1801.] THE NAVAL BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 403 six sail of the line and eleven floating batteries, besides small vessels. Their line of defence nearest the town was flanked by two formidable works called the Crown Batteries. In the forenoon of the 1st, Nelson again reconnoitered the Danish position; and upon his return gave the signal to weigh. At about eight o'clock the ships dropped anchor, having coasted along the edge of the Middle Ground. Their anchorage was distant about two miles from the southernmost ship of the Danish line. Captain Hardy was employed in soundings, far into the night. When he reported that there was sufficient depth of water, there was no more sleep for the impatient vice-admiral. He was at work till morning with his clerks, preparing his orders for this day's terrible duty. "It was ten of April morn by the chime : As they drifted on their path There was silence deep as death; Well might the bravest have some doubts. The pilots had been ordered on board Nelson's ship. They were mostly mates of vessels in the Baltic trade. Their indecision perplexed and irritated the vice-admiral. He said afterwards, that heaven only knew what he must have suffered: if any merit attached to him, it was for combating the dangers of the shallows in defiance of these pilots, who only wanted to keep their own heads clear of shot. The Edgar led the way. "The Agamemnon could not weather the shoal of the Middle, and was obliged to anchor.... The Bellona and Russell grounded.... These accidents prevented the extension of the line by the three ships." + The mistakes of the pilots led to the disasters of the Bellona and Russell; for they had said that the water shoaled on the larboard shore. Nelson came next to these ships, in the Elephant. He repaired the error, and led all the vessels astern of him safely on the starboard side. ‡ Captain Fremantle followed him in the Ganges. This officer says, "I dropped my anchor in the spot lord Nelson desired me from the gangway of the Elephant. In passing the line, my master was killed, and my pilot had his arm shot off, so that I was obliged to carry the ship in myself, and I had full employment on my hands." By half-past eleven the action had become general. Nine ships of the line only could take part in it. The diminution of Nelson's available force by one fourth caused those who were in the action to suffer more from the enemy's ships and batteries. Captain Riou, with six frigates and sloops, was to assist in the attack of the ships at the mouth of the harbour. "These accidents," writes Nelson, "threw the gallant and good captain Riou under a very heavy fire: the consequence has been the death of captain Riou, and many brave officers and men in the frigates and sloops."|| Admiral Parker, when the cannonade had lasted three hours, seeing how little progress to the scene of action had been made by three ships which he had sent as a reinforcement, gave the signal for discontinuing the engagement. That signal was No. 39. Nelson continued to walk the deck, without appearing to notice the Campbell-"Battle of the Baltic." Nelson's Dispatch-"London Gazette." See, for these nautical details, James's "Naval History," which is more accurate in these matters than Southey's "Life of Nelson." § Letter, dated April 4th, in "Court and Cabinets," &c., vol. iii. p. 151. Il Dispatch. 404 NELSON'S VICTORY-AN ARMISTICE CONCLUDED. [1801. "No. Acknow signal. "Shall I repeat it?" said the signal-lieutenant. ledge it." He turned to the captain: "You know, Foley, I have only one eye. I can't see it," putting his glass to his blind eye.* " Nail my signal for close action to the mast," cried Nelson. Poor Riou saw the admiral's signal, and was killed as he hauled off from the tremendous fire to which he was exposed. About two the firing ceased along nearly the whole of the Danish line. But the vessels that had struck their flags fired on the boats that went to take possession of them. Fremantle says, "When the ships abreast of the Elephant and Ganges were completely silenced, lord Nelson desired me to go to him. He was in his cabin, talking to some Danish officers out of one of the ships captured, saying how anxious he was to meet the Russians, and wished it had been them, instead of Danes we had engaged. At this time he put into my hand a letter, which he meant immediately to send to the Crown Prince of Denmark in a flag of truce." It was the famous letter which he would not seal with a wafer, calling for wax and a candle, saying, "This is no time to appear hurried and informal:" "Vice-Admiral lord Nelson has been commanded to spare Denmark when she no longer resists. The line of defence which covers her shores has struck to the British flag; but if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, he must set on fire all the prizes he has taken, without having the power of saving the brave men who have so nobly defended them." Fremantle says, "At this time he was aware that our ships were cut to pieces, and it would be difficult to get them out." A Danish superior officer appeared in about half an hour with a note from the Crown Prince, desiring to know the particular object of sending the flag of truce. Nelson wrote, that his object was humanity; that he consented that hostilities should cease; that he would take his prisoners out of the vessels, and burn or carry off his prizes as he should think fit; concluding with saying that he should consider this the greatest victory he had ever gained, if it should effect a reconciliation between his own sovereign and the king of Denmark. The firing having ceased entirely, Nelson lost not a moment in endeavouring to get out of his dangerous position amongst the shoals. "We cut our cables and ran out," writes Fremantle. "The ships were so crippled they would not steer. The Elephant and Defiance both ran on shore. We ran on shore, and the Monarch." There were six sail of the line and a frigate fast on shore before the batteries ceased firing. Nelson left the Elephant, and went to his admiral in the London, following the Danish adjutant-general, who had gone to the flag-ship to negotiate for terms. It was agreed that there should be a suspension of hostilities for four-andtwenty hours. During the night the boats of sir Hyde Parker's division were employed in getting the grounded ships afloat, and in bringing out the prizes. This great battle was fought on Good Friday. The next day Nelson went on shore, as arranged, for an interview with the Crown Prince. The accounts of Nelson's reception by the Danish people, on his way to the palace, differ. "There were neither murmurs nor acclamations," says Southey. Nelson himself told Fremantle that "he was hailed with cheers by the multitude, who came to receive him at the water-side." Some consider the cheers as a tribute to Nelson's humanity in sparing the conquered in the prizes, when Southey-"Life of Nelson." 1801.] ASSASSINATION OF THE EMPEROR PAUL. 405 he might have destroyed them. Fremantle attributes the popular feeling to distaste of the quarrel with England: "The populace are much in our favour, and the merchants already feel the total want of commerce." After a negotiation which lasted five days, an armistice for fourteen weeks was agreed upon. The Danish government wanted an armistice for a shorter period, for Nelson said plainly that he required a long term that he might act against the Russian fleet. He finally prevailed. The Danish prisoners and the wounded were sent on shore; to be credited to the account of Great Britain in the event of renewed hostilities. The prizes, with the exception of one sixty-four, were burned. The stores found in the captured vessels enabled our fleet to be refitted. Nelson went off to the Baltic to look for the Russians; but a sudden event had changed the temper of the Court of St. Petersburgh. The emperor Paul had been assassinated. The czar of Russia was of a violent nature bordering on insanity, if he were not really mad. From being one of the fiercest haters of the French Revolution he had suddenly become an idolator of Bonaparte. Russia had sent her armies under Suwarroff to fight in the cause of the Allied powers in 1799. In 1800 Paul declared war against England, and burnt her merchant vessels. The suspension of the interchange of Russian products with British manufactures was fatal to the interests of the Russian proprietors of the soil. When they remonstrated, Paul threatened them with Siberia. Exile after exile was hurried away; the prisons were filled; executions were frequent ; till the greatest and most powerful of the aristocracy began to think that their own safety could only be secured by the one terrible defence of enslaved. populations against the caprices of their tyrants. His ministers, his wife, his children, were not safe from his fury. The palace in which he lived was guarded as a fortress. On the night of the 23d of March, the conspirators, by virtue of their military rank, obtained admission; and the czar was murdered in his bed-room. Bonaparte had the almost incredible meanness to promulgate in the Moniteur that the English government was to be suspected of this crime. The death of Paul destroyed one of his projects for the ruin of Eugland. It broke up the adhesion of Russia to the Northern Treaty of Armed Neutrality; Sweden made no hostile demonstrations; and the armistice with Denmark was followed up by a general Convention in which all the disputes were adjusted. The French army in Egypt, when left by Bonaparte under the command of Kléber, had contended with very partial success against the Turks, under the command of the Grand Vizier, assisted by an English fleet commanded by sir Sidney Smith. The Allies recovered the fortress of El Arish; and Kléber, left with a force which he felt to be unequal to the retention of the country, agreed to evacuate Egypt, by a treaty signed at El Arish in January, 1800. One of the conditions was that the French troops should return without molestation to Europe. The British government refused to ratify the treaty; and Kléber renewed the war with increased vigour. He achieved victories over the troops of the Grand Seignior, which appeared to give the French secure possession of the country which they now expected that they should colonize. On the 14th of June, 1800, this most able of the French generals was assassinated at Cairo by a fanatic; and the command fell to general Menou. The expedition under general Abercromby was undertaken 406 EXPEDITION TO EGYPT-ABERCROMBY. [1801. through the vigorous determination of Mr. Pitt to make one strenuous effort for the expulsion of the French. On the 2d of March, the English fleet anchored in the bay of Aboukir-the scene of Nelson's great victory. Beneath the waters of that bay the hulk of L'Orient lay engulphed, and was touched by the cable of a ship of that armament that now came to finish the work of the 1st of August. It was two o'clock on the morning of the 8th of March before a debarkation could be attempted. Five thousand five hundred troops first left their transports, and proceeded in a hundred and fifty boats towards the castle of Aboukir and the sand-hills where the French were posted. The sailors steadily rowed on; the soldiers sat unmoved; whilst showers of ball fell amongst them and all around them. The loss was considerable; but on went this first division in unbroken array. The shore was reached almost simultaneously by all the boats; the men jumped out into the surf, and were quickly charging up the sand-hills. A second party landed in the same style; and then a third. Bertrand, a French general at St. Helena, said that the landing of the first division was like a movement on the opera stage-in five or six minutes five thousand five hundred men stood in battle array.* The French retired; but our gallant fellows had five hundred killed or wounded. During the day Abercromby completed the landing of the remaining divisions of his army. But it was not so easy to land the cannon and stores. It was necessary also to invest the castle of Aboukir. It was the 12th before the British general advanced. On the * Quoted by Alison from Las Cases. 1801.] THE FRENCH EVACUATE EGYPT. 407 13th a severe action took place, in which our loss was considerable. On the 19th the main armies of the two nations were in strong positions near Alexandria. Their numbers were nearly equal. Early in the morning of the 21st the French infantry under Lanusse commenced an attack on the British lines. Lanusse was driven back, and was killed. Another column came up to renew the attack; and now the French cavalry, with Menou at their head, made a desperate charge. The famous 42nd Highlanders bore the brunt of this conflict. Various were the changes of fortune through this fight, which began at day break and lasted till ten of the forenoon. At length Menou retreated. Early in the day Abercromby received a wound which proved mortal. When the French cavalry charged he galloped to the spot; was unhorsed; but with his own hand the gallant soldier, who had seen sixty-two years, disarmed the enemy who had wounded him. He again mounted his horse, and concealed his hurt from his faithful soldiers. When the action was over, he fainted from loss of blood; was conveyed to the admiral's ship; and lingered till the 28th. The battle of Alexandria first destroyed the belief that the British landforces were unequal to a struggle with the troops that Bonaparte had led to many a victory. The French were no longer" the Invincibles." The army of Abercromby had lost its veteran leader; but the command did not fall into the hands of one destitute of vigour. General Hutchinson was reinforced; the Turks under the Grand Vizier again advanced through the desert to encounter the enemy that had so severely handled them in the previous year. They were assisted by experienced English officers. On the 20th of May Hutchinson, on the left bank of the Nile, invested Cairo, which had been strongly fortified by Kléber and Menou. The Grand Vizier was in force on the opposite bank. The Indian army under general Baird was daily expected to arrive from Bombay. Belliard, who commanded at Cairo, proposed to capitulate; and it was at once agreed to accept the same conditions as those of the rejected treaty of El Arish-that the French troops should be conveyed home, with their arms, baggage, and ten pieces of artillery. Many of the objects of Egyptian art, collected by the French, were to be surrendered.* Menou, who was at Alexandria, refused at first to accept the conditions for himself, but he yielded to the presence of a British force on the 27th of August. In that autumn Egypt was cleared of the French, and was restored to the dominion of the Sultan. At the period when the Armed Neutrality of the Northern Powers was broken up, chiefly by our naval preponderance, and the first successes of the British arms in Egypt had given the people some confidence in our generals and soldiers, there were negotiations for peace with France proceeding in London with great secrecy. M. Otto, a French protestant, of some experience in diplomacy, had been in London since 1799. In August 1800, during the suspension of arms between Austria and France, the First Consul gave to "Citizen Otto, commissary of the government for the exchange of French prisoners in England, power to propose, consent to, and sign a general The Rosetta stone, and the sarcophagus of Alexander, now in the British Museum, were amongst these ancient monuments; many of which the French were ultimately allowed to take with them. |