Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume IV.Scott, Walter
History
Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume IV.
Scott, Walter
France -- History -- 1789-1815; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
The Duke of Sudermania, uncle of the dethroned prince, was called to the
throne, and the succession of the kingdom was destined to Christian of
Augustenberg, a prince of the house of Holstein. Peace was made by the
new King with Russia, at the expense of ceding Finland and the isle of
Aland to that power. Soon afterwards a treaty was signed at Paris, by
which Charles XIII. promised to adhere to the Continental System, and to
shut his ports against all British commerce, with certain indulgences on
the articles of salt and colonial produce. In requital, Napoleon
restored to Sweden her continental province of Pomerania, with the isle
of Rugen, reserving, however, such dotations or pensions as he had
assigned to his soldiers or followers, upon those territories. But
though the politics of Sweden were thus entirely changed, its revolution
was destined to proceed.
The King being aged, the eyes of the people were much fixed on the
successor, or Crown Prince, who took upon himself the chief labour of
the government, and appears to have given satisfaction to the nation.
But his government was of short duration. On the 28th of May, 1810,
while reviewing some troops, he suddenly fell from his horse, and
expired on the spot, leaving Sweden again without any head excepting
the old King. This event agitated the whole nation, and various
candidates were proposed for the succession of the kingdom.
Among these was the King of Denmark, who, after the sacrifices he had
made for Buonaparte, had some right to expect his support. The son of
the late unfortunate monarch, rightful heir of the crown, and named like
him Gustavus, was also proposed as a candidate. The Duke of Oldenburg,
brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, had partisans. To each of these
candidates there lay practical objections. To have followed the line of
lawful succession, and called Gustavus to the throne (which could not be
forfeited by his father's infirmity, so far as he was concerned,) would
have been to place a child at the head of the state, and must have
inferred, amid this most arduous crisis, all the doubts and difficulties
of choosing a regent. Such choice might, too, be the means, at a future
time, of reviving his father's claim to the crown. The countries of
Denmark and Sweden had been too long rivals for the Swedes to subject
themselves to the yoke of the King of Denmark; and to choose the Duke of
Oldenburg would have been, in effect, to submit themselves to Russia, of
whose last behaviour towards her Sweden had considerable reason to
complain.
[Sidenote: BERNADOTTE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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