One circumstance, which completely changed the political complexion of affairs, was as yet unknown to him.  On the night of March 24th the Czar Paul had been murdered, and with him fell the main motive force and support of the Armed Neutrality.  Ignorant of this fact, Nelson’s one object, the most to be made of the victory, was to get at the detachment of the Russian fleet—­twelve ships—­lying in the harbor of Revel, before the breaking up of the ice allowed it to join the main body at Cronstadt.  The difficulty in the way lay not in Nelson’s hesitation to act instantly, nor in the power of the British fleet to do so; it lay in the conflicting views and purposes of other persons, of the Crown Prince and of Parker, the representatives of Denmark and of Great Britain.  Parker was resolved, so Nelson has told us, not to leave Denmark hostile in his rear, flanking his line of communications if he proceeded up the Baltic; and Nelson admits, although with his sagacious daring he would have disregarded, that the batteries which commanded the shoal ground above Copenhagen might have seriously interrupted the passage.  He was ready to run risks again for the very adequate object mentioned.  On the other hand the Crown Prince, while recognizing the exposure of Copenhagen, feared to yield even to the menace of bombardment, lest he should incur the vengeance of the Czar.  It was to find a middle term between these opposing motives that Nelson’s diplomacy was exerted.

On the 3d of April he went ashore to visit the Crown Prince, by whom he was received with all possible attention.  “The populace,” says Stewart, “showed a mixture of admiration, curiosity, and displeasure.  A strong guard secured his safety, and appeared necessary to keep off the mob, whose rage, although mixed with admiration at his thus trusting himself amongst them, was naturally to be expected.  It perhaps savored of rashness in him thus early to risk himself among them; but with him his Country’s cause was paramount to all personal considerations.”  Nelson himself did not note these threatening indications.  Fond of observation, with vanity easily touched, and indifferent to danger, he heard only homage in the murmurs about him.  “The people received me as they always have done; and even the stairs of the palace were crowded, huzzaing, and saying, ’God bless Lord Nelson.’”

His interview with the Crown Prince was private, only Lindholm being present.  It ranged, according to his private letter to Addington, over the whole subject of the existing differences with Great Britain, and the respective interests of the two states.  The most important points to be noticed in this personal discussion, which was preliminary to the actual negotiation, are, first, Nelson’s statement of the cause for the presence of the British fleet, and, second, the basis of agreement he proposed.  As regards the former, to a question of the Prince he replied categorically:  The fleet is here “to crush