Gustavus IV. Adolphus was declared of age and took charge of the government when eighteen (in 1796). Reuterholm was dismissed, and Prince Charles retired. The king surrounded himself with the friends of his father, Armfelt and Toll being recalled, the latter taking excellent care of foreign affairs, as far as his authority went. But Gustavus IV. ruled alone, without favorites or influential advisers. This was most unfortunate, for he was entirely without the gifts of a regent. He was a lover of order, economy, justice and pure morals, but through lack of mental and physical strength his good qualities were misdirected. His father’s tragic fate had a sinister influence upon his mind, the equilibrium of which was shaken also by the outrages of the revolutionists in France. Of a morbid sensibility, and without inclination to confide in any one, his religious mysticism led him into a state close to insanity. He imagined himself to be a reincarnation of Charles XII., while in Napoleon he recognized the monster of the Apocalypse, which he himself was sent to fight and conquer. Gustavus IV. went to an extreme in his fear of liberal movements, placing severe censorship on the periodical press, book market and universities. Benjamin Hœijer, the great philosopher, for some time left his chair at Upsala and the country. A man who was resolved to “go even to the doors of hell in search of truth” could not be in sympathy with the bigot despot. Hard times, produced by failure of crops and fisheries, and by maritime losses during the war between England and France, threw added umbrage over the reign of Gustavus IV. He convoked a Riksdag, in 1800, in order to raise money to cover the debts involved by his predecessor. He never repeated the experiment. The nobles sanctioned the absolute rule, but stormy sessions ensued over the royal propositions, six nobles resigning from titles and privileges, six others their seats in the Riksdag. The peasants, almost as unyielding, were pacified by Toll. By his own authority, the king mortgaged the Swedish city of Wismar, in Mecklenburg, to the ruler of said duchy for a period of one hundred years, in receipt for a sum of some two million dollars.