168 L O N 
power to induce the prince regent to enter into, thefe 
views and fentiments, as no lei's conducive to his royal 
higlinefs’s own interefts and fafety; and he was to endea¬ 
vour, by every means, to eftablilh, on terms of friendly 
accommodation, the meafure which was to be the main 
object rj c his whole proceedings. This meafure was the 
■delivery of the Danifli fleet into the pcjfejjion of the Britifk ad¬ 
miral , under the mod folemn lfipulaticn that it fhould be 
reftored at the conclufion of the war between this country 
and France. 
This demand was to be ffeadily adhered to; and the 
Britiih negotiator was directed, after having exhaufted 
every endeavour to obtain the prince royal’s content to 
it, as the foundation of a treaty of alliance and general 
co-operation between the two countries, to announce un¬ 
equivocally to his royal highnefs the determination of this 
court, to enforce it by the operations of the powerful ar¬ 
mament affembled in the Sound. In prefenting this al¬ 
ternative, every poffible rtipulation was to be advanced, 
by which the prefent and future interefts of the crown of 
Denmark were to be foftered by all the refources of the 
Britifti empire. Permanent alliance ; guarantee, and even 
aggrandifement, of their actual poffefllon ; every thing that 
-the fleets.and armies, and the treafury, of England could 
afford, both for immediate fupport and for future fafety, 
was to be put at the prince royal’s difpofal. Specific pro- 
pofals were made to this effeft ; and whatever other con¬ 
ditions; the Daniffi government might fuggeft, would, it 
was declared, be readily iillened to, and, if poffible, ad¬ 
mitted, on his majefty’s part. If they feared the effects 
which an appearance of connivance at our views might 
produce in Fiance, we had an impoflng force at hand, 
which would give to acquiefcence an air of conftraint, ra¬ 
ther than of free will; and the extent of our armament 
was well calculated to put that conftruftion upon it. In 
fhort, every poffible ltipulation, whether public or fecret, 
pit at could be devifed by either party, for-the purpofe of 
rendering the propofed meafure acceptable to the feelings 
of Denmark, and propitious to her permanent interefts, 
was to form a part of the agreement to be entered into 
Upon this occafion ; but, in the laffc refort, the prince 
royal was to be informed, that, if he failed to agree to 
them, the Britiih commanders would forthwith proceed to 
hoftilities. 
Under thefe inftruflions, and with a charge to bring 
his negotiation to a fpeedy termination, Mr. jackfon lef t 
England on the ift, and arrived at Kiel on the 6th, of 
Auguft:. On the day following, he announced the pur¬ 
port of his inftructions to count Bernllorff', and refuelled 
tin audience of the prince royal, to whom he was diredted 
to add refs his overture perfonally.—It is underftood, that 
the Danilh minifter exhibited much warmth of temper, 
and violence of expreftion, in the difeufiion ; and that he 
inveighed with unufual vehemence againft the general po¬ 
licy of England, which he deferibed with the moft unqua¬ 
lified terms of reprobation.—The prince, his-mailer, on 
the contrary, is faid to have remained calm and unruffled 
during a long interview with the Britifti minifter; to have 
argued upon the nropofals made to him with dignity, and 
in terms of ftrong but decorous refiftance; and finally to 
have declared his determination to Reject them, and to ad¬ 
here to the line of policy which he had hitherto purfued. 
—It was then that Mr. Jackfon had to execute the deli¬ 
cate and painful talk of announcing the immoveable de¬ 
termination of his court, to employ means of coercion. 
The next day he was informed by count Bernftorff, that 
the prince had let out for Copenhagen, and that any pro- 
-pofals Mr. Jackfon might have to make in the name of 
his court would be fent there after him. Mr, Jackfon 
deemed it however moft conducive to the interefts en- 
trufted to him, whether with a view to the feeble hope he 
might hill entertain of coming to a friendly accommoda¬ 
tion, or to the more awful alternative of a rupture, to fol¬ 
low the prince to his capital, and to make, without the 
neceffary interruption and delay of diftant communica- 
D O N. 
tions, a laft effort to avert the calamities of war. He ac¬ 
cordingly embarked in the bay of Kiel, with a profpefl 
of reaching Copenhagen as foon as his royal highnefs ; 
but a ftorrn, and an extraordinary continuance of tempef- 
tuous weather, baffled this hope ; and, after a day and a half 
contending with contrary winds, he, landed, and under¬ 
took the journey to Copenhagen through the duchies. 
In the afternoon of the izth of Auguft, Mr. Jackfon 
reached Copenhagen ; it was no doubt latisfaftory to per¬ 
ceive that the fecrecy with which the meafures of his 
court had been hitherto purfued, and the vigilance of the 
fquaaron ftationed in the Belt, had been fo fuccefsful, 
that no progrefs whatever-had been made in affembiing 
an army in Zealand. The few militia-men that accom¬ 
panied him were the firft that had come from without; 
fome dozens were on the road from different parts of that 
iftand ; a levy had been made in Copenhagen from amor.gft 
the populace ; but without the walls of that city, and of 
Elfineur, there was not throughout the whole illand a bat¬ 
talion of troops of any defeription. Not a gun was 
mounted on the ramparts of Copenhagen. Some fermen¬ 
tation prevailed nmonglt the inhabitants, occaffoned by the 
prince royal’s hidden arrival there, the caufe of which had 
not become generally or accurately known, although the 
appearance of our men-of-war and tranfports in the Sound, 
and the feceffion of the French minifter, and of others 
whole courts were dependent upon France, were thought 
to indicate that the preffure of the moment came from the 
fide of England. 
Count Joachim Bernftorff, in the abfence of his brother, 
who had not accompanied the prince royal from Kiel, 
was charged, in the capacity of under fecretary, with the 
direction of the foreign department. To him the Britifli 
negotiator had been referred by the principal minifter, 
and to him therefore he applied as foon as he reached the 
Danifli capital, in order to renew his intercourfe with the 
prince royal, and to afeertain exactly what could be yet 
expected to refult from his royal highnefs’s determination. 
He was admitted without delay to an interview; bat in¬ 
formed, at the beginning of it, that the prince had flayed 
but a fiiort time at Copenhagen, and was returned to 
Slefwic, whither he had diredted all communications to be 
forwarded to him. The intention of the Danifli govern¬ 
ment now became evident; their plan could only be to 
gain time, to ainufe the Britifti minifter by an appearance 
of negotiation, the particulars of which, when he wa 3 at 
Kiel, were to be fent for decilion to Copenhagen, and, 
when he was at the latter place, to be returned back to 
Kiel. This fort of equivocating conduct, on the part of 
the Danifli government, could not fail to be regarded as - 
an undoubted fymptom of a ftudied difpofition to avoid 
negotiation, and, at the fame time, to prevent the BritiflE. 
minifter from forming that conclufion upon which the 
operations of the Britiili forces were to be regulated. I& 
therefore became neceffary for him to llate the cafe point¬ 
edly to count Joachim, and to require an unequivocal 
anfvver, whether or not the prince royal had left him any 
power and authority to negotiate upon the bafis cn which, 
alone it was known to his royal highnefs that a rupture 
could be prevented. No diftinft anl'wer was, we under¬ 
hand, for a long time given to this queftion ; but, upon 
being clofely prefl'ed, the Danifli minifter was under the 
necelfity of acknowledging that he was at liberty, only 
to receive the overtures that might be made to him, and 
to rranfmit them to Kolding; and that he had no autho¬ 
rity whatever to conclude any arrangement upon terms at 
all compatible with Mr. Jackfon’s in'ftruftions. Upon 
this point then the negotiation broke off; and Mr. Jack- 
Ion, having, taken his leave of the Danifli minifter, and 
being furnilhed by him with the neceffary paffports, re¬ 
paired that fame evening on-board the advanced frigate 
of the Britifti fquadron, at anchor within a few miles of the 
port of Copenhagen, The next morning the Britifti com¬ 
manders were informed that all hope of a friendly accom¬ 
modation had been fruitrated, and that they were at li- 
i berty 
