become peculiarly well acquainted, in that and other high diplomatic situations, with the general politics of the North of Europe. The details of that gentleman's mission to the Danish court have not been, as practised on many similar occasions, laid before parliament. But the substance of his instructions, which were themselves offered to he produced when the subject was discussed in the house of commons, was very generally known; and we have been able from good and authentic sources, to collect the following particulars of what passed upon that occasion. Upon the ground of Buona. parte's design to shut the ports of Holstein against the British flag, and forcibly to employ the Danish navy against this country, Mr. Jack son was instructed to repair to the residence of the prince royal of Denmark, and to enter into immediate and unreserved explanation with his royal highness respecting the views and sentiments of the Bri tish government. He was to use every argument in his power to im duce the prince regent to enter into these views and sentiments, as no less conducive to his royal high ness's own interests and safety; and he was to endeavour, by cvery means, to establish, on terms of friendly accommodation, the measure which was to be the main object of His whole proceedings. This measure was the delivery of the Danish fleet into the possession of the British admiral, under the most solemn stipulation that it should be restored at the conclusion of the war between this country and France. We understand that Mr. Jackson was directed to urge many of the topics above alluded to, in proof of the necessity of taking this step, founded upon the belief which the conduct of the court of Denmark had created of her adherence to French, rather than to British interests. The tone assumed by her in the discussions relative to the French decree of blockade, and the reprisals of Great Britain, was to be particularly insisted upon as a sufficient motive of itself, for calling upon Denmark for an unequivocal declaration of her intentions, and for an infallible pledge of the execu. tion of them, if not hostile to his majesty's interests. The recent events in the North of Europe ren. dered this now indispensable, and left no option between exposing this country to great and immediate danger, and disarming France of the means on which she was known to rely for the formation of a grand maritime league against Great Britain. The removal of the Danish fleet was necessary, on account of the season of the year, which would soon impede naval operations in the Baltic, and give time and opportu nity for the French troops being beforehand with us in the arsenal of Copenhagen: for that reason too, ordinary measures of precaution, such as might at other times, and under other circumstances, have been resorted to, were altogether insufficient. This demand there. fore, was to be steadily adhered to, and the British negotiator was directed, after having exhausted every endeavour to obtain the prince royal's consent to it, as the foundation, of a treaty of alliance and general co-operation between the two coun tries, to announce unequivocally to his royal highness the determination of this court, to enforce it by the operations of the powerful arma ment assembled in the Sound. In of August, The case was foreseen presenting this alternative, every that impediments might be thrown Possible stipulation was to be ad- in the way of his communication vanced, by which, the present and with the British mission at Copenfuture interests of the crown of hagen, and with the British comDenmark were to be fostered by all manders; and a period was therethe resources of the British empire. fore fixed, beyond which, they Permanent alliance; guarantee, and were not to wait to hear from him, even aggrandizement of their actual but were to suppose a constraint possession; every thing that the to have been put upon his person, fleets and armies, and the treasury and were to proceed in the execu of England could afford, both for tion of their instructions. immediate support, and for future safety, was to be put at the prince royal's disposal. Specific proposals were made to this effect; and what ever other conditions the Danish government might suggest, would, it was declared, be readily listened to, and if possible, admitted on his majesty's part. If they feared the effects, which an appearance of connivance at our views might produce in France, we had an imposing force at hand, which would give to acquiescence an air of constraint, rather than of free will, and the extent of our armament was well calculated to put that construction upon it. In short, every possible stipulation, whether public or secret, that could be devised by either party, for the purpose of rendering the proposed measure acceptable to the feelings of Denmark, and propitions to her permanent interests, was to form a part of the agreement to be entered into upon this occasion: but, in the last resort, the prince royal was to be informed, that if he failed to agree to them, the British commanders would forthwith proceed to hostilities. Under these instructions, and with a charge to bring his nego. tiation to a speedy termination, Mr. Jackson left England on the 1st, and arrived at Kiel on the 6th On reaching Holstein, Mr. Jackson found that a considerable degree of fermentation prevailed there, especially in the port of Tonningen, on account of an order issued for the second time, under the sanction of the British minister, to the Circle of Lower Saxony, enjoining the masters of all British vessels to quit that port, and to place themselves under the protection of the squa. dron blockading the Elbe. This order Mr. Thornton judged necessary, in consequence of the intelligence he had obtained, of its being the intention of the French general Bernadotte, at that time command. ing the French troops in the neighbourhood of Hamburg, to proceed on a certain day to occupy the ports of Holstein and Sleswig. The Danish ministers not having received the same information, ornot choosing to give credit to it, were highly offended at this step, which they termed precipitate and rash, and they furthermore asserted that it did not come within the limits of Mr. Thornton's functions. It was under these untoward ap. pearances, that, on the day after his arrival at Kiel, Mr. Jackson had to announce the purport of his instructions to count Bernstorff, and to apply for an audience of the prince royal, to whom he was di rected to address his overture personally. It is understood, that the Danish minister exhibited much warmth of temper, and violence of expression, in the discussion; and that he inveighed with unusual vehemence against the general policy of England, which he described with the most unqualified terms of reprobation. The prince, his master, on the contrary, is said to have remained calm and unruffled, during a long interview with the British minister, to have argued upon the proposals made to him with dignity, and in terms of strong, but decorous resistance, and finally to have declared his determination to reject them, and to adhere to the line of policy which he had hitherto pur. sued. It was then that Mr. Jack son had to execute the delicate and painful task of announcing the immoveable determination of his court, to employ means of coercion. The next day, he was informed by count Bernstorff, that the prince had set out for Copenhagen, and that any proposals Mr. Jackson might have to make in the name of his court, would be sent there after him. Mr. Jackson deemed it how ever most conducive to the interests entrusted to him, whether with a view to the feeble hope he might still entertain of coming to a friendly ac commodation, or to the more awful alternative of a rupture, to follow the prince to his capital, and to make, without the necessary interruption and delay of distant communica. tions, a last effort to avert the cala. mities of war. He accordingly embarked in the bay of Kiel, with a prospect of reaching Copenhagen as soon as his royal highness; but a storm and an extraordinary con. tinuance of tempestuous weather, baffled this hope, and after a day and a half contending with contrary winds, he landed and undertook the journey to Copenhagen, through the duchies. We have been in. formed of a circumstance attending this journey, which we think it right to make our readers acquainted with, as a proof that, in prosecuting the measures of rigour, and apparent harshness, which the interests of the country demanded, no opportunity was lost of shewing such acts of courtesy and conciliation, as might induce a corresponding disposition in the minds of the Danish government. In the vessel in which Mr. Jackson crossed the Great Belt, were some twenty or thirty militia-men, going to join their regiments in Zealand. This vessel was boarded by boats from the British squadron, and at the same time another was stopped, in which were several officers belonging to the prince royal's staff. Our naval officers were, conformably to their instructions, about to send them all back to Funen, when Mr. Jackson interfered, and recom mended that they should be allowed to proceed, because the officers were attached to the prince's per son, and because it would be inde corous to commit any act of violence or hostility under the eyes of a mi nister, who was on his way to the seat of the Danish government, with the hope of accomplishing an amicable arrangement of existing differences.-They were accord ingly allowed to pass. In the afternoon of the 12th of August, Mr. Jackson reached Co penhagen; it was no doubt satis factory to perceive that the secrecy with which the measures of his court had been hitherto pursued, and and the vigilance of the squadron stationed in the Belt, had been so successful, that no progress what ever had been made in assembling an army in Zealand. The few militia-men that accompanied him, were the first that had come from without; some dozens were on the road from different parts of that island; a levy had been made in Copenhagen from amongst the populace: but without the walls of that city, and of Elsineur, there was not throughout the whole island a battalion of troops of any description. Not a gun was mounted on the ramparts of Copenhagen. Some fermentation prevailed amongst the inhabitants, occasioned by the prince royal's sudden arrival there, the cause of which had not become generally or accurately known, al. though the appearance of our men of war and transports in the Sound, and the secession of the French minister, and of others whose courts were dependent upon France, were thought to indicate that the pres. sure of the moment came from the side of England. The departure of Mr. Brook Taylor, who had been appointed to supersede Mr. Garlike, as resident minister at the Danish court, strengthened the belief that no friendly disposition existed on the part of England, and that little hope was left of the possibility of an accommodation, especially as it was known that he went off without notifying his intention to the minister for the foreign depart. ment, and consequently that no communication of a satisfactory nature could have taken place between them. The apprehensions there. fore of the public, as to what was about to happen, were becoming gradually more and more general, when Mr. Jackson's appearance occasioned a momentary suspension of them, and renewed the hope that something might yet be done to avert the calamities which the operations of a large military and naval force could not fail to bring down upon a populous city. Accordingly, his proceedin, s were watched with the utmost anxiety and every word that he was known, or sup posed to have uttered, was noticed with eagerness by the crowd that soon surrounded the inn at which he had alighted. Count Joachim Bernstorff, in the absence of his brother, who had not accompanied the prince royal from Kiel, was charged, in the ca. pacity of under secretary, with the direction of the foreign department. To him the British negotiator had been referred by the principal minister, and to him therefore he ap plied as soon as he reached the Danish capital, in order to renew his intercourse with the prince roy al, and to ascertain exactly what could be yet expected to result from his royal highness's determi nation. He was admitted without delay to an interview, and informed at the beginning of it, that the prince had stayed but a short time at Copenhagen, and was returned to Sleswig, whither he had directed all communications to be forwarded to him. The intention of the Danish government now became evident: their plan could only be to gain time, to amuse the British minister by an appearance of negotiation, the particulars of which, when he was at Kiel, were to be sent for decision to Copenhagen ; and when he was at the latter place, to be returned back to Kie!. This sort of equivocating conduct, on the part of the Danish government, could not fail to be regarded as an unequivocal symptom of a studied disposition to avoid negotiation, and at the same time, to prevent the British, minister from forming that conclusion upon which the operations of the British forces were to be regulated. It therefore became necessary for him to state the case pointedly to count Joachim, and to require an unequivocal answer, whether or not the prince royal had left him any power and authority to negotiate upon the basis on which alone it was known to his royal highness that a rupture could be prevented. No distinct answer was, we understand, for a long time given to this question; but upon being closely pressed, the Da. nish minister was under the necessity of acknowledging that he was t liberty only to take ad referen. dum, the overtures that might be made to him, and to transmit them to Kolding; and that he had no authority whatever to conclude any arrangement upon terms at all compatible with Mr. Jackson's instruc Upon this point then the negotiation broke off; and Mr. Jackson having taken his leave of the Danish minister, and being fur. nished by him with the necessary passports, which were accompanied by some expressions of personal courtesy and good will to him, re, paired that same evening on-board the advanced frigate of the British squadron at anchor within a few miles of the port of Copenhagen. The next morning the British commanders were informed that all hope of a friendly accommodation had been frustrated, and that they were at liberty to proceed in their operations according to the instructions with which they were for that case provided. The army accordingly landed without opposition, at the village of Vedbeck, on the morning of the 16th of August; and, after some ineffectual attempts of the enemy, to annoy its left wing, by the fire of their gun-boats, and to impede its progress by sallies which were always repulsed with loss, it closely invested the town on the land-side. The fleet removing to an advanced anchorage, formed an impenetrable blockade by sea; at the same time, a proclamation was issued by the commanders, notifying to the inhabitants of Zealand the motives of their undertaking; the conduct that would be observed towards them; and an assurance that at any time when the demand of his Britannic majesty should be acceded to, hostilities should cease. On the evening of the 2d of September, the land batteries, and the bomb and mortar vessels, opened a tremendous fire upon the town, and with such effect that in the course of a very short time, a ge neral conflagration appeared to have taken place. The fire was return. ed but feebly from the ramparts of the town, and from the citadel and crown batteries. On the night of the 3d, the British fire was considerably slackened. This has been vari. ously accounted for, some supposing that it was owing to the great expenditure of ammunition on the preceding night, and the apprehension that enough would not remain for the prosecution of the siege : others, that the British general expected that the impression already made, would produce proposals for capitulation. It was probably because the enemy adopted the first of |