a bargain, of which he had full right to
reap the benefit. The Danes did not then charge him with taking an
unfair advantage. On the contrary, Lindholm, who was closely cognizant
of all that passed in relation to these negotiations, wrote to him:
"Your Lordship's motives for sending a flag of truce to our
Government can never be misconstrued, and your subsequent conduct has
sufficiently shown that humanity is always the companion of true
valour." The truce that then began was prolonged from day to day till
April 9th. During it both parties went on with their preparations for
war. "These few days," wrote Niebuhr, on the 6th, "have certainly been
employed in repairing the evil [of faulty preparation] as far as
possible." It is clear that the Danes understood, what Nelson's
message specified, a cessation of direct hostilities, not of other
movements. The British during the same days were putting bomb-vessels
in place, a perfectly overt act.

Nelson's success at Copenhagen was secured by address, as it had been
won by force. But it had been thoroughly won. "We cannot deny it,"
wrote Niebuhr, "we are quite beaten. Our line of defence is destroyed.
We cannot do much injury to the enemy, as long as he contents himself
with bombarding the city, docks, and fleet. The worst is the Crown
Batteries can be held no longer." Two or three days later he says
again: "The truce has been prolonged. The remaining half of our
defences are useless, now that the right wing is broken,--a defect
over which I have meditated uselessly many a time since last summer."
The result was due to Nelson's sagacious and emphatic advice as to the
direction and manner of the attack, by which the strong points of the
Danish positions were completely and unexpectedly turned. This plan,
it is credibly stated, he had formed before leaving England, although
he was not formally consulted by Parker until the 23d of March.

Having regard to the general political conditions, and especially to
the great combination of the North at this time directed against Great
Britain, the victory of Copenhagen was second in importance to none
that Nelson ever gained; while in the severity of the resistance, and
in the attendant difficulties to be overcome, the battle itself was
the most critical of all in which he was engaged. So conspicuous were
the energy and sagacity shown by him, that most seamen will agree in
the opinion of Jurien de la Graviere: "They will always be in the