Staël straightway conveyed in a letter to her friend—a letter worded, however, with a caution that reveals the inconceivable difficulty even of private correspondence in those stormy days.
At Stockholm she was welcomed, according to her son, with "perfect kindness"; and as she was notoriously enthusiastic about Bernadotte, whom she unhesitatingly pronounced to be "the hero of the age," it is probable that he honoured her with a great deal of his confidence. Galiffe (author of D'un siècle à l'autre), who had access to her correspondence from Sweden with J. A. Galiffe in St. Petersburg, was of opinion that her influence had a large share in determining Bernadotte to declare himself against Bonaparte.
She dedicated her Réflexions sur le Suicide, to the Prince in a very complimentary preface, in which she compared herself and her children as seeking his protection in the same way as Arabian Shepherds take shelter from a storm "under a laurel"; and went on to assure him that his public life had been signalised by all the virtues which claim the admiration of thinkers, and she encouraged him to persevere and remind the world of that which it had entirely forgotten, namely, that the highest reason teaches virtue. In contrast to all this praise, it is piquant to learn that Bernadotte—like so many other practically-minded people—had his little grumble at his illustrious guest; and talked of the "inconceivable preoccupation with self," which by this time had led Madame de Staël to see in every political move of Napoleon the beginning of some new measure against herself.
Her oft-professed anxiety about her sons' future was allayed by the Prince Royal's offer to interest
