On the same day the Commandant of Copenhagen issued the following proclamation; “Hostilities having commenced, I herewith command, in consequence of the order of the King, that all British property shall be sequestered, and that every one, who is in possession of English money or property of any kind, shall announce it to the police, who will carry the necessary measures into execution. Every one, who does not act according to this order, shall be regarded as a traitor to the country.”
After some ineffectual attempts of the Danes to annoy the left wing of the army, by the fire of their gun-boats, and to impede its progress by sallies, which were always repulsed with loss, the city of Copenhagen was closely invested on the land side. The fleet removing to an advanced anchorage, formed an impenetrable blockade by sea.
On the 2nd Sept. the British Commanders summoned the Danish General for the last time to surrender the ships of war on the before mentioned conditions, and in an amicable manner, repeating, that the horrors of a bombardment would be the immediate consequences of a refusal, and that it must fall on the head of those, in whose power it was to avert the evil by a single word. General Peymann persisting in his refusal, the mortar-batteries which had been erected by the army in the several positions they had taken around Copenhagen, together with the bomb-vessels, which were placed in convenient situations, opened their fire with such power and effect, that in a short time the town was set on fire, and was kept in flames in different places till the evening of the 5th, when a considerable part of it being consumed, and the conflagration having arrived at a great height, threatening the speedy destruction of the whole city, the enemy sent out a flag of truce, desiring an armistice, to afford time to treat for a capitulation. After some correspondence had passed between General Peymann, Admiral Gambier, and Lord Cathcart, certain articles were agreed upon; by which all the Danish ships and vessels of war, consisting of nineteen sail of the line[1], twenty-three frigates and sloops, and twenty-
- ↑ Two of the line-of-battle ships and two frigates were destroyed, being unserviceable.
