7: Chapter VII
<< 6: Chapter VI || 8: Chapter VIII >>
Nelson was welcomed in England with every mark of popular honour. At Yarmouth, where he
landed, every ship in the harbour hoisted her colours. The mayor and corporation waited
upon him with the freedom of the town, and accompanied him in procession to church, with
all the naval officers on shore, and the principal inhabitants. Bonfires and illuminations
concluded the day; and on the morrow, the volunteer cavalry drew up, and saluted him as he
departed, and followed the carriage to the borders of the county. At Ipswich, the people
came out to meet him, drew him a mile into the town, and three miles out. When he was in
the Agamemnon, he wished to represent this place in parliament, and some of his
friends had consulted the leading men of the corporation—the result was not
successful; and Nelson, observing that he would endeavour to find out a preferable path
into parliament, said there might come a time when the people of Ipswich would think it an
honour to have had him for their representative. In London, he was feasted by the City,
drawn by the populace from Ludgate-hill to Guildhall, and received the thanks of the
common-council for his great victory, and a golden-hilted sword studded with diamonds.
Nelson had every earthly blessing except domestic happiness; he had forfeited that for
ever. Before he had been three months in England he separated from Lady Nelson. Some of
his last words to her were—"I call God to witness, there is nothing in you, or
your conduct, that I wish otherwise." This was the consequence of his infatuated
attachment to Lady Hamilton. It had before caused a quarrel with his son-in-law, and
occasioned remonstrances from his truest friends, which produced no other effect than that
of making him displeased with them, and more dissatisfied with himself.
The Addington administration was just at this time formed; and Nelson,
who had solicited employment, and been made vice-admiral of the blue, was sent to the
Baltic, as second in command, under Sir Hyde Parker, by Earl St. Vincent, the new First
Lord of the Admiralty. The three Northern courts had formed a confederacy for making
England resign her naval rights. Of these courts, Russia was guided by the passions of its
emperor, Paul, a man not without fits of generosity, and some natural goodness, but
subject to the wildest humours of caprice, and erased by the possession of greater power
than can ever be safely, or perhaps innocently, possessed by weak humanity. Denmark was
French at heart: ready to co-operate in all the views of France, to recognise all her
usurpations, and obey all her injunctions. Sweden, under a king whose principles were
right, and whose feelings were generous, but who had a taint of hereditary insanity, acted
in acquiescence with the dictates of two powers whom it feared to offend. The Danish navy,
at this time, consisted of 23 ships of the line, with about 31 frigates and smaller
vessels, exclusive of guard-ships. The Swedes had 18 ships of the line, 14 frigates and
sloops, seventy-four galleys and smaller vessels, besides gun-boats; and this force was in
a far better state of equipment than the Danish. The Russians had 82 sail of the line and
40 frigates. Of these there were 47 sail of the line at Cronstadt, Revel, Petersburgh, and
Archangel; but the Russian fleet was ill-manned, ill-officered, and ill-equipped. Such a
combination under the influence of France would soon have become formidable; and never did
the British Cabinet display more decision than in instantly preparing to crush it. They
erred, however, in permitting any petty consideration to prevent them from appointing
Nelson to the command. The public properly murmured at seeing it intrusted to another; and
he himself said to Earl St. Vincent that, circumstanced as he was, this expedition would
probably be the last service that he should ever perform. The earl, in reply, besought
him, for God's sake, not to suffer himself to be carried away by any sudden impulse.
The season happened to be unusually favourable; so mild a winter had
not been known in the Baltic for many years. When Nelson joined the fleet at Yarmouth, he
found the admiral "a little nervous about dark nights and fields of ice."
"But we must brace up," said he; "these are not times for nervous systems.
I hope we shall give our northern enemies that hailstorm of bullets which gives our dear
country the dominion of the sea. We have it, and all the devils in the north cannot take
it from us, if our wooden walls have fair play." Before the fleet left Yarmouth, it
was sufficiently known that its destination was against Denmark. Some Danes, who belonged
to the Amazon frigate, went to Captain Riou, and telling him what they had heard,
begged that he would get them exchanged into a ship bound on some other destination.
"They had no wish," they said,"to quit the British service; but they
entreated that they might not be forced to fight against their own country." There
was not in our whole navy a man who had a higher and more chivalrous sense of duty than
Riou. Tears came into his eyes while the men were speaking. Without making any reply, he
instantly ordered his boat, and did not return to the c till he could tell them that their
wish was effected. The fleet sailed on the 12th of March. Mr. Vansittart sailed in it; the
British Cabinet still hoping to attain its end by negotiation. It was well for England
that Sir Hyde Parker placed a fuller confidence in Nelson than the government seems to
have done at this most important crisis. Her enemies might well have been astonished at
learning that any other man should for a moment have been thought of for the command. But
so little deference was paid, even at this time, to his intuitive and all-commanding
genius, that when the fleet had reached its first rendezvous, at the entrance of the
Cattegat, he had received no official communication whatever of the intended operations.
His own mind had been made up upon them with its accustomed decision. "All I have
gathered of our first plans," said he, "I disapprove most exceedingly. Honour
may arise from them; good cannot. I hear we are likely to anchor outside of Cronenburgh
Castle, instead of Copenhagen, which would give weight to our negotiation. A Danish
minister would think twice before he would put his name to war with England, when the next
moment he would probably see his master's fleet in flames, and his capital in ruins. The
Dane should see our flag every moment he lifted up his head." 
Mr Vansittart left the fleet at the Scaw, and preceded it in a frigate
with a flag of truce. Precious time was lost by this delay, which was to be purchased by
the dearest blood of Britain and Denmark: according to the Danes themselves, the
intelligence that a British fleet was seen off the Sound produced a much more general
alarm in Copenhagen than its actual arrival in the Roads; for the means of defence were at
that time in such a state that they could hardly hope to resist, still less to repel an
enemy. On the 21st Nelson had a long conference with Sir Hyde; and the next day addressed
a letter to him, worthy of himself and of the occasion. Mr. Vansittart's report had then
been received. It represented the Danish government as in the highest degree hostile, and
their state of preparation as exceeding what our cabinet had supposed possible; for
Denmark had profited with all activity of the leisure which had so impoliticly been given
her. "The more I have reflected," said Nelson to his commander, "the more I
am confirmed in opinion, that not a moment should be lost in attacking the enemy. They
will every day and every hour be stronger; we shall never be so good a match for them as
at this moment. The only consideration is, how to get at them with the least risk to our
ships. Here you are, with almost the safety, certainly with the honour of England, more
entrusted to you than ever yet fell to the lot of any British officer. On your decision
depends whether our country shall be degraded in the eyes of Europe, or whether she shall
rear her head higher than ever. Again, I do repeat, never did our country depend so much
upon the success of any fleet as on this. How best to honour her and abate the pride of
her enemies, must be the subject of your deepest consideration."
Supposing him to force the passage of the Sound, Nelson thought some
damage might be done among the masts and yards; though, perhaps, not one of them but would
be serviceable again. "If the wind be fair," said he, "and you determined
to attack the ships and Crown Islands, you must expect the natural issue of such a
battle— ships crippled, and perhaps one or two lost for the wind which carries you in
will most probably not bring out a crippled ship. This mode I call taking the bull by the
horns. It, however, will not prevent the Revel ships, or the Swedes, from joining the
Danes and to prevent this is, in my humble opinion, a measure absolutely necessary, and
still to attack Copenhagen." For this he proposed two modes. One was to pass
Cronenburg, taking the risk of danger; take the deepest and straightest channel along the
middle grounds, and then coming down to Garbar, or King's Channel, attack the Danish line
of floating batteries and ships as might be found convenient. This would prevent a
junction, and might give an opportunity of bombarding Copenhagen. Or to take the passage
of the Belt, which might be accomplished in four or five days; and then the attack by
Draco might be made, and the junction of the Russians prevented. Supposing them through
the Belt, he proposed that a detachment of the fleet should be sent to destroy the Russian
squadron at Revel; and that the business at Copenhagen should be attempted with the
remainder. "The measure," he said, "might be thought bold; but the boldest
measures are the safest."
The pilots, as men who had nothing but safety to think of, were
terrified by the formidable report of the batteries of Elsinore, and the tremendous
preparations which our negotiators, who were now returned from their fruitless mission,
had witnessed. They, therefore, persuaded Sir Hyde to prefer the passage of the Belt.
"Let it be by the Sound, by the Belt, or anyhow," cried Nelson,"only lose
not an hour!" On the 26th they sailed for the Belt. Such was the habitual reserve of
Sir Hyde that his own captain, the captain of the fleet, did not know which course he had
resolved to take till the fleet were getting under weigh. When Captain Domett was thus
apprised of it, he felt it his duty to represent to the admiral his belief that if that
course were persevered in, the ultimate object would be totally defeated: it was liable to
long delays, and to accidents of ships grounding; in the whole fleet there were only one
captain and one pilot who knew anything of this formidable passage (as it was then
deemed), and their knowledge was very slight—their instructions did not authorise
them to attempt it. Supposing them safe through the Belts, the heavy ships could not come
over the Grounds to attack Copenhagen; and light vessels would have no effect on
such a line of defence as had been prepared against them. Domett urged these reasons so
forcibly that Sir Hyde's opinion was shaken, and he consented to bring the fleet to and
send for Nelson on board. There can be little doubt but that the expedition would have
failed if Captain Domett had not thus timeously and earnestly given his advice. Nelson
entirely agreed with him; and it was finally determined to take the passage of the Sound,
and the fleet returned to its former anchorage.
The next day was more idly expended in despatching a flag of truce to
the governor of Cronenburg Castle, to ask whether he had received orders to fire at the
British fleet; as the admiral must consider the first gun to be a declaration of war on
the part of Denmark. A soldier-like and becoming answer was returned to this formality.
The governor said that the British minister had not been sent away from Copenhagen, but
had obtained a passport at his own demand. He himself, as a soldier, could not meddle with
politics; but he was not at liberty to suffer a fleet, of which the intention was not yet
known, to approach the guns of the castle which he had the honour to command: and he
requested, "if the British admiral should think proper to make any proposals to the
King of Denmark, that he might be apprised of it before the fleet approached nearer."
During this intercourse, a Dane, who came on board the commander's ship, having occasion
to express his business in writing, found the pen blunt; and, holding it up, sarcastically
said, "If your guns are not better pointed than your pens, you will make little
impression on Copenhagen!"
On that day intelligence reached the admiral of the loss of one of his
fleet, the Invincible, seventy-four, wrecked on a sand-bank, as she was coming out
of Yarmouth: four hundred of her men perished in her. Nelson, who was now appointed to
lead the van, shifted his flag to the Elephant, Captain Foley—a lighter ship
than the St. George, and, therefore, fitter for the expected operations. The two
following days were calm. Orders had been given to pass the Sound as soon as the wind
would permit; and, on the afternoon of the 29th, the ships were cleared for action, with
an alacrity characteristic of British seamen. At daybreak on the 30th it blew a topsail
breeze from N.W. The signal was made, and the fleet moved on in order of battle; Nelson's
division in the van, Sir Hyde's in the centre, and Admiral Graves' in the rear.
Great actions, whether military or naval, have generally given
celebrity to the scenes from whence they are denominated; and thus petty villages, and
capes and bays known only to the coasting trader, become associated with mighty deeds, and
their names are made conspicuous in the history of the world. Here, however, the scene was
every way worthy of the drama. The political importance of the Sound is such, that grand
objects are not needed there to impress the imagination; yet is the channel full of grand
and interesting objects, both of art and nature. This passage, which Denmark had so long
considered as the key of the Baltic, is, in its narrowest part, about three miles wide;
and here the city of Elsinore is situated; except Copenhagen, the most flourishing of the
Danish towns. Every vessel which passes lowers her top-gallant sails and pays toll at
Elsinore; a toll which is believed to have had its origin in the consent of the traders to
that sea, Denmark taking upon itself the charge of constructing lighthouses, and erecting
signals, to mark the shoals and rocks from the Cattegat to the Baltic; and they, on their
part, agreeing that all ships should pass this way in order that all might pay their
shares: none from that time using the passage of the Belt, because it was not fitting that
they who enjoyed the benefit of the beacons in dark and stormy weather, should evade
contributing to them in fair seasons and summer nights. Of late years about ten thousand
vessels had annually paid this contribution in time of peace. Adjoining Elsinore, and at
the edge of the peninsular promontory, upon the nearest point of land to the Swedish
coast, stands Cronenburgh Castle, built after Tycho Brahe's design; a magnificent
pile—at once a palace, and fortress, and state-prison, with its spires, and towers,
and battlements, and batteries. 
On the left of the strait is the old Swedish
city of Helsinburg, at the foot, and on the side of a hill. To the north of Helsinburg the
shores are steep and rocky; they lower to the south; and the distant spires of Lanscrona,
Lund, and Malmoe are seen in the flat country. The Danish shores consist partly of ridges
of sand; but more frequently they are diversified with cornfields, meadows, slopes, and
are covered with rich wood, and villages, and villas, and summer palaces belonging to the
king and the nobility, and denoting the vicinity of a great capital. The isles of Huen,
Statholm, and Amak, appear in the widening channel; and at the distance of twenty miles
from Elsinore stands Copenhagen in full view; the best city of the north, and one of the
finest capitals of Europe, visible, with its stately spires, far off. Amid these
magnificent objects there are some which possess a peculiar interest for the recollections
which they call forth. The isle of Huen, a lovely domain, about six miles in
circumference, had been the munificent gift of Frederick the Second to Tycho Brahe. It has
higher shores than the near coast of Zealand, or than the Swedish coast in
that part. Here most of his discoveries were made; and here the ruins are to be seen of
his observatory, and of the mansion where he was visited by princes; and where, with a
princely spirit, he received and entertained all comers from all parts, and promoted
science by his liberality as well as by his labours. Elsinore is a name familiar to
English ears, being inseparably associated with Hamlet, and one of the noblest
works of human genius. Cronenburgh had been the scene of deeper tragedy: here Queen
Matilda was confined, the victim of a foul and murderous court intrigue. Here, amid
heart-breaking griefs, she found consolation in nursing her infant. Here she took her
everlasting leave of that infant, when, by the interference of England, her own
deliverance was obtained; and as the ship bore her away from a country where the venial
indiscretions of youth and unsuspicious gaiety had been so cruelly punished, upon these
towers she fixed her eyes, and stood upon the deck, obstinately gazing toward them till
the last speck had disappeared.
The Sound being the only frequented entrance to the Baltic, the great
Mediterranean of the North, few parts of the sea display so frequent a navigation. In the
height of the season not fewer than a hundred vessels pass every four-and-twenty hours for
many weeks in succession; but never had so busy or so splendid a scene been exhibited
there as on this day, when the British fleet prepared to force that passage where, till
now, all ships had vailed their topsails to the flag of Denmark. The whole force consisted
of fifty-one sail of various descriptions, of which sixteen were of the line. The greater
part of the bomb and gun vessels took their stations off Cronenburgh Castle, to cover the
fleet; while others on the larboard were ready to engage the Swedish shore. The Danes,
having improved every moment which ill-timed negotiation and baffling weather gave them,
had lined their shores with batteries; and as soon as the Monarch, which was the
leading ship, came abreast of them, a fire was opened from about a hundred pieces of
cannon and mortars; our light vessels immediately, in return, opened their fire upon the
castle. Here was all the pompous circumstance and exciting reality of war, without its
effects; for this ostentatious display was but a bloodless prelude to the wide and
sweeping destruction which was soon to follow. The enemy's shot fell near enough to splash
the water on board our ships: not relying upon any forbearance of the Swedes, they meant
to have kept the mid channel; but when they perceived that not a shot was fired from
Helsinburg, and that no batteries were to be seen on the Swedish shore, they inclined to
that side, so as completely to get out of reach of the Danish guns. The uninterrupted
blaze which was kept up from them till the fleet had passed, served only to exhilarate our
sailors, and afford them matter for jest, as the shot fell in showers a full cable's
length short of its destined aim. A few rounds were returned from some of our leading
ships, till they perceived its inutility: this, however, occasioned the only bloodshed of
the day, some of our men being killed and wounded by the bursting of a gun. As soon as the
main body had passed, the gun vessels followed, desisting from their bombardment, which
had been as innocent as that of the enemy; and, about mid-day, the whole fleet anchored
between the island of Huen and Copenhagen. Sir Hyde, with Nelson, Admiral Graves, some of
the senior captains, and the commanding officers of the artillery and the troops, then
proceeded in a lugger to reconnoitre the enemy's means of defence; a formidable line of
ships, radeaus, pontoons, galleys, fire-ships and gun-boats, flanked and supported by
extensive batteries, and occupying, from one extreme point to the other, an extent of
nearly four miles.
A council of war was held In the afternoon. It was apparent that the
Danes could not be attacked without great difficulty and risk; and some of the members of
the council spoke of the number of the Swedes and the Russians whom they should afterwards
have to engage, as a consideration which ought to be borne in mind. Nelson, who kept
pacing the cabin, impatient as he ever was of anything which savoured of irresolution,
repeatedly said, "The more numerous the better: I wish they were twice as
many,—the easier the victory, depend on it." The plan upon which he had
determined; if ever it should be his fortune to bring a Baltic fleet to action, was, to
attack the head of their line and confuse their movements. "Close with a
Frenchman," he used to say, "but out manoeuvre a Russian." He offered his
services for the attack, requiring ten sail of the line and the whole of the smaller
craft. Sir Hyde gave him two more line-of-battle ships than he asked, and left everything
to his judgment.
The enemy's force was not the only, nor the greatest, obstacle with
which the British fleet had to contend: there was another to be overcome before they could
come in contact with it. The channel was little known and extremely intricate: all the
buoys had been removed; and the Danes considered this difficulty as almost insuperable,
thinking the channel impracticable for so large a fleet. Nelson himself saw the soundings
made and the buoys laid down, boating it upon this exhausting service, day and night, till
it was effected. When this was done he thanked God for having enabled him to get through
this difficult part of his duty. "It had worn him down," he said, "and was
infinitely more grievous to him than any resistance which he could experience from the
enemy."
At the first council of war, opinions inclined to an attack from the
eastward; but the next day, the wind being southerly, after a second examination of the
Danish position, it was determined to attack from the south, approaching in the manner
which Nelson had suggested in his first thoughts. On the morning of the 1st of April the
whole fleet removed to an anchorage within two leagues of the town, and off the N.W. end
of the Middle Ground; a shoal lying exactly before the town, at about three quarters of a
mile distance, and extending along its whole sea-front. The King's Channel, where there is
deep water, is between this shoal and the town; and here the Danes had arranged their line
of defence, as near the shore as possible: nineteen ships and floating batteries, flanked,
at the end nearest the town, by the Crown Batteries, which were two artificial islands, at
the mouth of the harbour—most formidable works; the larger one having, by the Danish
account, 66 guns; but, as Nelson believed, 88. The fleet having anchored, Nelson, with
Riou, in the Amazon, made his last examination of the ground; and about one
o'clock, returning to his own ship, threw out the signal to weigh. It was received with a
shout throughout the whole division; they weighed with a light and favourable wind: the
narrow channel between the island of Saltholm and the Middle Ground had been accurately
buoyed; the small craft pointed out the course distinctly; Riou led the way: the whole
division coasted along the outer edge of the shoal, doubled its further extremity, and
anchored there off Draco Point, just as the darkness closed—the headmost of the
enemy's line not being more than two miles distant. The signal to prepare for action had
been made early in the evening; and as his own anchor dropt, Nelson called out, "I
will fight them the moment I have a fair wind!" It had been agreed that Sir Hyde,
with the remaining ships, should weigh on the following morning, at the same time as
Nelson, to menace the Crown Batteries on his side, and the four ships of the line which
lay at the entrance of the arsenal; and to cover our own disabled ships as they came out
of action.
The Danes, meantime, had not been idle: no sooner did the guns of
Cronenburgh make it known to the whole city that all negotiation was at an end, that the
British fleet was passing the Sound, and that the dispute between the two crowns must now
be decided by arms, than a spirit displayed itself most honourable to the Danish
character. All ranks offered themselves to the service of their country; the university
furnished a corps of 1200 youth, the flower of Denmark—it was one of those
emergencies in which little drilling or discipline is necessary to render courage
available: they had nothing to learn but how to manage the guns, and day and night were
employed in practising them. When the movements of Nelson's squadron were perceived, it
was known when and where the attack was to be expected, and the line of defence was manned
indiscriminately by soldiers, sailors, and citizens. Had not the whole attention of the
Danes been directed to strengthen their own means of defence, they might most materially
have annoyed the invading squadron, and perhaps frustrated the impending attack; for the
British ships were crowded in an anchoring ground of little extent:—it was calm, so
that mortar-boats might have acted against them to the utmost advantage; and they were
within range of shells from Amak Island. A few fell among them; but the enemy soon ceased
to fire. It was learned afterwards, that, fortunately for the fleet, the bed of the mortar
had given way; and the Danes either could not get it replaced, or, in the darkness, lost
the direction.
This was an awful night for Copenhagen—far more so than for the
British fleet, where the men were accustomed to battle and victory, and had none of those
objects before their eyes which rendered death terrible. Nelson sat down to table with a
large party of his officers: he was, as he was ever wont to be when on the eve of action,
in high spirits, and drank to a leading wind, and to the success of the morrow. After
supper they returned to their respective ships, except Riou, who remained to arrange the
order of battle with Nelson and Foley, and to draw up instructions. Hardy, meantime, went
in a small boat to examine the channel between them and the enemy; approaching so near
that he sounded round their leading ship with a pole, lest the noise of throwing the lead
should discover him. The incessant fatigue of body, as well as mind, which Nelson had
undergone during the last three days, had so exhausted him that he was earnestly urged to
go to his cot; and his old servant, Allen, using that kind of authority which long and
affectionate services entitled and enabled him to assume on such occasions, insisted upon
his complying. The cot was placed on the floor, and he continued to dictate from it. About
eleven Hardy returned, and reported the practicability of the channel, and the depth of
water up to the enemy's line. About one the orders were completed; and half-a-dozen
clerks, in the foremost cabin, proceeded to transcribe them, Nelson frequently calling out
to them from his cot to hasten their work, for the wind was becoming fair. Instead of
attempting to get a few hours' sleep, he was constantly receiving reports on this
important point. At daybreak it was announced as becoming perfectly fair. The clerks
finished their work about six. Nelson, who was already up, breakfasted, and made signal
for all captains. The land forces and five hundred seamen, under Captain Freemantle and
the Hon. Colonel Stewart, were to storm the Crown Battery as soon as its fire should be
silenced: and Riou—whom Nelson had never seen till this expedition, but whose worth
he had instantly perceived, and appreciated as it deserved—had the Blanche and
Alcmene frigates, the Dart and Arrow sloops, and the Zephyr
and Otter fire-ships, given him, with a special command to act as circumstances
might require—every other ship had its station appointed.
Between eight and nine, the pilots and masters were ordered on board
the admirals' ships. The pilots were mostly men who had been mates in Baltic traders; and
their hesitation about the bearing of the east end of the shoal, and the exact line of
deep water, gave ominous warning of how little their knowledge was to be trusted. The
signal for action had been made, the wind was fair—not a moment to be lost. Nelson
urged them to be steady, to be resolute, and to decide; but they wanted the only ground
for steadiness and decision in such cases; and Nelson had reason to regret that he had not
trusted to Hardy's single report. This was one of the most painful moments of his life;
and he always spoke of it with bitterness. "I experienced in the Sound," said
he, "the misery of having the honour of our country entrusted to a set of pilots, who
have no other thought than to keep the ships clear of danger, and their own silly heads
clear of shot. Everybody knows what I must have suffered; and if any merit attaches itself
to me, it was for combating the dangers of the shallows in defiance of them." At
length Mr. Bryerly, the master of the Bellona, declared that he was prepared to
lead the fleet; his judgment was acceded to by the rest; they returned to their ships; and
at half-past nine the signal was made to weigh in succession.
Captain Murray, in the Edgar, led the way; the Agamemnon
was next in order; but on the first attempt to leave her anchorage, she could not weather
the edge of the shoal; and Nelson had the grief to see his old ship, in which he had
performed so many years' gallant services, immovably aground at a moment when her help was
so greatly required. Signal was then made for the Polyphemus; and this change in
the order of sailing was executed with the utmost promptitude: yet so much delay had thus
been unavoidably occasioned, that the Edgar was for some time unsupported, and
the Polyphemus, whose place should have been at the end of the enemy's line, where
their strength was the greatest, could get no further than the beginning, owing to the
difficulty of the channel: there she occupied, indeed, an efficient station, but one where
her presence was less required. The Isis followed with better fortune, and took her
own berth. The Bellona, Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, kept too close on the
starboard shoal, and grounded abreast of the outer ship of the enemy: this was the more
vexatious, inasmuch as the wind was fair, the room ample, and three ships had led the way.
The Russell, following the Bellona, grounded in like manner: both were
within reach of shot; but their absence from their intended stations was severely felt.
Each ship had been ordered to pass her leader on the starboard side, because the water was
supposed to shoal on the larboard shore. Nelson, who came next after these two ships,
thought they had kept too far on the starboard direction, and made signal for them to
close with the enemy, not knowing that they were aground; but when he perceived that they
did not obey the signal, he ordered the Elephant's helm to starboard, and went
within these ships: thus quitting the appointed order of sailing, and guiding those which
were to follow. The greater part of the fleet were probably, by this act of promptitude on
his part, saved from going on shore. Each ship, as she arrived nearly opposite to her
appointed station, let her anchor go by the stern, and presented her broadside to the
Danes. The distance between each was about half a cable. The action was fought nearly at
the distance of a cable's length from the enemy. This, which rendered its continuance so
long, was owing to the ignorance and consequent indecision of the pilots. In pursuance of
the same error which had led the Bellona and the Russell aground, they, when
the lead was at a quarter less five, refused to approach nearer, in dread of shoaling
their water on the larboard shore: a fear altogether erroneous, for the water deepened up
to the very side of the enemy's line of battle.
At five minutes after ten the action began. The first half of our fleet
was engaged in about half an hour; and by half-past eleven the battle became general. The
plan of the attack had been complete: but seldom has any plan been more disconcerted by
untoward accidents. Of twelve ships of the line, one was entirely useless, and two others
in a situation where they could not render half the service which was required of them. Of
the squadron of gun-brigs, only one could get into action; the rest were prevented, by
baffling currents, from weathering the eastern end of the shoal; and only two of the
bomb-vessels could reach their station on the Middle Ground, and open their mortars on the
arsenal, firing over both fleets. Riou took the vacant station against the Crown Battery,
with his frigates: attempting, with that unequal force, a service in which three sail of
the line had been directed to assist.
Nelson's agitation had been extreme when he saw himself, before the
action began, deprived of a fourth part of his ships of the line; but no sooner was he in
battle, where his squadron was received with the fire of more than a thousand guns, than,
as if that artillery, like music, had driven away all care and painful thoughts, his
countenance brightened; and, as a bystander describes him, his conversation became joyous,
animated, elevated, and delightful. The Commander-in-Chief meantime, near enough to the
scene of action to know the unfavourable accidents which had so materially weakened
Nelson, and yet too distant to know the real state of the contending parties, suffered the
most dreadful anxiety. To get to his assistance was impossible; both wind and current were
against him. Fear for the event, in such circumstances, would naturally preponderate in
the bravest mind; and at one o'clock, perceiving that, after three hours' endurance, the
enemy's fire was unslackened, he began to despair of success. "I will make the signal
of recall," said he to his captain, "for Nelson's sake. If he is in a condition
to continue the action successfully, he will disregard it; if he is not, it will be an
excuse for his retreat, and no blame can be imputed to him." Captain Domett urged him
at least to delay the signal till he could communicate with Nelson; but in Sir Hyde's
opinion the danger was too pressing for delay. "The fire," he said,"was too
hot for Nelson to oppose; a retreat he thought must be made; he was aware of the
consequences to his own personal reputation, but it would be cowardly in him to leave
Nelson to bear the whole shame of the failure, if shame it should be deemed." Under,
a mistaken judgment, therefore, but with this disinterested and generous feeling, he made
the signal for retreat.
Nelson was at this time, in all the excitement of action, pacing the
quarter-deck. A shot through the mainmast knocked the splinters about; and he observed to
one of his officers with a smile, "It is warm work, and this day may be the last to
any of us at a moment:"—and then stopping short at the gangway, added, with
emotion—"But mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands." About this
time the signal-lieutenant called out that number Thirty-nine (the signal for
discontinuing the action) was thrown out by the Commander-in-Chief. He continued to walk
the deck, and appeared to take no notice of it. The signal officer met him at the next
turn, and asked if he should repeat it. "No," he replied, "acknowledge
it." Presently he called after him to know if the signal for close action was still
hoisted; and being answered in the affirmative, said, "Mind you keep it so." He
now paced the deck, moving the stump of his lost arm in a manner which always indicated
great emotion. "Do you know," said he to Mr. Ferguson, "what is shown on
board the Commander-in-Chief? Number Thirty-nine!" Mr. Ferguson asked what that
meant. "Why, to leave off action!" Then shrugging up his shoulders, he repeated
the words—"Leave off action? Now, damn me if I do! You know, Foley,"
turning to the captain, "I have only one eye,—I have a right to be blind
sometimes:" and then putting the glass to his blind eye, in that mood of mind which
sports with bitterness, he exclaimed, "I really do not see the signal!"
Presently he exclaimed, "Damn the signal! Keep mine for closer battle flying! That's
the way I answer signals! Nail mine to the mast!" Admiral Graves, who was so situated
that he could not discern what was done on board the Elephant, disobeyed Sir Hyde's
signal in like manner; whether by fortunate mistake, or by a like brave intention, has not
been made known. The other ships of the line, looking only to Nelson, continued the
action. The signal, however, saved Riou's little squadron, but did not save its heroic
leader. This squadron, which was nearest the Commander-in-Chief, obeyed and hauled off. It
had suffered severely in its most unequal contest. For a long time the Amazon had
been firing, enveloped in smoke, when Riou desired his men to stand fast, and let the
smoke clear off, that they might see what they were about. A fatal order—for the
Danes then got clear sight of her from the batteries, and pointed their guns with such
tremendous effect that nothing but the signal for retreat saved this frigate from
destruction. "What will Nelson think of us?" was Riou's mournful exclamation
when he unwillingly drew off. He had been wounded in the head by a splinter, and was
sitting on a gun, encouraging his men, when, just as the Amazon showed her stern to
the Trekroner battery, his clerk was killed by his side; and another shot swept away
several marines who were hauling in the main-brace. "Come, then, my boys!" cried
Riou; "let us die all together!" The words had scarcely been uttered before a
raking shot cut him in two. Except it had been Nelson himself, the British navy could not
have suffered a severer loss.
The action continued along the line with unabated vigour on our side,
and with the most determined resolution on the part of the Danes. They fought to great
advantage, because most of the vessels in their line of defence were without masts; the
few which had any standing had their top-masts struck, and the hulls could not be seen at
intervals. The Isis must have been destroyed by the superior weight of her enemy's
fire, if Captain Inman, in the Desireé frigate, had not judiciously taken a
situation which enabled him to rake the Dane, if the Polyphemus had not also
relieved her. Both in the Bellona and the Isis many men were lost by the
bursting of their guns. The former ship was about forty years old, and these guns were
believed to be the same which she had first taken to sea: they were, probably, originally
faulty, for the fragments were full of little air-holes. The Bellona lost 75 men;
the Isis, 110; the Monarch, 210. She was, more than any other line-of-battle
ship, exposed to the great battery; and supporting, at the same time, the united fire of
the Hollstein and the Zealand, her loss this day exceeded that of any
single ship during the whole war. Amid the tremendous carnage in this vessel, some of the
men displayed a singular instance of coolness: the pork and peas happened to be in the
kettle; a shot knocked its contents about; they picked up the pieces, and ate and fought
at the same time.
The Prince-Royal had taken his station upon one of the batteries, from
whence he beheld the action and issued his orders. Denmark had never been engaged in so
arduous a contest, and never did the Danes more nobly display their national
courage—a courage not more unhappily than impolitically exerted in subserviency to
the interests of France. Captain Thura, of the Indfoedsretten, fell early in the
action; and all his officers, except one lieutenant and one marine officer, were either
killed or wounded In the confusion, the colours were either struck or shot away; but she
was moored athwart one of the batteries in such a situation that the British made no
attempt to board her; and a boat was despatched to the prince, to inform him of her
situation. He turned to those about him, and said, "Gentlemen, Thura is killed; which
of you will take the command?" Schroedersee, a captain who had lately resigned on
account of extreme ill-health, answered in a feeble voice, "I will!" and
hastened on board. The crew, perceiving a new commander coming alongside, hoisted their
colours again, and fired a broadside. Schroedersee, when he came on deck, found himself
surrounded by the dead and wounded, and called to those in the boat to get quickly on
board: a ball struck him at that moment. A lieutenant, who had accompanied him, then took
the command, and continued to fight the ship. A youth of seventeen, by name Villemoes,
particularly distinguished himself on this memorable day. He had volunteered to take the
command of a floating battery, which was a raft, consisting merely of a number of beams
nailed together, with a flooring to support the guns: it was square, with a breast-work
full of port-holes, and without masts— carrying twenty-four guns, and one hundred and
twenty men. With this he got under the stern of the Elephant, below the reach of
the stern-chasers; and under a heavy fire of small-arms from the marines, fought his raft,
till the truce was announced, with such skill as well as courage, as to excite Nelson's
warmest admiration.
Between one and two the fire of the Danes slackened; about two it
ceased from the greater part of their line, and some of their lighter ships were adrift.
It was, however, difficult to take possession of those which struck, because the batteries
on Amak Island protected them; and because an irregular fire was kept up from the ships
themselves as the boats approached. This arose from the nature of the action: the crews
were continually reinforced from the shore; and fresh men coming on board, did not inquire
whether the flag had been struck, or, perhaps, did not heed it; many or most of them never
having been engaged in war before—knowing nothing, therefore, of its laws, and
thinking only of defending their country to the last extremity. The Danbrog fired
upon the Elephant's boats in this manner, though her commodore had removed her
pendant and deserted her, though she had struck, and though she was in flames. After she
had been abandoned by the commodore, Braun fought her till he lost his right hand, and
then Captain Lemming took the command. This unexpected renewal of her fire made the Elephant
and Glatton renew theirs, till she was not only silenced, but nearly every man in
the praams, ahead and astern of her, was killed. When the smoke of their guns died away,
she was seen drifting in flames before the wind: those of her crew who remained alive, and
able to exert themselves, throwing themselves out at her port-holes. Captain Bertie of the
Ardent sent his launch to their assistance, and saved three-and-twenty of them.
Captain Rothe commanded the Nyeborg praam; and perceiving that
she could not much longer be kept afloat, made for the inner road. As he passed the line,
he found the Aggershuus praam in a more miserable condition than his own; her masts
had all gone by the board, and she was on the point of sinking. Rothe made fast a cable to
her stern, and towed her off; but he could get her no further than a shoal called Stubben,
when she sunk, and soon after he had worked the Nyeborg up to the landing-place,
that vessel also sunk to her gunwale. Never did any vessel come out of action in a more
dreadful plight. The stump of her foremast was the only stick standing; her cabin had been
stove in; every gun, except a single one, was dismounted; and her deck was covered with
shattered limbs and dead bodies.
By half-past two the action had ceased along that part of the line
which was astern of the Elephant, but not with the ships ahead and the Crown
Batteries. Nelson, seeing the manner in which his boats were fired upon when they went to
take possession of the prizes, became angry, and said he must either send ashore to have
this irregular proceeding stopped, or send a fire-ship and burn them. Half the shot from
the Trekroner, and from the batteries at Amak, at this time, struck the surrendered ships,
four of which had got close together; and the fire of the English, in return, was equally
or even more destructive to these poor devoted Danes. Nelson, who was as humane as he was
brave, was shocked at the massacre—for such he called it; and with a presence of mind
peculiar to himself, and never more signally displayed than now, he retired into the stern
gallery, and wrote thus to the Crown Prince:— "Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson has been
commanded to spare Denmark when she no longer resists. The line of defence which covered
her shores has struck to the British flag; but if the firing is continued on the part of
Denmark, he must set on fire all the prizes that he has taken, without having the power of
saving the men who have so nobly defended them. The brave Danes are the brothers, and
should never be the enemies, of the English." A wafer was given him, but he ordered a
candle to be brought from the cockpit, and sealed the letter with wax, affixing a larger
seal than he ordinarily used. "This," said he, "is no time to appear
hurried and informal." Captain Sir Frederick Thesiger, who acted as his aide-de-camp,
carried this letter with a flag of truce. Meantime the fire of the ships ahead, and the
approach of the Ramillies and Defence from Sir Hyde's division, which had
now worked near enough to alarm the enemy, though not to injure them, silenced the
remainder of the Danish line to the eastward of the Trekroner. That battery, however,
continued its fire. This formidable work, owing to the want of the ships which had been
destined to attack it, and the inadequate force of Riou's little squadron, was
comparatively uninjured. Towards the close of the action it had been manned with nearly
fifteen hundred men; and the intention of storming it, for which every preparation had
been made, was abandoned as impracticable.
During Thesiger's absence, Nelson sent for Freemantle, from the Ganges,
and consulted with him and Foley whether it was advisable to advance, with those ships
which had sustained least damage, against the yet uninjured part of the Danish line. They
were decidedly of opinion that the best thing which could be done was, while the wind
continued fair, to remove the fleet out of the intricate channel from which it had to
retreat. In somewhat more than half an hour after Thesiger had been despatched, the Danish
adjutant-general, Lindholm came, bearing a flag of truce, upon which the Trekroner ceased
to fire, and the action closed, after four hours' continuance. He brought an inquiry from
the prince,—What was the object of Nelson's note? The British admiral wrote in
reply:—"Lord Nelson's object in sending the flag of truce was humanity; he
therefore consents that hostilities shall cease, and that the wounded Danes may be taken
on shore. And Lord Nelson will take his prisoners out of the vessels, and burn or carry
off his prizes as he shall think fit. Lord Nelson, with humble duty to his royal highness
the prince, will consider this the greatest victory he has ever gained, if it may be the
cause of a happy reconciliation and union between his own most gracious sovereign and his
majesty the King of Denmark." Sir Frederick Thesiger was despatched a second time
with the reply; and the Danish adjutant-general was referred to the commander-in-chief for
a conference upon this overture. Lindholm assenting to this, proceeded to the London,
which was riding at anchor full four miles off and Nelson, losing not one of the critical
moments which he had thus gained, made signal for his leading ships to weigh in
succession; they had the shoal to clear, they were much crippled, and their course was
immediately under the guns of the Trekroner.
The Monarch led the way. This ship had received six-and-twenty
shot between wind and water. She had not a shroud standing; there was a double-headed shot
in the heart of her foremast, and the slightest wind would have sent every mast over her
side. The imminent danger from which Nelson had extricated himself soon became apparent:
the Monarch touched immediately upon a shoal, over which she was pushed by the Ganges
taking her amidships; the Glatton went clear; but the other two, the Defiance
and the Elephant, grounded about a mile from the Trekroner, and there remained
fixed for many hours, in spite of all the exertions of their wearied crews. The Desireé
frigate also, at the other end of the line, having gone toward the close of the action to
assist the Bellona, became fast on the same shoal. Nelson left the Elephant
soon after she took the ground, to follow Lindholm. The heat of the action was over, and
that kind of feeling which the surrounding scene of havoc was so well fitted to produce,
pressed heavily upon his exhausted spirits. The sky had suddenly become overcast; white
flags were waving from the mast-heads of so many shattered ships; the slaughter had
ceased, but the grief was to come; for the account of the dead was not yet made up, and no
man could tell for what friends he might have to mourn. The very silence which follows the
cessation of such a battle becomes a weight upon the heart at first, rather than a relief;
and though the work of mutual destruction was at an end, the Danbrog was at this
time drifting about in flames; presently she blew up; while our boats, which had put off
in all directions to assist her, were endeavouring to pick up her devoted crew, few of
whom could be saved. The fate of these men, after the gallantry which they had displayed,
particularly affected Nelson; for there was nothing in this action of that indignation
against the enemy, and that impression of retributive justice, which at the Nile had given
a sterner temper to his mind, and a sense of austere delight in beholding the vengeance of
which he was the appointed minister. The Danes were an honourable foe; they were of
English mould as well as English blood; and now that the battle had ceased, he regarded
them rather as brethren than as enemies. There was another reflection also which mingled
with these melancholy thoughts, and predisposed him to receive them. He was not here
master of his own movements, as at Egypt; he had won the day by disobeying his orders; and
in so far as he had been successful, had convicted the commander-in-chief of an error in
judgment. "Well," said he, as he left the Elephant, "I have fought
contrary to orders, and I shall perhaps be hanged. Never mind: let them!"
This was the language of a man who, while he is giving utterance to
uneasy thought, clothes it half in jest, because he half repents that it has been
disclosed. His services had been too eminent on that day, his judgment too conspicuous,
his success too signal, for any commander, however jealous of his own authority, or
envious of another's merits, to express anything but satisfaction and gratitude: which Sir
Hyde heartily felt, and sincerely expressed. It was speedily agreed that there should be a
suspension of hostilities for four-and-twenty hours; that all the prizes should be
surrendered, and the wounded Danes carried on shore. There was a pressing necessity for
this, for the Danes, either from too much confidence in the strength of their position and
the difficulty of the channel, or supposing that the wounded might be carried on shore
during the action, which was found totally impracticable, or perhaps from the confusion
which the attack excited, had provided no surgeons; so that, when our men boarded the
captured ships, they found many of the mangled and mutilated Danes bleeding to death for
want of proper assistance—a scene, of all others, the most shocking to a brave man's
feelings.
The boats of Sir Hyde's division were actively employed all night in
bringing out the prizes, and in getting afloat the ships which were on shore. At daybreak,
Nelson, who had slept in his own ship, the St. George, rowed to the Elephant; and
his delight at finding her afloat seemed to give him new life. There he took a hasty
breakfast, praising the men for their exertions, and then pushed off to the prizes, which
had not yet been removed. The Zealand, seventy-four, the last which struck,
had drifted on the shoal under the Trekroner; and relying, as it seems, upon the
protection which that battery might have afforded, refused to acknowledge herself
captured; saying, that though it was true her flag was not to be seen, her pendant was
still flying. Nelson ordered one of our brigs and three long-boats to approach her, and
rowed up himself to one of the enemy's ships, to communicate with the commodore. This
officer proved to be an old acquaintance, whom he had known in the West Indies; so he
invited himself on board, and with that urbanity as well as decision which always
characterised him, urged his claim to the Zealand so well that it was
admitted. The men from the boats lashed a cable round her bowsprit, and the gun-vessel
towed her away. It is affirmed, and probably with truth, that the Danes felt more pain at
beholding this than at all their misfortunes on the preceding day; and one of the
officers, Commodore Steen Rille, went to the Trekroner battery, and asked the commander
why he had not sunk the Zealand, rather than suffer her thus to be carried
off by the enemy?
This was, indeed, a mournful day for Copenhagen! It was Good Friday;
but the general agitation, and the mourning which was in every house, made all distinction
of days be forgotten. There were, at that hour, thousands in that city who felt, and more
perhaps who needed, the consolations of Christianity, but few or none who could be calm
enough to think of its observances. The English were actively employed in refitting their
own ships, securing the prizes, and distributing the prisoners; the Danes, in carrying on
shore and disposing of the wounded and the dead. It had been a murderous action. Our loss,
in killed and wounded, was 953. Part of this slaughter might have been spared. The
commanding officer of the troops on board one of our ships asked where his men should be
stationed? He was told that they could be of no use! that they were not near enough for
musketry, and were not wanted at the guns; they had, therefore, better go below. This, he
said, was impossible; it would be a disgrace that could never be wiped away. They were,
therefore, drawn up upon the gangway, to satisfy this cruel point of honour; and there,
without the possibility of annoying the enemy, they were mowed down! The loss of the
Danes, including prisoners, amounted to about six thousand. The negotiations, meantime,
went on; and it was agreed that Nelson should have an interview with the prince the
following day. Hardy and Freemantle landed with him. This was a thing as unexampled as the
other circumstances of the battle. A strong guard was appointed to escort him to the
palace, as much for the purpose of security as of honour. The populace, according to the
British account, showed a mixture of admiration, curiosity, and displeasure, at beholding
that man in the midst of them who had inflicted such wounds upon Denmark. But there were
neither acclamations nor murmurs. "The people," says a Dane, "did not
degrade themselves with the former, nor disgrace themselves with the latter: the admiral
was received as one brave enemy ever ought to receive another—he was received with
respect." The preliminaries of the negotiation were adjusted at this interview.
During the repast which followed, Nelson, with all the sincerity of his character, bore
willing testimony to the valour of his foes. He told the prince that he had been in a
hundred and five engagements, but that this was the most tremendous of all. "The
French," he said, "fought bravely; but they could not have stood for one hour
the fight which the Danes had supported for four." He requested that Villemoes might
be introduced to him; and, shaking hands with the youth, told the prince that he ought to
be made an admiral. The prince replied: "If, my lord, I am to make all my brave
officers admirals, I should have no captains or lieutenants in my service."
The sympathy of the Danes for their countrymen who had bled in their
defence, was not weakened by distance of time or place in this instance. Things needful
for the service, or the comfort of the wounded, were sent in profusion to the hospitals,
till the superintendents gave public notice that they could receive no more. On the third
day after the action, the dead were buried in the naval churchyard: the ceremony was made
as public and as solemn as the occasion required; such a procession had never before been
seen in that, or perhaps in any other city. A public monument was erected upon the spot
where the slain were gathered together. A subscription was opened on the day of the
funeral for the relief of the sufferers, and collections in aid of it made throughout all
the churches in the kingdom. This appeal to the feelings of the people was made with
circumstances which gave it full effect. A monument was raised in the midst of the church,
surmounted by the Danish colours: young maidens, dressed in white, stood round it, with
either one who had been wounded in the battle, or the widow and orphans of some one who
had fallen: a suitable oration was delivered from the pulpit, and patriotic hymns and
songs were afterwards performed. Medals were distributed to all the officers, and to the
men who had distinguished themselves. Poets and painters vied with each other in
celebrating a battle which, disastrous as it was, had yet been honourable to their
country: some, with pardonable sophistry, represented the advantage of the day as on their
own side. One writer discovered a more curious, but less disputable ground of
satisfaction, in the reflection that Nelson, as may be inferred from his name, was of
Danish descent, and his actions therefore, the Dane argued, were attributable to Danish
valour.
The negotiation was continued during the five following days; and in
that interval the prizes were disposed of, in a manner which was little approved by
Nelson. Six line-of-battle ships and eight praams had been taken. Of these the Hollstein,
sixty-four, was the only one which was sent home. The Zealand was a finer
ship; but the Zealand and all the others were burned, and their brass
battering cannon sunk with the hulls in such shoal water, that, when the fleet returned
from Revel, they found the Danes, with craft over the wrecks, employed in getting the guns
up again. Nelson, though he forbore from any public expression of displeasure at seeing
the proofs and trophies of his victory destroyed, did not forget to represent to the
Admiralty the case of those who were thus deprived of their prize-money.
"Whether," said he to Earl St. Vincent, "Sir Hyde Parker may mention the
subject to you, I know not; for he is rich, and does not want it: nor is it, you will
believe me, any desire to get a few hundred pounds that actuates me to address this letter
to you; but justice to the brave officers and men who fought on that day. It is true our
opponents were in hulks and floats, only adapted for the position they were in; but that
made our battle so much the harder, and victory so much the more difficult to obtain.
Believe me, I have weighed all circumstances; and, in my conscience, I think that the king
should send a gracious message to the House of Commons for a gift to this fleet; for what
must be the natural feelings of the officers and men belonging to it, to see their rich
commander-in-chief burn all the fruits of their victory, which, if fitted up and sent to
England (as many of them might have been by dismantling part of our fleet), would have
sold for a good round sum."
On the 9th, Nelson landed again, to conclude the terms of the
armistice. During its continuance the armed ships and vessels of Denmark were to remain in
their actual situation, as to armament, equipment, and hostile position; and the treaty of
armed neutrality, as far as related to the cooperation of Denmark, was suspended. The
prisoners were to be sent on shore; an acknowledgment being given for them, and for the
wounded also, that: they might be carried to Great Britain's credit in the account of war,
in case hostilities should be renewed. The British fleet was allowed to provide itself
with all things requisite for the health and comfort of its men. A difficulty arose
respecting the duration of the armistice. The Danish commissioners fairly stated their
fears of Russia; and Nelson, with that frankness which sound policy and the sense of power
seem often to require as well as justify in diplomacy, told them his reason for demanding
a long term was, that he might have time to act against the Russian fleet, and then return
to Copenhagen. Neither party would yield upon this point; and one of the Danes hinted at
the renewal of hostilities. "Renew hostilities!" cried Nelson to one of his
friends—for he understood French enough to comprehend what was said, though not to
answer it in the same language —"tell him we are ready at a moment! ready to
bombard this very night!" The conference, however, proceeded amicably on both sides;
and as the commissioners could not agree on this head, they broke up, leaving Nelson to
settle it with the prince. A levee was held forthwith in one of the state-rooms, a scene
well suited for such a consultation; for all these rooms had been stripped of their
furniture, in fear of a bombardment. To a bombardment also Nelson was looking at this
time: fatigue and anxiety, and vexation at the dilatory measures of the
commander-in-chief, combined to make him irritable; and as he was on his way to the
prince's dining-room, he whispered to the officer on whose arm he was leaning,
"Though I have only one eye, I can see that all this will burn well." After
dinner he was closeted with the prince; and they agreed that the armistice should continue
fourteen weeks; and that, at its termination, fourteen days' notice should be given before
the recommencement of hostilities.
An official account of the battle was published by Olfert Fischer, the
Danish commander-in-chief in which it was asserted that our force was greatly superior;
nevertheless, that two of our ships of the line had struck; that the others were so
weakened, and especially Lord Nelson's own ship, as to fire only single shots for an hour
before the end of the action; and that this hero himself, in the middle and very heat of
the conflict, sent a flag of truce on shore, to propose a cessation of hostilities. For
the truth of this account the Dane appealed to the prince, and all those who, like him,
had been eyewitnesses of the scene. Nelson was exceedingly indignant at such a statement,
and addressed a letter in confutation of it to the Adjutant-General Lindholm; thinking
this incumbent on him for the information of the prince, since His Royal Highness had been
appealed to as a witness: "Otherwise," said he, "had Commodore Fischer
confined himself to his own veracity, I should have treated his official letter with the
contempt it deserved, and allowed the world to appreciate the merits of the two commanding
officers." After pointing out and detecting some of the misstatements in the account,
he proceeds: "As to his nonsense about victory, His Royal Highness will not much
credit him. I sunk, burnt, captured, or drove into the harbour, the whole line of defence
to the southward of the Crown Islands. He says he is told that two British ships struck.
Why did he not take possession of them? I took possession of his as fast as they struck.
The reason is clear, that he did not believe it: he must have known the falsity of the
report. He states that the ship in which I had the honour to hoist my flag fired latterly
only single guns. It is true; for steady and cool were my brave fellows, and did not wish
to throw away a single shot. He seems to exult that I sent on shore a flag of truce. You
know, and His Royal Highness knows, that the guns fired from the shore could only fire
through the Danish ships which had surrendered; and that, if I fired at the shore, it
could only be in the same manner. God forbid that I should destroy an unresisting Dane!
When they become my prisoners, I become their protector."
This letter was written in terms of great asperity to the Danish
commander. Lindholm replied in a manner every way honourable to himself. He vindicated the
commodore in some points, and excused him in others; reminding Nelson that every
commander-in-chief was liable to receive incorrect reports. With a natural desire to
represent the action in the most favourable light to Denmark, he took into the comparative
strength of the two parties the ships which were aground, and which could not get into
action; and omitted the Trekroner and the batteries upon Amak Island. He disclaimed all
idea of claiming as a victory, "what, to every intent and purpose," said he,
"was a defeat—but not an inglorious one. As to your lordship's motive for
sending a flag of truce, it never can be misconstrued and your subsequent conduct has
sufficiently shown that humanity is always the companion of true valour. You have done
more: you have shown yourself a friend to the re-establishment of peace and good harmony
between this country and Great Britain. It is, therefore, with the sincerest esteem I
shall always feel myself attached to your lordship." Thus handsomely winding up his
reply, he soothed and contented Nelson; who drawing up a memorandum of the comparative
force of the two parties for his own satisfaction, assured Lindholm that, if the
commodore's statement had been in the same manly and honourable strain, he would have been
the last man to have noticed any little inaccuracies which might get into a
commander-in-chiefs public letter.
For the battle of Copenhagen Nelson was raised to the rank of
viscount—an inadequate mark of reward for services so splendid, and of such paramount
importance to the dearest interests of England. There was, however, some prudence in
dealing out honours to him step by step: had he lived long enough, he would have fought
his way up to a dukedom.
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