- Carl Fredrik Pechlin
Infobox_Politician
name = Carl Fredrik Pechlin
birth_date =8 August ,1720
death_date =29 May ,1796
residence =
office =
term_start =
term_end =
predecessor =
constituency =
party = Hats, Caps
occupation =Baron Carl Fredrik Pechlin (
August 8 ,1720 –May 29 ,1796 ) was a Swedishpolitician anddemagogue , son of theHolstein minister atStockholm , Johan Pechlin. After moving to Sweden at age six, he was educated inSweden , and entered theSwedish army . He rose to the rank ofmajor-general , but became famous by being the type par excellence of the corrupt and egoistic Swedish parliamentarian of the final period of the Age of Liberty; he received for many years thesobriquet of 'General of the Riksdag'.Pechlin first appears prominently in Swedish politics in 1760, when by suddenly changing sides he contrived to save the Hats from
impeachment . Enraged at being thus excluded from power by their former friend, the Caps procured Pechlin's expulsion from the two followingRiksdag s. In 1769 Pechlin sold the Hats as he had formerly sold the Caps, and was largely instrumental in preventing the projected indispensable reform of the Swedishconstitution . During the revolution of 1772 he escaped from Stockholm and kept quietly in the background. In 1786, when the opposition againstGustavus III was gathering strength, Pechlin reappeared in the Riksdag as one of the leaders of the malcontents, and is said to have been at the same time in the pay of theRussia ncourt . In 1789 he was one of the deputies whom Gustavus III kept under lock and key until he had changed the government into a semi-absolute monarchy .It is fairly certain that Pechlin was behind the plot for murdering Gustavus in 1792. On the eve of the
assassination (March 16) the principal conspirators met at his house to make their final preparations and discuss the form of government which should be adopted after the king's death. Pechlin undertook to crowd the fatal masquerade withaccomplice s, but took care not to be there personally. He was arrested on March 17, but nothing definite could ever be proved against him. Nevertheless he was condemned toimprisonment in the fortress ofVarberg , where he died four years later.References
*1911
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