At the same time, however, a man reappeared in the capital in whom the opposite party fancied they had a support against Rantzau. This was Major-General Chevalier Michael Filosofow, who had just been appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Russia. He had arrived three weeks previously in Hamburg, but had not hurried to reach Copenhagen, probably because he did not expect much from a speedy return to the capital. In the latter case he was perfectly right: for in the present state of affairs the most speedy return would have been too late for him and his designs.
In order to furnish a just idea of the reforms which Struensee undertook, it is necessary to take a glance at the state of Denmark at the period when he assumed the administration. Before the war against Charles Gustavus, King of Sweden, the government of Denmark had been a thorough oligarchy, much like that of Poland. The chief power was vested in the hands of the nobles, or of a senate composed of their representatives, and entrusted with their interests: the crown was elective, and the king had no authority but what the senate left him. The clergy had lost their power and wealth through the Reformation. An almost absolute despotism weighed on the citizens of the capital and the other towns, though their deputies figured as a species of third estate in the diets of the nation: the country people, adstricti glebæ, were divided among the noble landowners like herds of cattle, and were employed by them to till the soil.
In 1660, the citizens of Copenhagen, who had just repulsed the Swedes from their walls, took advantage of their momentary strength to change the government; they abolished the senate, rendered the crown hereditary, and by a solemn treaty unreservedly handed over the whole power to their king, Frederick III., both for himself and his heirs for ever, hoping, doubtless, that the yoke of a single master would be less oppressive than that of a caste of nobles.
Frederick III. regulated the absolute power with which he was invested, and in order to compensate the nobility in some measure for what they had lost, he called to him the most considerable of them and formed them into a privy council, which was, as it were, the image of that senate by which the nation had been so long governed. But his successor, Christian V., gave his entire confidence to Schumacker, the son of a wine merchant, who governed Denmark skilfully under the title of Count von Griffenfeldt, and this system was continued even after the favourite's fall.
Under the following reigns, as the sovereigns still suspected the nobility of their country, they summoned foreigners into their service; and as this policy was persisted in, foreigners gradually seized on not only the home and foreign offices, but even the most considerable civil and military posts. These foreigners, not having any relatives or friends in the country, and not being always able to obtain subordinates from abroad, chose their confidential agents among their most devoted servants, and procured them advantageous posts as a reward, or else to secure them as partisans. This example was soon followed by the natives; and just as in ancient Rome the power fell into the hands of freed men, lackeys became in Denmark influential personages, who did not limit their ambition to subaltern employments.
In proportion as foreigners and people in their service assumed a greater share in the government, offices, appointments, and pensions were multiplied; and under the specious pretext of benefiting the interests of the state or the public, a multitude of establishments were erected, with the requisite officers to manage them and perform the different duties. Some served the prince, others managed the finances and crown lands, or entered the army, the police, or the law. There were establishments for the relief of the poor, for the advancement of the arts and sciences, education, agriculture, trade, and manufactures, and they were required for everything.
Just as the state displayed its luxury in land and sea forces, at foreign courts and at home, each branch of the administration had also its abundance of officers, registrars and clerks. Still, beyond certain limits, it is impossible to endow new officers without trenching on the salaries of the old ones: hence it happened that, in excessively increasing the number of clerks, the wages of the majority were reduced to the most moderate rate. As money ran short, recourse was had to titles and honorary distinctions, the etiquette of each rank being settled with the minutest details, as well as the respect or deference attaching to it. When it was decided that rank and titles conferred by the government should receive the honours and consideration due to merit, there was an eager rush to obtain them. The tradesman left his counter, the artisan his shop, the plain citizen gave up his modest livelihood, in order to acquire a title and become somebody. This vanity, penetrating all classes, gave a great impulse to luxury and ostentation.
Government was not chary in granting a largess that cost it so little. It accorded titles to favour: it gave them as reward for services, and even sold them. Rank soon ceased to be exclusively attached to office, and more than once encroached on the principles of military subordination. Thus, an officer in the army would take precedence of his commander, and bring the rules of discipline under those of etiquette. Still, it appeared that the profusion of titles, far from inspiring disgust, strengthened the mania for them: men were ashamed not to have what so many people possessed.
Eminent titles, such as those of Count or Baron, retained a portion of their privileges: those who held them could not be arrested for debt, and they found at their manors an asylum against criminal prosecutions until sentence was passed. These estates, which were partly free from taxes, could not be confiscated even for high treason, and were transmissible by inalienable succession from eldest son to eldest son. These noble landowners exercised the rights of high and low jurisdiction on their estates, and these privileges recalled the olden times of lordly rule. But nothing recalled it so much as the serfdom which continued to oppress the class of peasants, and the militia duties appeared to double the burden.
Nevertheless, we must allow that this numerous and interesting portion of the population was not quite forgotten. In each district, a bailiff administering on royal account either the lands taken from the clergy at the Reformation, or lapsed feudal estates and the other domains of the crown, had among his other duties that of hearing the complaints of the peasants against their lords, and protecting them against oppression. But the bailiff could not always be found at home, and was not always disposed to compromise his own interests in sustaining those of the peasants.