had been, for several years, but one power in the North
of Europe at once decidedly adverse in spirit, and in any degree
independent; and now, to all appearance, this last exception also was
removed. Gustavus IV., King of Sweden, had persisted in his original
hatred of the French Revolution, and of Buonaparte, in opposition to a
powerful party in that country, who considered the conduct of their
sovereign, in standing out against so gigantic an enemy, as mere
obstinacy--in fact as insane. In consequence of his pertinacious refusal
to submit to the supreme will of Napoleon, the Pomeranian provinces and
Finland had been lost to the kingdom. The monarch's personal behaviour
unfortunately was so extravagant as to furnish some grounds for
suspecting him of mental aberration. He was arrested in his palace, and,
an act of abdication for himself and his children being extorted,
deposed: his uncle, the Duke of Sudermania, was called to the throne in
his room, as Charles XIII.; and, amicable relations being soon
established between the Courts of Stockholm and the Tuileries, Pomerania
was restored, and the English flag and commerce banished from the ports
of Sweden in December, 1809.

In May, 1810, the Prince of Augustenburg, who had been recognised as
heir to Charles XIII., died suddenly: and the choice of a successor was,
according to the Constitution of Sweden, to depend on the vote of the
Diet, which assembled accordingly as Orebro, in the month of August
following.

The royal house (except the immediate line of the deposed king) being
extinct, many candidates were proposed; and among others the King of
Denmark and Norway, upon whom, in true policy, the choice should have
fallen, as in that case a state capable of balancing the power of Russia
on the Baltic might have been consolidated. But the eyes of men were
turned almost exclusively at this time to Napoleon; and in the hope of
securing his friendship and protection, the succession was at last
proposed to Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, and
brother-in-law to Joseph Buonaparte, as married to that Mademoiselle
Clery, who in early days had received Napoleon's own addresses. The
Marshal had gained goodwill by his moderation and justice, when
entrusted with the government of Hanover and Swedish Pomerania, after
these countries fell into the hands of the French in consequence of the
campaign of 1806-7. His military reputation was high; there was no stain
on his priva