DENMARK 71 



the 28th of April, having their right hands previously cut off; but 

 many of their friends and adherents were afterwards set at liberty. 

 Struensee at first absolutely denied having any criminal intercourse 

 with the queen ; but this he afterwards confessed : and though he is 

 said by some to have been induced to do this only by the fear of tor- 

 ture, the proofs of his guilt in this respect were esteemed notorius, 

 and his confessions full and explicit. In May, his Britannic majesty 

 sent a small squadron of ships to convey the queen Matilda to Ger- 

 manv, and appointed the city of Zell, in his electoral dominions, for 

 the place of her future residence. She died there of a malignant 

 fever, on the 10th of May, 1775, aged 23 years and 10 months. 



In 17S0, his Danish majesty acceded to the armed neutrality pro- 

 posed by the empress of Russia. He appears at present to have such 

 a debility of understanding as to disqualify him for the proper ma- 

 nagement of public affairs. On the 16th of April, 1784, another 

 court revolution took place. The queen-dowager's friends were re- 

 moved, a new council formed under the auspices of the prince-royal, 

 some cf the former old members restored to the cabinet ; and every 

 instrument must now be signed by the king, and countersigned by 

 the pririfce-royal. 



The conduct of this prince exhibits that consistency of behaviour 

 which enables him to pursue, with unremitting zeal, the prudent and 

 benevolent measures which he has planned for the benefit of his grate- 

 ful country. The restoration of the peasantry to their long-lost li- 

 berty, and the abolition of many grievances under which they labour- 

 ed, have already been mentioned. To these may be added the exer- 

 tions he makes for the general diffusion of knowledge ; the patronage 

 he affords to societies of learning, arts, and science ; the excellent 

 measures he has adopted for the suppression of beggars, with whom, 

 the country was overrun, and the encouragement of industry, by the 

 most extensive inquiries into the state of the poor throughout the 

 kingdom; the wise regulations he has introduced into the corn trade, 

 equally beneficial to the landed interest and to the poor; and the ju- 

 dicious laws, which under his influence have been made to encourage 

 foreigners to settle in Iceland. The princess of Hesse-Cassel, his 

 consort, is said to possess the most amiable dispositions and good- 

 ness of heart. 



Count Schimmelmann, minister of state, finances, and commerce, 

 has the merit of projecting the abolition of the slave-trade among 

 the subjects of Denmark. By his plan, which was approved by the 

 king on the 22d of February, 1792, and is to be gradual, all trade in 

 negroes was to cease on the part of the Danish subjects in 1803. 

 The disinterestedness of this minister, who possesses large estates 

 in the Danish West-India islands, recommends his exertions to 

 greater praise. The above ordinance does not seem to have caused 

 any discontent in Denmark among the West-India merchants, and it 

 is not thought it will cause any in the islands. 



A scheme for defraying the national debt has been suggested and 

 followed, by which a considerable reduction of it has been effected. 



Denmark, from the beginning of the French revolution, formally 

 rejected every solicitation to join the coalition of potentates against 

 France. 



In 1801, the Danish government acceded to the confederacy form- 

 ed by the northern powers against the naval superiority of Great 



