CHAPTER V. "THE NORTHERN SCAMP." 1766. FEW monarchs ever began their reign with more ardent prayers of their people, or inspired brighter hopes, than "Christian VII., by the grace of God King of Denmark, Norway, of the Goths and Wends, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn and the Dittmarsches, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst "—to quote his full style and titles. The young King was regarded as the probable regenerator of Denmark. "The eminent virtues and truly royal disposition of the new Sovereign afford a very agreeable prospect of his future reign," writes Titley. Again: “He is in all respects a very hopeful Prince, virtuously disposed, with excellent natural parts, and solidity as well as vivacity of understanding". The envoy's views were echoed by all who came in contact with the King. Christian VII. held his first council a few days after his father's death and acquitted himself with tact and dignity. It was his introduction to affairs of state, for though, according to the Lex Regia of Denmark, the heir apparent came of age when he 1 reached the age of fourteen, Christian had been kept quite ignorant of public business. This was the more inexcusable as his father's failing health made it likely that his accession would take place at any moment. Christian VII. was seventeen years of age when the call came for him to ascend the throne, and it found him utterly unprepared. To quote a Swedish writer: "The young monarch exchanged the schoolroom and the birch-rod for the throne and sceptre". This policy of keeping the heir apparent in ignorance of the constitution and government of the country was part of a set plan. The Ministers wished to retain all power in their own hands, and they viewed with alarm the possibility of a new ruler taking the initiative. For the King of Denmark and Norway in those days was no mere puppet of sovereignty. He was invested with absolute power, and was in theory, at any rate, as much an autocrat as the Tsar of all the Russias. The late King, from indolence and indifference, had let all the power drift into the hands of his ministers, but there was no reason why Christian VII. should do the same. The royal policy of laissez-faire had not been so successful in the last reign that the nation desired its continuance in this. The trend of foreign policy under Moltke had been to sell Denmark bound hand and foot to France. home affairs, the army and navy had drifted into a deplorable state of inefficiency, the national debt was abnormally large, and the taxes burdensome. In Many of the nobility were disaffected and corrupt, the middle classes sullen and discontented, and the peasants ground down to the level of beasts of burden. Undoubtedly there was something rotten in the state of Denmark. The young King at first made a laudable effort to do what he could. "He begins, they say," wrote Titley, "to show a desire of becoming thoroughly master of the state of his affairs, and it is not to be doubted that he will soon make great progress in that knowledge, if he takes right methods and his application is equal to his capacity." Again : "Sensible people here begin to conceive great hopes of their young Sovereign, and cannot enough admire his application to business, and also the quickness and solidity of his understanding".1 And again: "With a great share of vivacity and youthful levity he yet thinks very seriously and strives to make himself master of his affairs, so far at least as not to be under the necessity of blindly following the suggestions of anybody; he is unwilling to do anything that he cannot understand or rationally approve".2 If this show of authority somewhat alarmed Moltke and his placemen, the inexperienced King at first did nothing to displace them. For the first few months of his reign Christian VII. ruled through a triumvirate, composed of Moltke, Bernstorff and Reventlow. The triumvirate, though they detested 1 Titley's despatch, Copenhagen, January 21, 1766. each other, united in an attempt to discourage the King from governing. If Christian expressed an opinion on any matter of state, they either raised difficulties, or embarked on wearisome discussions. Baffled and discouraged at every turn the young King resolved not to yield without a struggle to his dictators. He knew that the affairs of the nation were in confusion, and he asked a distinguished servant of the state, Count Frederick Danneskjold-Samsöe,' to draw up for him an independent report of the condition of the kingdom. Danneskjold-Samsöe performed his task with alacrity, and painted an appalling picture of the distress of the people, the corruption and mismanagement in the great spending departments of the state, and the misgovernment of ministers. He inveighed against the whole policy of the ministers, and especially against that of Bernstorff, whom he regarded as chiefly responsible for the marriage arranged between the King and the English Princess Matilda. This marriage he boldly declared was displeasing to the nation. But in this respect he met with no success; the King showed 1 Count Frederick Danneskjold-Samsöe was a grandson of Christian V. The first Count was Christian V.'s son by Sophie Amalie, daughter of Paul Mothe, an apothecary. His daughter by his first marriage, Frederica Louise, married in 1720 Christian Augustus, Duke of Holstein-Sondeburg-Augustenburg. This marriage played an important part in the interminable SchleswigHolstein question as affecting the legitimacy of the Pretender. Christian, the late Duke of Augustenburg, and his brother Prince Frederick, also married daughters of the house of DanneskjoldSamsoe. The mother of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein was a Countess Danneskjold-Samsoe. no inclination to hurry into matrimony, but the betrothal remained unaltered. So far as could be judged Christian inherited his father's liking for England. "I am told," wrote the English envoy, "that he has a predilection towards England. He often talks in private of the British blood in his veins, and often intimates the satisfaction it would give him to lead his army in person in the cause of Great Britain."1 Christian VII. acted so far on DanneskjoldSamsöe's report as to dismiss his Prime Minister, Moltke, without a pension, and to strip him of all his offices. He had always disliked Moltke, whom he considered chiefly responsible for his having been kept in subjection and in ignorance of public affairs during the late King's lifetime. Contrary to expectation he did not treat Reventlow with the same severity. He gave him titular honours, but quietly put him on one side. Bernstorff triumphantly acquitted himself of the charges brought against him, and rapidly advanced in the King's favour. He soon became the most powerful minister in Denmark. A firm friend of Bernstorff and of the English alliance was Prince Charles of Hesse.2 This Prince was Christian VII.'s first cousin, and, like 1 Titley's despatch, Copenhagen, May 13, 1766. 2 Prince Charles of Hesse, afterwards Landgrave, left behind him a manuscript entitled Mémoires de mon Temps. After nearly a century it was ordered to be printed by King Frederick VII. of Denmark for private circulation. It is the authority for many passages in this book. |