BOOKS.
BERNADOTTE.*
Ma. Renee:nes excellent study of the first phase of Bernadotte's career has been written to throw more light than has been thrown by most of the biographers on the formative, or earlier, period of Bernadotte's life. There are points in Bernadotte's conduct that have been seized upon by his admirers and his traducers indifferently to support their arguments. A final judgment has not been pronounced. But in estimating the motives of Bernadotte% behaviour when, for example, he turned upon Napoleon (who, whether designedly or not, had helped him to the Swedish throne) and joined with the rest of Europe in overthrowing the great tyrant, it is obviously of great value to know fully what Bernadotte's relations had been previously with Napoleon. It is not enough, in reading Bernadotte's character, merely to say that, as all Europe was unquestionably right to get rid of the incubus, therefore Bernadotte must have been right to assist them. Nor is it quite enough even to say that when Bernadotte had become King of Sweden his acts were properly guided by the interests of his country. For, as Napoleon wittily said in St. Helena when Bernadotte's conduct was discussed, "A man does not renounce his mother because he gets married." If Bernadotte had been a typical Jacobin, or a zealous exponent of the policy of the Directory, understanding just what he was inflicting upon the world when he fought as a soldier of that "organized anarchy," we should have to conclude that his motive in rounding upon his patron in the end was probably no more admirable than his political motives bad been before. On the other hand, if we are convinced on the evidence that Bernadotte was a man who had always distrusted extremists, who had watched the ambitious acts of Bonaparte with intense suspicion and not without open protest—a man, in short, who was just an honest soldier who did not appre- bend the meaning of much for which he fought—then we shall be able fairly to say that when Bernadotte took up arms against Napoleon he not only acted rightly in fact, but acted Consistently and on the same honourable impulses which were clearly traceable in his earlier days. Mr. Barton's book does show it to be reasonable to deliver such a judgment. Berna- dotte was a Gaston with the rhetorical faults of his country, but he was a man in whose month-the frequently used words "conscience," "duty," and "honour" were by no means empty forms.
A lawyer's son, Bernadotte became a private soldier from love of adventure. Like Henri rv., he changed his religion in gaining a throne. The upward course from the ranks was naturally marked by appropriate episodes—or episodes after- wards found to be appropriate to an ascent so romantic. Some of these are no doubt apocryphal, but probably it is true that the private soldier who used to gratify his passion for horsemanship by riding postilion gladly accepted the pour- boires offered to him by the passengers in the coaches, and that as a "common soldier" he was turned away from the house of Desiree Clary, who afterwards became his wife and Queen of Sweden. It is no wonder that he became a devout Republican, for one of the infamous ordinances of the old regime was that no soldier could hold a commission who did not come of a family ennobled for four generations. The Revolution changed that ; and, if for no other reason, Bernadotte, who saw the path to promotion in the profession be loved open clear before him, proclaimed himself a grateful child of the Republic. Some traffickers in loose historical thought have dwelt upon the strange fact that a regicide should have let himself become a King. But when Louie:3CW. and Marie Antoinette were executed Bernadotte had no more power to aid or arrest the cruel deed than his descendant who now site upon the Swedish throne. Like Marceau, Bieber, Desaix, Roche, and other great soldiers of the Revo- lution, Bernadotte knew no more of the details of the politics of which he was an instrument than most soldiers can know who fight year after year away from home. The fact that Marceau and Kleber, who were honourable men, bestowed their warm friendship on Bernadotte is in itself a certificate • Bernadotta ths And Phew, JytkaWBO. By D. Blanket Barton. With ...ortraits and Illustrations. London: John Murray. Mc net.]
of character. The soldiers of the Directory were, in fact, as often happens, infinitely better men than the Government who employed them. In the long campaign against Germany, when Bernadotte belonged to the Army of the Sambre and the Meuse, and again when he fought under Bonaparte in Italy, there was nothing to his discredit as a soldier and a man. We may observe the indignation with which he defends himself against a charge that he had plundered and exacted a levy from a German city
GENERAL Ow Dreams, Basemparre,
to Diescroev.
CODMINS. 7th Brumaire, An (28th October, 1790. Criezze Dinst-rons,—A certain Duperron has caused to be published in No. 22 of the Message', du Bair or Gazette Generale its ('Europe the most revolting calumnies. My regard for my honour (ma delicaimm) compels me to inform you of this fact and to make my complaint to you, since, owing to your opportunities, you are able to make known the truth in the full light of day (dans tout son eclat). This Duperron alleges that the fine city of 'Nuremberg was for twenty-four hours given over to plunder, and that General Bernadotte, on enteriug it, exacted a contribution within a given number of hours; threatening in default to deliver the city over to the fury of his army.' Ho offers to produce mathematical proofs of his assertions. I shall not speak of the indignation shown by the military men, who know me, on bearing of this men- dacious assertion. I shall say nothing of what the troops under my command, as well as the officer& who lead them, have felt. But I must claim from you the just reparation which is due to me. So infamous a deed cannot remain unpunished, and I venture to hope that the Government will expose it in all its blackness (touts is =Occurs).
Berme:roma."
How has the standard of civilized warfare been lowered since then! It is melancholy to reflect that a soldier of the infamous Directory can teach lessons to the scientific and cultured nation with which we are fighting to-day. Again we read
"Near Dijon, at the end of January [1797] the murder of a peasant waa brought home to a soldier. The general [Bernadotte] had the guilty party arrested and handed over to justice. Having given 800 franca, and collected 5000 franca for the family of the peasant, ho seized the opportunity, in an address to his soldiers, of contrasting the coaduot of the murderer with the honourable reputation of the army of Sambre and Mouse. The incident increased his influence with his troops, and created et favourable impression in the locality where the crime occurred."
As soon as Bernadotte bad made the acquaintance of Bonaparte in Italy he began to suspect him. " I saw in him," he said, " a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six years of age, who assumes the airs of a man of fifty, and in my opinion that does not bode well for the Republic." When Bonaparte required a redistribution of the troops and ordered Bernadotte to break up his division, the latter may well have been ill-advised to object. Nevertheless the affection of Bernadotte for his division and his strong sense of the military value of its coherence were thoroughly likable emotions, and Bonaparte's reply was simply offensive: "Your Bernadotte is a very weak person. I cannot do better than compare him to an old corporal who complains lustily when a man is taken from his file. When you see him again tell him that my only answer is that I never dined out of the wooden bowl." The last words were a slang expression meaning that Bonaparte had never been in the ranks.
We must pass over Bernadotte's record as Ambassador to Austria and as Minister for War, and come to the coup of Brumaire when Bonaparte on his return from Egypt upset the Directory and established the Consulate. Bernadotte was ready to arrest the usurper at any moment. His only stipule.. tion was that he should receive an official order to do so. But Bonaparte was his superior ten times over in political cunning. While the Council hesitated Bonaparte acted; the order to Bernadotte never came ; and in the result Bonaparte was an easy winner in the battle of wits over his nnsophiati- :rated rival. Yet he did regard Bernadotte as a dangerous opponent. He had an affable contempt, on the other hand, for Moreau. Nothing was left for the principled and obstinate but bewildered Bernadotte but flight The author takes leave of him in the Forest of Senart, whither he was accompanied by the future Queen of Sweden in boy's clothes. We hope that Mr. Barton in another volume will examine the steps by which Bernadotte rallied after all to the Empire, and the spirit in which he fought for the mistrusted master in his new
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