This is the fellow I'm presently reading about, Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte. A sergeant of French Marines prior to the Revolution, it afforded him the opportunity to become an officer. Within five years he was a general. Became a Marshal of France in 1804 upon the establishment of the Empire (his republican sensibilities bought off, more of less, by Napoleon) and, due to the anomalies of Napoleonic statecraft, adopted as the Crown Prince of Sweden, subsequently king in 1814. I'm at Austerlitz right now.
He was a good soldier. Highly disciplined and diligent. Wary of politics.
"Nobody has had a career in life like mine." he is quoted to have said. I'll say!
And one might say I'm somewhat conflicted. I empathize... how's that? Good enough? As an American, I declare, hey - not our problem! But 'they' want to make it so, the saboteurs, the scolds, the socialist mind benders. What to make of it all?
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
It is good to be retired from skirmishes with strivers.
I hope they work it out. The country is awfully stressed.
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