1829.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



453 



Anecdoting upon the awkward use of 

 particular words, he adds : — 



I told my friend, Sir J., that Mr. said, 



that among other fishes good for food, he was 

 particularly a?/ac/ierf to a smelt. " D— n him;" 

 said Sir J., " I wish a smelt was attached to him 

 — to his nose for a week, till it stank, and cured 

 him of bis attachment." 



Memorials of Charles John (Berna- 

 doite), King of Sweden and Norioay, by 

 W. G. Meredith, Esq. ; 1829 — These 

 memorials consist of a series of public docu- 

 ments, proceeding from Bernadotte, the 

 greater part while Crown Prince, and some 

 few, after he succeeded to the throne — up to 

 the close of the Norwegian Storthing in 

 1824. The chief value belongs to the early 

 papers, which shew more clearly than any- 

 thing that has hitherto appeared the real 

 state of his relations with the French Em- 

 peror. That seems never to have been 

 equivocal. From the moment of his elec- 

 tion, Sweden was his country, and he reso- 

 lutely pursued her interests, identified, of 

 course, with his own — though wishing ap- 

 parently to keep on terms of friendly inter- 

 course with Napoleon. But Napoleon was 

 suspicious, jealous, haughty, and ?t'ot<W treat 

 Sweden in the style of a master — would 

 direct rather than negociate, and would, 

 what was still more gaUing, observe none of 

 the marks of respect, which independent 

 governments mutually pay — neither him- 

 self, nor by his agents. 



Bernadotte landed in Sweden on the 20th 

 of October, 1810, and found himself imme- 

 diately compelled to determine on the tone 

 to be taken with Napoleon — this, from the 

 circumstances of the country, was of neces- 

 sity a conciliatory one. On the 11th of 

 December he addressed a letter to the Em- 

 peror, in complaint of the instructions given 

 to Alguicr (the French ambassador), rela- 

 tive to the enforcement of the " continental 

 system." Bernadotte assures him every 

 thing is done to exclude English commerce, 

 but smuggling can no more bo precluded in 

 Sweden than elsewhere, and that in Sweden 

 the regal authority is very much restricted. 

 Still all that is practicable shall be enforced'to 

 second the system. Scarcely was this letter 

 despatched, when Alguier, before it could 

 have reached the Emperor, was directed to 

 demand of the Swedish government an im- 

 mediate decLiration of war against England 

 — if in five days tliis was not complied with, 

 lie was to quit, and war with France was to 

 follow. 



Bernadotte was thus placed in a very 

 awkward position — it gave him the appear- 

 ance of coining to Sweden merely to execute 

 the orders of the Emperor. To remove the 

 offensive inijjression, as far as he could, lie 

 abstained from taking part in the delibera- 

 tions of tlie council. Fatal as was tlie mea- 

 Riirc, inipo.scd l)y tlie Emperor, to the pros- 

 ptrily of Sweden, compliance was inevit- 



able, and war was accordingly " declared, ' 

 though utterly without the means of pro- 

 secuting it. Bernadotte, in consequence of 

 this unprepared and destitute state, again 

 addressed two letters to Napoleon, in which 

 he frankly exposed to him the exhausted 

 condition of the country, and soUcited the 

 assistance which was indispensible for the 

 execution of his wishes. To these letters 

 no answer was vouchsafed ; but instead, the 

 ambassador was directed to make sundry 



demands on the Swedish government 



4,000- seamen, for instance, to serve in the 

 French fleet, at Brest, and a concurrence 

 in a confederation with Denmark and the 

 Duchy of Warsaw, both of which, however, 

 were declined on the part of the Swedish 

 government. Tlie insolence of Alguier be- 

 coming intolerable, Bernadotte demanded 

 his recall, and he was accordingly recalled, 

 but succeeded by another, who, acting of 

 course under instruction.s, was not a whit 

 less offensive, and he also was finally dis- 

 missed. But in the meanwhile, and through- 

 out the summer and autumn of 1811, the 

 hostihty of the French government was 

 shewn by the systematic injustice of the 

 officers presiding over the prize-courts.^ 

 more than fifty Swedish vessels were con- 

 demned, and no redress was recoverable. 

 Finding remonstrances all in vain, the 

 Swedish government took the defence of 

 their commerce into their own hands, and in 

 December seized a French privateer. A 

 commimication of the circumstance and the 

 cause was immediately made, and again no 

 written notice was, taken. 



But on the 27th of January, 1812, with- 

 out any ceremony, or any previous threat, 

 a division of Davoust's amiy was marched 

 into Pomerania, and took possession of it, 

 and of the island of Rugen. Explanation 

 was demanded in vain — still nothing but 

 contemptuous sOence — till at last M. Sig- 

 neul arrived, not bringing with him ex- 

 planations, or even noticing the demand for 

 explanation, but fresh proposals, or rather 

 orders — a new declaration of war against 

 England, and oftensive measures against 

 the English shipping in the Cattegat and 

 the Baltic, and moreover, a levy of 40,000 

 men to operate against Russia on the side of 

 Finland, the recovery of which, by Sweden, 

 was held out as an indemnification. But 

 Signeul was too late. Indignant at tlie 

 cavalier treatment he had received, Berna- 

 dotte had appealed to Russia, and a treaty 

 between the two governments had alrc.idy 

 been signed in JMarch — in which treaty 

 Ritssia engaged to unite Norway, and 

 guarantee the peaceable possession of it to 

 Sweden. Signeul, in consequence, return- 

 ed, taking with him the last letter from 

 Bernadotte, wliich bore tlie semblance of 

 friendsliip — it explained the necessity into 

 which he liad been tlirown, and ap))ealed' 

 to his humanity to avert tlic general war 

 impending, i)ro])osed to mciluite between 

 Iiiiii and the Emperor of Rit-isia — a pro- 



