Johan Christopher Toll - Royal Conspirator

Royal Conspirator

During the Riksdag of 1771-1772 the dominant "Caps" deprived him of his post, and Toll, shrewdly guessing that the king was preparing a revolution, almost forced his services on the conspirators, Georg Magnus Sprengtporten declaring that a man who knew so much of their most secret plans must either "be killed or squared" To Toll was assigned by far the most difficult part of the enterprise. It was his business to secure the important southern fortress of Kristianstad. Two days after the coronation, on May 21, 1772, he set forth from Stockholm with twenty-two pounds wherewith to corrupt a garrison and revolt a province. He had no sort of credentials, and the little that was known about him locally from the official point of view was not to his credit. Finally, in the fortress itself there was but one man known to be a safe royalist, namely, Captain Abraham Hellichius. On June 21 Toll reached Kristianstad. By sheer bluff Toll first won over Hellichius, and, six weeks later (August 12), the whole garrison of Kristianstad, arresting the few officers who proved recalcitrant; taking possession of the records and military chest, and closing the gates in the face of the "Cap" high commissioner who had been warned by the English minister, John Gooderich, that something was afoot in the south. Seven days later Gustav III's coup d'état - at Stockholm completed the revolution.