[2] Horn stood high in the favour of King Charles XII of Sweden and was one of his foremost generals in the earlier part of the Great Northern War, being the captain lieutenant over the Drabant Corps since 1696.

Transferred to the central point of the administration, he had ample opportunity of regarding with other eyes the situation of the kingdom, and in consequence of his remonstrances he fell rapidly in the favour of Charles XII.

Both in 1710 and 1713 Horn was in favour of summoning the Estates, but when in 1714 the diet adopted an anti-monarchical attitude, he gravely warned and ultimately dissolved it.

[5] Horn's strong hand kept the inevitable strife of the parliamentary factions within due limits, and it was entirely owing to his provident care that Sweden so rapidly recovered from the wretched condition in which the wars of Charles XII had plunged her.

[2] This was to increase the influence of the Riksdag of the Estates and its secret committees in the solution of purely diplomatic questions, which should have been left entirely to the executive, thus weakening the central government and at the same time facilitating the interference of foreign Powers in Sweden's domestic affairs.