would yield upon this point; and one of the Danes hinted at the
renewal of hostilities. "Renew hostilities!" cried Nelson to one of his
friends--for he understood French enough to comprehend what was said,
though not to answer it in the same language--"tell him we are ready
at a moment! ready to bombard this very night!" The conference, however,
proceeded amicably on both sides; and as the commissioners could not
agree on this head, they broke up, leaving Nelson to settle it with the
prince. A levee was held forthwith in one of the state-rooms, a scene
well suited for such a consultation; for all these rooms had been
stripped of their furniture, in fear of a bombardment. To a bombardment
also Nelson was looking at this time: fatigue and anxiety, and vexation
at the dilatory measures of the commander-in-chief, combined to make
him irritable; and as he was on his way to the prince's dining-room,
he whispered to the officer on whose arm he was leaning, "Though I have
only one eye, I can see that all this will burn well." After dinner he
was closeted with the prince; and they agreed that the armistice should
continue fourteen weeks; and that, at its termination, fourteen days'
notice should be given before the recommencement of hostilities.

An official account of the battle was published by Olfert Fischer, the
Danish commander-in-chief in which it was asserted that our force was
greatly superior; nevertheless, that two of our ships of the line had
struck; that the others were so weakened, and especially Lord Nelson's
own ship, as to fire only single shots for an hour before the end of the
action; and that this hero himself, in the middle and very heat of
the conflict, sent a flag of truce on shore, to propose a cessation
of hostilities. For the truth of this account the Dane appealed to the
prince, and all those who, like him, had been eyewitnesses of the scene.
Nelson was exceedingly indignant at such a statement, and addressed a
letter in confutation of it to the Adjutant-General Lindholm; thinking
this incumbent on him for the information of the prince, since His Royal
Highness had been appealed to as a witness: "Otherwise," said he, "had
Commodore Fischer confined himself to his own veracity, I should have
treated his official letter with the contempt it deserved, and allowed
the world to appreciate the merits of the two commanding officers."
After pointing out and detecting some of the misstatements in the
account, h