MARSHAL BERNADOTTE

Evening Star, Issue 21890, 29 November 1934, Page 6

MARSHAL BERNADOTTE

SOLDIER AND KING [By A. G. Macdonald, in ‘John o’ London’s Weekly.’] On January 26th," <17(34, Jean-Baptiste-Jules Bernadotte was born in the small Gascon town of Pan. He was the son of a bumble attorney’, and in the pre-Revolution days of trance there was little opportunity for the sons of humble attorneys to get bn in the world. The only career for a young man of mettle was to join the aimy and work so hai'd and so loyally at his profession as to rise to the exalted rank of sergeant-major. Young Bernadotte, ambitious, handsome, and talented, duly enlisted in the Regiment of Royal Marine, and did work Ins way up the military ladder to the coveted rank. Then came tho revolution, and brilliant young sergeant-majors were urgently wanted to fill the gaps caused among the commissioned ranks by the o-uillotine. Bernadotte rose rapidly, and by 1793 had not only become a general, but was a power in the political world. He was looked upon as a coming man. But in 1796 his nose was put completely out of joint by the sensational appearance of General Bonaparte, who, at the age of twenty-seven, swept the Austrians out of Italy, and dictated a treatv of peace within a hundred miles of Vienna itself. But then the pendulum swung again, for Bonaparte went off to Egypt and Bernadotte became Minister of War.

INTRIGUES AGAINST BONAPARTE. In 1799 the Republican .Government was tottering, and the intriguing polp ticians were looking round lor a strong man who would organise a military coup d’etat and overthrow the corrupt Directory. Bernadotte was the obvious man. But he had one fatal defect. He would not make a definite decision, but wobbled and shilly-shallied and talked a great deal in the true Gascon style of rhetoric. The politicians began to despair. Their trump card would not let itself be played. Then suddenly Bonaparte returned from Egypt, made himself the sword of the intriguers, and, once the coup d’etat had been successful, threw out all the intriguers and seized the power himself. From that moment Bernadotte became a subordinate, but he was a very discontented subordinate. He had ' once been the focus of all French politics. -Now he was a mere commander of a military area, lie had been a staunch Republican. Now he was the servant of an autocratic Consul. During the years 1801, 1802, 1803 Ire plotted against Bonaparte with unfailing regularity and unfailing lack of. success. : MARSHAL OF THE EMPIRE. But in ISO 4 the little gunner-general became the Emperor Napoleon, and . Bernadotte was clever enough to understand that the days of plots were over, und he accepted the command of the First Corps of the Army of the Coasts of the Ocean at Boulogne, with the rank of Marshal of tire French Empire. In 1805 he played his part fn the caplure of the Austrian army at Ulm, and in the destruction of the Austro-Russian army at Austerlitz. So far so good. But hi the following year Marshal Bernadotte played a very, poor part imthe campaign of Jena, when he idled about ■ill day with a desperate battle raging on each side of him, and it was freely whispered in the Napoleonic army that the old feuds of Republican days were breaking out again. But after the two battles were over Bernadotte took a prominent part in the great pursuit which swept across Germany, and which 1 in three weeks completely destroyed thu Prussian army that had been the pride

and the terror of Europe ever since the days of Frederick the Great. Bernadotte only stopped pursuing when he reached the town of Lubeck and found that there was no one left to capture. It was here that he performed a characteristic feat of generosity which brought him an amazing return m after years For, having captured a handful of Swedish officers and men who were serving with Prussia, lie treated them all with the utmost kindness and sent them back at once to Sweden. As a result of this casual chivalry Ins name became a by-word in Sweden for disinterested kindness. SENT HOME IN DISGRACE. In 1807 and 1809 Bernadottq led his corps with loss and less enthusiasm for the Napoleonic conquests. The coolness between him and the Emperor became more marked than ever, although the son of the Gascon attorney was the first of the Napoleonic Marshals to be raised to the rank of Prince. But not even the title of Prince of PonteCorvo could heal the- breach between the two men, and in 1809, after a particularly flagrant violation of military etiquette, the Emperor dismissed Bernadotte from the Grande Armee and sent him home to Paris in disgrace. His disgrace ‘did not last long. For England seized the opportunity when Napoleon and all his marshals were fully engaged in Spain and Austria, and they landed a force on the island of Walcheren. As Bernadotte, although in disgrace, was the only soldier lett in Paris, he was unanimously chosen by the Government to collect an army and attack the invaders. He collected an army from the various recruiting depots of North-eastern France, but prudently decided not to do any fighting, but to allow the fevers and the agues of Walcheren to do bis work for him. This was a doubly wise decision. It not only saved unnecessary bloodshed, but also it made the English better disposed towards him than if he had defeated them and driven them, into the sea. For already Bernadotte was looking round for an avenue of retreat against the day when the Napoleonic adventure should crash to the ground. It wss in exactly the same spirit that he treated the civil population of any town or country which his military duties compelled him to • occupy and govern. The Hamburgers, the Danes, the Pomeranians, and the Poles_ all regarded him as one of the few bright spots in an orgy of militarism and warfare, HEIR TO THE THRONE. In 1810 the Swedes were looking around for an heir to their throne. who would not only maintain the king y dignity of the'Vasas, but would conquer Finland for them. Their c,io.ee fell upon the handsome and courteous Gascon who had treated their p so kindly after the campaign of ibbb, and who had governed Pomerania and Denmark so gently in 1808. Napoleon was staggered at the Swedish selection, but raised no dittionlties, and in 1810 Bernadotte went to Sweden and was greeted by the acclamations of the entire country as tne Crown Prince. . , ’He reached Sweden in October, ■ Bib, and bad a triumphal progress across the country to Stockholm. With characteristic cleverness and instinct for mass psychology, he walked for manv l- 11 Jcs of the journey on foot surrounded by enthusiastic crowds of country folk wlio were delighted with his amiable .condescension. He w T as at once appointed commander of all the forces of Stc eclen on land and sea, and the expeciant Swedes waited for the signal or tne famous soldier for the invasion rinlanCl’ DESIGNS ON NORWAY. But the new Crown Prince was a rreat deal more than a fighting man. Tie was a clear-sighted .statesman, and he understood very well that the interests of his new country were bound up with England and Russia. Jo allow Sweden to get entangled up in

Napoleon’s colossal schemes for blockading the ports of Europe against England would ruin Sweden’s commercial future, while to make any move.in the direction of Eihland would' ruin her political- future. With extraordinary patience, therefore, Bernadette set to work to extricate Sweden from the Napoleonic web, and. to turn the attention of bis new subjects rather to tbe nnnexation of Norway than to the invasion of Finland. ■ The Tsar was quick to notice the new and peaceful policy of the ex-inarsnal, and at once began to cultivate.friendly relations between the two countries. The result was a meeting between the two in 1811 at .the Finnish town. of Abo. A long and friendly discussion took place, in which it was agreed that Sweden was to be helped; in every way to annex Norway; that in return Sweden should make an alliance with Russia ■ against France; and that the Tsar would use his influence .to secure the succession of Bernadotte to the Imperial Throne of France, if and when Napoleon could be removed. This meeting was a historical one in the annals of the Scandinavian States, for it was here that Bernadotte, himselt a famous fighting man, laid the. foundations of the Scandinavian Fence which has lasted from 1815 up to the present day. (The invasion of Benmark by. Germany in 1864 was certainly no fault of the Danes.)

FIGHTING AGAINST FRANCE,

So determined was the. Crown Prince, of Sweden that Napoleon’s ambitions must be finally put a stop to, that in 1813 he actually led an army against his old master and fought against his fellow-countrymen. But he himself had no doubt whatever that he was doinc the right thing, and that from the moment when he accepted the invitation of Sweden to become its Crowtfi Prince he ceased 'to‘ be a Frenchman, and was now and henceforward; a Swede. As soon as the Battle of -Leipzig had been fought and won, Berhadotte seized his opportunity when all eyes were turned on France. He invaded Norway, and in a week or two had won a bloodless victory, and in January, 1814, Denmark exchanged the kingdom or Norway for Swedish Pomerania. His object having.been so quickly and satisfactorily attained, Bernadette rejoined the Allies, entered Pans, remained there a short time, and then rode home to Stockholm, and never returned to the country of his birth. In 1818 the old king died, and the son of the Gascon attorney, the ex-sergeant-major of Marines, became “Charles John, King of Sweden, of Norway, of the Goths, and of the Vandals." . ' King Charles XIV. set to work at once on a policy of systematic non-inter-ference with the affairs of other countries. The commercial interests of Sweden were the only interests which he considered in his external dealings, and the extraordinary prestige which he had acquired, first as a Marshal and secondly as a statesman, gave him a unique position in the State. It was impossible for politicians to treat as a cipher the man who had played such a part iu the amazing quarter of a century between the revolutionary campaigns in Flandem and his accession to the throne. The King stood put head and shoulders above all his advisers and counsellors. ■ ~ Even when the spread of democratic ideas brought him into conflict with his two Parliaments, iu Stockholm and Christiania, the contests between the ex-Republican’s firm conservatism and his subjects’ tentative radicalism was fought with the utmost frankness, friendliness, and mutual respect. The man who had almost been a political match for Napoleon himself was far too clever to lose his temper or his sense of dignity when dealing with petty deputies and councillors. The revolutionary storm which swept Europe in 1830 brought a backwash of minor annoyances to Scandinavia, but never for an instant shook the founda-

tions of the throne. Ten. years later there was a proposal that Bernadette should abdicate in favour of his son, but the bid man shook off his years and became once more, for. the last time, the fiery Gascon orator of almost fifty years before. In a magnificent speech he* described'the prosperity which ho had given to Sweden in twenty years—the commerce doubled,- the debt paid off, great canals built, the union with Norway, and many another achievement. . . ■Three years later two nations joined in a burst of hero-worship to honour his eightieth birthday. A month or two later, in the full, revived splendour of his early popularity, Jean Bernadotte, of Bearn, in, Gascony, soldier_ of fortune, died and was buried beside Gustavus Adolphus and Charles the Twelfth. He left a legacy far greater than either of those two famous warriors. He left “The Scandinavian Peace,” in the shadow of which the Baltic countries have prospered and grown rich and strong. There has been no growth of effeminacy during Bernadette’s long legacy, but rather a devotion of strength, as in such" men a* Amundsen, Nansen, Larsen, Branting, Unden, to the adventures and conquests of peace. __