The garrison of Copenhagen consisted of about eight thousand men. There were some regular troops, but the most of the defenders were volunteers, students and citizens. Entrenchments and batteries were raised, and armed; hulks were moored in the passes, and others sunk, to prevent the English ships from coming in. The fleet, the main object of the attack, was sheltered in the inner basins of the dock-yard. But the Danish preparations were only intended to resist assault, and were powerless against bombardment. The Prince Regent, having taken all precautions which circumstances permitted, committed the charge of the city and its defences to General Peyman, a brave and worthy soldier, with orders to resist to the last; and then hurried away into Holstein, to endeavor to find some means of bringing the Danish army to the rescue. At the same time General Castenskiod was ordered to assemble the military of Zealand. But these untrained levies could be of very little use against the veteran English troops, and the devoted city was left to the defence of General Peyman’s small force. When Jackson returned to the British fleet the word was given, and a shocking scene of slaughter and destruction ensued. The troops debarked to the north of Copenhagen. Most of them were Hessians and other Germans in English employ. It was known that the city could not be carried by assault without fearful loss to the attacking party, so the English troops approached, threw up some works, but did not attempt a regular siege. A bombardment was the means resorted to; and by this dreadful means the city was to be burned and ruined, until the Danes submitted. It was now that Colonel Congreve made the first trial, in actual warfare, of the destructive rockets which bear his name. On the 1st of September the English preparations were completed. Cathcart had erected a battery of sixty-eight pieces, forty-eight of which were mortars. He then summoned the city, demanding the port, arsenal and fleet, on pain of burning the place. In his letter he prayed General Peyman to yield, and not force him to extremity against a place filled with non-combatants, women and children. Peyman, true to the trust confided in him by the Crown Prince, and sustained by the indignant citizens, answered the summons in the negative. On the 2d of September, in the evening, the bombardment commenced, and a hail of shell, rockets, and other missiles fell upon the city. The best answer possible was made, but the English were so sheltered by their defences that their loss was nothing. It continued all night and part of the next day; and was then suspended to see if Peyman yet thought of surrender.