08 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. [Auo. 



contains the following article 

 respecting Sweden :— 



•' The public prints mentioned 

 some time ago a correspondence 

 between the late King of Sweden 

 and the present King. The oc- 

 casion of this correspondence was 

 the following : — The son of the 

 deposed King had scarcely ap- 

 proached the age at which a 

 Crown Prince of Sweden, accord- 

 ing to the laws of that kingdom, 

 may be declared of full age, with 

 the permission of his father, when 

 Gustavus the Fourth signified to 

 him his intention to give him this 

 permission, and at the same time 

 that he expected him from 

 Hirdeberg, at Hanau, where the 

 ex-King at that time resided, in 

 order to give him his paternal 

 advice respecting the relations in 

 which lie might come forward in 

 life. He believed that he ought 

 to dissuade him from making any 

 pretensions to the Swedish throne; 

 but was, however, of opinion, 

 that if the Prince entertained dif- 

 ferent notions on this subject 

 from his father, who did not feel 

 tempted to wish to govern a na- 

 tion v/hich had rejected him as its 

 •monarch, the Prince owed it, at 

 all events, to his station, as soon 

 as he was of age, publicly to de- 

 clare himself respecting his pre- 

 tensions to the Swedish throne, 

 whether he was resolved to re- 

 serve them, or to bring them 

 forward when time and opportu- 

 nity offered, or wholly to renounce 

 them. Prince Gustavus declined 

 the permission to declare himself 

 of age, and indeed all negotiation 

 with his father on the subject. 

 The latter, therefore, in a letter, 

 dated Hanau, August 26, 1817, 



acquainted the present King of 

 Sweden with this affair. In the 

 reply, which is without date, the 

 King, then Crown Prince of 

 Sweden, acknowledges the purity 

 and conscientiousness of the 

 ex-King's political principles, 

 though the formality or renun- 

 ciation of the Swedish throne, 

 that might be made by Prince 

 Gustavus, would merely recognise 

 the right of the nation to choose 

 a new dynasty, but would not 

 give this right to the nation, 

 which already possessed it, and 

 had made use of it in three elec- 

 tions since the abdication of 

 Gustavus IV. Should Prince 

 Gustavus one day attempt to 

 interfere with the rights and the 

 tranquillity of the Swedish nation, 

 Providence would protect, as it 

 has hitherto done, the Scandina- 

 vian Peninsula ; and the regard 

 and inviolable alliance of the 

 Emperor Alexander would disap- 

 prove of every intrigue against 

 Sweden. The nation would not 

 renounce the right of choosing 

 its dynasty, as an hereditary 

 privilege. At the last election, 

 the King of Denmark, among 

 others, was a candidate for the 

 Swedish throne, and was sup- 

 ported by Napoleon. But no 

 power had at that time supported 

 its pretensions by force. The 

 choice fell unanimously on the 

 Crown Prince, whom the King 

 adopted as his son. He has not 

 considered the invitation to the 

 throne as a happiness ; for as 

 Governor of a country conquered 

 by France, he had learned how 

 greatly Princes were to be pitied, 

 who desired to perform in a 

 worthy manner the duties of their 



station, 



