rance united. The loss of
Pomerania, in 1807, and even that of Finland and the islands of Aland,
which were united to Russia in 1808, were not sufficient to shake his
obstinacy.

It was then that his irritated subjects resumed that power which had
been wrested from them, in 1772 and 1788, by Gustavus III., and of which
his successor made so bad a use. Gustavus Adolphus IV. was imprisoned
and dethroned; his lineal descendants were excluded from the throne; his
uncle was put in his place, and the prince of Holstein-Augustenburg
elected hereditary prince of Sweden. As the war had been the cause of
this revolution peace was the result of it; it was concluded with Russia
in 1809; but the newly-elected hereditary prince then died suddenly.

In the beginning of 1810, France restored Pomerania and the Island of
Rugen to Sweden, as the price of her accession to the continental
system. The Swedes, worn out, impoverished, and become almost islanders,
in consequence of the loss of Finland, were very loath to break with
England, and yet they had no remedy; on the other side they stood in awe
of the neighbouring and powerful government of Russia. Finding
themselves weak and isolated, they looked round for support.

Bernadotte had just been appointed to the command of the French army
which took possession of Pomerania; his military reputation, and still
more that of his nation and its sovereign, his fascinating mildness, his
generosity, and his flattering attentions to the Swedes, with whom he
had to treat, induced several of them to cast their eyes upon him. They
appeared to know nothing of the misunderstanding between this marshal
and the emperor; they fancied that by electing him for their prince,
they should not only obtain an able and experienced general, but also a
powerful mediator between France and Sweden, and a certain protector in
the emperor: it happened quite the contrary.

During the intrigues to which this circumstance gave rise, Bernadotte
fancied that to his previous complaints against Napoleon he had to add
others. When, in opposition to the king, and the majority of the members
of the diet, he was proposed as successor to the crown of Sweden; when
his pretensions were supported by Charles's prime minister, (a man of no
family, who owed, like him, all his illustration to himself,) and the
count de Wrede, the only member of the diet who had reserved his vote
for him; when he came to solicit Napoleon's interference,