length produced the celebrated Ryehouse plot, the parties to which certainly intended resistance; but that the assassination of the king was ever formally projected, seems very doubtful. It certainly formed no part of the intention of lord William Russel, whose execution, with that of Algernon Sidney, on account of the plot, forms one of the striking events

the ambition of Louis XIV, followed. It did honor to the political talents of sir William Temple, and was one of the few public measures of the reign which deserve approbation. The thoughtless profusion of Charles, however, soon brought him into a condition which rendered him the mere pensioner of Louis; by whose secret aid he was supported in all his attempts to abridge the freedom of his people. In 1670, he threw himself into the hands of the five unprincipled ministers, collectively denominated the cabal, who supported him in every attempt to make himself independent of parliament. A visit which Charles received from his sister, the duchess of Orleans, was rendered subservient to French policy, by means of one of her attendant ladies, a beautiful Frenchwoman. This female made, as was intended, a conquest of Charles, who created her duchess of Portsmouth; and, amidst all his other attachments, she retained an influence over him which kept him steadily attached to France. The party troubles of this reign commenced, about this time, by the open declaration of the duke of York, presumptive heir to the crown, that he was a convert to the Roman Catholic religion. Soon after, the ministry broke the triple alliance, and planned a rupture with the Dutch; and, as the king did not choose to apply to parliament for money to carry on the projected war, he caused the exchequer to be shut up in January, 1672, and, by several other disgraceful and arbitrary proceedings, gave great disgust and alarm to the nation. The naval operations against the Dutch were by no means successful, and, a new parliament being called, which strongly expressed the discontent of the nation, the cabal was dissolved, and a separate peace made with Holland in 1674. Divisions in the cabinet, fluctuations in the king's measures, and parliamentary contests, followed, and occupied the next three years, until, in 1677, Charles performed a popular act, by marrying his niece, the princess Mary, to the prince of Orange. By taking some decided steps in favor of the Dutch, he also forwarded the peace of Nimeguen, in 1678. The same year was distinguished by the pretended discovery of the celebrated popish plot, for the assassination of the king, and the introduction of the Catholic religion. Notwithstanding the infamous characters of Oates and Bedloe, and the improbable nature of their disclosures, their tale, supported by the general suspicion of the secret influence of a Catholic

of this disgraceful reign. Charles was, at this time, as absolute as any sovereign in Europe; and, had he been an active prince, the fetters of tyranny might have been completely riveted. Scotland, which, at different periods of his reign, had been driven into insurrection by the arbitrary attempts to restore Episcopacy, was at length completely dragooned into submission; and the relics of the Covenanters were suppressed with circumstances of great barbarity. It is said, however, that Charles was becoming uneasy at this plan, which was chiefly supported by the bigoted austerity of the duke of York; and that he had made a resolution to relax, when he expired, from the consequences of an apoplectic fit, in Feb., 1685, in the fifty-fifth year of his age and twenty-fifth of his reign. At his death, he received the sacrament, according to the rites of the Roman church, and thus proved himself to have been, during the whole of his life, as hypocritical as profligate. The character of Charles II requires little analysis. He was a confirmed sensualist and voluptuary; and, owing to the example of him and his court, his reign was the era of the most dissolute manners that ever prevailed in England. The stage was an open school of licentiousness, and polite literature was altogether infected by it. Charles was a man of wit, and a good judge of certain kinds of writing, but was too deficient in sensibility to feel either the sublime or the beautiful, in composition; neither was he generous even to the writers whom he applauded. He possessed an easy good nature, but united with it a total indifference to any thing but his own pleasure; and no man could be more destitute of honor or generosity. His ideas of the relation between king and subject were evinced by his observation on Lauderdale's cruelties in Scotland:-"I perceive," said he, "that Lauderdale has been guilty of many bad things against the people of Scotland; but I cannot find that he has acted in any thing contrary to my interest." Yet, with all his selfishness and demerits as a king, Charles always preserved a share of popularity with the multitude, from the easiness of his manners. Pepys' memoirs, and other private documents, however, clearly show the opinion of the more reflecting portion of his subjects; and it is now pretty generally admitted, that, as he was himself a most dishonorable and heartless monarch and man, so his reign exhibited the English character in a more disgraceful light than any other in Brit

ish history. It need not be added, that he left many illegitimate children, the descendants of some of whom are still among the leading peerage of the country. The fate of his most distinguished son, the ill-fated duke of Monmouth, is an affair of history.

CHARLES EDWARD STUART. (See Edward.)

CHARLES XII, king of Sweden, born at Stockholm, June 27, 1682, was well instructed in the languages, history, geography and mathematics. He understood German, Latin and French. Curtius' history of Alexander was his favorite book. On the death of his father, in 1697, when he was but 15 years old, he was declared of age by the estates. Mean while, the young king showed but litt inclination for business: he loved violent bodily exercises, and especially the chase of the bear. To his jealous neighbors, this seemed a favorable time to humble the pride of Sweden in the north. Frederic IV of Denmark, Augustus II of Poland, and the czar Peter I of Russia, concluded an alliance which resulted in the northern war, so called. The Danish troops first invaded the territory of the duke of Holstein-Gottorp. This prince, who had married the eldest sister of the king of Sweden, repaired to Stockholm, and asked for assistance. Charles had a particular attachment for him, and proposed, in the council of state, the most energetic measures against Denmark. After making some arrangements respecting the internal administration, he embarked at Carlscrona in May, 1700. Thirty ships of the line, and a great number of small transports, strengthened by an English and Dutch squadron, appeared before Copenhagen. Arrangements were making for the disembarkation, when Charles, full of impatience, plunged from his boat into the water, and was the first who reached land. The Danes retired before the superior power of the enemy. Copenhagen was on the point of being besieged, when the peace negotiated at Travendal was signed (Aug. 8, 1700), by which the duke of Holstein was confirmed in all the rights of which it had been attempted to deprive him. Thus ended the first enterprise of Charles XII, in which he exhibited as much intelligence and courage as disinterestedness, He adopted, at this time, that severe and temperate mode of life, to which he ever remained true, avoiding relaxation and useless amusements; wine was banished from his table; at times coarse bread was his only food; he often slept in his cloak

In

alliance against Sweden (at that time Peter's ambassador in Dresden), was delivered up to him, on his demand, and was broken on the wheel. It was, with justice, a subject of astonishment, that a prince, till then so magnanimous, could stoop to such intemperate revenge. other respects, Charles exhibited, during his stay in Saxony, moderation and magnanimity. He subjected his troops to the strictest discipline. Several ambassadors and princes visited the camp of the king at Altranstädt, among whom was Marlborough, who sought to discover Charles's plans, and convinced himself that the victorious hero would take no part in the great contests of the South. The king of Sweden, however, before he left Germany, required the emperor to grant to the Lutherans in Silesia perfect freedom of conscience; and the requisition was complied with. In Sept., 1707, the Swedes left Saxony. They were 43,000 strong, well clothed, well disciplined, and enriched by the contributions imposed on the conquered. Six thousand men remained for the protection of the king of Poland: with the rest of the army Charles took the shortest route to Moscow. But, having reached the region of Smolensk, he altered his plan, at the suggestion of the Cossack hetman Mazeppa, and proceeded to the Ukraine, in the hope that the Cossacks would join him. But Peter laid waste their country, and the proscribed Mazeppa could not procure the promised aid. The difficult marches, the want of provisions, the perpetual attacks of the enemy, and the severe cold, weakened Charles's army in an uncommon degree. General Löwenhaupt, who was to bring reinforcements and provisions from Livonia, arrived with only a few troops, exhausted by the march, and by continual skirmishes with the Russians. Pultawa, abundantly furnished with stores, was about to be invested, when Peter appeared with 70,000 men. Charles, in reconnoitring, was dangerously wounded in the thigh; consequently, in the battle of June 27th, O. S. (July 8th), 1709, which changed the fortunes of the Swedish hero and the fate of the North, he was obliged to issue his commands from a litter, without being able to encourage his soldiers by his presence. This, and still more the want of agreement between Renschild and Löwenhaupt, were the reasons why the Swedes did not display their usual skill in manœuvring, which had so often given them the victory. They were obliged to yield to superior force, and the enemy obtained a com

on the ground; a blue coat, with copper buttons, was his whole wardrobe; he wore large boots, reaching above his knees, and gloves of buffalo skin. With respect to the female sex, he manifested the greatest indifference, and no woman ever had any influence over him. After thus checking Denmark, the attacks of Augustus and Peter were to be repelled. The former was besieging Riga, the latter menaced Narva and the country situated about the gulf of Finland. Without returning to his capital, which, in fact, he never revisited, Charles caused 20,000 men to be transported to Livonia, and went to meet the Russians, whom he found, 80,000 strong, in a fortified camp, under the walls of Narva. On the 30th Nov., 1700, between eight and ten thousand Swedes placed themselves in order of battle, under the fire of the Russians, and the engagement began. On the previous evening, Peter had left his camp on pretence of bringing up reinforcements. In less than a quarter of an hour, the Russian camp was taken by storm. Thirty thousand Russians perished on the field or threw themselves into the Narva; the rest were taken prisoners or dispersed. After this victory, Charles crossed the Dwina, attacked the intrenchments of the Saxons, and gained a decisive victory. Charles might now have concluded a peace, which would have made him the arbiter of the North; but, instead of so doing, he pursued Augustus to Poland, and determined to take advantage of the discontent of a great part of the nation, for the purpose of dethroning him. Augustus attempted in vain to enter into negotiations; in vain did the countess Königsmark, mistress of Augustus, endeavor to obtain an interview with Charles, and disarm the Swedish hero by her beauty. Charles refused to negotiate with the king or to speak with the countess. The war continued; the Swedes gained a brilliant victory at Clissau; in 1703, all Poland was in the possession of the conquerors; the cardinal primate declared the throne vacant; and, by the influence of Charles, the new choice fell on Stanislaus Leczinsky. Augustus hoped to be secure in Saxony, as Peter had meanwhile occupied Ingria, and founded St. Petersburg, at the mouth of the Neva. But the victor of Narva despised an enemy on whom he hoped, sooner or later, to take an easy revenge, and invaded Saxony. At Altranstädt (q. v.), he dictated the conditions of peace, in 1706. The Livonian Patkul (q. v.), who was the prime mover of the

plete victory. Charles saw his generals, his favorite minister, count Piper, and the flower of his army, fall into the power of those Russians so easily vanquished at Narva. He himself, together with Mazeppa, fled with a small guard, and was obliged, notwithstanding the pain of his wounds, to go several miles on foot. He finally found refuge and an honorable reception at Bender, in the Turkish territory. His enemies were now inspired with new hope. Augustus protested against the treaty of Altranstädt; Peter invaded Livonia; Frederic of Denmark made a descent on Schonen. The regency in Stockholm took measures for the defence of the Swedish territory. General Steinbock assembled a body of militia and peasants, defeated the Danes at Helsingborg, and compelled them to evacuate Schonen. Several divisions were sent to Finland to keep off the Russians, who, nevertheless, advanced, being superior in numbers. Charles, meanwhile, negotiated at Bender with the Porte; succeeded in removing the ministers who were opposed to him, and induced the Turks to declare war against Russia. The armies met on the banks of the river Pruth, July 1, 1711. Peter seemed nearly ruined, when the courage and prudence of his wife (see Catharine) produced a peace, in which the interests of Charles were entirely neglected. This monarch, however, projected at Bender new plans, and, through his agents, solicited of the Porte auxiliaries against his enemies. But the Russian agents were no less active to prepossess the Porte against him, pretending that Charles designed to make himself, in the person of Stanislaus, the actual master of Poland, in order, from thence, in connexion with the German emperor, to attack the Turks. The seraskier of Bender was ordered to compel the king to depart, and, in case he refused, to bring him, living or dead, to Adrianople. Little used to obey the will of another, and apprehensive of being given up to his enemies, Charles resolved to defy the forces of the Porte, with the two or three hundred men of which his retinue consisted, and, sword in hand, to await his fate. When his residence at Varnitza, near Bender, was attacked by the Turks, he defended it against a whole army, and yielded only step by step. The house took fire, and he was about to abandon it, when, his spurs becoming entangled, he fell, and was taken prisoner. His eye-lashes were singed by powder, and his clothes covered with blood. Some days after this singu

lar contest, Stanislaus came to Bender to ask the king of Sweden to give his consent to the treaty which he saw himself obliged to conclude with Augustus; but Charles refused. The Turks now removed their prisoner from Bender to Demotica, near Adrianople. Here he spent two months in bed, feigning sickness, and employed in reading and writing. Convinced, at last, that he could expect no assistance from the Porte, he sent a parting embassy to Constantinople, and set off in disguise with two officers. Accustomed to every deprivation, Charles pursued his journey on horseback, through Hungary and Germany, day and night, with such haste, that only one of his attendants was able to keep up with him. Exhausted and haggard, he arrived before Stralsund about one o'clock on the night of the 11th Nov. O. S. (22), 1714. Pretending to be a courier with important despatches from Turkey, he caused himself to be immediately introduced to the commandant, count Dunker, who questioned him concerning the king, without recognising him till he began to speak, when he sprang joyfully from his bed, and embraced the knees of his master. The report of Charles's arrival spread rapidly throughout the city. The houses were illuminated. A combined army of Danes, Saxons, Russians and Prussians immediately invested Stralsund. Charles performed, during the defence, miracles of bravery. But, being obliged to surrender the fortress, on Dec. 15, 1715, he proceeded to Lund, in Schonen, and took measures to secure the coast. He then attacked Norway. The baron of Görtz, whose bold but intelligent plans were adapted to the situation of the Swedish monarchy, was, at that time, his confidential friend. His advice was, that Charles should gain Peter the Great to the interest of Sweden by important concessions, make himself master of Norway, and from thence land in Scotland, in order to dethrone George I, who had declared himself against Charles. Görtz discovered resources for prosecuting the war, and entered into negotiations, at Aaland, with the plenipotentiaries of the czar. Peter was already gained, and a part of Norway conquered; the fortunes of Sweden seemed to assume a favorable aspect; Charles was besieging Fredericshall, when, on Nov. 30, 1718, as he was in the trenches, leaning against the parapet, and examining the workmen, he was struck on the head by a cannon ball. He was found dead in the same position, his hand