"As to your lordship"s motive for sending a flag of truce to our government, it can never be misconstrued; and your subsequent conduct has sufficiently shewn, that humanity is always the companion of true valour. You have done more; you have shewn yourself a friend of the re-establishment of peace, and good harmony, between this country and Great Britain. It is, therefore, with the sincerest esteem, I shall always feel myself attached to your lordship; and it is with the greatest respect I have the honour to subscribe myself, my lord, your lordship"s most obedient and most humble servant,
"H. Lindholm."
On these respective letters, the judicious part of mankind will judge for themselves. We need not have blushed for a Lindholm, but we have reason to glory in our Nelson. Olfert Fischer, notwithstanding the arguments of his able apologist, must always be considered as having been superabundantly solicitous for the safety of his own person: in leaving two different ships, by his own confession, while the respective crews continued fighting; and finally retiring, to continue his command, under cover of a powerful battery on sh.o.r.e. His roundly a.s.serting, that we had two ships for one, and that he was told two English ships had struck; his ungenerous and distorted application of Lord Nelson"s n.o.ble acknowledgment of the general bravery of the Danes; and the low source of solace that he finds in disingenuously limiting the advantage gained by the victory to the possession of a few wretched wrecks, without at all appreciating the grand political consequences which it so fully accomplished; exhibit, in the whole, a disposition meanly selfish, conspicuously sordid, and deplorably deficient in all the most lofty qualities of mind. What a contrast to our immortal Nelson! whose single sentence, in his letter of rebuke for this man--"_G.o.d forbid that I should destroy an unresisting Dane!_ When they became my prisoners, I became their protector!"--deserves to be charactered with letters of diamonds on the shrine destined to cover the hero"s hallowed remains.
Lord Nelson did not think it necessary to differ with his friend Lindholm, an undoubted man of honour, about punctilious particulars. To his own mind, however, or that of an enemy, he would not abate a particle of what he had a.s.serted. The following statement is copied from a private memorandum of his lordship"s, in which he acutely turns the scale of superior force against the Danes.
"Lindholm ought to have omitted the guns of the Russell, Bellona, Agamemnon, Amazon, Alcmene, Blanche, Dart, and Arrow; as the two first were aground; and, although within random shot, yet unable to do that service expected from seventy-four gun ships. The Agamemnon was not within three miles; the others, frigates and sloops, were exposed to a part of the Crown Battery and the ships in the other channel, but not fired upon by the eighteen sail drawn up to the southward of the Crown Islands. Therefore, sixty-six guns are to be taken from the British, and a hundred and sixty-six guns added to the Danes: viz. sixty-six, Crown Batteries--(I think, there were eighty-eight)--and a hundred for the batteries on Amack; besides random shot from the ships in the other channel, citadel, &c.
Therefore, the account ought to stand thus--
Guns, by Lindholm"s account 1058 Deduct, as above 366 ---- British force in action 692 ----
Danish force, by Lindholm"s account 634 Add, I say, at least 166
Danish force 800 British force 692
Superiority of the Danes 108"
Though Lord Nelson could not have rested without satisfying himself of the precise fact, he saw no necessity for entering into any altercation, on so trivial a topic, with General-Adjutant Lindholm. He contented himself, therefore, with immediately closing the subject, by the following very liberal reply.
St. George, May 3d, 1801.
"MY DEAR LORD,
"I was yesterday evening favoured with your reply to my letter of the 22d of April; and I have no scruple in a.s.suring you, that if Commodore Fischer"s letter had been couched in the same manly and honourable manner, I should have been the last man to have noticed any little inaccuracies which might get into a commander in chief"s public letter; and if the commodore had not called upon his royal highness for the truth of his a.s.sertions, I never should have noticed his letter. You have stated, truly, the force which would have been brought into action, but for the accidents of their getting aground; and, except the Desiree frigate, no other frigate or sloop fired a gun to the southward of the Crown Islands. I have done ample justice to the bravery of nearly all your officers and men; and, as it is not my intention to hurt your feelings, or those of his royal highness--but, on the contrary, to try and merit your esteem--I will only say, that I am confident you would not have wrote such a letter. Nothing, I flatter myself, in my conduct, ought to have drawn ridicule on my character from the commodore"s pen; and you have borne the handsomest testimony of it, in contradiction to his. I thought then, as I did before the action, and do now, that it is not the interest of our countries to injure each other. I am sorry that I was forced to write you so unpleasant a letter; but, for the future, I trust that none but pleasant ones will pa.s.s between us: for, I a.s.sure you, that I hope to merit the continuation of your esteem, and of having frequent opportunities of a.s.suring you how I feel interested in being your sincere and faithful friend,
"Nelson and Bronte."
"Adjutant-General Lindholm."
After a correspondence between Vice-Admiral Cronstadt, Adjutant-General for the Swedish Fleet and Commander in Chief at Carlscrona, with Sir Hyde Parker, which terminated in a.s.surances of a pacific tendency, Russia remained the only object now worthy of any serious regard. The Baltic fleet wintering in two divisions, at the two great naval a.r.s.enals of Revel and Cronstadt, and the ships in the former station being locked in by the ice several weeks longer than at the latter, it was then about the time when it might be possible to get into Revel. For that port, therefore, the British fleet immediately steered: but was met by a dispatch-boat, on the 22d of April, from the Russian Amba.s.sador at Copenhagen, announcing the death of the Emperor Paul; and bearing conciliatory propositions from Alexander the First, who had succeeded to the imperial dignities of all the Russian empire. Sir Hyde Parker, on receiving this intelligence, immediately returned into anchorage near Copenhagen: a measure which by no means met the approbation of Lord Nelson; who well knew that, in order to negociate with effect, at critical periods, force should always be at hand, and in a situation to act. The British fleets, he conceived, ought to have held a position between the two Russian squadrons; so as to have prevented the possibility of their effecting a junction, should their pacific dispositions prove otherwise than sincere.
On the 5th of May, Sir Hyde Parker having been recalled, Lord Nelson was appointed to be commander in chief; but his health was now so greatly impaired, and his spirits were so much depressed, that he received it with little hope of being able long to enjoy it"s advantages. However, not another moment was lost: for, after requiring an explicit declaration that the British trade should not be molested by Sweden, in his absence, nine sail of the line immediately weighed anchor; and proceeded, with his lordship, towards Revel. He wished for farther satisfaction respecting the friendly disposition of the Russians; and thought the best method of putting it to proof, was that of trying how he should be received in one of their ports. On the pa.s.sage, every possible opportunity was embraced for arranging, with the different commanders, plans of conduct to be adopted in the event of either finding the Russians friendly or hostile. There was a sincere desire for peace, but not the smallest dread of war. His lordship, however, no sooner approached the port of Revel, which he had determined to enter, than he learned, to his extreme mortification, that the state of the ice had permitted the escape of the Russian fleet to Cronstadt, on the 10th of May, being three days prior to his arrival. Lord Nelson was disappointed, but not disconcerted. An amicable correspondence was commenced; the governor and forts were saluted; he was permitted to anchor in the outer port; and, an invitation from sh.o.r.e being readily accepted by our hero, he was entertained with the greatest respect and attention by the governor, admiral, and all the Russian officers, at Revel. It appears, however, that the suspicions of some less honourable minds had been excited, on the occasion, to a height of considerable alarm; and, a letter having been received, on the 16th, from the Comte de Pahlen, censuring his lordship for thus visiting the Gulph of Finland, he was resolved immediately to prevent the effect of all malevolent misrepresentations, by returning to join the squadron off Bornholm, where he had left Captain Murray with seven sail of the line.
In a letter to his Excellency Earl Carysfort, dated on board the St.
George, off Gothland, May 19th, 1801, in which his lordship incloses a copy of his correspondence with the Comte de Pahlen, he says--"You will have your opinion, as I have mine, that he never would have wrote such a letter, if the fleet had been at Revel in April. Mine was a desire to mark a particular civility; which, as it was not treated in the way I think handsome, I left Revel on Sunday the 17th, and here I am. From all the Russian officers at Revel, I received the most attentive behaviour; and, I believe, they are as much surprised at the answer as I was. Sir Hyde Parker"s letter on the release of the British merchant ships has not been answered. I hope, all is right: but seamen are but bad negociators; for, we put to issue in five minutes, what diplomatic forms would be five months doing." He observes that, though he feels sensible all which he sends in this letter is of no consequence; still he knows, from experience, that to be informed there is nothing particular pa.s.sing, is comfortable. "Our fleet," he adds, "is twenty-two sail of the line, and forty-six frigates, bombs, fire-ships, and gun-vessels; and, in the fleet, not one man in the hospital-ship. A finer fleet," his lordship exultingly concludes, "never graced the ocean!" Such, however, was his lordship"s ill state of health, that he had, on the day of quitting Revel, written home for permission to relinquish the command, that he might try and re-establish it, by immediately returning to England; being unable, at present, as his lordship stated, to execute the high trust reposed in him, with either comfort to himself, or benefit to the state.
Captain Murray, having been relieved from his station, by a squadron under Rear-Admiral Totty, met Lord Nelson, with four sail of the line, off the north end of Gothland; and, on the 23d, at three in the morning, his lordship joined the rear-admiral off Gothland. He left him, however, the same evening; and, having sent the Ganges, Defence, and Veteran, to water in Kioge Bay, anch.o.r.ed next day off Rostock. His lordship had now not only received letters from the Russian government of an indisputably amicable tendency, but his Imperial Majesty, Alexander the First, with a wisdom and candour which do him the highest honour, absolutely sent Admiral Tchitchagoff for the purpose of holding a confidential communication with the British commander in chief. His lordship, accordingly, in a conference with this brave and worthy Russian admiral, soon became satisfied that the emperor, like his own most gracious sovereign, was sincerely disposed to enter into an amicable arrangement, and they respectively exchanged written doc.u.ments to that effect; thus proving, that two honest and wise seamen are by no means such bad pacific negociators as might be imagined. Nor was this all; for, on the 26th, Lord Nelson received an invitation to visit the Emperor Alexander, in a letter from the Comte de Pahlen, which also apprised his lordship that the British merchant ships, unjustly detained by his imperial majesty"s late predecessor, were now ordered to be liberated.
To this pleasing communication, his lordship instantly returned the following answer, by the Russian lugger which brought his letter from the count.
"St. George, Rostock Bay, 10 o"clock at night, 26th May 1801.
"SIR,
"I am this moment honoured with your excellency"s flattering letter of May 6, O.S. and I a.s.sure you, that his imperial majesty"s justice has filled the idea I had formed of his excellent heart and head; and, I am sure, the handsome manner in which the embargo has been taken off the British shipping, will give the greatest pleasure to my good and gracious sovereign. I am truly sensible of the great honour done me, by the invitation of his imperial majesty; and, at a future time, I hope to have the pleasure of presenting my humble duty. I have now only to pray that a permanent (which must be honourable) peace, may be re-established between our gracious sovereigns; and, that our august masters reigns may be blessed with every happiness which this world can afford: and I beg that your excellency will believe, that I am, with the highest respect, your most obedient and very humble servant,
Nelson and Bronte.
His Excellency the Comte de Pahlen."
There could now be no sort of doubt, that a peace with the northern powers must soon be concluded on terms honourable to all parties. The Danes, however, though so liberally treated, appear to have been somewhat sore from the wounds which their temerity had invited. Sweden, through the whole business, sagaciously kept as much as possible aloof: ready to meet the evils of war, if necessary; but prudently prefering to avoid them, while this might be effected without dishonour. Such, happily, was also the disposition of Russia, from the moment of the frantic Paul"s demise; as well as that of the British government, which had been forced into a state of hostility with those whom they were ever desirous of considering only as friends. Nations sincerely so disposed, have only thoroughly to understand each other, and the sword need seldom quit it"s scabbard. With respect to Denmark, however, though a positive peace was every hour expected by his lordship, he found it necessary, at the beginning of June, to remind some of her governors of the conditions of the armistice. In a letter of June 11th, to Rear-Admiral Totty, his lordship writes--"A week, from this date, all must be settled, one way or the other. Reports say, that victuallers are laying at Yarmouth, ready to sail; probably, they are waiting the issue of Lord St. Helen"s negociation at St. Petersburgh. In Denmark, we shall no longer find an enemy; they have too much to lose, by the renewal of hostilities.
At this moment, generally speaking, they hate us; but they are determined not to give up their colonies, ships, &c. In this nation, we shall not be forgiven our having the upper hand of them. I only thank G.o.d we have, or they would try and humble us to the dust." In this letter, his lordship says, to the worthy rear-admiral--"I feel much flattered at your kind wishes for my remaining with the fleet: but, although my health is perfectly re-established; yet, as the Admiralty cannot know it, I trust that they have had consideration to my situation, and directed another admiral to supersede me. Sir Thomas Graves is represented to be getting better; but, as yet, is unable to get out of his cabin." In a preceding letter to Admiral Totty, speaking of the indisposition of his worthy friend, is the following interesting pa.s.sage, admirably ill.u.s.trative of the characteristically affectionate regards of these most brave and excellent men. "Sir Thomas Graves is still very ill: so much so, that he begged _I would not_ go and see him; as the pleasure he had in seeing me, did him harm when he was left." The pain, too, which he knew could not fail to be felt by his sympathetically susceptible friend, doubtless formed an equally strong reason for dreading those visits, in the breast of the rear-admiral, though he had the kind precaution to conceal that cause. Can we wonder, that such men should be invincible!
On the 13th of June, Lord Nelson received permission for his return to England; and immediately thanked the Lords of the Admiralty, in an answer addressed to Mr. Nepean, for the very flattering and handsome manner in which their lordships had expressed their acquiescence with his request of the 17th of May. Having received, at the same time, a commission from his majesty, to invest his friend Rear-Admiral Graves with the military order of the Bath, his lordship performed that ceremony, on board the St George, next day, in the following manner.
"His Majesty"s Ship St. George, Kioge Bay, June 14, 1801.
"A chair was placed on the gratings of the skylight, on the quarter-deck, with the royal standard suspended over it, shewing the king"s arms. The chair was covered with the union flag; a guard was ranged on each side the quarter-deck, consisting of the marines, and a detachment of the rifle corps; and the captains of the fleet attended in their full-dress uniforms. The royal standard was hoisted the moment of the procession"s beginning, which took place in the following order--Lord Nelson came up the ladder in the forepart of the quarter-deck, and made three reverences to the throne; he then placed himself on the right-hand side of it.
Captain Parker, bearing the sword of state, being that which was presented to Lord Nelson by the captains of his majesty"s fleet who fought under his command at the battle of the Nile, followed Lord Nelson, and placed himself on his right side, a little in advance; making three reverences to the throne, and one to Lord Nelson. His lordship"s secretary, Mr. Wallis, then followed, bearing in his hand, on a sattin cushion, the ensigns of the order, and making similar reverences to the throne and to Lord Nelson. Captain Parker then read the Duke of Portland"s order to Lord Nelson; which being ended, Rear-Admiral Graves was introduced between Captains Hardy and Retalick, making three reverences to the throne, and one to Lord Nelson. The rear-admiral then kneeled down; and Lord Nelson, in the name of his majesty, laid the sword on the shoulders of the rear-admiral. The knight-elect then arose; and, bending his body a little forward, Lord Nelson, with the a.s.sistance of Captains Hardy and Retalick, put the ribbon over the new knight"s right shoulder, and placed the star on his left breast. His lordship then p.r.o.nounced the following speech on the occasion--
"Sir Thomas Graves! Having fulfilled the commands of his majesty, by investing you with the ensigns of the most honourable and military order of the Bath, I cannot but express how much I feel gratified that it should have fallen to my lot to be directed to confer this justly merited honour and special mark of royal favour upon you; for I cannot but reflect, that I was an eye-witness of your high merit, and distinguished gallantry, on the memorable 2d of April, and for which you are now so honourably rewarded. I hope that these honours conferred upon you, will prove to the officers in the service, that a strict perseverance in the pursuit of glorious actions, and the imitation of your brave and laudable conduct, will ever ensure them the favours and rewards of our most gracious sovereign, and the thanks and grat.i.tude of our country."
"At the conclusion of this speech, the procession retired in the same manner as it came; except that the new knight went first, making one reverence to Lord Nelson, and three to the throne.
"The moment the ribbon had been placed over Sir Thomas Graves"s shoulder, the signal being made preparative, the whole fleet fired a salute of twenty-one guns; when the ceremony was finished, the standard was hauled down. The troops and marines, on hoisting it, had presented their arms, and the drums beat a march. The troops kept their arms presented during the ceremony; and, on the standard"s being hauled down, a march was likewise beat."
A few days after, having concluded his epistolary correspondences, and arranged other requisites, both with the fleet and on sh.o.r.e, his lordship resigned the command to Admiral Sir Charles Morice Pole, who had been sent out to relieve him, and immediately sailed for England.
On the day preceding his departure, however, Lord Nelson took leave of the fleet, by issuing the following public orders--
"St. George, in Kioge Bay, 18th June 1801.
"Lord Nelson has been obliged, from the late very bad state of his health, to apply to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for leave to return to England, which their lordships have been pleased to comply with. But Lord Nelson cannot allow himself to leave the fleet, without expressing to the admirals, captains, officers, and men, how sensibly he has felt, and does feel, all their kindnesses to him: and, also, how n.o.bly and honourably they have supported him in the hour of battle, and the readiness which they have shewn to maintain the honour of their king and country on many occasions which have offered; and, had more opportunities presented themselves, Lord Nelson is firmly persuaded they would have added more glory to their country. Lord Nelson cannot but observe, with the highest satisfaction which can fill the breast of a British admiral, that--with the exception of the glaring misconduct of the officers of the Tygress and Cracker gun-brigs, and the charges alledged against the lieutenant of the Terror bomb---out of eighteen thousand men, of which the fleet is composed, not a complaint has been made of any officer or man in it; and he cannot but remark, that the extraordinary health of this fleet, under the blessing of Almighty G.o.d, is to be attributed to the great regularity, exact discipline, and chearful obedience, of every individual in the fleet. The vice-admiral a.s.sures them, that he will not fail to represent to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty their highly praise-worthy conduct; and, if it please G.o.d that the vice-admiral recovers his health, he will feel proud, on some future day, to go with them in pursuit of farther glory; and to a.s.sist in making the name of our king and country beloved and respected by all the world."
On the 1st of July, his lordship landed at Yarmouth, where he was received with universal joy. He had no sooner arrived, than his humane heart led him to visit the hospitals which contained such of his brave fellows as had been wounded in the late battle. He enquired, with parental solicitude, into the state of their health, tenderly soothed their sufferings, generously relieved their necessities, and kindly encouraged their hopes. On his leaving the town, the volunteer cavalry a.s.sembled; and escorted his lordship to Lowestoffe, a distance of eleven miles.
Lord Nelson being much indisposed when he reached Sir William Hamilton"s house in Piccadilly, where his friends had a.s.sembled to meet him, a party was formed, consisting of Sir William and Lady Hamilton, the present Earl and Countess Nelson, with their son and daughter, now Lord Merton and Lady Charlotte, and Captain Parker, to go with his lordship, for change of air, and variety of scene, as far as Box Hill, near Dorking, in Surry, where they remained a few days; and then accompanied him to the Bush Inn, at Staines, in Middles.e.x. Here they continued about a week; and afterwards visited Mrs. Maurice Nelson, at Laleham, only two miles distant from Staines. This unfortunate lady, relict of his lordship"s then recently deceased elder brother, has for many years been afflicted with total blindness. Lord Nelson now kindly condoled with her; and generously made up the small pittance left by his brother, whom he most tenderly loved, a regular annuity of two hundred pounds, besides providing for immediate exigences. It is greatly to be regretted, that his lordship"s repeated solicitations for Mr. Maurice Nelson"s advancement had been so little regarded, that this worthy gentleman, though almost his whole life in the Navy Office, was only elevated to the situation of a princ.i.p.al clerk about four months prior to his decease.
With his health considerably improved by this rural excursion, Lord Nelson returned to London; and, on dining with Mr. Addington, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was informed, by the minister, that nothing could satisfy the people, who were in a state of continual alarm at Bonaparte"s immense preparations for the threatened invasion of our country, but his lordship"s immediately taking the home command. Though the nature of the French armament, which consisted chiefly of innumerable gun-boats, rendered the attack of their flotilla a species of petty warfare apparently too trivial for the attention of our heroic admiral, it was sufficient for him to be a.s.sured that his services were requisite for the safety or welfare of his country, to obtain an immediate acquiescence; however humble, hazardous, or unprofitable, the nature of the proposed employ. His friends, however, were desirous that he should receive, on the occasion, some positive benefit. His lordship alledged, with great truth, that he was one of the worst negociators on earth for himself, and seemed disinclined to tender any conditions; but Lady Hamilton urging him to obtain, at least, an entailment of his t.i.tles on the family, which would take nothing out of the national purse, and yet preserve his merited honours to the most remote posterity, he ventured, at length, to solicit that small favour, which was very readily granted.
In consequence of this arrangement, Lord Nelson was appointed commander in chief of a powerful squadron, employed between Orfordness and Beachy-Head: together with the entire flotilla of gun-brigs, fire-ships, bomb-ketches, and vessels of every other description; and all the sea-fencibles embodied within the same district, with all the boats, vessels, and other floating defences, on board of which they might be required to act. His lordship, accordingly, hastened to Sheerness, and hoisted his flag on board L"Unite frigate of thirty-two guns. Having, with his accustomed activity, directed the respective stations of the several ships there under his command; he sailed, in a very few days, for the Downs: and it is remarkable that, on his pa.s.sage from the Nore, instead of pursuing the usual course, and proceeding through the King"s Channel, he resolved on attempting a pa.s.sage hitherto deemed impracticable for ships of war--an experiment which he judiciously considered, at this particular period, as well worthy of trial--and, having compleatly succeeded, it has ever since been properly called Nelson"s Channel.
On the 29th of July, at night, Lord Nelson arrived in the Downs, and immediately hoisted his flag on board the Leyden of sixty-four guns; but shifted it, two days after, to the Medusa frigate of thirty-two. Not a moment was now lost in making every preparation for a formidable attack on the French flotilla, by the a.s.sistance of which we were menaced with the invasion of the myriads of troops that lined the sh.o.r.e of the enemy from Brest to the Texel. Fearful, however, of our approach, they had been particularly careful to fortify their coast swarming with soldiers, by the erection of innumerable strong batteries, having furnaces for preparing red-hot shot, and adapting every other contrivance to annoy their dreaded a.s.sailants and protect themselves. From the moment it was known that Lord Nelson had undertaken the home command, every apprehension of a French invasion was changed into the wish that such an attempt might instantly be made, and there was, perhaps, scarcely a man, woman, or child, in the united kingdom, who now longer felt the smallest fear of an event which had lately excited so much general alarm. With a promptness inconceivable, his lordship planned every species of precautionary defence, while engaged in executing his offensive operations: and it is anxiously hoped, that his excellent defensive arrangements, made on this occasion, though happily not then needed, will be carefully treasured in the archives of the Admiralty, for immediate adoption, should any attempt ever be made, by a rash and powerful enemy, to approach the British sh.o.r.es; who may thus be vanquished, by our immortal hero, in a future and even distant age.
The French flotilla prepared at Boulogne had of late been considerably increased by reinforcements from Calais; and it was found difficult for the British cruizers to prevent, with certainty, or even safety, such small vessels as these gun-boats from stealing along the sh.o.r.e. They were, therefore, become extremely numerous, and it was judged prudent to attempt lessening their number by capture or demolition. Every thing being prepared with these intentions, his lordship, on the 1st of August 1801, being the third anniversary of his glorious victory off the Nile, sailed from the Downs, and stood over to the coast of France.
On the 2d, having arrived off Boulogne, twenty four armed vessels were perceived at anchor outside the port; the boasted gun-boats seemed, to his lordship, incapable of being rowed, in the smoothest water, more than a mile and a half an hour. The enemy, alarmed at the approach of the British armament, were labouring hard to erect new batteries; but the wind being too far to the northward for our bombs to go on the lee-sh.o.r.e, this attack, by way of experiment, did not commence till the 4th. The following official account of it"s success was immediately transmitted to England, by his lordship.
"Medusa, off Boulogne, 4th August 1801.