BERNADOTTE. 



study. This was the more remarkable, as his 

 |ih\-;r.il constitution was by no means strong. His 

 health, during the periods of childhood, youth, and 

 adolescence, was infirm ; it was not until the age 

 of manhood that it acquired some degree of vigour: 

 but that vigour increased with advancing age ; so 

 that during the space of sixty years he never 

 laboured under any serious malady, and rarely suf- 

 fered even from slight indisposition ; at the age of 

 eighty-four he looked no older, and constitutionally 

 was not older, than most men are at sixty; thus 

 adding another illustrious name to the splendid 

 catalogue which establishes the fact, that severe 

 and constant mental labour is not incompatible with 

 health and longevity, but conducive to both, pro- 

 vided the mind be unanxious and the habits tempe- 

 rate. 



Mr Bentham's death took place at his house in 

 Queen's Square Place, Westminster, on the 6th of 

 June, 1832. He was in the eighty-fifth year of 

 his ;ii:e. 



.Mr Bentham's body was in consequence of his 

 own earnest desire, transferred to the Webb street 

 school of anatomy and medicine ; at which place 

 Dr Southwood Smith delivered an admirable lec- 

 ture over it, on the 9th of June, 1832. A col- 

 lected edition 6f his works has been published by 

 Dr Bowring. 



BERNADOTTE. [Although Charles XIV., 

 king of Sweden, has not yet (1839) paid the debt 

 of nature, we are still induced to give here, under 

 his family name, a sketch of his remarkable life, as 

 reference has been made to it in the body of the 

 work, and as, independently of that, his career may 

 be considered, at his great age, as, in effect, closed, 

 so far as the purposes of history are concerned.] 



JEAN BAPTISTE JULIEN BERNADOTTE was born 

 at Pau, in the south of France, on the 26th of 

 January 1763. His father was a lawyer, and it 

 was his desire to have brought up his son in the 

 same business; but the young man, when only 

 fifteen years of age, forsook the paternal care and 

 roof, and enlisted as a private in the regiment of 

 royal marines. During the war which followed 

 between Great Britain and France, on account of 

 the support granted by the latter to the revolt of 

 the American colonies, Bernadotte served in the 

 East Indies ; and at so tender an age had he learnt 

 to distinguish himself, that, a year after his enlist- 

 ment, he was made a corporal, and upon the return 

 of his corps to France in 1783, be was promoted to 

 the rank of sergeant. He remained in this position 

 until 1789, when a very daring and magnanimous 

 act raised him at once in rank and in general esti- 

 mation. In that year the royal marines were sta- 

 tioned at Marseilles, where, it is well known, the 

 revolutionary spirit ran to a great height in the very 

 earliest periods of the disturbances in France. The 

 mob of the town having risen tumultuously, and 

 drawn into the movement most of the soldiers 

 stationed there, with loud shouts expressed their 

 determination to take the life of the Marquis 

 d'Ambert, colonel of the royal marines, to whose 

 house they directed their steps. Bernadotte at- 

 tempted to arrest their progress by an exhortation 

 to humanity and forbearance, but such an appeal, 

 in their phrensied state, was quite unavailing, and 

 they compelled Bernadotte himself to join them, 

 proclaiming that they had nominated him colonel 

 of the marines in place of their intended victim. 

 But the determined Serjeant was not to be won by 

 so brilliant an offer and having drawn off a few of 



his own men, whom he recalled to a sense of their 

 duty, he suddenly planted lnm-rll' between the mob 

 and the marquis's house, and thus addressed them: 

 " People of Marseilles, as you express confidence 

 in me, I will show you I deserve it. 1 will not 

 allow you to dishonour yourselves by a base assassi- 

 nation. If the colonel be guilty, the law is the 

 executioner, not citizens and soldiers. 1 request 

 you, then, to retire, as, before you obtain the lu-ad 

 of the colonel, you must deprive me, and the brave 

 men who suiTound me, of ours 1" This manly 

 declaration caused the infuriated mob to pause, and, 

 seeing the firm resolution of the young serjeant, 

 ultimately to desist from their purpose. 



After this period, Bernadotte for a short time 

 quitted the army for a civil pest. He was ap- 

 pointed clerk to the parliament of Pau, his native 

 town, and, upon the establishment of the national 

 guards, he became adjutant of those of Pau. Kven 

 in this provincial sphere, he had opportunities of 

 evincing his courage and talents, and spreading the 

 reputation of his name, for, in 1793, he received 

 the colonelcy of the 7'2d regiment, of the line, 

 which was attached to the army of the North, 

 under the command of General Kleber. In the 

 campaign which ensued, his military conduct was 

 the theme of approbation to his commanding officer, 

 and his promotion was in consequence both great 

 and rapid. Before the end of 1795, he was a gene- 

 ral of division, and had successfully effected seve- 

 ral important enterprises against the Austrians, 

 with whom the French republic was at that time 

 at war. In the following year, Moreau commanded 

 the French army against the Archduke Charles, 

 and General Bernadotte was placed in the division 

 of Jourdan, and had in many instances a command 

 in which he had entirely to rely upon his own re- 

 sources. In proportion to the opportunites he 

 enjoyed of distinguishing himself, his name became 

 celebrated, and in this year, 1796, the Directory 

 bore a very convincing^vidence of the high estima- 

 tion in which his capacity was held, by refusing to 

 receive his resignation of his command, which he, 

 in consequence of some charges of extortion made 

 against him at Nuremburg, pressed upon their 

 acceptance. 



From this period, the name of Bernadotte is 

 placed more or less in connection with that of 

 Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1797, he had a division 

 of fifteen thousand men in the army of Italy. 

 The want of money was the universal complaint of 

 the early republican armies of France, and great 

 complaints were usual amongst the soldiers for 

 arrears of pay. At Milan, the spirit of mutiny 

 broke out in open violence, and in a positive refusal 

 to proceed. Bernadotte, perceiving that expostu- 

 lation was of no avail, assumed at once the tone of 

 stern command. " Soldiers !" said he, " if you 

 refuse obedience to my command. I am authorised 

 by the military code to kill every man who does 

 not march against the enemy, arid either you shall 

 have the ignominy of assassinating your general, 

 or I will run my sword through the body of every 

 mutineer." Upon pronouncing this resolution, he 

 marched to the head of the 90th regiment, anJ, 

 pointing his sword to the breast of the first grena- 

 dier, he ordered him to wheel to the right, unless 

 he preferred to be run through the body. The 

 soldier obeyed ; the army followed in regular order, 

 and the mutiny was effectually suppresses. 



When the successes of the French army had in- 

 duced the Austrian emperor to sue for peace, and 





