gate squadron, to sail away to the north. For the rest of the fleet
obedience was out of the question. Nelson acknowledged, but refused to
repeat the order, and, jocularly placing his glass to his blind eye,
declared that he could not see the signal. At length the British
cannonade told. Fischer, the Danish commander, had had to shift his flag
twice, at the second time to the Trekroner, and all the ships south of
that battery had either ceased fire or were practically helpless. The
Trekroner, however, was still unsubdued and rendered it impossible for
Nelson's squadron to retire, in the only direction which the wind would
allow, without severe loss. He accordingly sent a message to the Danish
Prince Regent, declaring that he would be compelled to burn the
batteries he had taken, without saving their crews, unless firing
ceased. If a truce were arranged until he could take his prisoners out
of the prizes, he was prepared to land the wounded Danes, and burn or
remove the prizes. A truce for twenty-four hours was accordingly
arranged, which Nelson employed to remove his own fleet unmolested.

The destruction of the southern batteries left Copenhagen exposed to
bombardment, and the Danes, unable to resist, yet afraid to offend the
tsar by submission, prolonged the time from day to day till news arrived
which removed all occasion for hostility. Unknown to either of the
combatants, the Tsar Paul, the life and soul of the northern
confederacy, had been murdered on the night of March 23, ten days before
the battle, and with his death the league was practically dissolved.
When Nelson advanced further into the Baltic, he found no hostile fleet
awaiting him, and the new tsar, Alexander, adopting an opposite policy,
entered into a compromise on the subject of maritime rights. The battle
of the Baltic is considered by some to have been Nelson's masterpiece.
It won for him the title of viscount and for his second in command,
Rear-Admiral Graves, the gift of the ribbon of the Bath, but the
admiralty, for official reasons, declined to confer any public reward
or honour on the officers concerned in it.

At the same time, the French occupation of Egypt was drawing towards its
inevitable close. Kleber, who was left in command by Bonaparte, perished
by the hand of an assassin, and Menou, who succeeded to the command, was
not only a weak general, but was prevented from receiving any
reinforcements by the naval supremacy of Great Britain in