THE ORDER OF MATILDA.
1770-1771.
A curious commentary on the social reforms of the new regime was
furnished by the proceedings of the court. Extraordinary rumours were
circulated concerning the conduct of the Queen and her favourite,
and though these rumours were grossly exaggerated, still it must be
confessed that Matilda showed at this time a recklessness of public
opinion which was, to say the least of it, unwise. Having regard to the
difficult and delicate situation in which she found herself placed,
a young and beautiful woman, tied to a semi-imbecile husband, and
with a handsome and ambitious man as her adviser and intimate friend,
it surely behoved the Queen to regulate her conduct with the nicest
discretion, and to have in her household only those ladies whose
character was beyond reproach. This was the more necessary as the
sweeping, and on the whole beneficial, reforms which the Queen and her
adviser were introducing were bound to raise up against her a host of
enemies whose interests were more or less attacked--enemies who would
be sure to note any false step she might make to arouse public opinion
against her. Her duty to herself, her duty to her child, and her duty
to her high position all combined to make it imperative that in her
private life she should give not the slightest occasion for enemies
to blaspheme. But acting under the spell of Struensee Matilda threw
discretion to the winds, and even went out of her way in affronting the
prejudices of the staider part of the community. The clergy, already
enraged against the Queen and Struensee for their attacks upon the
Church, were now able to point to the conduct of the Queen and her
favourite as a proof that their strictures were just.
[Illustration: THE PALACE OF HIRSCHHOLM, _Temp. 1770._]
Hitherto the Danish court, outwardly at any rate, had respected
Sunday, and the King and Queen had been regular in attendance at
public worship. Now, though the King and Queen went to church
sometimes to keep up appearances, Sunday was purposely selected as
a day of pleasure. For instance, one Sunday at Hirschholm there was
a steeple-chase in the royal park, and the King gave prizes to the
winners. The races attracted a large and disreputable crowd. Nor was
it enough to slight religious convictions; they were openly mocked at
and derided. On another Sunday Brandt was guilty of the folly and bad
taste of delivering a mock sermon from the pulpit in the private chapel
at Hirschholm before the King and an assembled court, who laughed and
applauded. At this exhibition it is only fair to say the Queen was not
present. Naturally these things were repeated at Copenhagen, and the
"revels of Hirschholm" formed a favourite subject of conversation
and reprobation. The clergy fanned the flame of indignation, and many
a covert allusion to Jezebel was heard from the pulpits. Moreover, by
abolishing the censorship of the press Struensee had put a sword into
the hands of his enemies, and before long many scurrilous pamphlets
were sold in the streets, containing the coarsest abuse of the Queen
and her "minion". Caricatures in which the Queen and Struensee were
grossly depicted, and satires after the manner of Juvenal, purporting
to describe the orgies of the court at Hirschholm, were circulated in
Copenhagen, and not only posted on the walls of houses, but even in the
passages of the royal palaces.
All this popular discontent played into the hands of the Queen-Dowager,
Juliana Maria, who, with her son, Prince Frederick, lived in
comparative retirement at Fredensborg, and sought, by the decorum of
her household and by her regular attendance at public worship, to draw
a contrast between her court and that of the reigning Queen. Juliana
Maria had always been unpopular, but now, though she was not loved, she
was respected, and became generally recognised as the representative
of the old regime, which offered in so many ways a favourable contrast
to the new. She took the place of the Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena,
and her palace of Fredensborg became the rallying-place of those who
were discontented with Struensee and his methods. It is quite possible
that intrigues were set on foot at Fredensborg with the object of
overthrowing the favourite, and it is probable that Struensee, who
had spies everywhere, came to hear of them, and in revenge advised
the reigning Queen to treat her brother-in-law and his mother with
discourtesy, which was not only unworthy but unwise. Juliana Maria and
her son were rarely invited to court, and when they attended they were
often kept waiting for some time before the King and Queen received
them, treated with little ceremony, and made to feel that their
presence was unwelcome. Moreover, on the birthday of the Queen-Dowager,
Juliana Maria held her usual court at Fredensborg, but neither the King
nor the Queen attended or sent congratulations, an omission which,
under the circumstances, was very marked. Prince Frederick had been in
the habit of attending the riding-school at Christiansborg, and had had
free access to the royal stables. One morning on presenting himself
there he was curtly informed that no horses could be placed at his
disposal in future, and the riding-school was closed to him, as the
Queen had reserved it for her own use.
A great deal of this Juliana Maria had brought upon herself by the
scant consideration she had shown to the young Queen when she seemed a
person of no importance, and by the malignant and unjust rumours she
had circulated against her when she first came to Denmark. But Matilda
would have done well to be magnanimous, for these slights provoked a
reaction in favour of the Queen-Dowager. Juliana Maria behaved with
great circumspection. She did not publicly resent the affronts put
upon herself and her son, though she lamented them in private, and
she was careful always to say that she in no way censured the King,
but laid all the blame on the Queen and her favourite. Her hatred of
Matilda deepened, and the most injurious reports which were circulated
concerning the Queen had their origin in the salons of Fredensborg. The
invalid King was represented as living in a state of terror under the
dominion of his Queen and her imperious favourite. He was treated, it
was said, with positive disrespect, if not with cruelty, by the minions
with whom he was surrounded, and Matilda forgot not only her duty as a
Queen and wife but also as a mother.
This last indictment had reference to the treatment of the Crown
Prince. So far the heir to the throne had come little before the
public, but suddenly there spread throughout the kingdom alarming
rumours of the treatment which he suffered at the hands of his mother
and her adviser, and such was the universal prejudice that these
rumours were generally credited. It was said that the Crown Prince was
neglected in a scandalous manner; he was left to run about the gardens
of Hirschholm in all weathers, insufficiently clothed, with no one
to look after him, and no companions but a boy of low rank; and his
education had not yet begun. He was frequently beaten by his mother
and Struensee, and shut up in an iron cage for hours together as a
harsh punishment; his food was of the coarsest kind, and served in a
wooden bowl, which was placed on the ground. Altogether he was treated
more like an animal than a human being, especially one who would some
day be called upon to fill a high destiny. Even the foreign envoys
heard of this treatment of the Crown Prince, and commented upon it in
their despatches. Gunning, who considered the matter not only from a
political but also from a domestic point of view (seeing that the King
of England was the uncle of the Crown Prince), wrote home in bitter
sarcasm:--
"As no step taken in the education of a prince is without its
importance, his nursery may sometimes present a scene not unworthy
of attention. The philosopher of Geneva would hail the dawn of more
enlightened days could he behold (as he might here) the scene of
a monarch left from his cradle to crawl unassisted upon his hands
and knees (like the nursling of a Norwegian peasant) and condemned
to lose his meals, most philosophically concealed, unless he could
discover them by the sagacity of his nose. Such are the maxims which
obtain in the royal nursery of Denmark. The latter instance is no
doubt calculated to sharpen the talent of investigation, a talent
very requisite where the labyrinth of intrigue requires some such
guide."[158]
[158] Gunning's despatch, Copenhagen, October 6, 1770.
Notwithstanding Gunning's authority, these rumours were shamefully
exaggerated, and if they may be taken as a sample of the others
circulated about the Queen, it is very difficult to say of any of them
where fact ends and imagination begins. In this case they were not only
untrue but cruel, for the maternal instinct was always strong in Queen
Matilda, and she was never so happy as when with her child. Moreover,
it was in her interest that the Crown Prince should have his health
guarded in every way, for her position would be seriously affected if
she were no longer the mother of the heir to the throne. The Spartan
treatment, therefore, which the Crown Prince undoubtedly underwent, was
sanctioned by his mother from the highest motives, for Struensee had
persuaded her that it was the training of all others most conducive to
the child's well-being. From his birth the young Prince had been of a
weakly constitution, and had shown a tendency to consumption; he had
been pampered and spoiled by his attendants, with the result that he
would not take the slightest exercise; he was fractious and peevish,
and wanted always to be petted and amused.
Struensee, who was a believer in the famous treatment of Emile,
changed all this, and urged the Queen to bring up her son as simply as
possible, so that he would grow up to be a strong and a self-reliant
man. The Crown Prince's former attendants were sent away, and he was
given the simplest fare, consisting of vegetables, rice boiled in
water, bread and water, and milk and potatoes; no meat was allowed him.
He wore light silk clothes, and went about bare-footed. He was bathed
twice a day in cold water, and soon became so fond of it that he would
go into the bath of his own accord. He was forced to take exercise,
kept as much as possible in the open air, and made to run about the
gardens in all weathers. His room at Hirschholm was a large one on the
ground floor, some forty feet in length, and on the garden side it was
closed in by an iron trellis-work, which accounted for the story that
the heir to the throne was shut up in a cage. The little Prince had
only one playmate, a boy who was the natural son of one of the court
surgeons, and known as "little Karl". These boys were always together,
and no difference was made between them. They played, quarrelled and
fought as they would, and no one was allowed to interfere with them,
nor were any of the servants about the court suffered to speak to, or
play with, the Crown Prince. This rule was kept very strictly. For
instance, one day, when the little Prince fell in the garden and hurt
himself, Struensee's valet, who was passing, picked him up and tried
to comfort him. For this breach of rule the servant was sent to the
Blue Tower in Copenhagen and imprisoned for some time. The boy was not
allowed on any pretext to take advantage on the ground of his rank. One
day when he and his companion had some quarrel, Frederick asked Karl
how he dared to strike a prince. "I am as much a prince as you," the
other boy answered. "Yes, but I am a Crown Prince," Frederick retorted.
Thereupon the two boys fought till Frederick won the victory. Struensee
heard of this battle royal, and told the Queen, who, when she knew the
cause, insisted on the Crown Prince begging the other boy's pardon. As
Frederick refused to do so, the Queen gave him a whipping. From this
arose the rumour that he was frequently severely beaten. The charge
that he was neglected rests on more foundation. One day during the
autumn of 1770, at Hirschholm, the King and Queen and all the court
went out hunting, and on their return very late the Crown Prince could
nowhere be found. A search was made for him, and he was at last found
lying insensible in the garden half-dead with cold. He was put to bed
with a nurse, who took him in her arms and gradually restored him. The
negligence in this case was due to the servants who had been left in
charge of him, but the blame was laid upon the Queen.
The incident became known, and so loud and insistent was the popular
clamour that the court physician, Berger, became frightened, and
insisted on some modification of the Crown Prince's treatment.
Henceforth the boy was allowed to wear shoes and stockings, given
warmer clothing, and his room was slightly heated in the winter.
His diet was also made a little fuller; his rice was boiled in
mutton-broth, and he was given meat-soup for dinner. His education,
however, was still left severely alone, and at the age of four he
could not speak any language properly, but only a jargon of Danish and
German, which he had learnt from his playmate. The excuse put forward
for this retarded education was that the boy was far from strong, and
it was the Queen's object to see his health thoroughly established
before she burdened his strength with studies.
The Queen, as a rule, was indifferent to public criticism, but she
was much hurt at the strictures passed on her for her treatment of
her son, especially those made by foreign courts. It is possible that
some remonstrance may have reached her from England, either from her
mother or her brother, for she had drawings made of the Crown Prince,
showing him with his little rake and spade and watering-can, playing
in the garden, or leaning against his mother, all designed to show how
healthy and happy he was. These were given to the foreign envoys for
transmission to their respective courts.[159]
[159] Some rough sketches of these little pictures--in
water-colours--are preserved in the royal archives at Copenhagen.
The best answer to this charge against the Queen is to be found in the
fact that the Crown Prince threw off his early weakness, grew up a
strong and healthy boy, and developed into a vigorous man, who lived to
a sound old age. All through his life the Crown Prince Frederick (who
afterwards became Frederick VI.) was able to endure much more fatigue
than an ordinary man, and he always adhered to the simple and frugal
habits to which he had been inured when a child.
The King and Queen remained at Hirschholm until late in the autumn, and
then removed to the castle of Frederiksberg, near Copenhagen. Struensee
and Brandt accompanied them in close attendance. Struensee now was a
permanent inmate of the royal palaces, and wherever the court went he
went too--a special suite of rooms adjacent to, or communicating with,
the Queen's apartments were set apart for him.[160]
[160] The castle of Frederiksberg is not much changed to this day,
and a secret door is still shown which, tradition says, led from
Struensee's apartments to those of the Queen.
At Frederiksberg the King and Queen lived in comparative retirement,
but as unpleasant rumours were persistently promulgated about the
King's health, Struensee thought it well that Christian should
occasionally show himself in public, and it was announced that the
King and Queen would drive into Copenhagen every week to hold a court
at the Christiansborg Palace. There was a general curiosity to see the
King; but when the court was held he only appeared for a few minutes
and spoke to nobody; the Queen then took his place and received the
company alone. She was much mortified to see how the nobility and their
wives held aloof from the court. But on reflection she could hardly
have been surprised, for not only had recent legislation been directed
against them, but the King had published a decree a few months before
recommending the nobility to spend less time in the capital and more on
their estates. Those who attended court now, outside the foreign envoys
and the ministers and officials whose duties compelled them to be
present, were chiefly the lesser and newer nobility, the professional
classes and even the _bourgeoisie_. It was Matilda's ambition to
have a brilliant court. It was undoubtedly brilliant in the sense of
display, and was largely attended, but the company who came could
scarcely be said to add to its distinction.
The Crown Prince of Sweden (who afterwards ascended the throne as
Gustavus III.) and his younger brother, the Hereditary Prince Frederick
Adolphus, paid a visit to the King and Queen of Denmark at this time.
The Crown Prince of Sweden had married Christian VII.'s elder sister,
and this was his first visit to Copenhagen since his marriage. As
Struensee's foreign policy was to cultivate good relations with Sweden
as against Russia, every effort was made to receive the princes with
honour. A masquerade ball was arranged for their entertainment, plays
and operas were performed at the theatre, and banquets, concerts and
levees were held every day. Despite these efforts the Crown Prince
of Sweden did not appear to be pleased with his reception, and he
made audible comments on the strange company he met at the court of
Copenhagen. At the masquerade, in particular, almost any one came who
would. He pointedly asked the Queen what had become of the Danish
nobility, several of whom he inquired for by name, and scarcely
concealed his annoyance that they were not present to do him honour.
One day, at the royal table, when he found that two or three of the
wives of the principal merchants of Copenhagen were dining there, he
sarcastically exclaimed, "And are there no Jews and Jewesses here
too?" On another occasion a beautiful lady of the _bourgeoisie_ rallied
the Prince politely for not having acknowledged her obeisance, and
he answered elaborately (in the hearing of the Queen) that he could
not understand how the Swedish envoy had made such an oversight, for
he had strictly ordered him to present every lady of noble rank who
attended the Danish court, and he could only suppose the minister had
forgotten as he had presented so few. These sarcasms were very wounding
to the Queen, and her pride was much hurt. The Crown Prince of Sweden
and his brother treated the King and Queen with studied deference, but
they declined to regard Struensee in any other light than that of a
man of almost menial birth, who might be useful to them politically.
Struensee, who had arrogated to himself a foremost place at the Danish
court, was incensed at thus being put outside the charmed circle, and
vented his ill-humour on the Queen, who was sufficiently mortified on
her own account. It was a relief to every one when the visit ended, and
the Swedish princes betook themselves to Gottorp to stay with Prince
Charles of Hesse, and amaze him and his wife with an account of the
extraordinary proceedings of the court of Copenhagen. This was the only
royal visit paid to the Danish court during Matilda's regime, and it
gave her no taste for others.
The state of the King's mind made any repetition of this experience
impossible, for Christian VII. was no longer able to play the host to
royal guests. One of the current rumours was that Struensee and the
court physician, Berger, who was his creature, tampered with the King's
health, and gave him drugs which dulled his understanding. Certainly,
when the King appeared in public his dejected air and extreme
indifference to everything that was going on around him gave colour
to the report--which was not true. The fact was that the condition of
Christian by this time had become hopeless; his mind had partly given
way, and the greatest care was taken by the Queen and Struensee lest
this should be discovered. For if the King were proved to be incapable
of governing, what force had the decrees issued in his name? But the
King was declared to be in perfect health, and the fiction of his
absolutism was rigidly maintained. On the strength of this, sometimes,
impudent demands were made upon him, when Brandt was out of the way.
For instance, one of the King's pages drove his master into a corner,
and said to him, "Your Majesty, make me a groom of the chamber". Nor
would he let the King out until he had granted his request, and the
royal word once spoken could not be recalled. Occasionally the King
aired his authority in a way which his keepers did not approve, and now
and then a ray of intelligence crossed his brain which found expression
in satire, and made Struensee fear that perhaps the King was not quite
so imbecile as he looked. One day Christian, who wished for nothing
but to amuse himself, had been worried to sign commissions appointing
several new conference councillors, creatures of Struensee, who had
little or no qualification for their posts. The King that evening at
dinner kicked his favourite dog "Gourmand," who was lying at his feet,
and asked, "Can you bark?" and when the dog began yelping, the King
said, "As you can bark, you shall be a conference councillor too".
He thereupon rose and proposed the health of "Councillor Gourmand,"
to which all present had to drink. He also gave the dog a salary,
which had to be paid regularly from the treasury. Struensee's enemies
regarded the incident as a bitter joke on the part of the King, and
nicknamed the Minister "Gourmand".
On another occasion when Christian had been forced to appoint a man,
whom he disliked, a chamberlain, he revenged himself by making one of
the palace menials a chamberlain too. The man, whose duty it was to
light the stoves, came into the royal apartment just after Christian
had been worried into signing the paper. "Hullo, my good fellow,
would you like to be a chamberlain?" cried the King. The man grinned
sheepishly, and, to humour his master, answered that he would not
mind. "Very well," said the King, "you shall be one: come with me."
He took the servant by the hand, and led him just as he was, in his
yellow blouse, into the great hall, where the Queen, Struensee and all
the court were assembled, walked him to the middle of the room, and
shouted in a loud voice: "I appoint this man my chamberlain". As the
theory that the King was absolute had to be kept up at all hazards,
the man became a chamberlain forthwith. Struensee, however, hit on a
device next day for getting out of the difficulty, and bought the title
back from the man for the price of a small farm some distance from the
capital, whither he was despatched as soon as possible.
It was difficult to guard against these _contretemps_, for the King's
condition varied considerably; some days he was quite sane and lucid in
his conversation, so that no one would imagine that there was anything
the matter with him; on others he was to all intents and purposes a
madman. But his keepers never knew when the mania would break out, and
it sometimes showed itself at most inconvenient seasons. One day when
the Queen was holding a levee (it having been announced that the King
did not feel well enough to be present), the door suddenly opened, and
the King, who had managed to evade the vigilance of Brandt, walked into
the room, and waving his hand to the assembled court, peremptorily
commanded silence. The conversation was at once hushed, and the Queen,
pale and trembling, wondered what was coming next. The King, with great
earnestness, recited _The Warning Ode to Princes_, by the famous poet,
Klopstock, a poem peculiarly suitable under the circumstances. When
it was finished, he again waved his hand to the company, burst into a
laugh, and walked out of the room. It was probably after this incident
that Gunning wrote:--
"I am very sorry to communicate so disagreeable an article of news
as that alarming reports have been circulated on the subject of his
Danish Majesty's health. Notwithstanding infinite pains have been
taken to conceal or explain away some very unpromising symptoms, I am
apprehensive they have but too much foundation."[161]
[161] Gunning's despatch, Copenhagen, February 12, 1771.
The court had by this time returned to Copenhagen and taken up
residence at the Christiansborg Palace. Struensee now strove in every
way to win popularity for his administration. He was a great believer
in _panem et circenses_, and in pursuance of this policy seized upon
the King's birthday (January 29, 1771) as an opportunity for bribing
the populace. The celebrations rivalled in magnificence those of the
coronation, and were also intended to dispel the idea that the King was
ignored in his own court. A fountain was erected in the palace yard
whence flowed red and white wine, and all who would were allowed to
drink from it the King's health. Sheep and oxen were roasted whole, and
distributed to the crowd; gold and silver medals were struck, and money
thrown to the people. The King and Queen looked down upon the scene
from a balcony, while the galleries which ran round the quadrangle were
crowded with spectators.
The King's birthday was also made the occasion of glorifying the
reigning Queen, and of rewarding her adherents. Struensee gave Matilda
all the semblance of power, and himself grasped the substance. In order
to identify the young Queen with the revolutionary changes that had
recently taken place, and impressing upon the nation the prominent
position which she now held in the councils of the state, a new order
was established, which was called the Order of Matilda. The Queen was
founder of the order, and the statutes were as follows:--
"I. The order shall be called the Order of Matilda.
"II. It shall be conferred on both women and men. The number shall
never exceed twenty-four, the Queen, its founder, included.
"III. It shall only be conferred on those persons who deserve
particular attention of the Queen, independently of merit or
services rendered.
"IV. It is forbidden to ask for the order, and those who act
contrary to this rule will deprive themselves for ever of the
hope of obtaining it.
"V. Those women or men who, on receiving the Order of Matilda,
already possess the 'Order of the Perfect Union' of the late
Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, shall deliver the insignia of
the latter to the Queen.
"VI. The order shall be worn with a pink ribbon striped with
silver. The men shall wear it round the neck, and the ladies
fasten it in the shape of a bow on the left breast.
"VII. On the death of any person decorated with the Order of
Matilda, the heirs are expected to return the insignia to the
Queen."
The badge of the order was a medallion with the letters "C. M." set
in diamonds, with a royal crown over it and a laurel wreath round it.
The Queen was pleased to confer it on the King, the Queen-Dowager, and
Prince Frederick. The others to whom it was given on the day of its
institution were Struensee, Rantzau, Osten, Brandt, General and Madame
Gahler, Madame de Plessen, who still lived at Celle, and Baroness
Schimmelmann, and Countess Holstein, the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.
The Queen only decorated those who were her avowed supporters, and the
establishment of this order gave her the opportunity of honouring them
in a special and personal manner. But Struensee's enemies declared that
he had invented the order for his own special benefit, inasmuch as he
despised the Order of the Dannebrog, and did not yet dare to take for
himself the Order of the Elephant--the highest order in Denmark. This,
however, was a malicious invention, for Struensee could have had any
order and title he wished, and if he did not take them all at once, it
was because he liked to prolong the pleasure of anticipation.
The court remained at Christiansborg throughout the winter, and
Brandt, who was now established as a sort of master of the revels, had
the arrangement of all the festivities. His first step was to alter
and redecorate the royal theatre in Copenhagen at great cost, and
arrange a series of operas. For the first time in Denmark, since the
Reformation, performances were given on Sunday, and Sunday came to be
regarded as the gala night at the opera, when the King and Queen would
attend. This gave fresh offence to the puritan party in Copenhagen.
The rearranging of the royal theatre was used as an occasion for
offering a further slight to the Queen-Dowager and her son. They had
hitherto been accustomed to share the King's box, but now they were
allotted one of their own. The Queen-Dowager rarely attended operas,
but Prince Frederick did, and the excuse put forward was that there was
no room for the Prince in the royal box; but when, after protest, he
yielded the point, Struensee and Brandt appeared in the box, and seated
themselves immediately behind the King and Queen.
Struensee turned his attention to the court, and soon the new
brooms were busily sweeping out this Augean stable of privilege and
corruption. The expenditure of the court was carefully revised, a great
many useless offices, chiefly held by the younger sons of the nobility,
were abolished, and pensions and salaries greatly reduced. The King
of Denmark was burdened with a great number of costly palaces, which
were always in need of repair. None of these palaces was closed, but
the embellishment of them, which was always going on, was commanded
to cease. By order of the late King Frederick V. the building of
a marble church, to be named after him Frederiks-Kirke, had been
begun in Copenhagen, after magnificent designs by Jardin, the French
architect. The building of this church, which had now been going on
for twenty years at enormous cost, crippled the treasury. Struensee,
who considered the building of churches as useless waste, put a stop
to the works, and broke the contracts with the builders. The church
remained half-finished.[162] This occasioned much discontent; the
contractors declared that they were ruined, the architect was loud in
his complaints, artists protested against the vandalism of abandoning
so magnificent an undertaking, and the clergy were scandalised that
the house of the Lord should be left in this condition while large
sums were squandered upon masquerades and play-houses. It is true that
Struensee's changes in the court did not effect much economy, for the
perpetual round of entertainments and festivities organised by Brandt
more than ate up anything that might be saved in another direction.
[162] It so remained until 1878 for lack of funds, when Tietgen, a
wealthy banker of Copenhagen, undertook the cost, and it was finally
completed in 1894. The handsome copper-sheathed dome is a conspicuous
object in Copenhagen, especially when the city is approached from the
sea.
To bring money into the depleted treasury, Struensee established a
royal Danish lottery, and it became a most profitable institution,
not only to the court but to the Government. Its establishment was
regarded by many as state encouragement of gambling, which would not
fail to bring ruin upon thousands; but protest was unavailing, for a
mania for gambling seized the citizens of Copenhagen and the people
in the provinces, and nothing was talked of but the lottery, to the
hindrance of regular and honest occupation. Struensee's defence to his
critics was that he did not establish gambling, which already existed
in Denmark; he merely sought to regulate it, and turn the craze to
the benefit of the state. In this, as in many other things, he was
imitating Catherine the Great, who raised money in the same way.
Struensee closed his programme of court reform by what was in effect
an indirect attack upon the army, though it was really aimed at the
nobility. He abolished by royal decree the two squadrons of Household
Cavalry or King's Bodyguard, who, composed of picked handsome men, were
the flower of the Danish army. Struensee considered them to be useless,
and justified their abolition on the ground of economy; but it was said
that a personal grievance had something to do with it. The officers of
the Household Cavalry were all men of noble birth, and had the right
of coming to court when they liked. Many of them held ornamental posts
which Struensee had swept away. Naturally the officers did not view
these reforms with favour, and they revenged themselves by making
slighting remarks about the mixed company which now formed the court
circle, and ridiculing the more prominent members of it, including the
favourite himself. Struensee stopped this annoyance by abolishing the
Household Cavalry by a stroke of his pen, and gave directions that the
officers, who could not at once be attached to other cavalry regiments,
were to be placed on half-pay; but the non-commissioned officers and
privates received no compensation beyond the option of joining the Foot
Guards, whom they looked down upon and despised.
A terrific uproar followed the promulgation of this order. The army
declared that it was an attack on the King's majesty and prestige, he
could not be properly guarded without his cavalry. The protests of the
nobles, the clergy, the lawyers, the magistracy had been nothing to
this. The officers at whom Struensee really aimed belonged of course
to a class, but the troopers were from the people, whom he desired to
conciliate. They were very popular among the citizens of Copenhagen,
who were proud of them. Even the Queen was frightened at the din, and
feared that in this measure Struensee had gone too far. Some of her
fear must have communicated itself to him; for when the Horse Guards
were returning to their barracks from the parade, where the King's
order had been read to them, Struensee, who was driving, met them face
to face. The aspect of the soldiers and the populace was so threatening
that, believing a mutiny to be imminent, he fled back to the palace
and hastily summoned the heads of the war department--Gahler, Rantzau
and Falckenskjold. The result was a complete capitulation so far as
the rank and file were concerned. A cabinet order was issued declaring
that the disbandment of the Household Cavalry was only a prelude to
the establishment of a model corps which was to be called "The Flying
Bodyguard". This corps was to be composed of the non-commissioned
officers and men of the two squadrons disbanded, and picked men from
other cavalry regiments. Struensee declared that his only object was
to provide really efficient cavalry, and this he had intended all the
time. Now that the danger had passed he sought to conceal that it was a
concession forced from him by fear. But the rumour of his panic spread
about the city, and it was even said that he had been frightened into
offering his resignation. The rumour was not generally believed, for it
was thought incredible that a man who had shown himself so daring and
indomitable should thus show signs of weakness.
Struensee recognised that, from the popularity point of view, he had
made a false move, and sought to retrieve it by popularising the court.
Everything now was done for the masses and nothing for the classes.
When, in 1771, spring came (and it comes with a rush in Denmark) the
beautiful gardens of the Rosenborg[163] Castle in Copenhagen, and the
park and gardens of Frederiksberg, outside the walls of the city, were
thrown open to the people, and on Sundays and holidays military bands
performed for their benefit. The King and Queen frequently honoured
the concerts with their presence. They would dine in the palace, and
then mingle freely with the crowd in the gardens, which was composed
of all classes. The grounds of the Rosenborg were especially beautiful
and varied, with shady groves and shrubberies. Often of an evening the
gardens were illuminated with coloured lamps, and refreshment buffets
were erected. Struensee gave permission to the proprietor of the
buffets to open a faro-bank which was much frequented, and the rent
paid for the tables was given to the foundling hospital. Catherine
the Great had done the same thing at St. Petersburg. The clergy again
cursed Struensee from their pulpits; they declared that he turned the
King's gardens into haunts of libertinism, gambling and drunkenness,
and the shady groves and dark alleys into scenes of iniquity. These
charges were greatly exaggerated and fell wide of the mark. Most of the
amusement was quite innocent, and despite the anathema of the Church,
the opening of the royal gardens was the most popular measure of
Struensee's administration.
[163] Rosenborg, a handsome Renaissance palace with pediments and
towers, was erected by that splendour-loving monarch, Christian IV.,
in 1610. It was his favourite residence, and from his death until the
reign of Christian VII. was used as an occasional residence of the
Danish monarchs, who here deposited their jewels, coronation robes and
other treasures. Christian VII. and Matilda never used the Rosenborg
as a residence. It is now converted into a Danish historical museum,
and is full of relics and beautiful things. A visit to it is a most
instructive lesson in Danish history.