Sweden was once more without an heir-apparent to the throne, and, though others had been proposed, King Charles sent two emissaries to Napoleon to notify him of the death of Charles August and the selection of his brother.  Then one of the most original and daring schemes ever attempted on such a line was carried through by Count Otto Moerner, one of the emissaries.  On his own responsibility, he inquired of Marshal Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s ablest generals, if he would consent to become heir-apparent to the Swedish throne.  Bernadotte consented, and the consent of Napoleon was obtained through the Swedish ambassador in Paris.  Upon his return, Moerner was ordered to leave the capital, by the minister of state, who blamed him for his unauthorized action.  But, from Upsala, Moerner led an eager agitation, with the result that the Riksdag of Oerebro selected Bernadotte, who was represented by a secret emissary.  Thus, the two generals who, at the abdication of Gustavus IV, were, one in Norway, the other in Denmark, with troops ready to attack Sweden, both within one year were chosen to succeed Charles XIII.  And this is how the Bernadottes, the present reigning family of Sweden, came to the throne.  Marshal Bernadotte took the name of Prince Charles Johann.

It was in 1818, four years after Norway had been joined to Sweden, that Charles XII died, at the age of seventy, and Charles XIV Johann, the first of the Bernadotte dynasty, succeeded him, at the age of fifty-four years.  His reign was one of reconstruction—­politically, financially, and socially,—­and during the last years of his life he received strong and repeated evidence of the love of his people, especially upon the twenty-fifth anniversary as king of Sweden.

Oscar I, his son, was forty-five years of age at the death of his father.  He did not possess his father’s brilliant genius or power of personal influence, but was fondly devoted to the fine arts, himself a talented painter and composer.  He was a hard worker, and also fond of the pleasures of life.  His health was injured through illness, in 1857, and he never recovered.  The premature death of his second son, Prince Gustavus, a talented composer and highly popular, had a disastrous effect on him, and he died July 8, 1859, after a long illness, beloved by the two nations who, during his reign, had enjoyed the happiest epoch of their history.

It was during the reign of the late king, Oscar II, that Sweden attained her greatest prosperity and made most progress.  Oscar II, brother of his predecessor, ascended the throne at a moment when universal peace was restored after the great conflict between France and Germany, and when an age of commercial prosperity for Sweden seemed to have begun.  King Oscar had received the same superior education as his older brothers, was as brilliantly gifted as they, and of a more scholarly mind.  As a writer on scientific subjects, a poet, and an orator, Oscar II distinguished