Bernadotte should declare a real war against England, shut her out from
the Baltic, and send an army of 40,000 Swedes against Russia. In return
for this, he promised him his protection, the restoration of Finland,
and twenty millions, in return for an equal amount of colonial produce,
which the Swedes were first to deliver. Austria undertook to support
this proposition; but Bernadotte, already feeling himself settled on the
throne, answered like an independent monarch. Ostensibly he declared
himself neutral, opened his ports to all nations, proclaimed his rights
and his grievances, appealed to humanity, recommended peace, and offered
himself as a mediator; secretly, he offered himself to Napoleon at the
price of Norway, Finland, and a subsidy.

At the reading of a letter conceived in this new and unexpected style,
Bonaparte was seized with rage and astonishment. He saw in it, and not
without reason, a premeditated defection on the part of Bernadotte, a
secret agreement with his enemies! He was filled with indignation; he
exclaimed, striking violently on the letter, and the table on which it
lay open: "He! the rascal! he presume to give me advice! to dictate the
law to me! to dare propose such an infamous act[4] to me! And this from
a man who owes every thing to my bounty! What ingratitude!" Then, pacing
the room with rapid strides, at intervals he gave vent to such
expressions as these: "I ought to have expected it! he has always
sacrificed every thing to his interests! This is the same man, who,
during his short ministry, attempted the resurrection of the infamous
Jacobins! When he looked only to gain by disorder, he opposed the 18th
Brumaire! He it was who was conspiring in the west against the
re-establishment of law and religion! Has not his envious and perfidious
inaction already betrayed the French army at Auerstadt? How many times,
from regard to Joseph, have I pardoned his intrigues and concealed his
faults! And yet I have made him general-in-chief, marshal, duke, prince,