less powder. This is a high powered explosive used as a substitute for gunpowder in firearms and cannon. It is a compound of guncotton and cellulose nitrate, the latter consisting of sawd ust which has been soaked in nitric and sulphuric acid. Smokeless powder, as indicated by its name, makes no smoke or very little, and does not foul the gun as does gunpowder.
Powder is classified according to the size, shape or structure of its grains; as mealed, superfine, fine, large or coarse, cubical, hexagonal, spherohexagonal, etc. See Gun-cotton and Thomson's Dictionary of Explosives and Treatise on Ammunition.
Gunpowder Plot. This plot was planned by Robert Catesby, a Roman Catholic gentleman of England, who, with his fellow-conspirators, had been driven to desperation by the faithlessness of King James I. James had, before his accession to the throne, led the Roman Catholics to expect some degree of religious toleration, but shortly after he began to reign he not only put the penal laws against Catholics in full force, but showed an inclination to increase their severity. Early in 1604 Catesby told his plan to John Wright and Thomas Winter, and they brought over from Flanders a brave soldier serving in the Spanish army, named Guy Fawkes, who, together with one Percy, was admitted to the plot after taking an oath of secrecy. The plot was to destroy at one blow the king and both houses of parliament and at the same time raise an insurrection in the midland counties. On the 24th of May, therefore, Percy rented a room adjoining the parliament house, which they intended to undermine. But, because of the closing of parliament, the work was put off until December, when digging was begun. The work proved harder than expected and the men changed their plan, admitting new conspirators and renting a cellar under the house of lords, where they hid casks of gunpowder with faggots. Everything was ready by May. But the plot was betrayed. Guy Fawkes entered the cellar a little before midnight on Nov. 4 to start the flames, and was arrested. Catesby hurried to Warwickshire to raise his friends there. They were there attacked a few days later, Catesby and several others were killed, and the prisoners taken were committed for trial and the whole plot revealed by their confessions. The trial proved that the Roman Catholics, with the exception of the few engaged in the plot, had nothing to do with it.
Gunsau′lus, Frank Wakeley, a Congregational clergyman and educator, was born in Ohio, Jan. 1, 1856; graduated at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1875; and was ordained to the Methodist ministry. He has been pastor of Congregational churches in Columbus, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; and Chicago, Illinois. In 1899 he accepted the pastorate of Central Church, Chicago, the famous independent church of David Swing, and for some years before he had also been the first president of Armour Institute of Technology, resigning this post in 1901. He likewise is an eloquent and popular platform-speaker, his oratory being of the Spanish or rhetorical class, and is the author of the valuable historical romance Monk and Knight, a tale of the Renaissance and Reformation.
Gusta′vus I or Gusta′vus Va′sa, king of Sweden during 1523-60, was born in 1496 of a noble family named Ericsson. As a boy he was active in the struggle against Denmark, and was carried off with other nobles to be held as hostages in Denmark. He, however, escaped, and, returning in a roundabout way, tried to revive the waning interest in the struggle with the Danes, but could not, and had to resort to work in the fields and mines for a livelihood. At last the “bloodbath” of Stockholm in 1520 aroused the Swedes, and he raised a sufficiently large army to wrest city after city from the Danes, until finally the capture of Stockholm in 1523 drove them from Sweden. That same year he was elected king. He then devoted himself to restoring the country, fostering trade at home and abroad, and building roads, bridges and canals. He died on Sept. 20, 1560, leaving his country with an army of 15,000 men, a good fleet, a full treasury and many schools and colleges. The first efforts at Christianizing Lapland and Finland were due to him. See The Swedish Revolution under Gustavus Vasa by Watson.
Gustavus II or Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden from 1611 to 1632, was born at Stockholm, Dec. 19, 1594. He was highly educated, knew eight languages and was a fine musician. Upon coming to the throne, when 17, he found his country involved in wars and internal quarrels; and reorganized his government by promising the nobles their privileges, subject to military service to the crown. He then defeated Denmark, and in 1617 concluded peace with Russia, recovering many cities which had been lost. In 1618 he traveled secretly through Germany, and two years later he married the daughter of the elector of Brandenburg. He next turned his attention to Poland, ending the dispute by a six years' truce in 1629. In 1630 Gustavus marched into Germany at the head of 15,000 men to join the Protestants against the Catholic League. The German forces were under the command of Tilly and Wallenstein, but the latter was soon removed from the service. Gustavus waited long for the Protestant princes to join him, but they did not do so until Tilly had taken the rich city of Magdeburg and burned everything but the cathedral. Soon after, Gustavus defeated Tilly at Breitenfeld, took the
