168] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



In the reduction of the latter, great 

 assistance was given by a British 

 naval force. 



It may not be improper here to 

 make a short digression from the 

 narrative of military operations, in 

 order to revert to the origin of that 

 war between Sweden and Den- 

 mark which was now approaching 

 its crisis. In the treaty between 

 Sweden and Russia, afterwards ac- 

 ceded to by Great Britain, one of 

 the articles was, a compulsory ces- 

 sion by Denmark of the kingdom 

 of Norway to the crown of Swe- 

 den. Concerning the justice of 

 such a requisition from a power 

 with which the two first contract- 

 ing powers had no cause of quarrel, 

 some discussion will be found in 

 the Parliamentary Debates. As a 

 matter of political expedience, it 

 was evident that Russia, not choos- 

 ing to purchase the concurrence of 

 Sweden in her resistance to the 

 French domination, by resigning 

 her conquests in Finland, was will- 

 ing to give that power a compen- 

 sation in Norway ; a country, the 

 possession of which was extremely 

 desirable to Sweden, in order to 

 render her entire mistress of the 

 Scandinavian peninsula, and pre- 

 vent future invasions from that 

 quarter.. Though an indemnifica- 

 tion upon the German continent 

 was proposed to the king of Den- 

 mark, it was natural that he should 

 manifest a repugnance to a foreign 

 dictation respecting his hereditary 

 dominions; and he had likewise 

 those connections withFrance which 

 forbade his accession to the north- 

 ern confederacy forming against 

 her. The maxims of policy, if not 

 those of morality, refuse to permit 

 neutrality in an inferiorstate in the 

 contests of neighbouring powerful 



ones ; and doubtless, in the pre- 

 sent case, the expulsion of the 

 French from countries they had 

 usurped, and their reduction within 

 limits which might be compatible 

 with the security and independence 

 of the rest of Europe, were great 

 and legitimate objects. It soon 

 appeared, therefore, that Denmark 

 would have no other alternative 

 than that of choosing to which 

 party she was to ally her arms. 

 The Copenhagen Gazette of June 

 the 5th, contains some interesting 

 particulars of an advance towards 

 negociation with the Danish court 

 lately made by the allied powers. 

 It states, that on May the 31st, 

 an English naval officer who ar- 

 rived with a flag of truce, delivered 

 a letter from Mr. Thornton, the 

 English envoy at the court of Swe- 

 den, and from the English gene- 

 ral Hope, together with another 

 from the Swedish chancellor, both 

 dated from the English man-of-war 

 Defiance, in Kioge-bay, mentioning 

 that the Russian general, Baron 

 Von Suchtelen, was on board the 

 same vessel, in order to participate 

 in the negociations for peace pro- 

 posed on the part of England in 

 the above-mentioned letter, and 

 likewise in treating on the dubious 

 relations of peace now subsisting 

 between Denmark and Sweden. It 

 appeared from the tenor of these 

 proposals, that the Crown Prince 

 of Sweden was now content to re- 

 quire only the cession of the dio- 

 cese of Drontheim in Norway, with 

 the territory lying between it and 

 the Russian frontier ; also, that a 

 demand was made of 25,000 Da- 

 nish troops, to be placed under the 

 command of the Crown Prince, 

 and employed in conjunction with 

 the troops of the allied powers 



O' 



