DENMARK. 



648 



- Annihila- 

 tion of Da 

 nish com- 

 merce. 



Hi»tery. commerce was nearly annihilated, her finances were in 

 "" ■~ x .^—" ' a state of confusion and embarrassment, and Norway, 

 cut off by the British cruisers from the possibility of 

 gaining her necessary and usual supplies from Den- 

 mark, suffered under a scarcity approaching to famine. 

 Still the remembrance of the bombardment of Copen- 

 hagen, but more especially the dread of Bonaparte, kept 

 the Danish government back from offering, or acceding 

 to, any reconciliation with Great Britain. Such was 

 the state of things when Bonaparte lost nearly the whole 

 of his army in Russia : he was considered as no longer 

 formidable ; and Denmark seemed disposed to profit by 

 this circumstance to make peace with England. To 

 this she was probably induced by another considera- 

 tion ; Sweden, her ancient rival, was in alliance with 

 England, and she justly apprehended that this alliance 

 boded her no good. An ambassador was therefore sent 

 over to the court of St James, but without success, as 

 the terms of the alliance between that court and Swe- 

 den, by which Norway had been in a manner guaran- 

 teed to the latter power, were incompatible with a re- 

 conciliation between England and Denmark. That 

 the Danish government were anxious for this reconci- 

 liation, they sufficiently manifested by protecting Ham- 

 burgh against the French, with whom they were still 

 in alliance ; on the failure, however, of their mission to 

 the British court, they withdrew their protection from 

 Hamburgh, and united their forces to those of France. 



After the reduction of Hamburgh by Marshal Da- 

 voust, the Danish forces, which were attached to his 

 army, were inactive for some weeks, in consequence of 

 the armistice which had been concluded between France 

 and the allied powers. But on the recommencement of 

 hostilities, in the middle of August, Davoust, with the 

 Danes, marched into Mecklenburg. The object of his 

 movements and operations, was to assist the French 

 corps under Oudinot, in their attack on Berlin, which 

 was protected by the Crown Prince. The advance of 

 Davoust, however, was very slow and difficult ; the al- 

 lied troops in Mecklenburg, under the command of 

 Count Walmoden, being able to check and retard his 

 progress. With them he had several skirmishes, in 

 which the Danes fought with great bravery, and suffer- 

 ed considerably. 



It is probable that Davoust might have succeeded in 

 uniting his forces with those of Oudinot ; but the latter 

 having been defeated by the Crown Prince, and Mar- 

 shall Ney, who, after this defeat, was sent by Bonaparte 

 to take the command of Oudinot's corps, having suffer- 

 ed a still more decisive defeat by the Crown Prince at 

 the battle of Juterbock, Davoust thought it prudent to 

 retrace his steps towards Hamburgh. 



The important battle of Leipsic, on the 19th of Oc- 

 tober, rendered it absolutely necessary for Davoust to 

 consult the safety of the army under his command ; and 

 he accordingly took up a strong position on the Steig- 

 nitz. The Crown Prince having liberated Hanover, 

 marched against him, in order to recover Hamburgh, 

 and if possible to detach the Danish troops from him, 

 and compel or persuade the King of Denmark to make 

 peace. He succeeded, without much difficulty, in dis- 

 lodging Davoust from the Steignitz. No place of re- 

 fuge now remained for him but Hamburgh ; and into 

 this city he threw himself and the French division of 

 his army, leaving the right wing of the Dane3 entirely 



expc:sd to the attack of the Crown Prince. Thus for- Hiitory. 

 saken, they were attacked and defeated in two actions, w ""V™"' 

 in the beginning of December, by Count Walmoden, 

 and the Swedish troops. In one of these actions, the 

 most desperate bravery was displayed by two Jutland 

 regiments. They had suffered considerably during the 

 campaign in Mecklenburg; and in consequence of 

 their losses, they had taken an oath to support each 

 other, and neither to give nor receive quarter in any 

 subsequent battle in which they might be engaged. 

 This agreement, they most inviolably kept ; rushing on 

 the allies with indescribable fury, not more than 400 of 

 them escaped. 



Nothing now opposed the Crown Prince in his con- Armistice, 

 quest of Danish Holstein, which he overran in the A. D. 181.1. 

 course of a few days, the Danes retiring behind the 

 Eyder. On the 1 5th of December, the Prince of Hesse, 

 who commanded the Danish troops, proposed an armis- 

 tice, which was agreed to by the Crown Prince. By 

 the terms of this armistice, the whole of Holstein, and 

 that part of Sleswick which borders on the Eyder, were 

 to remain in possession of the allies ; and the Danish 

 army, which had taken refuge in Rendsburgh, was to 

 be unmolested, but to receive provisions only through 

 the country occupied by the allied troops, and not to 

 add to or strengthen the fortifications of the place. 



The Danish government and the Crown Prince not Renewal of 

 being able to adjust the terms of peace, hostilities re- hostilities, 

 commenced on the 5th of January, 1814. The first A - D - 1S14> 

 success of the allies consisted in the reduction of 

 Gluckstadt ; this was immediately followed by the ad- 

 vance of part of the Crown Princes' army, under the 

 command of General Tettenborn, into Sleswick; and 

 as the Danes were totally incapable of opposing any 

 resistance, he soon overran the whole of Sleswick, and 

 fixed his head quarters, on the 14th of January, at Col* 

 ding, the frontier town of Jutland. 



The king of Denmark at last consented to the terms Peace coa- 

 of peace proposed by the Crown Prince and great Bri- eluded 

 tain ; and accordingly, on the 1 4th of January, at Kiel, 

 the British and Swedish minister signed treaties of 

 peace with the plenipotentiary of the King of Denmark ; 

 the terms of which were, 1 st, That Denmark should 

 cede Norway to Sweden. 2d, That in return, Sweden 

 should give up Swedish Pomerania to Denmark. 3d, 

 That Stralsund should be a depot for British goods. 

 4th, That Great Britain should restore all she had con- 

 quered from Denmark, except Heligoland. 5th, That 

 Denmark should join the allies with 10,000 men, on 

 condition of receiving a subsidy of L.400,000 from 

 Great Britain for the service of the year 1814. 6th, 

 That the Danish government should abolish the slave 

 trade. And, lastly, That Sweden and Great Britain 

 should use their endeavours to bring about a peace be- 

 tween Denmark and the rest of the allied powers. 



See Mallet's Northern Antiquities translated by Dr 

 Percy ; Histoire de Dannetnarc, par Mallet ; History of 

 Denmark by the Baron de Holberg ; Suaningii Chronic. 

 Reg. Dan. Pontani Hist. Dan. Saxo Grammaticus ; 

 Meursii Hist. Dun. especially with the notes of Gramm ; 

 Modem U?iiversal History, vol. xxxii. ; Williams on the 

 rise, progress, and present state of the Northern Go- 

 vernments ; Lord Molesworth's Account of Denmark ; 

 Coxe's Travels, vol. v. See also the articles Britain, 

 France, and Sweden, (w. s.) 



with Great 

 Britain and 

 Sweden. 



