Denmark by
leading an army over the Sound to the Danish islands, but a thaw set in
and put an end to this adventurous project.

Then he invaded Norway, as a part of the Danish realm, and after some
unsuccessful efforts, laid siege to the fortress of Frederikshald. Here
the end of his strange career was reached. On the morning of December 11,
1718, while leaning over the side of a breastwork and giving directions
to the men in the trenches, he was seen to stagger, his head sinking on
his breast. The officers who ran to his aid found him breathing his last
breath. A bullet had struck him, passing through his head and ending his
remarkable career at the early age of thirty-six.

With the death of this famous soldier ended the military glory and
greatness of Sweden. As a result of his mad ambition and his obstinate
persistence in Turkey, Sweden lost all the possessions won in previous
reigns, losing them never to be regained. And with him also vanished the
absolute rule of the Swedish kings. For with his death the nobles
regained their lost influence and drew up a compact in which the crown
was deprived of all its overruling control and the diet of the nobles
became the dominant power in the state.

_THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND THE DANISH FLEET._

The Napoleonic wars filled all Europe with tumult and disorder, the
far-northern realms of Norway and Sweden and the far-eastern one of
Turkey alone escaping from being drawn into the maelstrom of conflict.
Denmark, the Scandinavian kingdom nearest the region of conflict, did not
escape, but was made the victim of wars with which it had no concern to a
disastrous extent.

Christian VII. was then the Danish king, but he was so feeble, both in
mind and body, that the Crown Prince Frederick was made regent or
joint-ruler in 1784, and was practically king until his father's death in
1808, when he came to the throne as Frederick VI. Count Bernstorf was
minister of foreign affairs and kept Denmark at peace until his death in
1799, when troubles at once broke out between Denmark and England.

It was a different state of affairs now from that far-off time of Canute
and the vikings, when the Danes overran England and a Dane filled its
throne. The tide had long turned and Denmark was an almost helpless
victim in the hands of the great maritime island, which sought to control
the politics of the whole continent during the terrible struggle with
Napoleon.

For some years the Engl