DENMARK. 



641 



History. %vhom he had Christian VII. married a daughter of the 

 S "^"Y'"™"' duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel ; this princess was of 

 an ambitious disposition, and was not restrained by 

 any sense of justice, or feeling of moderation, from pur- 

 suing those measures to which her ambition prompted 

 her. She had by her husband a son named Frederic, 

 and her most anxious wish was to place him on the 

 throne, after the demise of Christian ; but Christian 

 had married Matilda, the youngest sister to George 

 III. and as issue was likely to proceed from the mar- 

 riage, the Queen*dowager was afraid that her favourite 

 Intrieuesof scheme would be defeated. She, therefore, in the be- 

 theOueen- ginning of January 1772, formed, along with her son, 

 dowager, a strong party at Copenhagen, who commenced their 

 A. D. 1772. intrigues, by endeavoui'ing to create dislike and mistrust 

 between the king and queen. Their first plan seems 

 to have been to have infused into the mind of the queen 

 a disgust of her consort ; and, for this purpose, the 

 king, who was a man of a very weak mind, was sur- 

 rounded by persons who kept him in a constant state 

 of debauchery, and who took care that the queen should 

 be perfectly acquainted with his behaviour. Matilda, 

 however, either suspecting their designs, or indifferent 

 about the manner in which the king conducted him- 

 self; paid no attention to their representations. The 

 queen-dov/ager perceiving that the scheme they had 

 hitherto pursued would not answer, determined to ex- 

 cite the suspicion and jealousy of the king against his 

 spouse ; and the unguarded behaviour of Matilda un- 

 fortunately afforded her the opportunity she wished 

 for. She manifested an improper partiality for count 

 Struensee : this nobleman had been originally a Ger- 

 man physician, who, having ingratiated himself into 

 the favour of Frederic, had been raised to the dignity 

 of a count, and appointed his prime minister. He had 

 neither talent, strength of mind, nor prudence suffi- 

 cient to conduct himself properly in his new situation, 

 but alarmed and disgusted the old nobility, by the un- 

 necessary and injudicious reforms which he attempt- 

 ed to introduce. To this unpopular and weak man 

 Matilda discovered an evident partiality ; and on this 

 circumstance the queen-dowager built her plans. The 

 king was persuaded that his consort, in conjunction 

 with Struensee and his friend count Brandt, had 

 formed a design to set him aside, on the pretext 

 of incapacity, and of course, according to the royal law 

 of 1660, to declare the queen-consort regent during 

 the minority of his successor ; they suggested to him 

 the absolute necessity of immediately signing an order 

 for confining the queen and her associates in separate 

 prisons; but they met with much opposition and reluc- 

 tance. It was, therefore, advisable to conduct this 

 part of the business with more caution, and to wait for 

 a favourable opportunity of still farther exciting the 

 suspicion and jealousy of the king against his consort 

 and Struensee. This opportunity offered itself on the 

 16th of January. On the evening of that day, a mask- 

 ed ball was given at court, from which Matilda, after 

 having danced the greatest part of the night with Stru- 

 ensee, retired about two o'clock in the morning. The 

 queen-dowager and prince Frederic, who had underta- 

 ken to surprise the king and make him sign the order, 

 entered his apartment soon after Matilda had left the 

 ball room, waked his majesty out of his sleep, and told 

 him that his consort and the count Struensee and 

 Brandt, were at that very moment drawing up the act 

 of renunciation, which they would compel him to sign ; 

 and that if he wished to save himself, he must give in- 



JVOL. VII. PART II. 



stant orders for their arrest. Frederic still hesitated, 

 till they actually threatened him into compliance. The 

 queen-consort was immediately taken out of bed, and 

 with her infant princess conveyed to the castle of Cro- 

 nenberg, while counts Struensee and Brandt were con- 

 fined in separate dungeons, and treated with the ut- 

 most severity. An extraordinary commission was ap- 

 pointed to try the supposed criminals. The queen was 

 accused of a criminal conversation with Struensee ; and 

 this nobleman was accused of having abused his autho- 

 rity, and of having applied a great part of the public 

 money to his private emolument; but no witnesses were 

 found to substantiate either of these charges, or the 

 more heinous charge of having had designs to deprive 

 the king of his authority. The queen-dowager, how- 

 ever, resolved to proceed ; and though, by the laws of 

 Denmark, the torture was forbidden to be used for the 

 purpose of extorting confession, yet Struensee was 

 threatened with it, unless he confessed every thing 

 that was demanded of him respecting the queen. The 

 fear of the rack produced from him the confession 

 which the queen-dowager wanted; he acknowledged 

 that he had been intimate with the queen. Struensee 

 and his friend Brandt, after having been under exami- 

 nation nearly two months, at last received sentence : 

 the sentence of the former states, that he had confessed 

 himself guilty of a crime, which comprehended the 

 crime of treason in the highest degree ; and that he 

 had defrauded the king, and applied the public mo- 

 ney to his own use. The last accusation they had 

 not been able to substantiate by witnesses, nor had 

 Struensee acknowledged its truth ; but by obtaining 

 possession of his private papers, it appeared that he 

 had made a charge of 120,000 rix dollars for an article 

 of expence, which could not amount to 20,000 rix dol- 

 lars. When Struensee was examined on this head, he 

 acknowledged that the papers were in his hand-writing, 

 but that this charge, as well as several others, had been 

 falsified by some other person. The sentence of Brandt 

 accused him of having given the king a blow, and 

 otherwise ill treating him. They were both condemn- 

 ed to be beheaded, after having their right hands cut 

 off: the sentence was carried into execution on the 

 2Sth of April 1772. The English court interfered in 

 behalf of the queen consort; and she was liberated 

 from her confinement, and permitted to spend the re- 

 mainder of her life at Zell, in Hanover. The queen- 

 dowager having thus accomplished part of her object, 

 by means, however, which excited great indignation, 

 placed about the king count Guldberg, one of her as- 

 sociates. In order to draw off the public thoughts 

 from the recent transactions, this minister passed se- 

 veral laws much in favour of the great body of the 

 people, particularly one law which gave to the natives 

 of Denmark very special privileges, and which was de- 

 clared to be a fundamental law of the kingdom. 



In 17S0, Denmark, persuaded or intimidated by the 

 empress Catherine, joined the armed neutrality of the 

 North. From this time till the year 1 78+, nothing re- 

 markable happened ; the king's imbecility of mind grew 

 every day more apparent, and intrigues were set on 

 foot to take advantage of it. The king of Prussia, who 

 was nearly related to the queen- dowager, by her means, 

 gained an almost absolute sway in the cabinet of Den- 

 mark ; the only minister who opposed his views was 

 count Bernstoff, and he was soon dismissed from his 

 employments, and obliged to retire into Germany. 

 But in order still farther to strengthen his party, it was 

 4 M 



Histor)'. 



Execution 

 of Struen- 

 see and 

 Brandt, 



A. D. 1772, 



Denmark 

 joins the 

 armed neu- 

 trality of 

 the North, 

 A. D. 1780. 



