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B i: K N A I >UT T Iv BEKIOT. 



son of the dethroned monarch, Gustavus IV. ; the 

 Prince of llolstein; the King of Denmark ; and 

 !i:il Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo. The 

 king of Sweden declared in favour of the latter. 

 The states-general acceded to the nomination, in 

 their resolution, declaring that, " considering that 

 the high and mighty prince and lord, Jean Baptiste. 

 Jiilien Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corv. 

 endowed with virtues and qualities wl.ich gave 

 them a well-founded hope of enjoying under his 

 reign the fruits of a U'giil, energetic, and beneficent 

 govenitnent, voluntarily elected him to the dignity 

 of Prince Royal of Sweden, by free and unanimous 

 suffrage for themselves and their descendants; 

 under condition, however, that, before his arrival 

 of the Swedish territory, he should embrace the 

 evangelical Lutheran religion, and sign the condi- 

 tions which they should draw up." The election 

 took place at Orebro, on the 21st of August 1810. 

 Thus, with the applause of king and people, Ber- 

 nadotte was elevated to the rank of heir presump- 

 tive to the throne of Sweden. It is doubtful 

 whether the consent of Napoleon was asked upon 

 this nomination, or even whether he received it in 

 the light it was intended as a compliment to him- 

 self; hut he did not withhold his acquiescence, and 

 Bernadotte immediately proceeded to Sweden, 

 where, on the 31st October 1810, he signed the 

 necessary conditions, and on the 5th November 

 made an inaugural speech before the king and the 

 states-general. He was formally adopted by Charles 

 XIII. as his son, and on that occasion assumed the 

 name of Charles John. In the new situation in 

 which he was placed, Bernadotte soon gave proofs 

 of the eminent ability with which he was gifted. 

 By his scrupulous deference and affectionate atten- 

 tion, he gained so perfectly the confidence of the 

 king, that he may be said to have wielded the 

 powers of the executive almost from his arrival. 

 By his liberality, industry, and urbanity, he won 

 the hearts of the people, and soon became amongst 

 them more popular than any of their native princes 

 had been. The moral force he thus possessed, 

 enabled him to act, in the great crisis of events, 

 with decisive energy for the benefit of Sweden. 



From the time Bernadotte became crown prince 

 of Sweden, he ceased to be a Frenchman. This, 

 instead of being objected to him, seems his highest 

 praise. It would have been dishonest in him to 

 have accepted the munificent offer of the Swedish 

 nation, if his intentions had been to enslave her to 

 the ruler of the French. But it is evident that 

 Napoleon considered him in the light of a vassal, 

 and to this cause is owing much of the acrimonious 

 feeling engendered in the mind of Bernadotte to- 

 wa'ds his former patron. The miseries of the 

 "continental system" bore hard upon Sweden, 

 which almost entirely depended upon British com- 

 merce ; the forcible occupation of Swedish Pome- 

 rania and the isle of Rugen by the French, violated 

 existing treaties ; the scornful silence of Napoleon, 

 and the outrageous insolence of Count Alquier his 

 ambassador at Stockholm, wounded the pride not 

 only of Bernadotte, but also of the nation. All 

 these concurring circumstances disposed the mind 

 of the crown prince to forsake the party of Napo- 

 leon, and to seek new allies. A treaty with Great 

 Britain and Russia was speedily arranged, the terms 

 demanded by him being at once agreed to. The 

 forethought of the crown prince thus enabled him 

 to secure the British and Russian guarantee to his 

 efter-possession of Norway, at the expense of the 



king of Denmark, who had been so steadfast an 

 ally of Napoleon. Before this stipulation was of 

 any consequence, it was necessary to overthrow 

 that colossal power moved by this womleihil man. 

 His reverses in Russia showed that he was not in- 

 vincible, and they were followed up by a geiieial 

 crusade against him. The crown prince of Swe- 

 den took a personal part in the enterprise, with 

 30,000 Swedes. He commanded the allied army 

 of the North of Germany, composed of Russians, 

 Prussians, and Swedes, amounting to 120.0UO men. 

 The confederated armies moved upon Napoleon at 

 Leipzic, and compelled him to a precipitate retreat. 

 This success was followed up, and France, as is 

 well known, was entered by the allied armies. 

 Possession was taken of Paris, Napoleon abdicated, 

 and the Bourbons were replaced on tin: throne of 

 France. In these latter events Bernadotte was 

 not personally concerned, though, after a treaty 

 with Denmark, in which he compelled that coun- 

 try to cede Norway to the crown of Sweden, he 

 crossed the Rhine, and entered France. On re- 

 turning to his adopted country, he immediately set 

 about the conquest of Norway. Since 1537, this 

 country had been united to Denmark, of which it 

 was a mere province. Prince Christian, the Dan- 

 ish viceroy, refused to surrender his post, and an 

 opposition was attempted to the progress of Charles 

 John. But it was quickly suppressed; the ancient 

 national assembly of Norway, called the Storthing, 

 was summoned, and a federal union upon advan- 

 tageous terms of equality was resolved upon with 

 Sweden. A constitution similar to that of Swe- 

 den was established a limited hereditary monarchy, 

 with a national representative chamber. Thus 

 had Bernadotte the glory of uniting under one 

 head the crowns of the Scandinavian peninsula, an 

 achievement which Gustavus Adolphus and Charles 

 XII. had attempted in vain. On the 7th of Nov- 

 ember 1814, he made his first speech to the Nor- 

 wegian Storthing, in the name of the king. 



The death of king Charles XIII., in February 

 1818, called Bernadotte to the throne, under the 

 title of Charles XIV. Since his accession to the 

 kingdom, that stupendous work, the canal from the 

 Cattegat to the Baltic, has been completed, and 

 was opened by him in person with great solemnity 

 in 1822. By this effective communication, not 

 only is an inland intercourse opened to an immense 

 extent, but, in the event of a war, the evil conse. 

 quences of shutting up the narrow straits of the 

 Sound are perfectly neutralised. 



In person, Charles XIV. is of a martial and com- 

 manding appearance, with a handsome and expres- 

 sive countenance. His manners are affable and 

 engaging. He generally resides at Stockholm, or 

 at his country-house in the vicinity, and preserves 

 very little state or expensive ceremony. His ser- 

 vices to Sweden are duly appreciated by his sub- 

 jects. His son, the crown prince Oscar, was born 

 in 1799, and married in 1823 to the Princess Jose- 

 phine of Leuchtenburg, grand-daughter of the king 

 of Bavaria, by whom he has several children. 



BERIOT, MADAME MALIBRAN DE, a celebrat- 

 ed vocal actress, the eldest daughter of Senor 

 Manuel Garcia, an eminent tenor singer in the 

 Italian Opera, was born at Paris in 1808. At the 

 age of eight years she accompanied her parents to 

 London, where she spent a number of years in un- 

 ceasing study. In 1825, at the age of sixteen, she 

 made her first appearance on the stage as one of 

 the chorus of the Italian Or e ra ; and in 1826, she 





