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BERNADOTTE AND SWEDEN -- 1815
Bernadotte and Sweden -- The "high allies" had resolved
to "illegitimatize" Bernadotte, as well as Murat, and
hurl him from the throne. Of an address of the Crown Prince to
the Swedes, of April 10, we have the following extract -- "I
shall wait with patience to ascertain whether there are any
disposed to controvert our lawful title -- any so mad as to
believe that nations have lost all right of suffrage -- and I
shall employ the whole powers of my mind -- all the courage that
God has given me in defense of your rights and my own." And,
in the Bordeaux Indicateur, of the 2nd May, is an extract from
the Speech of Bernadotte, crown prince of Sweden, to the diet of
Sweden, in which he says -- "He thanks them for the
indignation they have expressed at the attempt which was made to
declare him illegitimate; that he was about putting himself at
the head of the armaments going on in Sweden; and that he hoped,
with Divine assistance, to be enabled to baffle all the efforts
of his enemies." In such a state of things it must be
expected that Bernadotte will join his fortunes to those of
Napoleon; for he has found that faith or gratitude are not among
the qualities of the legitimates. He was to be deposed; perhaps,
to make room for a relative of the unambitious emperor of Russia!
With Bernadotte on one side and Murat on the other, and supported
in the center by all the power of Belgium, Saxony, and
Switzerland, the Emperor of France takes a stand that if it does
not command the peace of the continent, will punish its
disturbers, and enable him to put his foot on the neck of some of
those who authorized his assassination. Bernadotte can bring into
the field 40 or 50,000 of as fine troops as there are in the
world, and will at least compel the allies to detach double that
number to watch him. The want of common honesty in the Congress
at Vienna has raised up enemies to the allies that, I trust, will
punish their want of good faith, and circumscribe the movements
of all future conspiracies of kings against the people.
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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