642 



DENMARK. 



History. 



>oins the 



uorthem 



> onre- 



ctracy 



against 



Britain, 



A. I). 1801. 



?.xp?dit ; on 

 against Co- 

 penhagen, 

 .vS. 1&07. 



necessary to keep the prince royal out of the privy 

 council. By the laws of Denmark, he could not be 

 sworn in a member till he had taken the sacrament, 

 and he could not take the sacrament till he had under- 

 gone a public examination ; this the ruling party con- 

 trived to put off", under the pretext that he was not yet 

 •sufficiently well instructed in religion. As soon, how- 

 ever, as he arrived at the age of lb", they were obliged 

 to consent to his admission into the privy council ; and 

 the first step he took was to advise the king to dismiss 

 his ministers, and to reinstate count Bernstoff. The 

 other party endeavoured to intimidate him; but he was 

 resolute, and carried his point. A new council was 

 formed ; and as they apprehended that the queen-dow- 

 ager might again take advantage of the king's imbeci- 

 lity, they passed an order, that no instrument signed 

 by him should be valid, unless it were countersigned 

 by the prince. One of the first acts of his administra- 

 tion rendered him extremely popular ; he completely 

 emancipated all the peasants on the estates of the crown, 

 with so much prudent and cautious preparation, that 

 no evil consequences resulted from this change on their 

 condition. His example was followed by some of the 

 nobility, but by no means to the extent that he wished 

 or expected. The slave trade was also abolished, prin- 

 cipally by the aavice and exertion of count Schimmell- 

 man, who himself possessed large estates in the West 

 Indies. 



For a considerable time after the commencement of 

 the French revolution, Denmark remained tranquil, 

 ivisely refusing to engage in the wars produced by that 

 event. At length in 1801, the madness of the empe- 

 ror Paul obliged her to accede to the confederacy 

 against Great Britain, formed by Russia and Sweden. 

 In consequence of this, Great Britain sent a formidable 

 fleet into the Baltic, the transactions of which against 

 Copenhagen have been already fully detailed in the ar- 

 ticle Britain. The defeat of the Danes, and the death 

 of Paul, dissolved the confederacy ; and the Danish 

 possessions in the East and West Indies, of which the 

 British had captured, were restored. When the war 

 between Britain and France recommenced in 1 803, Den- 

 mark resolved, if possible, to adhere strictly to her system 

 of neutrality ; but it was soon apparent that the success 

 of the latter power in Germany would place her in a 

 perilous situation, or compel her to take an active part 

 in the contest. But she escaped till the year 1807, 

 when the peace of Tilsit convinced the British cabinet, 

 that Denmark, even if she were well disposed to resist 

 the importunities of France to vmite herself against 

 England, was no longer capable of acting as an inde- 

 pendent power ; they also knew that France was deter- 

 mined to gain possession of the Danish fleet, either by 

 intrigue or force. These considerations induced them 

 to propose to the Crown Prince to surrender the Danish 

 T>avy into the hands of Great Britain, to be restored at 

 a general peace ; this proposal the Crown Prince indig- 

 nantly rejected, declaring that he was both disposed 

 and able to maintain his neutrality, and to defend his 

 kingdom against any power that durst attack it. The 

 British ministry, having failed in the negociation, ^re- 

 solved to have recourse to force. A strong expedition 

 was accordingly sent out against Copenhagen in the 

 month of August 1807: the operations and result of 

 this expedition are given in the History of Britain. 

 After the British ministry had gained their object, they 

 endeavoured to conciliate the Crown Prince ; but he was 

 so exasperated at the bombardment of his capital and 

 the seizure of his fleet, that he would listen to no terms, 



but declared war against Great Britain, and soon af- History, 

 terwards against Sweden as the ally of Britain. By S """T" , "" / 

 this conduct he threw himself completely into the 

 arms of France ; and in March 1808, Marshall Bema- 

 dotte arrived in Zealand for the purpose of organising 

 the Danish army, and concerting measures for the de- 

 fence of the island, and for the invasion of Sweden. 

 Soon after his arrival, Christian VII. died, and the Death of 

 Crown Prince was proclaimed king by the name of Fre- Christiaa 

 deric VI. V1I « 



The determination of Denmark to unite herself with 

 France, gave satisfaction to Bonaparte on several ac- 

 counts ; it afforded him a pretext for sending a large 

 army into Zealand, and the other Danish islands, and 

 the probable means of transporting it to Sweden : could 

 he effect this latter object, he would have possession of 

 the Sound, and consequently could shut out Great Bri- 

 tain from the Baltic. He, therefore, encouraged Fre- 

 deric in his hostile intentions against Sweden ; and 

 nearly 30,000 troops, Spanish, French, and Dutch, 

 were assembled in Zealand ; but owing to the watch- 

 fulness of a strong English squadron, the invasion could 

 not be attempted. In the mean time, Sweden invaded 

 Norway ; but the obstacles presented by nature, and 

 the determined resistance made by the Norwegian mi- 

 litia, and a few regular Danish troops, prevented them 

 from succeeding in this enterprise.. Hostilities between 

 Great Britain and Denmark were carried on with great 

 rancour, though on a small scale ; there were frequent 

 engagements in the Baltic and on the coasts of Nor- 

 way, with the Danish gun boats and the British cruisers, 

 in all of which the former fought bravely, and in some 

 of which they were victorious. In the East and West 

 Indies, Denmark was deprived of her possessions ; and 

 the small isle of Heligoland, at the mouth of the 

 Elbe, was occupied by the British. The principal ob- 

 ject in reducing this island was to make it a depot for 

 manufactures and colonial produce, which might thence 

 be easily introduced into the continent, in spite of Bo- 

 naparte's decrees and precautions against British com- 

 merce. A similar reason induced the British ministry The isle ef 

 to take possession of the isle of Anholt in the Baltic : Anholt 

 the loss of this island irritated the Danish government £ al ;en by 

 so much, that they resolved to attempt its recapture, ^d Tsil 

 For this purpose, in March 1811, a large armament, 

 consisting of 3000 men and 12 gun-boats, was equipped. 

 The garrison of Anholt amounted only to about 4C0 

 men, under the command of Captain Maurice of the 

 navy. The British commander, apprised of the medita- 

 ted attack, took his precautions with a great deal of 

 judgment ; he intended to have opposed the landing of 

 the Danes, but this they effected before he was aware, 

 being favoured by a thick fog. As soon as they were 

 landed, they attempted to outflank the British, or, by 

 threatening it, to compel them to fall back into the fort: 

 in this they totally failed, and being at the same time 

 attacked by some British cruisers, they were obliged to 

 retreat with great loss. Part of the Danish army had 

 advanced against the fort, and even gained the out- 

 works, but they also were repulsed, and their command- 

 er killed. This event threw them into confusion, by 

 which Captain Maurice profited, and upwards of 400 

 of them were made prisoners. As this was a larger num- 

 ber than the whole of the garrison, Captain Maurice 

 was under the necessity of permitting the rest of the 

 Danes to reimbark. 



But the injury inflicted by Great Britain on Der> 

 mark was much more serious and extensive than that 

 Avhich residted from the capture of her islands ; her 



