B E R 



to men of letters. With this vievv, having Keen one of the 

 firft who difcovered the beauties of the " MefTiah," he in- 

 vited the young author, Klopftock, who then ixfided in 

 Swifferland, to Denmark, and for feveral years enttrtaiiied 

 him in his own houfe. By his influence, Oeder was ap- 

 pointed profeffbr of botany ; a botanical garden was efta- 

 bhfhed, and the profefTor was fent on a tour through the 

 Danifh provinces, the refult of which was the " Flora Da- 

 nica," pubhfhed at the king's cxpence. Crarr.er, Mallet, 

 Schlcger, and Bafedow, were alfo much ii:dcbted to his pa- 

 tronage. To Bernflorf Dcnmail- owes the cftablifhment of 

 two ufeful focieties ; one, the focitty of the Danifli language 

 and fine atts, founded in 1760; and the other, tiie royal 

 agricultural and economical fociety, eftablillied in 1769, of 

 which the count himlelf was prefident. To him it was prin- 

 cipally owing, that a fociety of learned men were fent, in 

 1761, to travel in Arabia and the call, at the king's ex- 

 pence, for the purpofe of making ufeful difcoverics. In 

 confeqiience of the important fervices which he rendered, in 

 various ways, to his lovereign and the ftate, he was created, 

 in 1767, a Danifli count ; and he was the only niii.ifter who 

 had the honour of attending the king, in 1 7^.8, on his tour 

 to England. After their return, however, the count was 

 obliged to refign all his employments, in January 1770, and 

 the king, in acknowledgment of his part fervices, fettled on 

 him an annual penfion of 6000 rix-doUars. On this oc- 

 cafion he found it neceflTary to leave a country to which he 

 had devoted the fervice of 38 years of his life ; and, accom- 

 panied by his countefs and Mr. Kloprtock, he repaired, in 

 October 1771, to Hamburgh, where he fpent the winter. 

 Here he fpent his time in focial interco\u-fe with his friends, 

 but in the beginning of the year 1772, fome rheumatic affec- 

 tions, under which he had laboured for ieveral years, re- 

 turned with an alarming violence, and terminated in a 

 threatening fever. This fever was fucceeded by a fit of 

 apoplexy, which carried him off in a few minutes, on the 

 18th of Februar}'. His remains were interred, without 

 pomp, agreeably to the inftruftions of his will, at the church 

 of Siebeneichen, on one of his paternal eilates. Two me- 

 dals were afterwards llruck in honour of kim, bv two focie- 

 ties of patriots. Bernftorf poflliTed a retentive mem.or}-, 

 great penetration, and a found judgment. Learned and ae- 

 compliflied himfelf, he was the liberal patron of literature and 

 the arts. He was well acquainted with the Italian, French, 

 and Englifli languages ; intimately converfant with the laws 

 of nations in general, and attached to 'the rights of man- 

 kind ; well informed in the ancient and modern hiftoiy of 

 different dates ; and not uninterelled in the concerns of re- 

 ligion and tlie church. He correfpondcd with many learned 

 men of different countries, and colletted a valuable library 

 of feleft books. His political meaiures were founded on 

 truth and jullice ; in hij tranfactiuns with foreign ilates he 

 was upright and hncere ; and he combined, with a vigilant 

 attention to the privileges of tlie crown, a conllant regard to 

 the rights and liberty of the fubject. Gen. Biog. 



Bernstorf, Asdrkw Peter, Count Von, the nephew 

 of the former, was born at Gartow In Lunenburg, Augullz?, 

 173J, and at an early period acquired the knowledge of 

 ancient and modern hillory, as well as of geography, mathe- 

 matics, natural hiilory, and the ancient languages. His 

 ftudies were completed at Gottingen. Several of his juve- 

 nile years were fpent in travelling through England, Sivifler- 

 land, France, and Italy. Having occupied, after his re- 

 turn, fome fubordinate ftations, he was made a member of 

 the privy-council in 1769; but foon difmiffed along with 

 his uncle. Towards the end of the year 1772, after the 

 fall of Struenfec, he was recalled ; ;uid about the clofc of 



B E R 



the followiiig year, he obtained the foreign departmerit, and 

 was at the fame time appointed ininifter of ftate, and direc- 

 tor of the German chancery ; and he was employed in nego- 

 tiating with Ruffia the exchange of the Gottorf part of 

 Holftein for Oldenburg and Delraenhorft. In 1776, he was 

 made a knight of the order of the elephant ; and in 1780, 

 during the American war, when an order was ifTued by the 

 Britlfli government for intercepting all vefTels belonging to 

 neutral powers, laden with naval ilores, and bound to any 

 of the enemy's ports, he had an opportunity of exercifing 

 his diplomatic talents ; and in a note fubm.itted by him to 

 the courts of the belligerent powers, the Baltic was declared 

 a mare claufum ; and it was further ftated, that the king of 

 Denmark had determined not to grant a paffage through 

 the Sound to armed fliips belonging to the powers at war. 

 It was alfo added, that the other northern powers had 

 adopted and profcffed the fame fyftem. In a fubfequent 

 note, tranfmitted to the three belligerent powers, England, 

 France, and Spain, Bernftorf expreffed himfelf in the fol- 

 lowing terms : " An independi'nt and neutral power never 

 lofcs, by others being at war, the rights which it had before 

 that v/ar, fince peace exifts for it with all the belligerent 

 powers without its having to receive or follow the laws of 

 any of them. It is authorifed to carry on trade, contraband 

 excepted, in all places, where it would have a right to d» 

 fo, if peace exilled throughout all Europe, as it actually 

 exills in regard to it." Soon after, Denmark and Iluffia 

 entered into a treaty for the protection of their trade, ta 

 which Sweden, PrulTia, and other itates acceded ; and the 

 refult was that league formed againil Great Britain, known 

 under the title of the " armed neutrality." Towards the 

 end of the-year 1780, Bernftorf refigned all his employ- 

 ments, and retired to his eftates in Meckl-.-nburg, where he 

 refided till 1784, when he was recalled, and refumed his di- 

 plomatic funtlions ; arid to his exercife of thtfe, Denmark 

 owed the prefervation of peace, when hoililities broke out 

 between Sweden and Rufiia in 17S8. In 1791, Bern- 

 ftorf interpofed his mediation when the Britifh mmiftry were 

 preparing to afiill the Turks againlt the Ruffians, to reftorc 

 and promote tranquilUty. In confequence of the French re- 

 volution, his Danilh majefty was invited by the courts of 

 PrulTia and Vienna to join in the treaty which had been con- 

 cluded between them. To this propofal Bernftorf replied, 

 in 1792, with confiderable addrefs J and in 1793, ^vhcn his 

 Britam.ic majefty's envoy extraordinary at Copenhagen pre- 

 fented a note to that court, in confequence of the plan con- 

 certed by the allied powers for blockading the ports of 

 France, Bernftorf returned an anfwcr, which was alluded to 

 by the marquis of Landfdown in the houfe of lords, Feb- 

 ruary 17, 1794, in the following terms: *' The reply of 

 count Bernftorf to our rem.onftranccs was one of the boldell, 

 wifeft, and moft honourable replies I have ever read. It is a 

 ftate paper which fliould be kept as a model by everj- cabinet 

 of Europe." The condiitt of Bernftorf was higiilv latisfac- 

 toiy to his fellow-citizens ; various inftitulions were dil- 

 tinguiilied by his name ; and medals were ftruck to perpe- 

 tuate the remembrance of his ferv'ces. At length, he fell a 

 vidlim to the gout, to which he had been fubject for many 

 years, and which baffled all remedies, on the ziil of July, 

 1797 ; and his remains were interred with great pomp, and 

 amidft numerous attendants, v,-ho lamented the lofs of him, 

 in Frederic's church at Chriftianfhaven. 



His figure was agreeable, and liis manners were engaging, 

 his dilpofuion lively, and his eloquence natural. In bufineis 

 he was aftive and indefatigable; in converfation communi- 

 cative and concifc ; averfc from flattery, and yet refpeflful 

 in his behaviour j fparing ot' profeflions and promifes and 

 I i i punclual 



