never mind, let them." A significant "let
them" this, which means more than he cares to express. The Danes
frankly admitted that they had been beaten, and that even their
defence was destroyed, as the Crown batteries could not be held.
Instead of any talk of "hanging" him because of his "disobedience," he
was made a Viscount and his Rear-Admiral (Graves) a Knight of the
Bath. These were the only two significant honours conferred. When he
landed at Copenhagen, it is said that the people viewed him with a
mixture of admiration and hostility. He thought they were extremely
amiable. They cheered and shouted "God bless Lord Nelson!" There can
be no reason for their doing this, except gratitude to him for not
blowing the city down about their ears.

Whatever the cause, it is quite certain that the Crown Prince and some
of the Danish statesmen treated him with studied cordiality. Sir Hyde
Parker was a drag, and indeed, an intolerable nuisance to him. When
the armistice was sealed and settled for fourteen weeks, he wished to
get of to Reval and hammer the Russian squadron there, but the
commander-in-chief shirked all responsibility, and his victim was made
to say in a letter to Lord St. Vincent "that he would have been in
Reval fourteen days before, and that no one could tell what he had
suffered," and asks my dear Lord "if he has deserved well, to let him
retire, and if ill, for heaven's sake to supersede him, for he cannot
exist in this state." Lord Nelson conducted the British case with the
Danes with consummate statesmanship, but notwithstanding this, the
fine sensitive nature of the noble fellow could not fail to be hurt
when His Majesty (the same who lost us America) stated that, "under
_all_ the circumstances, he had thought well to approve." Nelson
replied that he was sorry the armistice was only approved under _all_
the circumstances, and then gives His Majesty a slap in the eye by
informing him that every part of the _all_ was to the advantage of the
King and Country. St. Vincent, the First Lord of the Admiralty,
subsequently made amends for His Majesty's error by writing to say
that his "whole conduct was approved and admired, and that he does
not care to draw comparisons, but that everybody agrees there is only
one Nelson." This strong and valiant sailor was never at any time
unconscious of his power. What troubled him was other people's lack of
appreciation of it, though he accepted with a whimsical humour the
gr