s reserved; and Berlin with
other great Prussian fortresses were to remain in the hands of the
French until an exorbitant war indemnity should have been paid.[34] At
one stroke Prussia was thus reduced to a second-rate power, with a
territory little greater than it possessed before the first partition of
Poland. The rule of Joseph Bonaparte at Naples, that of Louis in
Holland, and the confederation of the Rhine, were solemnly confirmed.
Above all, Russia pledged herself to join France in coercing Sweden,
Denmark, and Portugal into an adoption of the organised commercial
exclusion, known as the "continental system," and hostility to Great
Britain in the event of her resistance. If Sweden refused to join this
league, Denmark was to be compelled to declare war on her.

No sooner did it receive information of this alliance than the British
government despatched a naval armament to Denmark and landed troops,
which were soon reinforced by those withdrawn from Ruegen. There had been
no open rupture with Denmark, though much irritation existed between
Denmark and Great Britain with reference to neutral commerce. But there
were the best reasons for believing that the Danish fleet, as well as
that of Portugal, would be demanded by France and Russia, to be employed
against Great Britain, and it was certain that Denmark could not
withstand such pressure. The British envoy, Jackson, was accordingly
instructed to offer Denmark a treaty of alliance, of which one condition
was to be the deposit of her fleet on hire with the British government.
The proposal was accompanied by a threat of force, and the crown prince,
with a spirit worthy of admiration, refused the terms. In consequence a
peremptory summons to deliver up her ships of war and naval stores was
addressed to the governor of Copenhagen by the British commanders,
Admiral Gambier and Lord Cathcart, under whom Sir Arthur Wellesley was
entrusted with the reserve. The surrender, if made peaceably, was to be
in the nature of a deposit, and the fleet was to be restored at the end
of the war. The governor returned a temporising reply, and a bombardment
of Copenhagen followed (September 2); the fleet was brought to England
as prize of war; and Denmark naturally became the enemy of Great
Britain.[35] Sweden declined the proffered alliance of France and
Russia, and actually invaded Norway, then a part of the Danish kingdom.
The result was the loss of Finland and Swedish Pomerania. The kin