The Peace of Uusikaupunki marked the end of Sweden's role as a major European power and heralded the rise of Russia as the dominant force in the north. Finland, in the front line of the Swedish-Russian confrontation, had no independent input into the politics of the kingdom. The Finnish elites divided politically between the same two political factions, known as the ‘Hats’ and the ‘Caps’, as the rest of the kingdom. In foreign policy the Hats advocated alliance with France to counter the ascendancy of Russia. The Caps, accepting the ascendancy of Russia, tried to conciliate ‘this dangerous neighbour’, hoping that by buying time, it would be possible eventually to look forward to a time when ‘the Lord God … will mercifully deign to provide circumstances favourable to Sweden’. The Hats had unrealistic expectations that they could push the frontiers of Finland eastward, gaining territory from Russia. Until 1738 they were restrained by the cautious Finnish-born Lord Chancellor of Sweden, Count Arvid Horn. Horn had been a soldier under Charles XII and in his youth had shared the impetous heroism of his royal master, but in old age he was more realistic in his appreciation of what was possible. When he stepped down from the chancellorship in 1738 at the age of 74 years, the Hats became the dominant party in the Swedish-Finnish kingdom. Encouraged by France, who wanted for its own purposes to see Russia's hands tied by a war in the north, the Hats persuaded the Diet to declare war on Russia in July 1741.