During the intrigues to which this circumstance gave rise, Bernadotte
fancied that to his previous complaints against Napoleon he had to add
others. When, in opposition to the king, and the majority of the members
of the diet, he was proposed as successor to the crown of Sweden; when
his pretensions were supported by Charles's prime minister, (a man of no
family, who owed, like him, all his illustration to himself,) and the
count de Wrede, the only member of the diet who had reserved his vote
for him; when he came to solicit Napoleon's interference, why did he,
when Charles XIII. desired to know his wishes, exhibit so much
indifference? Why did he prefer the union of the three northern crowns
on the head of a prince of Denmark? If he, Bernadotte, succeeded in the
enterprise, he was not at all indebted for it to the emperor of France;
he owed it to the pretensions of the king of Denmark, which
counteracted those of the duke of Augustenburg[3], his most dangerous
rival; to the grateful audacity of the baron de Moerner, who was the
first to come to him, and offer to put him on the lists, and to the
aversion of the Swedes to the Danes; above all he owed it to a passport
which had been adroitly obtained by his agent from Napoleon's minister.
It was said that this document was audaciously produced by Bernadotte's
secret emissary, as a proof of an autograph mission with which he
pretended to be charged, and of the formal desire of the French emperor
to see one of his lieutenants, and the relation of his brother, placed
upon the throne of Sweden.

[Footnote 3: Brother of the deceased prince of that name.]

Bernadotte also felt that he owed this crown to the chance, which
brought him in communication with the Swedes, and made them acquainted
with his characteristic qualities; to the birth of his son, which