244 ENGLAND. 



taken, or, in case of improvement, in the state in which they then 

 were, together with all the Dutch artillery taken in them. 



In the month of November, a new revolution took place in the 

 government of France. The celebrated Bonaparte having returned 

 from Egypt, displaced the directory, and assumed a kind of dictatorial 

 power, under the title of First Consul, according to a new constitution 

 which he procured to be framed and accepted. In order to induce 

 the people to consent to this change, by which he was invested with 

 the supreme authority, he promised them that he would take effectual 

 measures to put an end to the miseries and destruction of war. In 

 pursuance of this promise, on the very day on Which he entered on 

 his new dignity, he addressed a note immediately to the king of 

 Great Britain, in which he expressed a wish to contribute effectually 

 to a general pacification ; and in a second note, afterwards transmitted 

 by M. Talleyrand, to the English ministry, proposed " an immediate 

 suspension of arms, and that plenipotentiaries on each side should 

 repair to Dunkirk, or any other town as advantageously situated, for 

 the quickness of the respective communications, and who should 

 apply themselves, without any delay, to effect the re-establishment of 

 peace and a good understanding between the French republic and 

 England." The British ministry, however, showed no disposition to 

 accede to the overture, probably conceiving the new government of 

 France not to have as yet acquired sufficient stability to be treated 

 with, and encouraged, by the success which had attended the arms 

 of the allies in the preceding campaign, to hope that they should 

 be able still more effectually to humble and weaken France by a con- 

 tinuance of the war. 



In the mean time a serious dispute had taken place between Eng- 

 land and the northern powers, relative to the right of search of neutral 

 ships, and some other demands of those powers, which were judged 

 incompatible with the honour and interests of Great Britain. The 

 emperor of Russia, so lately the determined foe of France, had now 

 become her ally, and the enemy of England, and had incited and sup- 

 ported this coalition of the maritime powers of the north, against the 

 jnaval superiority of Britain. To suppress this dangerous combina- 

 tion, before it had attained maturity, an armament was fitted out in 

 the British ports, consisting of seventeen sail of the line, three 

 frigates, and about twenty bomb-ketches and gun-brigs, under the 

 command of sir Hyde Parker and lord Nelson. This fleet sailed from 

 Yarmouth on the 12th of March, and triumphantly passed the Sound, 

 which was deemed impossible, and reached the capital of Denmark. 

 The Danes had made very formidable dispositions. Before the city 

 was stationed an armed flotilla consisting of ships of the line, galleys, 

 fire-ships, and gun-boats. These were flanked and supported by 

 extensive batteries, on the two islands called the Crowns, the largest 

 of which mounted from fifty to seventy pieces of cannon. The attack 

 was made on the 2d of April by a division of the English fleet under 

 lord Nelson, consisting of twelve ships of the line and four frigates. 

 After a very severe engagement, an end was put to the contest by 

 lord Nelson spontaneously offering a cessation of arms. The Danes 

 lost in the battle eighteen ships, among which were seven men of 

 war of the line fitted up for that particular occasion. Lord Nelson 

 had proceeded to approach Copenhagen, into which some bombs 

 were thrown ; but an attack on the city was prevented by a flag of 

 truce, which was sent on board lord Nelson's ship, and an armis- 



