9i 8 B E R. 
rival, and friend. His firft prize he gained at twenty-four 
years of age. In 1734 he divided one with his father, 
which hurt the family union; for the father confidered 
the conteft itfelf as a want of refpefl; and the foil did not 
fufficiently conceal that he thought (which was really the 
cafe) Ids own piece better than his father’s. And befides, 
he declared for Newton, againd whom his father had con¬ 
tended all his life. In 1740, he divided the prize, “ On the 
Tides of the Sea,” with Euler and Maclanrin. In 1748, 
Daniel Bernoulli fucceeded his father John in the Aca¬ 
demy of Sciences, who had fucceeded his brother James ; 
this place, lince its fird erection in 1699, having never been 
without a Bernoulli to fill it. He died March 17, 1782, 
in the eighty-third year of his age. 
BKRNOViTZ'KOE, a town of Ruflia, in the govern¬ 
ment of Smolenlko : forty miles north ef Smolenlk. 
BERN'STADT, a town of Silefia, in the principality 
of Oels, on the river Weyda. 
BERN'STEIN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Upper Saxony, and New Mark of Brandenburgh : four 
miles north-eaft of Berlinchen. 
Bernstein, a town and caftle of Germany, in the circle 
of Bavaria : two miles weft-fbuth-weft of Gravenau. 
BERN'STORFF (Count de) was born in 1735. He 
was the reprefentative of a very ancient family, originally 
fettled in the electorate of Hanover, whence it had mi¬ 
grated into Denmark in fearch of fortune and diiiinCtions. 
His uncle, the old count de Bernltorif, had occupied a dil- 
tinguifhed (ituation in the cabinet of that country, whence 
he was excluded by the influence of the count de Struen- 
lee, a man of confiderable talents and ambition, who, not 
content with being the lover of the queen, afpired to be 
the minifter of the nation. An ignominious death, inflict¬ 
ed by the hand of a common executioner, put an end to 
tjie life and projects of this afpiring liatefman. No fooner 
was he removed from the ft age, but the plenipotentiary 
of the emprels of Ruffla ftepped forward, and, knowing 
that the elder BernftcrfF had always been devoted to Rul- 
lia, procured the appointment of his nephew to the office 
of prime-minifter. 
The young count Bernftorff was every way worthy of 
this honour. He was diftinguilhed above all his cotempo¬ 
raries by his politenefs, his modefty, the juftnefs of his 
ideas, and the perfuafivenefs of his eloquence. The ftudy 
or politics was his favourite purfuit, and he had nothing 
of the courtier about him; for lie- was faithful to his word, 
Ample in his manners, and frank in his eonverfation. He 
was ambitious, however, of glory, and zealous to diftin- 
•guifti himfelf as a patriot minifter. The nominee of the 
crown, even in a government ufually confidered as arbi¬ 
trary, he dared to contemplate himfelf as a truftee for the 
people. Such was the man whom the court of Peterfburgh 
fondly hoped would receive its commands with implicit 
•fijb million ; but he foon proved by his condudl, that he 
was more attached to Denmark than to Ruflia ; to the 
country which gave him birth, than to that which had 
exalted him to power. No fooner was lie inverted with 
the infignia of office, than he manifelted the moll earned 
defive to render himfelf worthy of his 'employments. Di¬ 
ligent and indefatigable, he was conftantly occupied about 
public affairs. Acceftible to everyone, there was fcarcely 
a perfon of property, and not a Angle man of any celebrity, 
in Denmark, who was not known to the minifter. The 
enemy of flattery, no one ever acquired either his favour 
or confidence by founding his praifes ; indifferent as to what 
are ufually termed pleafures, lie was neither the dupe of the 
fair fex nor the (lave of wine. Poffeding an even flow of 
animal fpirits, he was never rendered haughty by fuccefs, 
nor difpirited by misfortune. The moment, therefore, that 
lie was intruded with the reins of government, Bernftorff 
prepared to atchieve fomething highly advantageous to 
his country. Denmark had been long kept in the mod 
degrading dependence on Ruflia, on account of certain 
claims maintained by the latter, relative to the German 
dominions of the former. The fubjebl of contcft confided 
B E R 
of the fertile territory of Schlefwig, itfelf.a foverkign du¬ 
chy, and rendered peculiarly interefting to the court of 
Copenhagen, by its local fttuation, being bounded on the 
eaft by the Baltic, and on the Couth by the Holftein, which 
alio had given rife to certain difputes. Both the uncle and 
nephew w'ere equally anxious to obtain a complete recog¬ 
nition of the rights ot Denmark, and confequently an en¬ 
tire dereliction of thofe ol RulTia. But how was it portable 
to obtain this ? Catherine was the mod tenacious of fove- 
reigns, arid, inftead of relinquifhing old claims, was per¬ 
petually enforcing new ones. Her favourites too, of all 
men, were the leait likely to countenance Rich a meafure, 
as the territory in queffien had been the fruitful fource of 
prefents and compenlations.- What the moraiift blufhes to 
countenance, the mod fcrupulous ftatefman often achieves 
without a pang. It was lo in the prefent inftance : the 
pride of the emprefs was- continually fuggeding ideas of 
aggrandifement: an appeal to this very pride confirmed 
the German dominions of Denmark to their ancient maf- 
teis. To Catherine it was accordingly reprefented as un¬ 
worthy the dignity of to great a princefs to polfefs a petty 
.territory, which would neceifarily render her dependent on 
the empire of Germany. Of the members of the then ca¬ 
binet, the afl’ent of feme was gained, the lilence of others 
was purchafed, and the acquiefcence of all fo fecured, that 
a final treaty was actually concluded at Kiel, on the 16th 
ol November, 1773. TIris event was celebrated by pub¬ 
lic feftivals throughout Denmark, and occaiioned the great- 
eft joy at Copenhagen in particular. It was otherwife at 
Peterlbnrgh. Her Imperial .majefty foon perceived, that 
notwithdanding her great talents for negociating, (lie had 
on this occalion been fairly outwitted by the new minifter 
Bernftorff; and Saldern, on whom the weight of lier in¬ 
dignation fell, was a finally difgraced. Being unwilling",, 
however, to revoke her (ignature, die confoled herfelf with 
the alfurance that this conceftion had fecured heir a faith¬ 
ful ally in Denmark, who would be always ready to check 
the hodile defigns of Sweden, and here die was not miftaken. 
Another objefl, equally worthy of Bernftorff, foon ex¬ 
cited and engroffed his whole attention. At a period when 
the flame of liberty was nearly extinct throughout Europe, 
it all of a fudden became the falhion for arbitrary power, 
in the plenitude of its indulgence, to concede fome of its 
pretentions, and aflually bufy itfelf about the welfare of 
its Haves! We accordingly find that three of-the greafeft 
delpots oA the continent conceived the idea of becoming 
legislators. Thefe were Catherine of Ruflia, Frederic cf 
Pruflid, and Jofeph of Anftria; and their refpeflive codes, 
excellent in theory, but unattainable in practice, ftill exid 
in the libraries of the. curious. It was in 1775 that the 
emprefs ordered her new laws to be printed at Peterfburgh, 
and adopted provifionally, and by way of trial, throughout 
the governments of Smolenfkoe and Tver. It cannot be 
denied that the regulations for the fhortening -of law-fifits 
were excellent; the expences of litigation were leffened ; 
the provincial tribunals were empowered to determine in 
the fffft in da ne'e ; an appeal indeed was allowed, but, If 
the former decree happened to be confirmed, the appellant 
was fiibjefled to cods of fiiit, and a fine. 
Bernftorff, on-his parr, was not inattentive to this fpe- 
cies of reform. It was his opinion, that it was far better 
to prevent law-fifits than to regulate them, and eafier to 
render them unnec.edary than expend ve; he thus (truck at 
the root of the evil, while his imperial and royal colleagues 
only aimed random ftrokesat the branches. He knew that 
conteds of this kind ufually originated in mifeomprehen- 
don ; he accordingly enjoined a meeting of the parties. He 
was aware that deciftons often arole out of influence, and 
fometimes out of corruption ; he therefore introduced the 
trial by jury, a godlike inditution, congenial in Come ir.ca- 
fiire to the foil, as it is fuppofed to have originated among 
the free nations that formerly inhabited the neighbourhood 
of the hyperborean regions. The number of jurymen, 
however, was reftrifled to two, but then each of the par¬ 
ties-had a right to nominate a perfon on whofe integrity 
