The English Invaders And The Danish Fleet
The Napoleonic wars filled all Europe with tumult and disorder, the
far-northern realms of Norway and Sweden and the far-eastern one of
Turkey alone escaping from being drawn into the maelstrom of conflict.
Denmark, the Scandinavian kingdom nearest the region of conflict, did not
escape, but was made the victim of wars with which it had no concern to a
disastrous extent.
Christian VII. was then the Danish
king, but he was so feeble, both in
mind and body, that the Crown Prince Frederick was made regent or
joint-ruler in 1784, and was practically king until his father's death in
1808, when he came to the throne as Frederick VI. Count Bernstorf was
minister of foreign affairs and kept Denmark at peace until his death in
1799, when troubles at once broke out between Denmark and England.
It was a different state of affairs now from that far-off time of Canute
and the vikings, when the Danes overran England and a Dane filled its
throne. The tide had long turned and Denmark was an almost helpless
victim in the hands of the great maritime island, which sought to control
the politics of the whole continent during the terrible struggle with
Napoleon.
For some years the English made complaints against Denmark, saying that
it was carrying food and forage into French and German ports in defiance
of the laws of neutrality. As these laws were of English origin the Danes
did not feel inclined to submit to them, and after the death of Bernstorf
Danish men-of-war were sent to sea to protect their merchant vessels.
Quarrels and hostile feeling arose from this, but the crisis did not come
until the summer of 1800, when Russia, Sweden, and Prussia formed a
treaty for an "armed neutrality" and invited Denmark to join it. England
at once took alarm. While the other nations were powerful enough to defy
her, Denmark was poor and quite unprepared for warlike operations, and
when, in the spring of 1801, a fleet under Admirals Parker and Nelson
appeared on her waters she was by no means in readiness for such a
demonstration.
Taken by surprise as they were, however, the Danes had no thought of
weakly submitting to this hostile movement, and did their best to prevent
the English from passing the Sound. Their chief defence was the fortress
of Cronberg, near Elsinore, where heavy cannon were mounted to command
the narrow strait here separating Sweden and Denmark. But by closely
hugging the Swedish coast Parker kept beyond the range of these guns, and
in April, 1801, cast anchor in the harbor of Copenhagen. His fleet
consisted of fifty-one vessels, twenty of them being line-of-battle
ships.
Alarmed by the coming of the fleet and taking advantage of the delays in
its movement, the Danes had made every possible preparation for a
vigorous resistance. Strong batteries defended the city and an imposing
array of heavily armed ships, drawn up behind a shoal, presented a
formidable line of defence.
Some delay took place, against the wish of the fiery Nelson, who was
second in command of the fleet. Nelson was eager for an immediate attack,
and finally Parker gave way and left the matter in his hands.
Nelson was in command of the Elephant, but finding that ship too large
for the waters before him he removed his flag to the St. George and led
the way to the attack with the smaller vessels of the fleet, Parker
remaining at anchor some miles distant with the larger vessels.
A fierce and bloody conflict ensued, lasting from four to five hours.
Nelson closed on his foe by getting within the shoal, but he met with a
stout and vigorous resistance, the Danish seamen, under their able
commander Olfert Fischer, fighting with the daring for which their people
had been noted in the far past. Three times the aged Fischer left one
burning ship to hoist his flag on another, and several of the younger
captains fought their ships against Nelson's larger vessels as long as
the shattered hulks kept above water.
So protracted and obstinate was the defence that Parker grew alarmed and
signalled Nelson to retreat. This was the last signal to be thought of
by a man like Nelson and, clapping the glass to his blind eye, he said,
"I really do not see the signal," and kept on fighting.
Nelson was between two fires, that from the shore batteries and that from
the ships, and though he destroyed the first line of the Danish defence
and threatened the capital with serious injury, the batteries were not
silenced and the English ships were suffering severely.
He therefore sent an English officer on shore with a flag of truce,
declaring that unless the Danes on shore ceased firing he would burn the
ships in his hands without being able to save the crews, and pointing out
that these crews were the worst sufferers, as they received a great part
of the fire of both parties.
A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon to permit of the prisoners
being removed, and in the end the crown prince, against the wishes of his
commanders, stopped all firing and agreed to discuss terms of peace. Thus
ended a battle which Nelson said was the fiercest and best contested of
the many in which he had taken part.
The peace that followed lasted for several years, and Denmark, freed from
connection with the hostilities existing in southern Europe, rapidly
increased in trading activity. During these years, indeed, the Danes
served as the commerce carriers for the other countries of Europe, and
this prosperous state of affairs lasted till 1807, when new troubles
arose and England repeated her violent act of 1801.
The English government either had, or fancied it had, good grounds for
suspecting that Denmark had joined Alexander of Russia in a treaty with
France, and on the plea that the fleet of Denmark might be used in the
cause of the French emperor, an array of fifty-four ships of war was sent
to demand its immediate delivery to England.
Denmark was taken more fully by surprise than before. Its army was absent
in Holstein to guard against an attack which was feared from Germany, and
Copenhagen was thus left without protection. General Peymann refused to
comply with the preposterous demand of the English admiral, whereupon an
army of thirty-three thousand men was landed and the city attacked by
land and sea.
For three days a fierce bombardment continued, and not until a large
portion of the almost unprotected city was laid in ashes and the
remainder threatened with like destruction did the general consent to
admit the English troops into the citadel of Frederikshavn.
The outcome of this brigand-like attack, which had nothing more definite
than a suspicion to warrant it, and is ranked in history as of the same
type with the burning of Washington some years later, was the seizure of
the entire Danish fleet by the assailants. The ships carried off included
eighteen ships-of-the-line, twenty-one frigates, six brigs and
twenty-five gunboats, with a large amount of naval stores of all kinds.
The act was no more warrantable than were the viking descents upon
England centuries before. The latter were the acts of barbarian
freebooters, and England, in an age of boasted civilization, put herself
in the same position. The Danes were nearly crushed by the blow and many
years passed away before their bitter resentment at the outrage
decreased.
The political result of it was that Denmark allied herself with Napoleon,
a measure which gave that unhappy land no small amount of trouble and
distress and led in 1814 to the loss of Norway, which for four hundred
years had been united with the Danish realm. Norway was handed over to
Swedish rule, while England took for her share of the spoils the island
of Heligoland, which she wanted to secure for the command of the Elbe.
Thus the birds of prey gathered round and despoiled the weak realm of
Denmark, which was to be further robbed in later years.