The loss of Denmark’s friendship may possibly have been balanced in the eyes of Mr. Canning by the possession of her fleet, but to the Postmaster General and the other officials at Lombard Street, who were responsible for the maintenance of Postal communications it was a very grievous disaster. The device of sending letters under cover to Altona, involving as it did much inconvenience and delay even if the letters were as safe as Mr. Nicholas believed, had been resorted to with much grumbling on the part of the merchants, who only discovered its value when it had become impossible. Gothenburg was now the only port in Northern Europe available for the Packets. The station was inconvenient; the passage was long and stormy. The Swedish Post-Office in Hamburg had been closed for some months, and it was consequently by no means clear that there was any great advantage in sending the mails out of England at all. A certain number were doubtless forwarded from Gothenburg by various secret and irregular routes, but it was indeed a desperate crisis which made it necessary to entrust valuable letters or remittances, on which the credit of a substantial merchant might rest, to smugglers and the other wild and lawless characters who would alone venture to incur the risks inseparable from the undertaking. The situation was intolerable. The merchants were clamorous for some assistance, and it was only too evident that unless the trade of the country were to perish, and with it our supremacy, an expedient must be quickly found. At this juncture the capture of Heligoland provided a base from which efforts might be made to reach Hamburg with some chance of success. No exposition is needed to show how great the value of Heligoland was to this country. The island lies but a few hours’ sail from the mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Ems. British goods might be landed there with perfect confidence, for little need be feared from any naval attack, and could lie there unmolested until the fishermen of the island, or of the Hanover and Holstein coasts, smuggled them into Bremen or Hamburg. A very valuable trade of this description soon sprang up, for the profits were great enough to gild the risks. The goods were, of course, contraband in Hamburg, but the exacting requisitions of clothing for Napoleon’s army made it necessary for the citizens to chance the penalty, and to trade with the smugglers at any hazard for Yorkshire cloth.