Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/101

 Pultowa, in the year 1709, and his subsequent flight into Turkey, the king of Denmark eagerly embraced the opportunity of renewing hostilities with Sweden, and invaded both Holstein in the south and the province of Skaania to the north. Skaania was badly provided with troops, but it had officers trained in one of the best military schools of the age, and a peasantry full of national antipathy to the Danes. The result was a spirited attack on the invading army, followed by its defeat and precipitate flight into Denmark. The war was then carried on with alternate success in different parts—in Pomerania, in Holstein, and in Norway; until at last the military career of Charles XII. came unexpectedly to a close in the end of 1718. Some time afterwards, negotiations were opened between Sweden and Denmark, under the mediation of England, and ended in 1720 in a definitive treaty of peace, concluded at Stockholm. It was then that Sweden lost all the advantages gained since the Peace of Westphalia, and that George I. of England, as elector of Hanover, Prussia, and Peter the Great shared with Denmark the spoil of Sweden. From that time no danger threatened Denmark from the side of its neighbour, though the cessation of the rivalry was more perceptible in the decline of Sweden than in the progress of Denmark. The Danish Government had now ample experience of the sacrifices attendant on war, and of the expediency, to a state of such limited power, of avoiding political collisions. It consequently adopted a peace policy, to which it has almost ever since endeavoured to adhere.

It was towards the middle of the 18th century that the family of Bernstorff became known in the councils of Denmark, the first minister of that name, a man of superior talent and information, having come forward at that time. By the prudence of the ministry, and the pacific disposition of the sovereign, Denmark was kept from taking part in the war begun in Germany in 1740, as well as in the more general contest begun in the same country in 1756.

Frederick V. of Denmark was twice married, and died in 1766, leaving a son by each wife. The crown devolved of course on the elder, his son by the first wife, who took the name of Christian VII. He was a weak prince, and listened too readily to the insinuations of his step-mother, whose secret wish was to secure the succession of the crown to her own son, and who did not scruple, with that view, to sow discord between Christian and his young consort, a princess of England, the youngest daughter of George II. The circumstances were these. A German adventurer named Struensee had ingratiated himself into the favour of Frederick V., the late king, and had found means to be appointed his prime minister a situation which he was ill qualified to fill. He continued to hold that office under Christian, and was introduced to the young queen as her husband's confidential minister. On this the queen dowager founded an intrigue, and succeeded in persuading the king that the queen, in concert with Struensee and his friend Count Brandt, had formed a project to set him aside, and to get herself declared regent of the kingdom. By working on the fears of this weak prince, the queen dowager prevailed on him to authorize the arrest of the queen and the two ministers. The latter were thrown into prison, and Struensee was accused of having abused his authority as minister, and of other criminal acts. As there was no proof of these acts, recourse was had to the barbarous alternative of torture, the dread of which led Struensee to declare, in the form of a confession, much to the injury of the young queen, which is now considered as unfounded. This, however, did not enable him to escape, for he and Count Brandt were both beheaded in April 1772; whilst the queen consort was, at the instance of the British

Government, allowed to retire and to pass the remainder of her short life at Zell, in Hanover, repeatedly but fruitlessly demanding an open trial. This ill-fated princess died in her twenty-third year, without the satisfaction of knowing that the author of her misfortunes, the queen dowager, had lost her influence at the court of Denmark.

One of the principal political questions between Great Britain and Denmark occurred in 1780, during the war carried on by England against France, Spain, and the North American colonies. During that arduous contest, England, superior at sea, had no difficulty in obtaining, by her own merchantmen, a supply of hemp, cordage, and other naval stores from the Baltic, whilst France and Spain trusted to receiving such supplies by neutral vessels. But the English Government denied the right of neutrals to carry warlike stores; and the northern powers, headed by the ambitious Catherine of Russia, entered into a compact, called the Armed Neutrality, by which, without resorting to actual hostility, they sought to overawe England, and to continue the questionable traffic. Happily no bloodshed followed this diplomatic menace, and the question fell to the ground in 1782, on the negotiation for a general peace.

The king of Denmark, subject all along to imbecility, became after 1784 quite incapable of governing. His son, the crown prince, was therefore appointed regent, and soon passed several judicious enactments. The peasants living on the crown lands were gradually emancipated an example followed by a number of the nobility on their respective estates. In the abolition of the African slave trade Denmark had the honour of taking the lead among the Governments of Europe. The crown prince, guided by the counsels of Count Bernstorff, son of the minister already mentioned, long remained neutral in the political convulsion engendered by the French Revolution. He continued to adhere steadfastly to this plan until in 1801 the emperor Paul of Russia having, as in the case of the Armed Neutrality, formed a compact of the northern powers hostile to England, a British fleet was sent into the Baltic under the orders of Sir Hyde Parker, with Lord Nelson as his second in command.

It was this fleet which taught the Danes that their capital was not impregnable, and that the long line of men-of-war moored in front of the harbour was an insufficient defence against such enterprising opponents. The attack took place on 2d of April 1801; and the resistance of the Danes was spirited, but fruitless. The loss of the English in killed and wounded exceeded 1000 men, but that of their opponents was much greater, and most of their shipping was destroyed. Happily little injury was done to the capital. A cessation of hostilities took place forthwith, and was followed by a treaty of peace. The death of Paul, which occurred soon afterwards, dissolved the compact between the northern courts.

But no treaty of peace could be regarded as permanent during the ascendency of Napoleon. After defeating first Austria and then Prussia, that extraordinary man found means to obtain the confidence of the emperor Alexander of Russia, and in the autumn of 1807 threatened to make Denmark take part in the war against England. Although the Danish Government discovered no intention to violate its neutrality, the English ministers, eager to please the public by acting on a system of vigour, despatched to the Baltic both a fleet and an army, in order to compel the surrender of the Danish navy, upon condition of its being restored in the event of peace. To such a demand the crown prince gave an immediate negative, declaring that he was both able and willing to maintain his neutrality, and that his fleet could not be given up on any such condition. On this the English army landed near Copenhagen, laid siege to that city, and soon obliged the 