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EUROPEAN MAGAZINE,

AND

LONDON REVIEW,

FOR NOVEMBER, 1813.

MEMOIR OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

CHARLES-JOHN, CROWN PRINCE OF SWEDEN, &c. &c. &c.

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IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO SHALL BE AGAINST US?"
MARS SWAYS THE SWORD AND THEMIS THE SCEPTRE."
HE former of these mottoes, allu-
TH
sive to the perils, the sufferings,
and, ultimately, the triumph of GUSTA
VAS VASA, the Deliverer of his Coun-
try, a prince who seems to have arisen
at the great call of Nature" to check
the growth of one of the most sangui-
nary tyrants that ever outraged the
Jaws of God, and oppressed surround-
ing nations, requires no apology for its
introduction; the two latter, the in-
signia of Gustavus Adolphus the Great,
appear to us equally appropriate. The
first of these adorned his standard, the
second identified his banners; and both
combined to display the character of a
hero who was, in his pious, moral,
and military conduct, exemplary: and
who, especially in war, is said to have
performed the duty of a soldier, as well
as that of commander in chief, he be-
ing of opinion, that if generals did not
personally act, they could not achieve
that immortal fame to which his wishes
pointed: adding, that "those who
shrink from death, meet it much oftener
than those that seek it in the front of
battle" that "Julius Cæsar was ne-
ver wounded, although he always fought
in the foremost rank of his troops;
these, with many other axioms of the
like nature, not only encouraged his
soldiers, but produced in their bosoms

an attachment towards him almost fili-
al, they, foreigners* as well as natives,
thought him invincible, and that vic-
tory, through the influence of the pi-
ous allusion of its motto,
"Would ever follow where his standard
flew."

These prominent traits of the cha racter of Gustavus Adolphus combine so intimately with the military ardour, consummate prudence, and general philanthropy of his great precursor, Gustavus Vasa, and these again, together with many of the circumstances of their fortune, assimilate so correctly with the various threads which tissue the life of the illustrious Crown Prince of Sweden, that we deemed a short retrospection necessary to the introduction of his brief Memoir.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at the flood, rolls on to fortune."

* Among these were a number of Scots, who were much distinguished and relied on by Gustavus. To the second brigade of the Scottish regiment, he ascribed his victory at ing of Frankfort on the Oder, and other exLeipsig. Their defence of Stralsund, tak

ertions of heroism, induced him to mention them with an enthusiasm which involved in

its praise the highest honour to their charac ter, and that of the British nation,

On such a full sea, does not only the affairs of the hero to whom we have adverted, but, in some degree, under his influence, the affairs of renovated EUROPE, seem to be now afloat. Let us, therefore, as a grateful sacrifice at the shrine of LIBERTY, a tribute to the god of war who sways the sword, and the goddess of Justice who directs its efforts, a spontaneous offering to those illustrious and elevated heroes who are now labouring to restore, with the rights of nations, the rights of royalty, record in our pages the few short notices of one who has, by that divine impulse, that god within us, by the force of genius, and the fruition of courage and fortitude, ascended to that sublime

acme.

CHARLES-JOHN BERNADOTTE, Prince Royal, or, as he is, according to the Vandalic idiom, termed, CRows PRINCE of SWEDEN, was born on the 26th of January, 1763, at Pau, the capital of Bearne, the most southern province of France, a place immortalized by the birth of the great monarch, HENRY IV. The inhabitants of the Pyrenean Mountains have, from the time of Casur, been historically distinguished for their military excellence; robust, active, courageous, patient, and persevering, so ber, yet vivacious. The southern Gauls first defeated the Roman legions, and afterwards the Carthaginian cohorts. BERNADOTTE inherited the indigenous properties and hereditary virtues of his country. His father, a gentleman of moderate circumstances, took care to inspire him with noble and elevated sentiments. This anxious parent, who was of the profession of the law, wished also to educate his son with a view to the same scientific employment; but this the constitutional vivacity of young BBENADOTVE, who, probably, took much greater delight in the active exercise of arms than the solitary study of pandects, opposed; the father urged; the son rejected. Every day in creased the aversion of the latter to the monotony of classic lore, and con-sequently more strongly excited his ruling passion, which pointed to a military life. This was a struggle, the event of which might have been easily foreseen. Hardly had he attained his fifteenth year before, like Caius Marius (who afterwards led that horrid tyrant Jugurtha in triumph through the streets of Rome), he eloped from his father's

house. The world was now before him, and he began his career by enlisting inthis corps, one of the most distinguishto the regiment of Royal Marines; in ed under the ancient regime of France; he honourably served in the East Indies during the American war, under the command of M. de Bussy, and with the squadron of Bailly de Suffrein; in this excursion he was present at the Battle of Cuddalore. The present situation of Bernadotte shews, that the tide of his affairs has rolled on to fortune; yet, in contradistinction to the doctrine of the fatalists, it also conveys the moral lesson, that nature and genius combined to procure his present elevation. From nature he enjoyed a frame, active, ercise, privations, and fortitude, had vigorous, and well-proportioned; exenabled him to endure much, energy of mind to attempt more. prepossessing, his social amenity as His address is pleasing as his professional deportment quently, like the great Gustavus, adoris strict; easy of access, he is conseed by the army. said a serjeant of grenadiers, taken pri"His looks to us," Charles, “are like an eagle's; and he has soner at Neumark, to the Archduke often proved to you, that he has the heart of a lion."

To return, however, to the military progress of our hero. Talents like his tion; soon was he, by his officers, dis-' could not long be obscured by his situatinguished from their military mass. He was made a Corporal the year after to France, in the year 1783, raised to he entered the army; and, on his return the rank of Serjeant. By this time, the vivacity of his juvenile imagination was repressed by the solidity of his maturer judgment, and the natural brilliancy of his character burst through the clouds that had obscured it. His promotion to lowed of course. His regiment was then the post of Adjutant, therefore, folin garrison at Marseilles ;-the Bastille had just been dilapidated;—the Jaco bins began to expand, and one of the first unconstitutional measures to which, in 1789, they resorted, was, their endeavouring to incite the soldiers in the south of France to an insurrection against their officers: scheme, which was, alas! in that disa diabolical triet, once too successful. The mob, inflamed to a degree of enthusiasm bördering upon insanity, surrounded the hotel of Colonel the Marquis d'Amu

Berls, resolved to decapitate him, and display his head as a trophy of their victory over the Aristocrats.

Bernadotte, who had marked the progress of the insurgents, for the event of which he stood prepared, and, with equal keenness of mental penetration (for no man dared to avow his opinion), also discovered that the soldiers of his regiment participated in his sentiments, resolved to protect the person and residence of the colonel; he, therefore, tampered with the passions of the malcontents, while he made his men still more sensible of the horror of the crime to which it was sought to make. them accomplices. His honourable exertions gained him moral strength, which infused into his bosom military confidence. He, consequently, dropped the suppliant and assumed the commander, and, in a tone which at once excited respect and insured obedience, exclaimed, "Marseilles, as you assure me that I possess your confidence, I will prove to you that I deserve it. 1, therefore, declare, that I will not suffer you to dishonour yourselves by a base assassination. If the colonel is guilty, the law will render justice. Citizens and soldiers are not executioners! I request you therefore to retire; as, before you will obtain the head of the colonel, you must deprive me and these brave men of

ours!"

Rebellion shrunk from the energetic words and resolute countenance of Bernadolle. His comrades seconded his efforts; assailants had now become protectors; the savage multitude was overawed and dispersed. Heaven rewarded the Hero for this noble act. Passing with rapidity through the several subordinate stages of promotion, he soon obtained the rank of Colonel; and when, in the year 1793, he was appointed to act in the army of the North, be com manded the 72d regiment of infantry of the line.

The fate of his friend, General Go. guet, murdered by one of his own soldiers, afforded Bernadotte another opportunity of displaying that superior strength of mind, and intrepidity of character, with which nature had endued him. The day on which the general fell, he went to the regimental camp, in which the assassin, protected by his officers, deemed himself secure. He demanded the murderer of his friend, Both chiefs and soldiers refused to deliver him, as they had unanimously ·

agreed that he was not guilty, having only repelled force by force. BERNA! DOTTE insisted upon his demand :—his firmness and rhetoric prevailed; the murderer was arrested, tried, condemned, and immediately shot.

66

In the year 1794, some discontent prevailed in the advanced-guard of the army stationed on the right bank of the Sambre. A series of rain bad rendered the place a morass; a deputation of twelve serjeants was sent as agitators to the general (Kleber) to state their griev ances; A serjeant-major was appointed orator. He spoke well; Kleber heard him with attention: but, without making any reply, sent for their commarder, Bernadotte; as soon as he arrived Colonel, teach your he said to him, grenadiers that a camp is not a club." At this time his presence of mind forsook him, and, forgetful of the fate of his friend Goguel, whose death was the consequence of a similar transaction, he dealt the deputies several severe strokes with his sabre, and ordered them to be reconducted to the camp, where the ridicule with which they were treated by their comrades, repressed in them any future inclination to change their quarters; or, at least, if disgust existed, pre.. vented its avowal.

Soou after this transaction, we find Bernadotte acting as a General under Kleber, in the army of the Ardennes : and although the latter was rather spa:ing of praise, he most unequivocally bestowed it upon the former for his skill. in manœuvering, by which he observed, he had shewn himself worthy to command his brave grenadiers. From this time the exploits of General Bernadotte are so well known, so long have they become history and mingled with the annals both of France and England, that it is unnecessary to thrid the mazes of their military details.

The siege of Charleroy* must, however, form an exception to this general rule, not only for its important consequences, the fall, in most rapid sue"impregnable": cession, of all the fortresses in the Netherlands, but because it forms an epoch in the life of General Bernadalte, and displays an extension of his military genius, which places his character in a new light. At the battle of Fleurus,t the concomitant consequence of this celebrated

* Captured June 26, 1794,
+ Fought June 27, 1794.

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