for them ever to think of separating themselves from it.

We must, however, take up the history a little earlier; facts will prove
that the defection of Sweden was as much attributable to the jealous
ambition of Bernadotte as to the unbending pride of Napoleon. It will be
seen that her new monarch assumed to himself a great part of the
responsibility of the rupture, by offering his alliance at the price of
an act of treachery.

When Napoleon returned from Egypt, he did not become the chief of his
equals with all their concurrence. Such of them as were already jealous
of his glory then became still more envious of his power. As they could
not dispute the first, they attempted to refuse obedience to the second.
Moreau, and several other generals, either by persuasion or surprise,
had co-operated in the revolution of the 18th Brumaire: they afterwards
repented having done so. Bernadotte had refused all participation in it.
Alone, during the night, in Napoleon's own residence, amidst a thousand
devoted officers, waiting only for the conqueror's orders, Bernadotte,
then a strenuous republican, was daring enough to oppose his arguments,
to refuse the second place in the republic, and to retort upon his anger
by threats. Napoleon saw him depart, bearing himself proudly, and pass
through the midst of his partizans, carrying with him his secrets, and
declaring himself his enemy, and even his denouncer. Either from respect
to his brother, to whom Bernadotte was allied by marriage, from
moderation, the usual companion of strength, or from astonishment, he
suffered him to depart quietly.

In the course of the same night, a conventicle, consisting of ten
deputies of the Council of Five Hundred, met at the house of S----;
thither Bernadotte repaired. They settled, that at nine o'clock next