640 



DENMARK. 



H!-:ory. and information rendered them most fit and proper for 

 •—-y— — ' this situation; their duty was carefully to examine 

 every proposal made for the extension of commerce ; 

 to suggest, of themselves, whatever they thought would 

 benefit it ; and to give the necessary encouragement to 

 such plans as met with their approval. Into some of 

 his schemes for the extension of trade and commerce, 

 we may perhaps perceive that error to have crept, 

 which is too often committed by sovereigns and states- 

 men ; he thought that his own country ought and 

 might supply itself with every thing ; or at least that 

 it would be better to produce what was necessary or 

 wanted at home, though at a greater expence, than 

 import it from foreign countries. The royal bank of 

 Copenhagen owes its origin and establishment to him ; 

 and from it trade derived many advantages, by the fa- 

 cility which it afforded of raising and disposing of 

 money. The army and navy were not neglected : in 

 order that he might be enabled to put them on a re- 

 spectable footing, without oppressing his subjects with 

 taxes, he entered into subsidiary treaties with foreign 

 powers. In rebuilding Copenhagen, he paid particular 

 attention to the convenience and healthiness of the 

 place ; and the royal palace was rebuilt in a style of 

 elegance, which displays considerable taste in architec- 

 ture. 



During the whole of his reign, he had only two dis- 

 putes with foreign powers ; one with the king of Great 

 Britain, as elector of Hanover, in 1738, respecting the 

 lordship of Steinhorst, in which some blood was spilt ; 

 but Christian carried his point so far, as to receive a 

 subsidy of L. 70,000 a year from Great Britain, on con- 

 dition that Denmark kept 7000 troops on foot for the 

 protection of Hanover. The other dispute in which he 

 was engaged, respected the Iceland fishery, to which 

 the Dutch made some claims, which Christian thought 

 unfounded ; this also terminated to his advantage and 

 honour ; and in both cases, he discovered great firm- 

 ness united with moderation, and a degree of policy 

 and prudence, which enabled and disposed him to con- 

 duct the dispute in such a manner, as insured such a 

 result as he desired. He died in 1746", after a happy 

 and prosperous reign of sixteen years, and was succeed- 

 ed by his son Frederic the Fifth. 



In 1743, Frederic had married Louisa, daughter of 

 V. ascends George the Second. He was very fortunate in two of 

 the throne, his ministers, Count Bernstoff, and Count Schimmell- 

 man, both noblemen of very superior talents and in- 

 formation, and anxious to employ them for the benefit 

 of their sovereign and his subjects. Under their guid- 

 ance, Frederic applied himself to cany on the plans 

 which his father had begun, and by the assistance of 

 the latter nobleman, more particularly, the finances of 

 Denmark were completely restored to order, and the 

 taxes were rendered lucrative, without being burden- 

 some or oppressive to the people. One of his first ob- 

 jects was the regulation of his domestic economy, which 

 indeed had been begun by Christian : into it he intro^ 

 duced much retrenchment, and established it in such a 

 manner, as secured order and method, and enabled him 

 to detect and put a stop to any extravagance, or un- 

 faithfulness, on the part of his household. At first his 

 subjects were rather apprehensive that this minute and 

 scrupulous attention to his domestic economy proceed- 

 ed from, and indicated a narrow and parsimonious dis- 

 position, but they were soon convinced that their wel- 

 fare alone was his motive and object; he was saving 

 and economical himself, in order to render their condi- 

 tion more comfortable. That he was not mean or ava- 



Death of 



Christian. 

 A. D. 174G 



Frederic 



ricious, was most clearly and honourably shewn by his History. 

 behaviour, when a great mortality happened among "^ ""Y""""' 

 the cattle, on some of the crown estates ; he immediate- 

 ly, and unsolicited, remitted his just rights; and when- 

 ever famine oppressed or threatened his people, he 

 stepped forth to their relief. By the order and economy 

 which were introduced into the finances, he was en- 

 abled, not only to encourage trade and manufactures, 

 and to keep his fleets and armies on a respectable foot- 

 ing, but also to pay off a considerable part of the debt 

 which had been contracted by his predecessors. An 

 anecdote is told of Frederic on this occasion, which de- 

 serves insertion, as displaying his character to great ad- 

 vantage. When the creditors of the crown learned that 

 he had determined to pay off the debt, they endeavour- 

 ed to dissuade him from his purpose, by promising to 

 lower the interest from 5 to 4 per cent.; to this the king 

 replied, that as he had money in his coffers, where it 

 could be of no use, he preferred paying off the public 

 debt ; but he should esteem it a personal favour if they 

 would lend the money to his subjects at the interest at 

 which they had offered it to him. 



Frederic, like his father, was of a pacific disposition, 

 and he conducted himself with so much prudence, as 

 to keep clear of the seven years war, in which almost 

 all the powers of Europe were entangled. His connec- 

 tion with the king of England, however, led him to 

 offer his mediation, when the Duke of Cumberland was 

 unsuccessful : and it was through that mediation that 

 the treaty of Closterseven was agreed upon. The end 

 of his reign was not so fortunate as the beginning of it : 

 Peter Ulric of Holstein had ascended the throne of 

 Russia; and soon afterwards laid claim to the whole of 

 that province, and also to the Duchy of Sleswick. 

 Frederic, alarmed at the prospect of a war with Russia, 

 was persuaded to employ a French officer, for the pur- 

 pose of introducing the new tactics into the Danish 

 army : the Danish soldiers were strongly averse to any 

 change, and more especially averse to it, if introduced 

 or recommended by a foreigner; the French officer, 

 with that vanity, rashness, and presumption so com- 

 mon among his countrymen, paid no attention to the 

 murmurs, or even to the expressed discontent of the 

 soldiers : he still proceeded with his reforms, till the 

 safety of the kingdom absolutely required his removal, 

 and the restoration of the established discipline. While 

 these things were going on, a Russian army, under 

 General Romanzow, entered Holstein, and it is pro- 

 bable that this province would have been wrested from 

 Denmark, had not the Emperor Peter been suddenly 

 taken off: Catherine, who succeeded him, immediately 

 recalled her troops, and a negociation was entered into, 

 respecting the exchange of part of Holstein for Olden- 

 burgh and Delmenhorst, but it was not completed when Death of 

 Frederic died, on the 14th of January 1766". Frederic. 



The commencement of the reign of his son Christi- 'V- D- 1766. 

 an VII. was auspicious ; all the peasants on the crown christian 

 lands, who hitherto had been in a state of most VII. as- 

 abject vassalage, were emancipated by the first edict cends the 

 which he issued. The negociation with Russia re- tnrone ' 

 specting Holstein was resumed, but it could not be 

 finally adjusted, till Paul Petrowitz, who was heir to 

 the German possessions of Peter, attained his majority. 

 This event did not happen till the year 1773, when a 

 treaty was signed, by which the counties of Oldenburgh 

 and Delmenhorst were ceded to the grand duke of Rus- 

 sia, and the king of Denmark, as a compensation, was 

 put in possession of the whole of Holstein. 



Frederic V. after the death of his first wife, by 



