Source:
Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 51 to 54, by Francis William Bain, 1890; original at the University of Connecticut Library
Kristina's letter of April 12/22 (Old Style), 1645 to Axel Oxenstierna is here:
Her letter of June 20/30 (Old Style), 1645 to him is here:
Her letter of June 24/July 4 (Old Style), 1645 to him is here:
Her speech to him, given on November 27/December 7 (Old Style), 1645, is here:
The account:
The Chancellor, whose diplomacy was always more coloured with national prejudice than that of a statesman ought to be, was personally inclined to press hard terms upon the vanquished; he bore a grudge against the Danes, and would have been supported in this policy both by Senate and people. But the young Queen thought very differently. She felt esteem for the heroic old King, and was unwilling to press a fallen enemy too hard; she foresaw, too, that fortune might at any moment take a turn in Germany, and that the other interested Powers might side with the Danes, in their fear of Sweden gaining too great a preponderance on the Baltic. She was unquestionably right, and showed in this preliminary peace how much more tact she possessed than the Chancellor, as she was to show it on a larger scale in the peace of Westphalia. The letters which she wrote him at this moment will not easily be paralleled among those of statesmen of nineteen.
On April 12 she writes that she is well aware of the difficulties, and of the necessity of obtaining good guarantees; still the moment seems to have arrived for pushing things to their conclusion; "we must be careful not to let slip the opportunity, and so leave posterity reason to complain. Perhaps it would be as well not to hasten the treaty too much, just at present, so as to be able to dispute over the guarantees, and so gain our ends." Oxenstiern on his part was in no degree inclined to let slip, by wax and paper, what had been won by arms. Christina writes again, on the 20th June, "I agree with you, we ought to demand Holland [sic] and Blekingen, and certainly insist on good security, without which we must not even think of peace; but amongst other reasons, which have made me recommend you to descend some steps in your demands, this is not the least, that most of the Senate are of quite a different opinion from you or me. ... Should the affair come off unsatisfactorily, people will say the whole thing was begun by certain unquiet heads, and continued by my own and certain other's ambition; my youth will be subjected to this calumny, that it was not capable of taking good counsel, but that, transported with ambition of empire, it has led me into mistakes; my fate is such that if I do anything carefully and after ripe thought, others will reap the honour. Should, on the contrary, anything be neglected, which others should have looked to, the blame will be mine." She bewails the loss of time, but hopes for better progress when the fleet has arrived. On the 24th, however, she writes more decisively. ... "I see further so many difficulties in carrying on the war, that I fear we shall have much trouble in attempting so great a task with means so small: and that it would be leaving too much to chance to refuse the conditions offered. We must recollect that, in case peace should be broken off, every one at home or abroad will lay it to the charge of our unmeasured ambition, based on injustice, and with the sole object of empire. And as I don't rely too much on the co-operation of the Dutch, I fear lest, if the proposed conditions are not accepted, they may try to become arbitrators, so that their jealousy may cause them to attempt something untoward; not to mention what the Poles might do. In short, we must make it plain before God, and all the world that we applied ourselves to all reasonable means for obtaining peace."
The peace was finally concluded on August 13, 1645. By it Sweden obtained complete freedom from tolls on the Sound and the Belts; the provinces of Jemteland and Hartjedale [sic], with the islands of Gothland and Œsel; Halland she was to hold for thirty years, after which time she was to keep it unless some equivalent territory was given her in exchange: she also retained Bremen, which had been taken by Königsmarck from King Christian's son.
On his return, Christina rewarded Oxenstiern by conferring on him the title of Count, then the highest dignity in Sweden, and endowing him with the territory of Sodermœre in Smaland. The flattering speech which she addressed to him in the senate added to his honour, inasmuch as it not only awarded him high praise, but proved by the admiration it extorted even from himself, that the commendation came from one capable of judging.
_-_Nationalmuseum_-_18075.tif~3.jpg)
Above: Kristina.
Above: Axel Oxenstierna.
Note: Ösel is the old German and Swedish name for the Estonian island of Saaremaa.
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