Robert Nisbet Bain

“ A week later all Finland lay at the feet of the intrepid colonel of the Borgå dragoons. By the 23rd of August Sprengtporten was ready to re-embark for Stockholm with 780 men, but contrary winds kept him back, and in the meantime Gustavus III. himself had carried out his revolution unaided. On his return to Sweden, however, Sprengtporten was received with the greatest distinction and made a lieutenant-general and colonel of the guards. He was also appointed the president of a commission for strengthening the defences of Finland. But Sprengtporten was still dissatisfied. ”

“ The club was suppressed by the dominant “Caps,” who also sought to ruin Sprengtporten financially by inciting his tenants in Finland to bring actions against him for alleged extortion, not in the ordinary courts but in the riksdag itself, where Sprengtporten's political adversaries would be his judges. The enraged Finnish colonel thereupon approached Gustavus III. with the project of a revolution against their common enemies, the “Caps.” It was to begin in Finland where Sprengtporten's regiment, the Nyland dragoons, was stationed. ”

“ He regarded the monstrous system of misrule for which they were primarily responsible with indignation, made no secret of his sentiments, and soon gathered round him a band of young officers of strong royalist proclivities, whom he formed into a club, the so-called Svenska Botten (Sweden's groundwork) . ”