thumb|Colonel (1741–1790) was a Finnish soldier and an officer of the Swedish Army. He took part in the conspiracy and was executed for that. He was the only one to suffer such fate.
The Anjala League (, ) of 1788 was a scheme by disgruntled Swedish officers to end Gustav III's Russian War of 1788–1790. Declaring Finland an independent state was not a part of the original plot, but one of the conspirators Johan Anders Jägerhorn, who handed the note to Empress Catherine the Great, made such claims in Saint Petersburg.
Rising anger against the king and his war
As the war was badly prepared and without the expected initial success, anger rose against the king within the military ranks deployed to Finland, where the memory of the harsh Russian occupations of 1713–21 (the "Greater Wrath") (Isoviha in Finnish) and 1741–43 (the "Lesser Wrath") (Pikkuviha in Finnish) remained vivid. The war was clearly initiated by Sweden, and in the view of a strong opinion, particularly among noble officers, a clear violation of the authoritarian Instrument of Government that the king, with support of the common estates of the parliament, had imposed in 1772.
It was no secret that the war was conceived to increase the king's popularity and influence, and diminish that of his, mostly noble, opponents. The anger was fueled also by Cabinet members who felt duped to support the war plans by the king's selective quoting of diplomatic reports from Saint Petersburg. The failed attempts to besiege and recapture Hamina and Savonlinna, both of which had been in Russian hands since 1743, ultimately ignited a vehement opposition among the officers, and it was said that even the king wished for peace.
The Liikkala Note
The leaders of the Anjala conspiracy met on August 9, 1788 in Liikkala under the leadership of Swedish Major general Carl Gustaf Armfelt the Younger, together they wrote a diplomatic note to Tsarina Catherine the Great of Russia. This so-called Liikkala note stated that they were dissatisfied with the war, and that it was not in the interest of Sweden to be at war with Russia. The reason for the note was to scout the possibility of peace. They also offered Russia peace on the basis of the national borders prior to the Treaty of Åbo. This would have resulted in Russia ceding parts of Karelia to Sweden.
The note was signed by Carl Gustaf Armfeldt, Johan Anders Jägerhorn, and five more officers. It was decided that Jägerhorn should take the note to Russia, and so he left the campaign and went to Saint Petersburg.
In Russia
Jägerhorn arrived in Saint Petersburg around August 12 and was granted an audience with Catherine the Great on August 15, and he delivered the note. He however added orally that there was a great desire in Finland to secede from Sweden and put itself under the protection of Russia. Catherine however did not give him any answers.
A few days later Catherine's answer came in writing, she reportedly appreciated the Finnish nation’s way of thinking, but it would require the presence of more people under a formal and legally representative form. Verbally it was added that Russia thought it inappropriate to give back any provinces it had gained in war.
Jägerhorn left St. Petersburg on August 20, and arrived back at the army on August 23. The army was at this time in Anjala. The conspirators were downcast by Russia's reply, and several also saw Jägerhorn’s venture of detaching Finland from Sweden as treason.
The Anjala Act
At the same time as Jägerhorn arrived in Petersburg the so-called Anjala Act was declared and printed. It was written at the Anjala manor by the Kymi river. The Act which corresponded to the Liikkala note was signed by 113 officers, and it stated:
- §1. Peace shall be treated with Russia
- §2. The Riksdag of the Estates was to be convened
- §3. The Instrument of Government must be followed
- §4. An armistice was to be sought, because otherwise the Swedish and Finnish coast would be burned by the Russian navy.
- §5. The Army was to withdraw from the front.
- §6. The signers of the Act was for the realm willing to sacrifice all, including their own blood, and they had no desire to start a revolution.
In an addendum that was sent to the army, the conspirators talked at some length what they were after. The Riksdag was to be called, but it was also to include all officers. Certain changes should be made in the government, the kings Appanage was to be fixed and could not be overrun, and that the Privy Council of Sweden was to be set up according to the 1720 Instrument of Government. They also stated that the Riksdag should be called after a fixed number of years and that the Freedom of the press act of 1766 should be followed. Further they demanded that the Police Bureau in Stockholm under Nils Henric Liljensparre should be closed.
From this one can draw the conclusion that there was a critique of Royal power, and that the conspirators wanted to revert to the form of government that had existed under Sweden's Age of Liberty. On August 25 an additional document was spread, the avertissement which called for the King's abdication.
The opinion was however shifting, Jägerhorn’s actions in St. Petersburg and his actions of splitting Sweden and Finland was seen as treason, and this made the conspiracy falter.