devote his attention to the interesting concerns of government, but threw the burthen entirely upon his ministers or his favourites. Count Holck, at this time, enjoyed the greatest share of his regard; and his physician Struensee, the son of a Saxon ecclesiastic, was rising into notice. The queen, with whom the count was not in favour, encouraged Struensee to supplant him; and, by the aid of the insinuating physician, she recovered the confidence of her husband, and procured the banishment of Holck and his sister from court. Bernstorff was soon after dismissed from his office; and Matilda and Struensee triumphed over all opposition. The council of state was suppressed; a body which, since the revolution of the year 1660, had proved (like the parliaments of France) the only remaining check upon the royal authority; and a foreign adventurer ruled the king, the nobles, and the people with despotic sway '.

The new minister projected various plans of reform, some of which were calculated for the benefit of the country. He shook off the domineering influence which Russia had exercised over the Danish cabinet, and thus gave greater dignity to the crown in the eyes of foreign powers. He introduced economy into the expenditure both of the court and the state, encouraged arts and industry, granted freedom to the peasants, and improved the general condition of the people: but, in endeavouring to establish his power, he overlooked the rules of prudence and caution. Having been ennobled, and appointed secret minister of the cabinet, he was empowered to commit the king's verbal orders to writing, to issue them even without the royal signature, and to give instructions to the different official departments. This dangerous height of power exposed him to envy and odium; and a law ordaining the liberty of the press, by which he hoped to render himself popular, had a contrary effect, as it furnished his enemies with numerous opportunities of exposing his presumptuous ambition, and vilifying his character.

The exorbitant power of the favourite seemed at length to require restraint; and the nobles, whom he had depressed, began to associate against him. Juliana Maria, the king's step-mother, and her son Frederic, fomented the rising disgust, and endeavoured to form a party sufficiently powerful to drive him from the helm. He was aware of their enmity; and their machinations increased the panic excited in his bosom by a mutiny of

1 Elucidation of the History of the Count Struensee and Brandt, and of the Revolution in Denmark.

Norwegian seamen, who complained of a law which he had refused to soften or suspend. He even thought of retiring from Denmark; but the queen insisted on his braving the storm. An order for disembodying five companies of foot-guards, and dispersing the men among other regiments, promoted the views of the adverse party. They refused to obey the degrading mandate: a sanguinary tumult arose; and the populace sided with the guards, who demanded and obtained a full discharge from the service.

The president of the war office, count Rantzau, was one of those nobles whom Juliana particularly wished to gain over. He had contributed to the elevation of Struensee, but disapproved some of his measures, and was therefore expected by the queen-dowager to be ready to desert him. He at first declined an adoption of the schemes of that princess; but when he had in vain exhorted the minister to act in a more circumspect and politic manner, and warned him of his danger, he joined the party of Juliana. A conspiracy was now formed, and a day fixed for the arrest of Struensee and his chief associates.

After a splendid ball, at which Matilda danced with her usual gaiety, colonel Koller, whose regiment kept guard for the night about the palace, tutored his officers, on pretence of orders from the king, for the execution of the conspiracy. Juliana, her son, and count Rantzau, pretending a desire of rescuing their Jan. 17, sovereign from the danger of an insurrection, prevailed 1772. upon a page to unlock the door of the royal apartment. The count, having papers ready for signature, declared to the terrified king, that nothing but his confirmation of their contents could save him from the fury of the people. Christian, with tears in his eyes, and a trembling hand, signed the orders. Koller, in the mean time, seized Struensee, and sent him to the citadel. Count Brandt, who had been employed, during his friend's administration, to amuse the imbecile king, was also arrested and imprisoned, with other partisans of the reigning queen'.

Matilda was reposing, unconscious of her danger, when Rantzau, with colonel Eichstadt and some other officers, approached her chamber. The count having pleaded the king's authority in defence of his intrusion, she begged that Struensee might be called; and, when she was informed of his imprisonment, she exclaimed, "I am betrayed, undone, lost for ever!" She de

1 Elucidation, &c.-Wraxall's Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and Vienna, Letter ii.

clared that she would not obey orders which had been extorted from the king, and demanded an interview with him; but Rantzau, justly apprehending that her influence over her husband might mar the conspiracy, directed the officers to seize her. Her resistance being fruitless, she was carried off, and confined with her infant daughter in the castle of Cronenburg.

Now a prisoner in the hands of Juliana and Frederic, Christian was led through the city as a state pageant, that the people might suppose him to have readily acquiesced in this change of affairs. A general illumination gratified the mob; and the nation tamely submitted to the queen-dowager and her son, who, assisted by the restored council of state, usurped in effect the royal authority.

Sir Robert Murray Keith, the British minister at Copenhagen, had advised Struensee to resign his power before the explosion took place; but the minister turned a deaf ear to this opportune counsel. While the queen's fate was in suspense, sir Robert remonstrated against all violation of her security denouncing the vengeance of his court in case of insult or personal injury.

Struensee and Brandt were tried by a special commission, and condemned to death. Beside the charges of an assumption of inordinate power, and of multiplied mal-administration, the former was accused of a criminal intercourse with the queen; and amidst the agitation of his mind and the fear of torture, he confessed that this imputation was founded in truth. The charges against the latter were not so weighty as to induce even the prejudiced commissioners who tried him, to condemn him to death, except one, which was, that he had bitten his majesty's finger, in revenge for a sarcastic remark.

When Struensee's confession was intimated to the queen, she boldly denied her guilt; but when the baron Schak informed her that the offender, if he had falsely arraigned her honour, would not be suffered to escape an ignominious and cruel death, she said, "If I confess that what he has declared is true, may he hope for mercy?" He bowed assent, and gave her a paper to sign. She began to write her name; but suspecting that the baron had deceived her, indignantly threw down the pen. Schak put it between her fingers when she had nearly fainted and guided her hand so as to finish the signature. An extraordinary tribunal now took cognizance of the cause, and divorced her as an adulteress. She was from that time less closely confined; and her enemies were not so daring as to wreak upon her the extremity of vengeance. Her two friends, however, were brought to

April 28.

the scaffold. Brandt seemed to flatter himself with the hope of pardon; and when he found himself disappointed, he submitted with great fortitude to the execution of his sentence. Struensee was less patient, and force was necessary to make him bear the dreadful stroke. Each had the right hand cut off before decapitation; and the remains of both were for some time exposed to public view. The people appeared to be disgusted with this scene of cruelty; and the death of Brandt, in particular, was deemed an act of inhuman tyranny '.

The unfortunate Matilda, being released from Cronenburg, was conveyed by captain Macbride in an English frigate to Stade, whence she was conducted to Zell by the British envoy. She there had a household and court, but lived in comparative obscurity. Her person and manners were pleasing, and she was not deficient in the usual accomplishments of her sex. If not a faithful wife, she was an affectionate mother, a kind mistress, and a benevolent friend".

After the expulsion of Struensee from the helm, the queendowager governed Denmark for many years in the king's name with the assistance of prince Frederic. The intrigues of the Russians in that kingdom were now renewed; and Bernstorff, nephew to a nobleman who had distinguished himself in the cabinet, was elevated by their interest to the station of prime minister. Being a true patriot, he promoted the advantage of his country in every mode that he could devise, as far as was compatible with the retention of his office, under a princess who was less devoted to the same object. He alleviated the yoke of despotism, diminished the burthen of taxation, provided for the impartial administration of justice, encouraged the arts and sciences, favoured commerce, and studiously preserved peace.

In the contest of parties at Copenhagen, the court of Stockholm had rather favoured than opposed Struensee; and by the medium of baron Sprengporten, expostulated with count Rantzau on his factious schemes. In the preceding year, the death of the Swedish king had made way for the accession of his son,

1 History of Struensee and Brandt.

2 She died at Zell, on the 10th of May, 1775, before she had completed the twenty-fourth year of her age. A report arose, that she was poisoned by an Italian domestic, who had been bribed by the Danish court to perpetrate that atrocious act; but there were no real grounds for this suspicion. She complained of an inflammation in her throat, to which she was constitutionally subject; the disorder increased in malignity; cutaneous eruptions afterwards appeared; and a putrid fever threatened her with dissolution. The skill of Zimmermann could not restore her to health; and she expired after an illness of six days.-Wraxall's Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and Vienna, Letter ii.

Gustavus III., an ambitious prince, who was too fully occupied with a revolutionary scheme at home to take an active part in the broils of another kingdom.

Before I treat of the revolution to which I allude, I will give you some information respecting the affairs of Sweden. You may recollect, that the sister of Charles XII. and her husband were obliged to submit to such limitations of the royal power as rendered the government more republican than monarchical. The succeeding prince (Adolphus Frederic) acquiesced for a time in this system: but by the advice of count Brahe and baron Horn, he endeavoured to procure a greater degree of power, and to shake off that pernicious influence which the Hats, or the French party, had obtained in the diet. The scheme proved abortive; and the two noblemen, with others who belonged to the party styled the Caps, were beheaded. The ruling faction, at the same time precipitated the nation into a concern in the seven years' war, which seriously injured the state. Of the annual subsidy which France had engaged to pay for this service, the arrears were so considerable to an indigent government, that frequent demands were made for liquidation : and it was at length declared, that, if the court of Versailles should not speedily execute its engagements, a British minister would be received at Stockholm. During the war, no envoy from this country had been admitted, on account of the alliance between our court and that of Berlin: but sir John Goodricke was now sent to Sweden in a public character. In concert with the Russian minister, he opposed the Hat party with zeal and success; and in 1766, procured the assent of the Swedish ministry to a new treaty, not of alliance, but of amity and commerce'.

The king was not remarkable for consistency or firmness. Sometimes he sided with the Caps, at other times with the Hats. His queen (Ulrica of Prussia) influenced him to concur with the latter, when they promised to obtain for him an inordinate augmentation of power. A conspiracy for this purpose being detected by the Caps, they resolved to impose new restraints upon the royal authority; and the diet agreed to their proposals.

An extraordinary scheme was afterwards projected by the leaders of the French party. They stated, as a pretence for desiring the convocation of a new diet, that Adolphus wished to resign the exercise of royalty. They intended, however, that

Account of the Revolution in Sweden, by Charles Francis Sheridan.