on, he came to anchor near Hwen island, between the Sound and Copenhagen. ↑ On reconnoitring the enemy's force, it was seen that nearly the whole of the Danish navy was assembled at Copenhagen: that the men of war lying in the harbour and road were flanked by the batteries on the two crown islands at its entrance, the largest of which mounted above fifty pieces of artillery; by the artillery of the fortress of Frederiestadt, which, with the guns of four men of war moored at the harbour's mouth, guarded the entrance of it; together with eleven floating batteries, carrying heavy artillery. Moreover, the city was defended by a garrison of 10,000 men. To attack a fortress thus prepared for defence was an act of the most daring boldness: the influence which success would have on the issue of the enterprise alone could justify it. But it was such in which Nelson loved to display his valour, when his country's service demanded it.—Being gratified with the honour of conducting the attack, he advanced, with twelve sail of the line and a number of small vessels, to Draco Point, where he was to make his final disposition; whilst the remainder of the fleet were to co-operate by bombarding the batteries at the entrance of the harbour. The awful moment of preparation being passed, Nelson came to the attack, || captain Murray, in the edgar, leading the van. A furious battle ensued, in the course of which the English admiral and his brave crews exhibited prodigies of valour. The Danes, on the other hand, shewed themselves worthy rivals, as well as antagonists, of the British seamen; and the prince of Denmark animated his forces to exertion by the composure and spirit which he displayed in this hour of danger.-When the battle had raged with prodigious slaughter above four hours, and seventeen Danish ships of the line were taken, sunk, or burned, their batteries were almost silenced, and the city was apparently in the hands of the British admiral."This was one of the favourable moments which displayed the character of Nelson in the most advantageous light: it evinced that, with the most undaunted courage, he possessed that discretion and presence of mind which distinguish March 30. April 2. Annual Register. 112. 1801 1801 distinguish the accomplished commander from the knight errant. This letter, addressed "To the brothers of Englishmen, the Danes," had the desired effect.-Nelson going on shore in consequence of the honour shewn it, was greeted with hearty acclamations by the people, and was received with the utmost courtesy and respect by the prince. An armistice was then agreed to, that the prince and admiral might settle the terms of peace.-Some difficulties obstructed the adjustment, originating, it was supposed, in the demand that Denmark should abandon the alliance of Russia.-The negotiation was still on foot, when intelligence arrived of an event which made a sudden and total change in the state of things in the north, and had a material influence on the councils of all the powers of Europe-that was the death of the emperor Paul; who was found dead in his bed on the twenty-second of march. His son and successor, the emperor Alexander, who was free from the passions which had actuated his father, perceived the folly of that system of policy into which he had been hurried, when he had blindly suffered himself to become the dupe of France. Immediately declaring for that system of foreign policy which the empress Catharine had adopted in her latter years, he cancelled all his father's hostile acts towards Great Britain, and dispatched a minister to the court of London, to testify his friendship for his Britannic majesty.-Both parties being disposed to amity, a convention was soon concluded,† by which, in order to prevent disputes in future, the right of search of merchant ships going under convoy was limited to the sole causes in which the belligerent power may experience a real prejudice by the abuse of the neutral flag. It was also agreed, that the treaty of commerce, as settled in 1797, should be renewed; and that such arrangements should be made, respecting various matters between the two countries, as may ensure their good understanding.' Agreeably with an article in this convention, the kings of Sweden and Denmark were invited to become parties in it.-The exploit of the British arms in the Baltic being rendered more effectual by the reduction of the Danish and Swedish islands in the West Indies, these powers could have little inclination to continue a war which had commenced so inauspiciously; and especially as the negotiations with them were forwarded by the presence of an English fleet of twenty-five sail of the line in the Baltic.-The Danish government acceded to the convention in the month of october: and, in return for the prince of Denmark's liberal behaviour on this occasion, all expences attending the embargo laid on the Danish ships were * The most interesting articles of this treaty were the following. "His imperial majesty of "all the Russias and his Britannic majesty having resolved to place under a sufficient safeguard "the freedom of commerce and navigation of their subjects, in case one of them shall be at war, "whilst the other shall be neuter, have agreed: "That the ships of the neutral power shall navigate freely to the ports and upon the coasts of "the nations at war. "That the effects embarked on board neutral ships shall be free, with the exception of con. "traband of war, and of enemy's property; and it is agreed, not to comprise in the number of the "latter, the merchandise of the produce, growth, or manufacture, of the countries at war, which "should have been acquired by the subjects of the neutral power, and should be transported for "their account, which merchandise cannot be expected in any case from the freedom granted to "the flag of the said power, "That in order to determine what characterizes a blockaded port, that denomination is given "only to that where there is, by the disposition of the power which attacks it with ships stationary, or sufficiently near, an evident danger in entering. "That the ships of the neutral power shall not be stopped but upon just causes and evident "facts: that they be tried without delay, and that the proceeding be always uniform, prompt, " and legal. "In order the better to ensure the respect due to these stipulations, dictated by the sincere "desire of conciliating all interests, and to give a new proof of their loyalty and love of justice, "the high contracting parties enter here into the most formal engagement, to renew the severest "prohibitions to their captains, whether of ships of war or merchantmen, to take, keep, or con❝ceal, on board their ships, any of the objects which, in the terms of the present convention, may be reputed contraband, and respectively to take care of the execution of the orders which "they shall have published in their admiralties, and wherever it shall be necessary.”—State Papers. 212. 66 State Papers. 212. 15. 18. 1801 1801 were voluntarily borne by the English government.-The Danish troops, at the same time, evacuating Hamburgh, the navigation of the Elbe was restored: moreover, his Prussian majesty gave assurances, that, after certain arrangements should be made for the quiet of Germany, his troops should be withdrawn from Bremen and Hanover. The king of Sweden acted with less spirit and ingenuousness on this occasion than the Danish prince.-Contrary winds were pleaded as the reason why his fleet, then at Carlscroon, did not support his ally in the late engagement. The fact, however, was, that they did not join the Danes; and that these bore the brunt of a battle in which almost their whole navy was sacrificed. And the Swedish monarch, although he had acted thus coldly in the war, discovered a disinclination to amity with Great Britain by deferring his accession to the convention of Petersburg till the thirtieth of march in the ensuing year, after the treaty was concluded between his Britannic majesty and the French government. The happy termination of this war, which had threatened extreme embar rassment to the British crown, and the successful issue of the campaign in. Egypt, which deprived our enemy of his footing in that country, greatly forwarded the conclusion of a general peace.-For the negotiations which led to this event, as well as the occurrences of the campaign between. France and the powers allied against her, the reader is referred to the French history, where the whole are brought together, in order to give him a clearer idea of them. 1801 HOLLAND. A NEW Constitution for the Batavian people was at this time published, formed upon free principles, and calculated to afford them domestic comfort and prosperity.-Whether the circumstances of the nation with respect. to foreign relations is compatible with that liberty which it professes to give them, or not, the event will prove.-At present, the state is so entirely dependent on France, that its history is little deserving of notice. FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN. THE change of councils which had taken place at the court of Petersburg threatened, at this crisis, to occasion a total change in the state of things in Egypt; and, indeed, it must have had that effect had it not been prevented by an enterprise successfully executed on the part of Great Britain. -The emperor Paul had withdrawn from the confederacy, much discon- ' certed with the behaviour of his allies, especially the court of London.—' It had ever been a grand object of the Russian monarchs, from the time that Russia had become a maritime power, to gain a port in the Mediterranean: and Paul, whom we have seen honoured with the appointment 1 of grand master of the knights of Malta, flattered himself with the idea of: making the possession of this island the price of his services in the present^ war. Proportional to his sanguine hopes of obtaining this much-desired~ object was his chagrin and resentment on finding obstructions in the way to his attainment of it. Of this Buonaparte, supposing that a weak, unprincipled monarch would be more influenced by his personal feelings than by a consideration of the true interests of his empire or the general welfare of Europe, which his mind was too contracted to comprehend, made every possible advantage; and, by addressing himself artfully to his foibles, he had prepared to make him his partisan and the dupe of his policy, when his death occasioned a further change in the councils of his court. + * b a In the mean-time, it was evident that the first consul's intrigues at Petersburg, and his assurances that Malta should be the emperor's whenever it could be recovered from the English, had an influence on his enraged, distracted mind, which threatened to be very detrimental to the allied cause. The court of Constantinople, apprized of these intrigues and dreading an attack from Russia, should it persist any longer in hostilities with France, began to waver in its councils; the grand vizier himself, the warm friend of Great Britain, began to be doubtful of the expediency of 1801 + March 22. d Annual Register. 1801. 77. Idem. 80. |