THE SINKING SHIP.
BRANDT'S LETTER OF COMPLAINT--STRUENSEE'S DIGNIFIED ANSWER--A
FALSE FRIEND--THE PROPOSED PLOT--FREEDOM OF THE PRESS--INSULTING
PAMPHLETS--THE QUEEN DOWAGER--RUMOURED INTRIGUES--ATTEMPTED
RECONCILIATION--STRUENSEE'S SELF-CONCEIT--FRESH CHANGES AT COURT.
_Brandt to Struensee._
Reproaches often convert love into mere friendship, and equality
often friendship into coldness. But this shall be no obstacle to my
considering myself bound to pour out my heart before you, as an old
friend from whom I am seeking counsel. For the last five or six weeks I
have incessantly felt unhappy. With the same strength as I was tortured
by melancholy considerations, I tried to appease myself again, but did
not succeed. Every night I walk weeping up and down my room till four
in the morning. With your remarkably healthy common sense, you, whom I
do not know whether I dare call a friend, may condemn me; but you must
feel yourself exactly in my position, which you will probably have a
difficulty in doing. It must be most oppressive to a man possessed of
delicate feelings, through his earlier associations, to be the daily
companion of a king, who, far from loving this man (myself), regards me
as a burden, and does everything in his power to liberate himself from
me. But you force the king to live with me, and in order to complete
my misery, compel me to treat the king harshly, according to his own
confession. If this is in itself a hell, it is far from being all. I
have at the same time been exposed to the laughter and ridicule of the
whole nation. In the provinces I am compared with Moranti,[11] and
justly so. I have not the slightest influence, and no more power than
the first street boy, chosen hap-hazard. My position could at least
have an appearance of reputation, and thus flatter vanity, but it has
become ridiculous, contemptible, and almost dishonouring, through the
rivalry of the negro boy. I am obliged to tell you disagreeable things,
but they are true. I alone speak frankly to you. You have inspired
everybody with terror: all tremble before you. No despot has ever
arrogated such power as yourself, or exercised it in such a way. The
king's pages and domestics tremble at the slightest occurrence; all are
seized with terror; they talk, they eat, they drink, but tremble as
they do so. Fear has seized upon all who surround the minister, even
on the queen, who no longer has a will of her own, not even in the
choice of her dresses, and their colour. Could you but see yourself in
this position, my God, how startled you would be at yourself! Neither
in my head nor in my heart has a wish been aroused to conduct the
affairs of state, but it suited me to regulate the court and society.
For this I am better adapted than you, and would have managed the
business more properly: for, only to mention the liveries, they are
not liveries, but uniforms. This would have spared you much hatred,
and relieved the queen of considerable embarrassment, as she would
have arranged the court parties more easily with me than with you.
That would have given me a real existence, and saved me from becoming
an object of mockery. But with all this it is now too late; for this
evil, like so many others, is incurable. If you were now to entrust
me with the management, it would only be apparent, and cause me a
thousand annoyances. Only one as a specimen. I had a couple of suits
of clothes made for the king, and they have been terribly criticised.
You find the expense of two suits in three months a little too much,
although the king, as a rule, changes his dress thrice a day. Had I not
been so firm, which is certainly a difficult matter when opposed to
you, I must have engaged, instead of real actors, a lot of impostors,
Crispins and Harlequins; and instead of good comedies, we should only
have had farces, of which people would have grown tired at the end
of three months, after we had made ourselves ridiculous in the eyes
of foreigners. Martini and Paschini, whom you tried in the queen's
name to induce me to engage, would have been of this description. The
orchestra would have been reduced one-half, and have only consisted
of pot-house fiddlers from the regiments, who would have cracked the
ears of everybody. It would have been the same case as at the balls,
which, owing to the eternal repetition of the same dances, which, as
you said, were performed by the queen's desire, became in a short time
unendurably insipid, as I prophesied. I only mention this to show you
what a part I play, and what I could have played, and to request you,
if possible, to place me in a position suitable for a man of sense,
information, feeling, and decent and proper pride. Even Warnstedt's
situation was not so unworthy as mine; and I have cause to apprehend
the contempt of all persons, which in my present position would fall on
me not unjustly.
Three months ago I wrote you a letter almost to a similar effect,
but since then love has made me blind; with love in his heart a man
closes his eyes to the truth; he becomes blind, and falls asleep in
this blindness. When reason afterwards comes to his help, when love
has become friendship, then he sees things in their true light. Now,
I ask myself, what would have afforded me any consolation in this
unhappy position? and have only the answer--Struensee's friendship
and kind conduct towards me. The former no longer exists, for you
treat me with rusticity and arrogance. No mortal man has ever before
dared to behave to me in such a way. At the play table, in company and
everywhere, you decide everything yourself, and are only satisfied
when you have humiliated other men. You really should not have behaved
thus to a friend who has ever loved you so dearly, and even at a time
when all his companions and daily associates reproached him for his
intercourse with you; and though it might injure him, always praised
you, confessed his friendship for you to everybody, and formerly
employed all his skill in persuading Holck and quieting Bernstorff.
Ah, my friend, how dangerous life at court is to the character! Would
to Heaven you had never made acquaintance with it! I cannot possibly
comprehend why your fine feelings have not been aroused against the
unworthy and disgraceful game of loo. If you were to be so unfortunate
as to win a large sum from a friend or a man unable to afford it, you
would not be satisfied till you had introduced a loo, a _campion_, or a
_trente-et-un_, of a less dangerous character. For me it is a terrible
reflection how much I have lost at these games in two months. There
have been months in which I lost 1,800 dollars, and I am now obliged to
sell some of my shares. And then, to be obliged to submit to reproaches
for at times losing less than formerly! Could not a man blow out his
brains for vexation at it?
If you desired to make a concession to a feeling and cruelly-wounded
mind, I have lately thought out a plan whose fulfilment would render me
perfectly happy. It would be the greatest pleasure to me to be able to
go to Paris, and live there decently. In order to realise this wish, I
require a yearly revenue of 20,000 species.[12] The whole city daily
expects to hear that the king has given you estates, and people mention
Wallö and Wemmetofte, while others are said to be intended for me. It
is considered strange that we counts have no landed property, and if
the king gives you Wallö and Wemmetofte, which produce 21,000 species
annually, and me the county of Rantzau, which produces 15,000, no one
will be surprised at it, and I shall thus be enabled to make an annual
trip to Paris, and reside for some months on my estates.
Still this plan, however flattering it may sound for me, and even if
you concede its fulfilment, cannot tranquillise me, for my imagination
alone has sought a vain refuge in it. Fortunately there are three men
here who are all gifted with sound sense, and honest and united, for
whom I will answer with my head--Reverdil, Falckenskjold, and Düval. It
will, therefore, solely depend on you, whether I shall entirely retire
from court, and shortly undertake the post of a theatrical director,
which, if it is to be properly conducted, will require my constant
presence. We shall then love each other more, and you will find in me
a man who, sooner than allow himself by madness and desperation to
be drawn into a cabal against you, even if it promised a successful
result, would not hesitate to free himself from his misery by poison or
steel.
Hence I beg you to release me, to continue to be my friend, to reflect
on the contents of this letter for a week or a fortnight, and then
return it to me with your answer. For it is written solely for you, and
I declare that I would despair if it accidentally fell into other hands.
BRANDT.
* * * * *
Strange that Struensee, a man of sense and experience, could continue
to trust in Brandt after the perusal of such a letter addressed to him.
Not only does the letter contain a series of insulting remarks, and the
direct assertion that intercourse with Struensee had been dishonourable
to the writer, but it also bore the stamp of incipient insanity,
and a temper that might easily become dangerous. But Struensee's
self-confidence was so great that he did not apprehend desertion or
attack from this quarter. Besides, he was sincerely attached to Brandt,
and did not forget the services the latter had rendered him. His reply
to Brandt's petulant letter may almost be called a state paper, though
of the _doctrinaire_ school:--
_Struensee to Brandt._
Persons are always unhappy who possess an imagination rich enough
to invent everything that makes us unhappy and yet wish to render us
happy. When a man is gifted with such a temperament, and combines
with it a natural levity which produces a liking for change, he will
never arrive at a quiet enjoyment of the moment, but constantly find
reasons to wish himself in a different position. But a man must
sacrifice himself when he wishes to perform meritorious actions. For
no one will give us credit for actions which cost us no trouble, or
which we undertake for our own pleasure. The satisfaction which it
will cause the queen if you succeed in your task, and the unmistakable
proofs of it which you have already received, will be your reward.
All that you say in addition would cause me no suspicion, if I were
only convinced that it merely emanated from your zealousness; but I
am morally convinced that it flows from an entirely different source.
Since your amour (with Frau von Holstein), you have altered your
principles, mode of thought, and views. From that moment, you have
deserted and neglected me, and only granted me a few spare minutes. I
have never reproached you for this, although it was done to please a
person who has a mean opinion of me, and often treats me improperly. I
have had the greatest respect for your inclination, and done all in my
power to please you, although it has cost me trouble to overcome the
anger with which Frau von Holstein inspires me. She is to me the most
disagreeable of her sex, and has become even more so since I have been
obliged to share your friendship with her. I request you to compare
this confession with my conduct, and then to judge whether I have made
a sacrifice for your sake. You must also take into account the queen's
aversion for this lady, which I had even to overcome at the moment when
I reproved her while dancing,--all of which, up to the present day, has
been occasioned by her. This misunderstanding has often embittered my
happiness; but I have never spoken to you about it. Whether this may
be called a mistake or a reserve, the effect remains the same. You can
yourself decide how great my confidence in you must be, as neither my
feelings nor my conduct toward you have undergone any change, although
I saw you allied with a person whom I dislike; whose society is
disagreeable to me; and whom I mistrust.
I request you to reproach me and to oppose my intentions, in case you
see that matters are going badly, or that I render the king unhappy.
But if they succeed, I do not permit you to examine the means I have
employed. You object, that I cause everybody terror; you should, on
the contrary, praise me for it, because it is the sole correct means
of curing an enervated state, with an intriguing court and people, and
a king who has the same liking for change as his nation. You ought to
pity me, because it is necessary for me to make myself feared, as I can
only find affection through the fulfilment of my duty. I challenge you
to mention anybody whom I have rendered unhappy. A yielding minister,
who does not know how to act, is only a charlatan, a harlequin; for if
he is also compliant in his acts, the state will always have to pay the
price for securing adherents in that way. Denmark furnishes the most
melancholy instances of this.
The persons who have spoken to you about the suffering of the pages
and lackeys are assuredly intriguing, mean men, of no character, who
only aim to make everything sink once more into the old chaos. If a man
has to reform an intriguing court, and bring it to order, he cannot
treat it with the mildness with which the late Söhlenthal[13] managed
his household. You, yourself, were a witness of the disorder that crept
into the king's apartments during my illness.[14] Good-heartedness and
concession have ever been the true cause of Denmark's decay. I have
saved the king from slavery, and done everything to render him happy.
As regards my conduct toward his Majesty, I allow you no opinion about
it, least of all when you express it in such a tone as your letter
displays. You desire to arrange the king and queen's company? but I
cannot hand over to you this decisive way of acquiring influence.
I could mention other reasons why the court parties and balls have
become insipid and tedious,--the arrogant and imperious conduct of Frau
von Holstein; the readiness to oblige which you imputed to the other
ladies through assisting in concerts, &c.; your attempt to introduce
tragedies, and thus overcome the king's tastes; the composition of
the dances contrary to the queen's inclination, and the dislike for
the _tour_ which she is fond of, and a thousand other trifles, which
I could mention to you, if I were equally inclined with you to listen
to complaints which persons wished to bring against you. But I have
constantly refused to listen to such complaints, and have striven to
convince people of the injustice of their accusations, without saying
a word against you. If I liked to repeat everything of this sort which
has been said to me, you would be astonished to find that as many
complaints have been made against you as your so-called friends have
brought against me. I regard both the one and the other as a thing
that deserves no attention, and hence does not cause me the slightest
anxiety; and I had expected the same from you.
As, besides, all these disputes have no ulterior effect on the king
and the state, and solely affect my person and yours, we should strive
to remove them, for they do not merit that on their account men should
select a different road, when they, in a consciousness of higher and
nobler motives, occupy a place like yours and mine. Personalities must
not be taken into consideration, or, at the most, be regarded as a
matter of secondary importance. A man can change his situation when
he does not feel happy in it but he ought to go to work sensibly, and
be tranquil under all circumstances, just in the same way as it is
not permitted to change the cards because they are not good, or a man
does not give up the game at once because he has been unfortunate for
a time. A practised player does what he can, and waits patiently for a
change in his luck.
I feel all possible gratitude for what you have done to place me in
the position I now occupy. I regard you as the first man who helped
me to it, although in politics it is not usual to reckon what any man
has done to produce our good fortune by distant steps, but only what
that person has done for us who also possessed the means to do it,
while we value the former for his good intentions, which is a matter
of friendship. After I had acquired the confidence and favour of the
king and the queen, and gained respect with the public, through my own
strength, and all the difficulties and dangers which are connected with
such an enterprise, I summoned you, and shared with you the results and
pleasantness of my position, so that you at once found yourself in the
same fortunate situation as myself. But you are not willing to thank
me for this, but insist, on the contrary, that I should owe everything
to you, make way for you, and share with you the honour which I have
acquired neither accidentally nor through favour, but solely through
my own exertions. You insist on my taking the second place, so that
you alone may be in possession of the favour, confidence, and respect,
and I execute your orders. But let me tell you, once for all, that a
division is impossible through the character of the king and queen. You
must, therefore, either take the whole authority, or be satisfied with
the confidence of being informed by me of everything that takes place.
I ask you to reflect, only for a moment, what use I make of my dignity,
and whether I apply it to my personal profit? I have no court, no
party, no personal distinction. You enjoy the same privileges at court
as myself. And are my friends, if I have any, the most distinguished?
Can you not be satisfied with being at a court where there is somebody
who stands above you in respect and power? and if you can be so, are
you not glad that this man, whose conduct is irreproachable, has
invited you to join him, and procured you the place you occupy?
You request that the management of the court and all that appertains
to it should be entrusted to you. What else is this than that you wish
to deprive me of the sole means by which I can compel subordinates to
pay me external respect, as in the opposite case, they would openly
express their dissatisfaction with me, owing to my proper opposition to
them? But, leaving this point out of consideration, business would be
impeded if it were believed that my influence was weakened, which would
be so serious a matter to me, that I cannot allow any one to touch it,
because in that case I should soon become powerless.
The sole cause why you desire a division of that nature is, because you
think you play too insignificant a part in public. But who has told you
so? I suppose some of your friends, or those who flatter you, and hope
to profit by the change, if your influence were increased. But, at the
same time, those who call themselves my friends, and probably with the
same intention, have said to me, "You allow Brandt too much power; he
and Frau von Holstein manage everything, if not by straight ways, then
by crooked. It is better to cling to Brandt, for all whom he protects
prosper better than those protected by you."
I have never refused you anything. You desired the Holstein, and I
consented, in spite of my repugnance. Her husband has rewarded me
badly for it. It is not his fault that the finances have not fallen
into utter confusion, and I have even found myself compelled to resist
the appearance of possessing influence which he has given himself.
You have power over everything which agrees with the principles and
with the system accepted by yourself, and have no cause to complain
so long as I do not alter, either because my own interests might
demand it, or for the sake of another person, whom I am forced to take
under my protection. Everything you bring forward only leads to the
conclusion that your ambition and vanity are not satisfied. You desire
an immediate influence over my mind and my heart. You want to pull
down the house because you did not build it, and refuse to inhabit it
because it does not belong to you, and you are obliged to share it with
another man.
You are the only person who is in possession of all my secrets, and
in whom I have in every case confided without reservation. I have
no necessity to justify myself for this, for my heart gives me the
testimony that I have neglected nothing to prove that which you too
would have recognised, were not your heart engaged elsewhere. I do
not complain because I have not succeeded in meeting with reciprocal
feelings, for it cost me no self-conquest to be devoted to you.
What folly that there can be men who speak of a rivalry between you
and the negro lad Moranti! The livery is an insignificant subject
among the arrangements I have made. It would have been better had you,
instead of withdrawing from the hatred and discontent of the persons by
whom you are surrounded, and who represent the court and the public,
not mixed yourself up in this matter, for it is wise to be unpleasant
to such persons, and this ought to be managed even in an unfair way.
I have always striven to produce the king and queen contentment, and
have, at least, partially succeeded. If you, on the contrary, strive
to please others, you will stray off the road, like your predecessors.
You know very well how necessary economy is, and that I request it on
every occasion. The queen, though a lady, is not angry with me when I
recommend retrenchment as regards her wardrobe. It is of the greatest
influence on the general welfare that no paying of fees should exist,
and yet you wish that the valet should retain his fees, although I took
them away from him, and exposed myself to the risk of having enemies
in the king's _entourage_! I have deprived the king's servants of a
lucrative source, and you wish to restore it to them, so as to render
yourself popular with these people. These are certainly only trifles,
but every sensible man is aware that slight causes frequently produce
great effects. We ought, perhaps, to have paid a little more attention
to buffoons; for the king would, probably, have applauded farces more
than tearful tragedies, and if you had been reproached on that account
by foreigners, but had amused the king, would not that have been a
sufficient reward for the sacrifice of your taste? If the queen has
been mistaken in her opinion about Martini and Paschini, she possesses
sufficient good sense to recognise her error, and the whole affair only
cost 2,000 dollars. You ought to have dismissed these _soi-disant_
artistes, as I advised you. If the regimental "pot-house fiddlers" had
been properly trained and practised in accompaniment, the expenses for
flute and violin players would have been saved, who look like beaux,
and drive about with four horses. If the balls had been carried on as
they began, they would have breathed a natural merriment instead of
all the affectation which the dancing-master, favoured by Madame de
Holstein, introduced, and which rendered them insipid and tedious,
because only a few danced well enough, and the others, the protectress
included, were obliged to take lessons of the dancing-master ere
they could take part. It was not the monotony but the affectation
that ruined the balls; for the king has never been able to learn a
set dance. You prefer to gain the applause of the public instead of
pleasing your friend, and humouring the whims and peculiarities of
the king and queen. The comic element has always been most in demand,
because we could not expect to find tragedians. I have explained to
you the causes of this a thousand times. That desire is founded in the
character of the king and queen, and the relations in which they have
always lived.
All your complaints are based on the passion which possesses me at
times when at the card table. In other respects, however, I am not
aware that I have ever offended against the rules of good behaviour.
Your caprice alone has detected such failings in me. If I have insulted
you, it occurred through carelessness, and I beg your pardon for it.
I will, in future, be more attentive to myself, for it would grieve
me were I to offend on this head, though I must confess that I am not
happy in the matter of small attentions. As a compensation for this,
I may be allowed to boast that I have never neglected any opportunity
to please my friends that presented itself to me. Up to the present I
was not aware either that persons had found your intercourse with me
blamable, and that you ran a risk of injuring your character by it.
Such an expression ought never to have passed the lips of a man who
boasts of his susceptibility and fine feeling. It is hard to hear such
things from a friend, although it has not insulted me; for I do not
regulate my respect for others on the opinion of strangers; and I do
not remember a single moment when you had cause to be ashamed of my
acquaintance. And then, too, what would have become of you if I had
followed the advice of my friends?
You accuse me of despotism? Well, if I am a despot in business, your
despotism goes much further, for you wish to rule the taste at the
theatres, and that of dress, balls, and parties. Loo is the only game
that amuses the king; the queen, too, is fond of it, and neither cares
for any other game, for I have often proposed it to no effect. That
you and the Holstein lose at it, and that they refuse at once to begin
another game, is sufficient to set you in a fury. In order to gain
access to Frau von Moltke, I lost from 20 to 30 dollars nearly every
evening, at a time when I had only a salary of 1,000 dollars. But I did
not grumble at it, for I thought a man must regulate himself by the
company he associates with. How many persons utterly ruin themselves
at other places, in order to be able to live at court, and belong
to the circles of the king and queen! The easy manner in which you
obtained everything you desired, has led you to consider even those
exalted personages as nobodies. My "delicate feeling" is not affected
because you lose at play; for, in the first place, I do not always win;
and, secondly, you are not without resources by which to recover your
losses. However, these are but trifles when the point is to amuse the
king and queen; but it is always a dangerous thing to undertake changes
in their mode of life. After your return to court, you raised the
stakes and bet heavily on the cards. I remember one evening when you
won and I lost, but I did not, on that account, recommend more moderate
stakes. But it is not you who wish or speak so, but the Holstein, and
on that account I am vexed.
I ask you now, whether you do not consider your proposition (about
the estates) indelicate and selfish? How have we deserved such great
rewards, that we might amuse ourselves in Paris, because we are weary
of Copenhagen? For my part, I would not accept such gifts, even if
the king entertained the most insane and blind devotion to me, and
therefore will not promote such a thing in the slightest degree, but
always oppose it.
I shall be very cautious about proposing a friend to the king. He may
choose one for himself, and I leave him perfect liberty to do so.
I also beg you to reflect, whether, when engaged with other people,
either on business or pleasure, it is possible to avoid all
unpleasantness and arrogance? But the more important the object of our
action is, the less must we care for such vexations. If I had made some
slight concessions, I could have made my fortune, but I declined the
chance; for, if I succeed in introducing order into the government, I
shall be sufficiently rewarded, although I must now put up with daily
ingratitude.
I greatly regret that, in spite of my zealous exertions to render you
happy, and thus afford you a proof of my friendship, I have effected
exactly the opposite. Still, I beg you to calm yourself, to give no
heed to ear-wiggers, to examine your position and what attaches you
to it, to weigh the comforts on one side, the unpleasantness on the
other; to compare the present with the past and the future, and to draw
a final conclusion. I have spoken to you frankly and perhaps rather
roughly. From the latter, you must not conclude that I am prejudiced
against you: for I only did so because I felt convinced that Frau von
Holstein is the cause of your dissatisfaction. You can say far more
bitter things to me without arousing me. But so long as you maintain
your connections with that lady, you will always find me reserved and
susceptible, whether it is that I do not like the woman, or because I
am jealous at being obliged to share your friendship with her. Pray
reflect what a self-conquest it must have cost me to pay her such
attention, or even to allow her to remain in Copenhagen.
Finally, I request you not to take any precipitate step, but to speak
to me frequently about your affairs, so that we may discover a way to
satisfy you. I will willingly sign any proposition to that effect.
STRUENSEE.
* * * * *
From the above answer of the cabinet minister, we see that he was most
anxious to remain on good terms with Brandt, although he could not
suppress his disgust about the liaison with Frau von Holstein. Yet he
would scarce have treated his supposed friend so generously, had he had
an idea of the odious design which Brandt undertook soon after against
him.
A few days after the festival given to the dockyard-men, at the
beginning of October, Brandt proposed to Falckenskjold to go through
the garden to the king's sleeping apartment, induce the monarch to get
up, take him privily to Copenhagen, and then arrest Struensee.
"What?" Falckenskjold exclaimed, in amazement and disgust. "You would
effect the ruin of your friend, the man to whom you owe everything?"
Brandt replied that Struensee could be conducted to Kronborg, whence
he could pass over into Sweden, and that as much money as he desired
could be given him.
"And the queen?" Falckenskjold enquired.
"Oh, I will take charge of her," Brandt answered. "I understand the art
of amusing women. I will direct their pleasures: I would convert this
court, where we now lead a very wretched life into a place of delight.
As for the government, that can be carried on how they please, for I do
not propose to interfere in that."[15]
Falckenskjold replied, that there was a good deal to lose and nothing
to gain by the affair, and asked Brandt how he supposed they would both
fare if they fell into other hands.
"Bah!" Brandt exclaimed; "I have studied the law, and will be able
to answer. I only wish to have an end of this: I long to see this
government overthrown."
Falckenskjold finally gave him the sensible advice to keep such
ill-digested plans to himself, and kept the affair secret from
Struensee.
About the same time, another man meditated designs of a similar nature
against Struensee. This was Von der Osten, who, though overwhelmed
with favours, did not mean honestly by his protector, and could not
conceal his dissatisfaction. Von der Osten had a separate interview
with Reverdil and Brandt: to the former he spoke about overthrowing the
favourite, but could make but little capital out of the honest Swiss.
What he proposed to Brandt will be best seen from the latter's report
to Reverdil:--
"Osten," Brandt said to Reverdil a few days after the interview, "is a
coward and a villain, who would like to employ you and me in pulling
the chestnuts out of the fire. Some days ago, he gave me a midnight
interview, and finding me well disposed through the anonymous letters
I had received, he represented to me the public distress in such
lively colours, that I entered with him into the project of arresting
Struensee, and this is the plan I proposed to him:--
"In one of your (Reverdil's) drives with the king, you would lead
him to Rudersdahl (an inn on the road to Copenhagen). Osten, Colonel
Numsen, and other persons would be assembled there: the king would be
induced to go on to the capital, after signing the order, which would
be entrusted to Numsen, to convey Struensee to Kronborg, and arrest the
queen in her apartments. Numsen would be able to get back to Hirschholm
almost at the same time as the king arrived in Copenhagen, and before
the queen suspected our interview and the removal of Struensee.
Besides, I should remain there to divert attention, and prevent them
learning too soon what had become of him. Struensee, once arrested,
would be allowed to escape to Sweden, and I would soon find means to
console the queen.
"Osten approved the whole plan, except that he refused to go to
Rudersdahl; he, therefore, was willing to have the entire power placed
in his hands, if it could be done without danger to his own person, and
so I would not undertake anything."[16]
Osten had the meanness to report the whole proposal to Struensee, but
the latter said to Brandt very nobly, when alluding to Reverdil in the
course of conversation: "Reverdil is so honest a man, that if he led
the king to Rudersdahl in order to hand him over to my enemies, and
they procured my arrest, and, probably, my execution, I could not help
esteeming him; because, in acting so, he would believe he was promoting
the public welfare."
While intrigues were being privately formed against Struensee,
public attacks were also made upon him. Repeatedly when the king
changed horses at Sorgenfrie, on his journey to Copenhagen, petitions
and calumnies were thrown into his coach. The number of caricatures
and placards posted up constantly increased; and in pamphlets their
Majesties were attacked, and the man accused and ridiculed to whom the
freedom of the press was owing. The sailors' feast also gave scope
for the most unbridled attacks upon Struensee. He was said to be a
traitor to the nation, and his reforms entail the ruin of the state.
The well-known historian Langebeck published an anonymous pamphlet,
under the title "New Specimen of the Liberty of Writing, printed in
the Golden Age of the Press," which was, in truth, a specimen of press
impudence. In this wretched pamphlet he warned the king "to sit firmly
on his throne, and not suffer any one to tear a jewel from his crown;"
and his boldness went so far that "he pitied the king, who could have
converted the spot of earth confided to him into a paradise, if he had
only liked to have done so."
The cabinet minister regarded all this with equanimity, and remained
calm even when Falckenskjold and Brandt urged him to take precautionary
steps for his personal safety. To Falckenskjold he replied that the
latter had grown accustomed in Russia to see conspiracies everywhere,
and it was assuredly more glorious to reform a state than to win a
battle. To Brandt he said bluntly that his warnings were tiresome, and
that he would not allow himself to be disturbed in his undertakings. In
short, Struensee was so busied with his plans, that he heeded neither
warnings nor threats. Although he was well aware that he had attracted
the hatred of the queen dowager and her son, by destroying all their
influence over the king and court, he did not deign to concern himself
about their cabals. The old queen was not supposed to trouble herself
about affairs of state, and was not credited with any bold spirit.
As for the hereditary prince, he was only eighteen years of age,
and equally poorly endowed in mind and body. He had just received a
terrible insult, as he considered it, from Falckenskjold, who did not
order his regimental band to cease playing as Prince Frederick rode
past, and who was said to have answered the adjutant who proposed to
him to stop the performance--"No, not even if _le bon Dieu_ were to
come along!" The queen dowager, too, had felt very much annoyed because
the king and court had merely sent two pages to congratulate her on her
last birthday on September 4.
It is true that Struensee, by Falckenskjold's advice, made an effort
to effect a _rapprochement_ between the two families, by inviting the
king's two relatives to Hirschholm twice a week. But he soon grew tired
of this ceremonial politeness, and told Falckenskjold that he was sick
of the visits of the king's stepmother and half-brother. In October,
Struensee was informed that the hereditary prince was at the head of a
party, which meditated the seizure of their Majesties; but, although it
appears incredible, the menaced minister paid as little heed to this
news as to the warnings of his friends: he merely answered: "The purity
of my views is my protection."[17]
About this time, several respected officials of high standing were
dismissed. The aged Privy Councillor Gram and Amtmann Dau lost their
posts, and the master of the hunt, Chamberlain von Levetzau, became
the successor of both. Two assessors of the Supreme Court were also
dismissed, but with large pensions. At court, Privy Councillor von
Staffeldt, the chief equerry, lost his post, and only received as
compensation a small farm near Copenhagen, that produced 500 dollars a
year. The management of the royal stables was entrusted to Struensee's
friend, Baron von Bülow. Lastly, although Rear-Admiral Kaas was
acquitted by the committee that investigated his conduct as commander
of the squadron sent against Algiers, and the unsuccessful attack on
the piratical city, he received no compensation for the loss of his
post.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 11: Moranti, a negro boy from the Danish colony existing
at that day on the Gold Coast, who, with another lad and Chamberlain
Brandt, had to dress and undress the king, and a negro girl of ten
years of age, formed the daily society of the autocrat Christian VII.,
who, according to the anonymous correspondent just quoted, was so
inexpressibly beloved by the whole nation. He and his two playmates led
so wild a life, that there was not a bust or statue in the palace or
the gardens, which they had not converted into a target, or was safe
from being destroyed, or, at least, mutilated by them.]
[Footnote 12: Or about £5,000 a year. It must be confessed that the
count wished to live "decently," especially when we take the value of
money at that day into consideration.]
[Footnote 13: Brandt's stepfather.]
[Footnote 14: Struensee was thrown from his horse in September, and
confined to his room for some time.]
[Footnote 15: Reverdil tells us, in confirmation of this, that Brandt
had thought of giving Struensee a successor in the queen's favour, as
he believed that the minister's power and place depended on her, and
he had turned his attention to those courtiers whom he considered most
seductive, through their face or other advantages; but, in the end, his
imagination growing more exalted, he conceived the plan of pleasing the
queen himself.]
[Footnote 16: Reverdil, p. 295.]
[Footnote 17: "Mémoires de Falckenskjold," p. 156.]