CHAPTER XV.

RETRIBUTION.

1784.

NINE years passed, after the death of Queen Matilda, before retribution overcame Juliana Maria for the part she had played in compassing her ruin. By that time all the conspirators who had taken part in the palace revolution of 1772 had been banished or disgraced, except two, Eickstedt and Guldberg, and of these the latter was by far the more powerful. The sex of the Queen-Dowager did not permit her to preside in person over the Council of State; her son, the Hereditary Prince Frederick, who was a puppet in the hands of his mother, nominally presided, but he was there only as a matter of form. Guldberg in reality presided, and behind Guldberg was Juliana Maria, for she ruled entirely through him. The mental condition of Christian VII. made it impossible for him to take any part in the government, though he still reigned in theory. The whole of the regal power was transferred from his hands to those of Juliana Maria and her other self, Guldberg, who eventually filled the post of Privy Cabinet Secretary to the King, and acted in many ways as Struensee had done.

Their rule was not successful.

The one measure to be placed to their credit was a law passed in 1776, which decreed that only natives of the kingdom could hold office, though the King had the power of naturalising deserving foreigners. In home affairs the Government became more and more unpopular. The democratic reforms instituted by Struensee were nearly all repealed: the orthodox clergy were gratified by the reintroduction of public penance for sexual sins, the nobility and landowners by the restoration of serfdom. The result of this legislation was that the peasants were more oppressed than before, the taxes grew heavier, and the old abuses flourished again vigorously. The foreign policy of Denmark was to lean more and more towards Prussia. The King of Prussia had, by means of his relative Juliana Maria, acquired great influence over the foreign policy of Denmark, and under his direction it grew hostile to England. The Danish Government was weak and vacillating in foreign affairs, and its administration of home affairs was feeble and corrupt. As the years went by, it became greatly discredited, and the Queen-Dowager, who was regarded, rightly or wrongly, as the cause of this loss of national prestige, became more and more hated. Indeed, so unpopular was the Government of Queen Juliana Maria that the wonder was it lasted so long; it only endured because no strong man arose to overthrow it.

The hopes of the Danish nation were centred in the Crown Prince Frederick, the son of Queen

Matilda. At one time there was a design to set both him and his sister aside,' but the QueenDowager and her friends were afraid the nation would not suffer it. The Crown Prince grew up under the care of Eickstedt, and his education was entrusted to a learned professor named Sporon. Taking their cue, no doubt, from the QueenDowager, the ministers treated the heir to the throne with scant deference or respect: he was tyrannised over by Eickstedt, neglected by Sporon and insulted by Guldberg. By the Lex Regia he came of age at fourteen, but the policy of the Queen-Dowager was to keep him in the background as much as possible, and he was not confirmed until he had reached his seventeenth year. Reports were spread abroad that he was afflicted with the same mental imbecility as his father. Nothing could be more untrue, for the Crown Prince was endowed not only with sound. sense and a firm will, but a strong constitution. He was about his father's height, his complexion was fair, and his hair so flaxen as to be almost white. In face he much resembled his mother, and it was said that he cherished her memory.

The Crown Prince showed his character soon after he attained his legal majority, for though only a lad of fourteen, he expressed strong dissatisfaction concerning the cabinet orders reintroduced by Guldberg-the same kind of cabinet orders as had cost Struensee his head-and protested. Guldberg sent

'Woodford's despatch, Copenhagen, December 5, 1772.

an insulting message in reply to the Crown Prince's protest, and Eickstedt forced the young Prince to make an apology. Frederick's remonstrance was ill-timed, and it was probably the cause of his confirmation being delayed for three years. But Guldberg's insult had the effect of determining him to overthrow his domination and that of the QueenDowager at the earliest opportunity. To this end he carried on a secret correspondence with Bernstorff (who had resigned office in 1780 because of the French and Prussian policy of the QueenDowager) and other opponents of the Guldberg ministry, including Schack-Rathlou and Reventlow.

At last, on April 4, 1784, the Crown Prince was confirmed in the royal chapel of the Christiansborg Palace, and before the confirmation his public examination took place in the presence of the foreign ministers and the court. This examination effectually dispelled the rumours which had been industriously spread concerning the young Prince's mental abilities, for he answered clearly and directly the questions put to him, and spoke with a firmness which carried dismay to the hearts of the QueenDowager and her supporters.

The confirmation of the Crown Prince was followed, as a matter of course, by his admission to the Council of State, and this took place on April 14, 1784. As it was an occasion of some ceremony, the King himself occupied the presidential chair; the Crown Prince was seated on his right, and Prince Frederick, the King's brother, on his

left. The Queen-Dowager had taken the precaution of appointing two new members of the Council of State, her creatures, who were sworn to carry out her wishes, and outvote any proposals of the Crown Prince. The first business of the meeting, therefore, was the swearing in of these two new members, and of Count Rosencrone, another nominee. When the three men advanced to sign the oath and formally take their seats, the Crown Prince rose and begged the King to command them to wait until he made a proposition. The King bowed assent-he was in the habit of assenting to every proposal-and before any one could interpose, the Crown Prince produced a memorandum which he read from beginning to end. It proved to be a most revolutionary document: he requested his father to dissolve the present cabinet, to recall two of his own supporters-Rosenkrantz and Bernstorff-to the Council of State, and to appoint two others, also his supporters-Huth and Stampe-thus giving him a majority in the Council. The Crown Prince. then laid the memorandum before the King for signature, and, dipping a pen in the ink, placed it in the King's hand. At that moment Prince Frederick, who, with the other members of the Council, had been taken by surprise, recovered his self-possession, and attempted to snatch the paper away from the King, who was about to sign it, but the Crown Prince intervened and held it fast. One of the newly appointed members of the Council, Rosencrone, entered a protest, and