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.
[Illustration: KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK.]
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.
_A FRENCH SOLDIER BECOMES KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY._
The career of Napoleon, which passed over Europe like a tornado, made
itself felt in the Scandinavian peninsula, where it gave rise to radical
changes. In the preceding tale its effect upon Denmark was shown. While
the wars which desolated Europe did not reach the soil of Sweden and
Norway, yet these countries were deeply affected and their relations
decidedly changed.
The work began in 1808 in the obstinate folly of Gustavus IV., who
defiantly kept up an active trade with England when Russia and Prussia
had closed their ports against British ships. As a result Russia declared
war against Sweden, sent an immense army into Finland, and after a
desperate struggle compelled the Swedes to evacuate that region. In this
way Sweden lost a great province which it had held for six hundred years.
This was one result of a weak king's setting himself against the great
powers of Europe. By his lack of political good sense and his obstinacy
Sweden lost nearly half its territory and Gustavus lost his throne, for
the bitter indignation of the Swedes against him was such that he was
taken prisoner by conspirators and forced to sign a deed in which he
renounced the throne of Sweden for himself and his descendants. Not a
hand was raised to help him and he spent the remainder of his life as a
wandering exile.
It was this series of events that in time brought a soldier of the French
army to the Swedish throne. How this came about is well worth the
telling. After the abdication of Gustavus, Duke Charles of Sodermanland
was elected king as Charles XIII., and as he had no children, a Danish
prince was chosen to succeed him.
But this heir to the throne, Charles Augustus by name, died suddenly the
next year. The people believed he had been poisoned, and on the day of
the funeral, suspecting the haughty old Count Fersen of his death, they
seized him and in their fury literally tore him to pieces.
It was now proposed to take the brother of the deceased prince as heir to
the throne, but little could be done in those days without the Corsican
emperor being consulted about it, and the young Baron Mörner was sent to
Paris to inform Napoleon of what was proposed. The youthful envoy was an
admirer of the conqueror, and thinking to please him he suggested that
one of the French generals should be chosen to rule over Sweden.
Napoleon was highly gratified with the suggestion, but when the baron
named Marshal Jean Bernadotte as his choice the emperor was much less
pleased. He would much rather have chosen some one else, Bernadotte being
too independent in character to please him. Difficulties were thrown in
the way, but Mörner obtained Bernadotte's consent, and by his argument
that Sweden needed an able and experienced soldier to regain its old
power the Swedish Ricksdag was brought over to his side.
In the end Napoleon gave his consent, and the marshal was elected Crown
Prince of Sweden. But the French emperor evidently doubted him still, for
on parting with him he used these significant farewell words: "Go, then,
and let us fulfil our several destinies." He had reason for his distrust,
as the events of later years showed.
This selection ranks with the remarkable instances of the mutations of
fortune. The new crown prince had begun life as the son of a poor French
lawyer and in 1780, at the age of sixteen, entered the army as a common
soldier. When the wars of the Revolution began he had risen to the rank
of a sergeant, which was as high as a man of common birth could rise in
the old army of France.
But he made rapid progress in the army of the Revolution, being a man of
great courage and unusual military genius. Under Napoleon, whose
discerning eye no soldier of ability escaped, Bernadotte became one of
the most successful of the French generals, was made governor of a
province, ambassador, and minister of war, and had much to do with
winning the great victories of Austerlitz, Jena, and Wagram. Finally he
was made a marshal of France and prince of Ponte Corvo in Italy.
But Napoleon had doubts of him. He was too independent. He opposed the
emperor's ambitious plans and defended the liberties of the people, and
was distrusted by the conqueror for other causes. The astute Corsican
feared that he would not be the man to reduce Sweden to a province of
France, and the event proved that Napoleon was right.
It was in 1810 that Crown Prince Bernadotte, who adopted the name of
Charles John as the title of his new rank, arrived in Sweden with his son
Oscar. The people were delighted with his appearance. A handsome and
imposing man, with black wavy hair, an eagle nose, keen, penetrating eyes
and the manner of one accustomed to command, also a clear and eloquent
speaker, polished in address and courteous in his dealings with all, they
felt that in him they had a true king; while his reputation as one of the
leading soldiers in Napoleon's great army gave them assurance that, if
war should arise, their armies would be ably led.
Sweden, when Bernadotte set foot on its soil, was in a helpless state of
decadence, having become little better than a dependency of France. If
ever it needed a strong ruler then was the time, but Charles XIII. was
incapable as a monarch, and from the time of his landing the new crown
prince ruled the country as though there were no king on the throne.
He at once renounced Catholicism and was admitted into the Lutheran
church, the state religion of Sweden. Proposing to consult the best
interests of his new country and not to rule as a vassal of Napoleon, he
was indignant when the emperor ordered that Sweden should declare war
against England. In the existing condition of the country he felt
compelled to submit, but he secretly advised the British government that
the declaration of war was a mere formality and not a gun was fired on
either side.
He also made a secret alliance with Alexander of Russia. None of these
movements could be made public, for the Swedes were then fervent admirers
of Napoleon and hoped by his aid to gain the lost province of Finland and
win revenge upon Russia, their old enemy. Bernadotte saw farther than
they, feeling that the inordinate ambition of Napoleon must lead to his
downfall and that it was best for Sweden to have an anchor out to
leeward. But all these political deals had to be kept from the knowledge
of the Swedes.
A change in public opinion came when Napoleon, suspecting the loyalty to
him of his former marshal, heaped insults upon Sweden, and finally, in
the beginning of 1812, invaded Swedish Pomerania, intending by this act
to frighten the Swedes into submission. Instead, he exasperated them and
lost their friendship, thus giving Bernadotte the opportunity he had
awaited.
"Napoleon has himself thrown down the gauntlet, and I will take it up,"
he said, and at once began to prepare for the struggle which he foresaw.
With the incitement of the invasion of Pomerania the Crown Prince Charles
John--Prince Karl Johan, as the Swedes called him--began active
preparations for war. The army was largely increased, new levies being
raised and arms and equipment purchased, while alliances were made with
foreign powers. It came as a surprise to the Swedes when the fact leaked
out that it was not against Russia, but against France, that these
warlike movements were being made.
Napoleon now, seeing the state of affairs his injudicious act had brought
about, sought to gain the friendship of Sweden, making alluring offers to
his late marshal. His change of front came too late. Bernadotte had no
confidence in him and came into closer relations with his enemies,
encouraging the perplexed Alexander to a firm resistance against the
French emperor in the great invasion threatened.
Everyone knows the disastrous end of this invasion. When Napoleon was
marching on Moscow Alexander and Charles John met at Abo and a treaty was
formed in which Sweden was promised recompense for the loss of Finland in
the acquisition of Norway, while a friendship sprang up between the two
which lasted till the end of their lives.
Events now moved rapidly. The Corsican conqueror entered Moscow. It was
burned and he was forced to retreat. A terrible winter and hostile forces
destroyed the Grand Army, only a handful of which escaped. Then came the
death struggle in Germany of the greatest soldier in modern history. On
every side his enemies rose against him and in the spring of 1813
Bernadotte joined them with an army of thirty thousand Swedes.
This army took part in the several battles that followed, and made its
mark especially at Dennewitz, where Marshal Ney commanded the French.
Bernadotte thought that the Prussians should bear the brunt of this
battle, since Berlin was threatened, and for this reason he held the
Swedes in reserve. But when the right wing of the Prussians was broken,
Ney cheering his soldiers by shouting, "My children, the victory is
ours!" he deemed it time to take a hand, and ordered General Cardell, his
artillery chief, to support the Prussians.
Cardell won the day by a brilliant stratagem. He ordered the caissons
into line with the guns and deployed his regiments so that they bore the
appearance of a division of cavalry, the mounted artillerists bearing
down upon the French at a gallop, with drawn swords.
Failing to see the guns, and thinking that they had only cavalry to deal
with, the French closed their lines and with fixed bayonets awaited the
Swedes. Suddenly the line halted, the guns were rushed forward and
reversed, the men sprang to their pieces, and from a long line of
frowning cannon poured a fiery hail of grape and canister that tore
remorselessly through the solid ranks of the French. The results were
awful: dead and dying strewed the ground; the survivors fled in
confusion; that deadly volley turned the day in favor of the French, and
Ney and his braves were forced to make a hasty retreat.
In the great battle of Leipsic no section of the Swedish army but the
artillery took part. When the English agent, Sir C. Stewart, sought by
threats to drive Bernadotte into action, he haughtily replied:
"Do you forget that I am Prince of Sweden and one of the greatest
generals of the age?"
Bernadotte was considering the uplifting of his new kingdom rather than
the overthrow of his old master. He was saving his army for the campaign
he proposed against Denmark. Of this campaign we need only say that it
ended in the acquisition of Norway. The Danes were beaten and their king
disheartened, and in the peace of 1814 he ceded Norway to Sweden,
receiving Swedish Pomerania in exchange.
For centuries Sweden had sought to absorb Norway, and now, by the action
of this crown prince from a foreign land, the result seemed achieved. But
the brave Norwegians themselves remained to be dealt with. They did not
propose, if they could avoid it, to be forced into vassalage to the
Swedes. A party arose in favor of the independence of Norway, a
government was formed, and their Danish governor, Prince Christian
Frederick, was elected king of Norway.
It was a hasty act, which could not be sustained against the trained army
of Sweden. Norway was poor, her population small, her defences out of
order, her army made up of raw recruits under untried officers, yet the
old viking blood flowed in the veins of the people and they were bent on
striking for their freedom.
Bernadotte returned to Sweden in the summer of 1814 and at once led his
army into Norway. Little fighting took place, the Swedish crown prince
showing himself favorably disposed, and peace and union finally came,
Charles XIII. of Sweden being elected king of Norway. Yet it was not as a
subject nation, but as an independent and equal kingdom that Norway
entered this union. All her old rights and privileges were retained and
the government remained free from any interference on the part of Sweden.
It was to the wisdom of Bernadotte that this result was due. An enforced
union, he knew, would yield only hatred and bitterness, and to drive a
brave people to the verge of despair was not the way to bring them into
the position of satisfied subjects. Norway remained as free as ever in
her history, dwelling side by side with Sweden, with one king over both
countries.
In 1818 the weak Charles XIII. died and the strong Bernadotte, or Charles
John, ascended the throne as Charles XIV. The remainder of his reign was
one of peace and growing prosperity, and when he died in 1844, leaving
the throne to his son Oscar, the grateful people of Sweden felt that they
owed much to their soldier king.
_THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK._
The time once was when, as we have seen, all Scandinavia, and England
also, were governed by Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great
powers of Europe. Since that proud time the power of the Danish throne
has steadily declined, until now it is but the shadow of its former self.
A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced to yield Norway to Sweden.
All its possessions on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was
compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring islands, with
the exception of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the
peninsula. The time was near at hand when it was to lose these and more
and be reduced to a mere fragment of its once great realm.
The new trouble began in 1848, when the French revolution of that date
stirred up all the peoples of Europe to fresh demands. North of Holstein
lay the duchy of Sleswick, occupying the southern half of the peninsula,
its inhabitants, like those of Holstein, being nearly all Germans. These
duchies had long chafed under Danish rule, though for centuries they had
formed part of Denmark, and now they made an eager demand for union with
what they termed their true "Fatherland."
A new king, Frederick VII., ascended the Danish throne in January, 1848.
In February the French revolution broke out. Almost instantly the duchies
were in a blaze of revolt, and on the 23d of April a Danish army of
eleven thousand men met one of nearly three times its strength, composed
of the insurgents and German allies, and was defeated after a hard fight
and forced to take refuge on the little island Als, where it was
protected by Danish ships of war.
This was the beginning of a struggle that continued at intervals for
nearly three years, the great powers occasionally intervening and
bringing about a truce. In 1849, the Danes gained some important
successes, followed by a second truce. The most severe battle was that of
July 24, 1850, when a Danish army nearly forty thousand strong attacked
the insurgents and battle went on amid mist and rain for two days, ending
in the triumph of the Danes.
New successes were gained in September, Sleswick being fully occupied and
Holstein invaded, when a strong Austrian army marched into the latter
province and again the war was brought to an end. Sleswick was left under
the Danish king, but a joint commission of Danes, Austrians, and
Prussians was formed to govern Holstein until its relations to Denmark
could be determined.
For the thirteen years following all remained at rest. But in that year
King Frederick VII. of Denmark died and immediately the eldest son of the
Duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the duchies, hastened into them and
proclaimed himself as ruler, under the title of Duke Frederick VIII., of
the united and independent province of Sleswick-Holstein.
[Illustration: Reproduced by permission of the Philadelphia Museum. THE
BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK.]
This impulsive act led to most important
results. All the German powers to the south, large and small alike,
supported the pretensions of the self-styled Frederick VIII., and before
the end of the year Austrian and Prussian armies entered the province,
which they proposed to hold until the claims of the house of Augustenburg
should be definitely settled.
This threw Denmark into a difficult position. If she wished to avoid
dismemberment she must fight, and to fight against these two great powers
seemed madness. Yet Prussia and Austria pressed one condition after
another upon her, each more galling than the last. England, however,
offered herself as umpire between the parties, strongly favoring Denmark.
In consequence, fully expecting aid from England, a Danish army of forty
thousand men crossed the border and attacked the Prussians.
But England sent no aid and the Danes were forced to retreat and once
more take refuge upon Als Island. As England showed no intention of
helping them with armed assistance, despair followed the patriotic effort
of the Danes, who were left single-handed to oppose their powerful foes.
Yet in spite of their greatly inferior power they made a gallant defence,
their courage and endurance winning the sympathy of those who looked on.
Yet to struggle against such fearful odds was hopeless. The Prussians
occupied one strong point after another until they had penetrated to the
most northerly point of the peninsula. Then, to save his kingdom from
utter destruction, Christian IX. gave way and accepted the terms offered
him, agreeing to renounce all claims on the duchies of Sleswick-Holstein
and Lauenburg and to abide by the decision of Prussia and Austria as to
the future fate of these provinces.
Thus were the weak dealt with by the strong, in the rude old fashion, and
of its once proud dominion Denmark was left only the northern half of the
peninsula, consisting of Jutland and its neighboring islands, a pocket
kingdom of some 15,000 square miles extent in lieu of its once great and
proud dominion.
Yet it was not without satisfaction that the despoiled Danes looked on
when their two powerful enemies, quarreling over the division of the
spoils, sprang at one another's throats like two dogs snarling over a
bone, a great war arising between Austria and Prussia over this question,
at a cost far greater than the value of the provinces fought for.
Prussia being the victor, the rights of Denmark and the claims of the
Duke of Augustenburg alike were quietly laid aside and the matter settled
by the absorption of the provinces into the German empire, Denmark being
left to thank God that Bismarck did not decide to take the rest.
_BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN NORWAY AND SWEDEN._