797°] 
of the emprefs, inftead of decreafing, 
added to the zeal of the elder Bernftorff, — 
-for that great mimifter had already con- 
ceived the plan of liberating the Danifh 
peafantry from bondage. The expert- 
ment was firft tried on the domains of the 
crown. The example fet by the prince 
was foon followed by the nobles ; in fine, 
what a fentiment of virtue could never 
perhaps have effected, was produced in 
a fhort time by.a fort of fa/bionable bu- 
manity, and foon after confirmed by a 
pofitive law. A column erected in the 
vicinity of Copenhagen, attefts at one 
and the fame time the gratitude of the 
liberated peafantry, and the glory of 
_Bernftorff. 
The nephew of this great man, not 
content with the enfranchifement of his 
own countrymen, turned his eyes to- 
wards the colonies of Denmark, and re- 
folved to meliorate the lot of the negroes. ~ 
The trafic in the fief and blood of our 
fellow-creatures, not only proves. that 
mercantile cupidity is infatiable, but alfo 
that it is generally unaccompanied by 
remorfe. Unable to abolifh, Bernftorff 
was determined to reform, and he ac- 
cordingly prefcribed a day, beyond which 
ihe fale of an African fhould be deemed 
unlawful $ and m 104 this abominable 
trade is to ceafe. 
While he was thus exercifing his hu- 
manity as aman, a great event occurred 
in Europe, and afforded a new opportu- 
nity of diftinguifhing himfelf as a poli- 
tician. 
The corruption of the court, the de- 
generacy of the nobility, the opulence of 
the middle orders, and, above all, the 
bankruptcy of the finances, the diffufion ‘ 
of knowledge, and the fuccefsful example 
of America, were the predipofing caufes 
of the French revolution. The impri- 
fonment, degradation, and execution of 
Louis XVI feem to have ftruck the mo- 
narchs of the North with congenial ter- 
ror. They accordingly combined againft 
the new republic, as againft a common 
enemy, and two only (this too perhaps 
from phyfical reafons alone) took no part 
in the conteft. The nation fortunate 
_ enough to poffefs the Count de Bernitorff 
for a minifter, formed one of thefe ex- 
ceptions. 
Time and experience have-proved that 
his conduét on this oceafion was found- 
_ed in. wifdom;. for the flag of Denmark is 
“now waving in evry fea, and her ports 
_haye,béen’ by turns the afylum of all the 
belligerent . powers, 
-a Montuiy Mac, XXY. 
. 
Copenhagen and_ 
~ Altona have of Jate become, tn fome mea- 
Port-Folio.—Eulogiums of Fovius. 463, 
fure, the centre of thetrade of the North. 
The commerce of Holland 1s almoft en- 
tirely carried on in the name and by 
means of the agency of her merchants; 
and while horror, beggary, and defola- 
tion, appal the fuuthern and more fruitful 
diates of Europe, peace, plenty, and 
riches, {mile throughout all the Danith 
dominions, 
It is painful, after this fhort account 
of the adminiftration of a great minifter 
and a great man, to add, that he was 
{matched fuddenly away from the fcene 
of his glory, and the plaudits of a grate- 
ful nation; for he died at Copenlagen, on 
the 21ft of June, 1797. 
In his perfon, the Count de Bernftorff 
was about the middle fize: his figure 
was nobie and prepoffeffing: his language 
was choice, fluent, and he may be faid 
to have poffeffed a xatural eloquence, for 
it can be acgured only in a free country. 
He was modeft, polite, frank, and al- 
though a flatefman, was never known to 
forfeit his promife. He pofeffed neither 
the coldnefs nor the faithleffnefs of a poli- 
ticlan; his heart was replete with fenG- 
bility, and, although accuftomed to ae 
beneath the canopy of a throne, he never 
once forgot-that he wasa man. d 
Such was the mildnets of his rule, that 
‘the Danes ceafed to remember the reya- 
lution of 1660, and began aétually to 
confider themifelves once more as free. 
Indeed feveral of the nobles, after vifit- 
ing this country, have aétually afferted 
that there is more liberty at this moment 
in Copenhagen than in London *. 
To the memory of his uncle, a pyra- 
mid was raifed in Denmark, by the volun- 
tary fubfcription of the peafaptry, whofe 
rights he had vindicated; and the town 
of Altona, enriched in contequence of 
the pacific fyitem of the nephew, is 
now about to erect a noble monument 
to lis honour on the banks of -the 
Elbe. ( 

No. V. FROM MY PORT-FOLIO, 
EULOGIUMS OF JOViUs. 
PAYING given in our laft Number an 
idea of a Necrology, my attention 
has been turned to a-feries of literary 
works, which appear to have, in various 

* Ir may appear fingular and even caprie 
cious, when the reader is infoymed that a 
Danifh count, of great forrune; returned to 
his native country, rather than be: fubjeét to 
the 4air-fowder tax: the writer of . this 
article, however, Knows this to be a fact. 
et TAO. iad forms 

