DENMARK. 



633 



Frederic 



fleeted 



king. 



History, were disposed to elect Valdcmar, one of his natural 

 — ">''■■' sons, in the expectation that if he were king, he would 

 be disposed, in return for the dignity to which they 

 had raised him, to extend their privileges. It has been 

 already seen, that the privileges of the nobles were en- 

 larged by almost every monarch ; and the power and 

 presumption with which they were thus invested, were 

 much increased, by the ch cumstance, that almost all 

 Christian's illegitimate daughters were married to Da- 

 nish noblemen. Frederic, alarmed at their disposition 

 to prefer Valdemar, agreed to accept the throne upon 

 any conditions that they would prescribe. They ac- 

 cordingly insisted, that they should be freed from the 

 payment of the usual contributions towards the support 

 of government ; that all posts of honour and profit 

 should be exclusively bestowed upon them ; and that 

 the commons should be excluded from all military pre- 

 ferment above the rank of captain. Articles to this ef- 

 fect were inserted in the capitulation which Frederic 

 signed ; and this monarch thus ascended the throne, a 

 greater slave to his nobility than any of his predeces- 

 sors. The state of Denmark at this period required a 

 monarch of great talents ; firmness, economy, and mo- 

 deration, were absolutely requisite; the army of Den- 

 mark had been nearly annihilated by the wars in the 

 last reign ; her marine was in a condition little better 

 than the army ; there was scarcely any money in the 

 treasury ; the nobles were exempted from the payment 

 of taxes ; and the people were so poor, or so discontent- 

 ed, that to levy the necessary taxes on them would have 

 been impracticable, and the attempt excessively dan- 

 gerous. The states of Norway seemed disposed to throw 

 off their dependence on Denmark, and assume a repub- 

 lican form of government ; and Sweden was evidently 

 preparing to take advantage of the reduced and humble 

 condition of her rival. The first object of Frederic was 

 to'arrange with the Dutch respecting the payment of the 

 Soundduties. Frequent disputeshadarisenwiththiscom- 

 mercial people on that subject ; and the maritime assist- 

 ance which, during the preceding reign, they had afford- 

 ed to Sweden, may be traced, in some measure, to the 

 circumstance of the Danes having increased these dues. 

 A treaty was therefore formed between Denmark and 

 Holland, consisting of two parts : By one part, called the 

 redemption treaty, the Dutch agreed to pay 150,000 

 florins yearly, for the free passage of the Sound. This 

 treaty was objected to by the Danish ministry and mer- 

 chants, and even by the Dutch merchants themselves. 

 The ministry contended, that the revenue, which might 

 fairly have been drawn from the dues levied on the 

 Dutch ships which passed the Sound yearly, would 

 have been double the redemption sum. The merchants 

 were apprehensive, that if the public revenues were not 

 sufficient, and the government should be under the ne- 

 cessity of laying on other taxes, these taxes would fall 

 upon them ; and the Dutch merchants complained, 

 that their interests had not been sufficiently attended 

 to. The other part of the treaty was one of alliance, 

 by which each power bound itself to furnish the other 

 with 4000 men, in case it was attacked. This last trea- 

 ty Frederic was soon called upon to fulfil. In 1652, 

 the Dutch envoy at Copenhagen called for the stipula- 

 ted forces, in consequence of an approaching war be- 

 tween Holland and England ; but the Danish monarch 

 hesitated to comply, as he contended that the Danish 

 envoy had not proved that England had been the ag- 

 gressor. He was also apprehensive, that if he assisted 

 Holland, Sweden would unite herself with England. 



VOL. VTI. TART H. 



Treaty 

 With the 



I. itch. 



A. D. 1652 



The Dutch were extremely anxious to gain the assist- History. 

 ance of Frederic, who resolved to take advantage of > -~ _ y"'*^' 

 their anxiety to gain a large subsidy from them. In the 

 mean time, to convince them that he was disposed to ad- 

 here to the treaty, he seized a large fleet of English 

 merchant vessels, which, at his own request, had put 

 into Copenhagen, in order to secure themselves from 

 the Dutch fleet, which was cruising in the Sound. 

 Cromwell was by no means disposed to put up with 

 this treacherous conduct, and Bradshaw was according- 

 ly sent to Copenhagen to remonstrate with Frederic. 

 The Danish monarch seemed disposed to listen to Brad- 

 shaw. The Dutch were alarmed, and immediately 

 consented to another treaty with him, by which they 

 were to pay 1 50,000 rix-dollars, on condition that the 

 king assisted them with a squadron of 20 sail. This 

 squadron Holland did not demand ; but by Denmark 

 thus engaging in war with England, this latter power was 

 prevented from getting her usual and regular supply of 

 naval stores from the Baltic. 



In 1655, the jealousies between Sweden and Den- a. D. 1G5J. 

 mark increased. Charles Gustavus was now on the 

 throne of the latter kingdom, a monarch in the prime 

 of life, of great and aspiring ambition, and of consi- 

 derable enterprise and talents. Soon after his acces- 

 sion, he carried on a war in Poland, in which he was 

 very successful. Frederic was alarmed at his con- 

 quests, and apprehensive that, if he possessed himself 

 of the southern coasts of the Baltic, the Danish com- 

 merce would be greatly injured. Charles was at this 

 time laying siege to Dantzic : Frederic and the United 

 States, who were equally interested in stopping his fur- 

 ther progress, agreed to send a united fleet. A Dutch 

 squadron accordingly entered the Baltic ; but Frederic 

 delayed uniting his fleet to it, till he ascertained whe- 

 ther Charles was likely to be still successful. As soon 

 as he heard that the Swedish monarch had met with 

 some reverses, he determined to declare war ; but he 

 was surprised and embarrassed when the Dutch fleet 

 returned home ; and soon afterwards the United States 

 concluded a treaty of peace with Sweden. He remon- 

 strated against their conduct, but with no effect : the 

 government adhered to the treaty ; but the merchants 

 fitted out private ships of war against the Swedes. 

 This latter circumstance encouraged Frederic, who now \y ST w ; t j, 

 openly declared war against Charles : an army was sent Sweden. 

 into Bremen, on which province he stated himself to 

 have some pretensions ; and the king sailed with a large 

 fleet for Dantzic. The Danish army was defeated ; and 

 the fleet returned to Copenhagen without accomplish- 

 ing any thing. 



The King of Sweden, on receiving intelligence of the 

 Danish declaration of war, left Poland, and entered 

 Holstein, where his progress was rapid ; four regiments 

 of Danes were made prisoners of war ; the whole of 

 this province was reduced, and he prepared to advance 

 into Jutland. Before, however, he could do this, it 

 was necessary to reduce the fortress of Frederics-Odde, 

 which was remarkably strong and well garrisoned. 

 Finding that the reduction of this place would require 

 some time, he left Wrangel in command of the blocka- 

 ding army. This general, sensible of the great im- 

 portance of its speedy capture, resolved, if possible, to 

 cany it by assault. An hour before day-light, the as- 

 sault was made, and the Swedes were masters of the 

 place almost before the garrison were roused from their 

 sleep. Frederic was not more fortunate by sea. Thp 

 Sv. edish fleet, consisting of twenty-six men of war, fell 

 4 r. 



