Prince Charles was criticised for the leniency shown toward his brother’s murderers, perhaps without justice, for the dying king had pleaded clemency in their behalf. Only Anckarstrom was executed, the other conspirators all receiving surprisingly mild sentences. This was contrasted to the petty and revengeful hatred shown the opponents of the new government, and one now recalled the fact that Gustavus III. in his last moments had refused to see the prince. That Charles also had aspirations of his own seems evident from the fact that he had the young king examined by physicians, raising doubt as to his physical and mental fitness to ever take a hand in the government. Reuterholm made himself hated and ridiculous by his pettiness. Thus restrictions were placed on extravagance in food and clothing, the use of coffee for some time being entirely prohibited. The Swedish Academy was disbanded because it did not make Reuterholm a member. The liberty of the press was extended and then suddenly restricted. Thorild, the writer and poet, was exiled for agitation against the old division of the Riksdag into four houses, “because its four Estates always have been bringing about one unsettled state.” Characteristic of the opinion of Reuterholm’s administration are the words which the warrior and philosopher, Charles August Ehrensverd, gave him in the course of a quarrel between the two: “Monsieur is ambitious to govern, but monsieur does not know how.” The best things accomplished during this period were the establishment of a military academy at Carlberg, and improvements of the Bible translation and the ritual and hymn-book of the church. The attitude toward France was changed with the change of government, Sweden being the first power to recognize the French republic. With that country and Denmark close intimacy was formed, which enraged Russia and England. In order to pacify the empress, old negotiations for a marriage between King Gustavus Adolphus and Alexandra, a niece of Empress Catherine II., were reopened and a decision reached. The king left for St. Petersburg. When the great ceremony was to take place, the empress sat there waiting with her brilliant court for several hours. No Gustavus Adolphus appeared. In the last moment he had been asked by a priest to grant his future consort, Alexandra, liberty to practice her Greek Catholic faith in public, which he refused to do, thus dropping the whole matter. The indignant empress was suddenly taken ill and died a few weeks later. Soon afterward the king married the beautiful princess Frederica of Bade.