Foreign affairs had during the last year attracted general attention. The insulting pretensions of the Court of Petersburg had been broken by Bernstorff's dismissal. Up to this time, Filosofow only required to utter the threat, "Well, the treaty for the exchange of territory will not be ratified," in order to obtain what he required. Now, the arrangement by which the foreign envoys had to apply in writing to the king, cut off all opportunity for personally approaching the king, and we have seen how angry Filosofow was at the change. At the same time as he sent off his courier to Petersburg, however, the Danish government despatched Aide-de-Camp von Warnstedt with a letter from the king to the empress, notifying the dismissal of Bernstorff, and containing the assurance that the change would in no way affect the friendly relations between the two courts.
Struensee, who drew up the letter, was so ignorant of usages, or neglected to follow them to such an extent, that he simply began "Madam," instead of "Madam, my sister," and ended in the ordinary style, "I have the honour to be, Madam, your Imperial Majesty's very humble and obedient servant." The real writer of the letter could not refrain, either, from displaying in it the superiority of his views, for he mixed up in it some salutary lessons on politics. Such was the apparent message; but Warnstedt was secretly entrusted with letters for the Orlows, who were the enemies of Panin, the Russian minister, and friends of Filosofow and Saldern. He talked foolishly about the latter commission, so that it reached the ears of Mestmacher, the Russian chargé d'affaires at Copenhagen, and the Petersburg court knew before Warnstedt arrived of what letters he was the bearer.
When the envoy arrived at St. Petersburg, he learned that the empress was so unfavourably disposed toward Denmark, that for some time past she had not invited the Danish ambassador, Count Scheel, and his wife to her evening circle. The envoy extraordinary could only obtain a public audience from the empress, who received the letter from his hands, and conversed graciously with him, but no answer was given him. As for the private letters, very good care was taken that they should not be delivered. When Warnstedt returned to Copenhagen he was put under arrest, as a satisfaction for the Russian minister, though it was publicly stated that he had spoken incautiously about Christian VII. while in Petersburg. He was, however, liberated soon after.
This treatment of Warnstedt led to the belief in Copenhagen that the government was angry at the answer received from Petersburg; and Count Rantzau, the old foe of the Petersburg cabinet, began publicly rejoicing that the Russian yoke which Denmark had borne too long, was now shaken off. But Struensee behaved in the affair with statesmanlike demeanour and caution, so that Filosofow quite lost his head, and even displayed traces of insanity. He requested his recall, and it was granted. Before he left, he desired a private audience from Christian, and was told that he could only see the king in the apartment, and could take leave there. He replied that his health did not allow him to be present, and he went away without taking leave of a single member of the royal family.[138]
The Foreign Office was next given to Count von der Osten, who had been Danish envoy at Naples. As he plays an important part in the narrative, I will say a few words here about his birth and chequered fortunes.
Being without a patrimony, he was educated at court as page in the house of Frederick V. As he evidenced talent and cunning, Count von Moltke granted him a pension to study abroad. During his first journey to Leipzig, he made the acquaintance of Count Stanislaus Poniatowski, afterwards King of Poland, and they even slept in the same bed. On returning home, the first use Osten made of his talents was to induce the page of the chamber to deliver to the king a memorial against Count von Moltke and his administration, and against Bernstorff, who had the confidence of the king and his favourite. The king, instead of dismissing his favourite and his minister, showed them the libel, and as they soon saw that the person who handed it in was not capable of composing it, they urged him to reveal the real author. Moderate and honourable as they were, they took no further vengeance than sending their young adversary to take some lessons in politics, and for this purpose entrusted him to Malzahn, at that time minister in Russia.
Although Von der Osten was not given an official post, he contrived to seize on one. Malzahn died, and the secretary to the embassy being ill, Osten took upon himself to seal up the archives, receive despatches, and confer with the Russian ministers. Bernstorff confirmed him in the appointment he had seized, and sent him his instructions, which were, among other things, that he must humour the grand duchess, whose elevation the Copenhagen cabinet already foresaw. Von der Osten paid his court to her, by telling her all he could learn about foreign politics. This young princess was silently preparing to play a part, though I cannot affirm whether she flattered herself with the hope of managing her husband, or that she thought even then of getting rid of him.
As the grand duchess had no children, the Empress Elizabeth declared to her some time after that there must absolutely be a successor to the empire, and pointed out to her the man who might cure her sterility. This proposal at first revolted Catharine, and she rejected it as an insult. But when it was added that such respectable scruples might cause her to be sent away, her hesitation ceased, and after awhile there was no necessity to force lovers upon her. While Von der Osten was envoy at Petersburg, he received a visit from the young Poniatowski, whom he had known at Leipzig. Poniatowski was at first only a simple companion and intimate friend of Hanbury Williams, the English envoy; but during a lengthened residence at Petersburg he was entrusted with a commission by Augustus III. of Poland. He was handsome, well-informed, eloquent—in a word, made to please; and the grand duchess accepted his homage. Von der Osten was their confidant, and either acting in conformity with the intentions of his court, or through friendship for Poniatowski, he did not refuse them his good offices, but offered to cover the liaison, by lending his hotel as their rendezvous. Poniatowski came there incognito, and the princess, disguised as a man, escaped from her palace, and got into a hired carriage, in which the Secretary von der Osten received and accompanied her.
An intrigue, or some other cause, removed Von der Osten from Petersburg, but he was employed at Dresden in 1762. When the revolution rendered the empress independent, and removed the necessity for mystery, she begged the King of Denmark to send Von der Osten back to her court. For two years she not only granted him greater access and favours than a foreign minister could claim, but consulted him on the affairs of the empire, and admitted him to the conferences held in her presence between her ministers and her general officers. He fell from this elevation most suddenly; the Russian minister informed all the foreign envoys, by a circular note, that the empress had withdrawn her favour from Herr von der Osten, and regarded him as a vile and odious person. He remained some time at Petersburg, going to court, where nobody spoke to him, and not seeking to justify himself. Business no longer passed through his hands: the secretary to the embassy received the despatches from his court, and answered them without Osten's participation.
This took place in 1764, or about the period of the Polish throne being vacant. Von der Osten had received orders to make common cause with the dissidents, who desired the election of Stanislaus; but he was of a different opinion, and worked against his old friend in favour of a Count Oginsky, who was younger and handsomer, and whom he tried to please by dyeing his red eyebrows black. This attachment so blinded him, that, in the ante-chamber of the empress, and at the time when he was in favour, he offered to bet on the election of Oginsky against that of Stanislaus. Oginsky paid him for such warm protection, and I have no doubt gave but slight attention to the colour of his eyebrows. The publicity which the Russian court gave to Osten's disgrace refers to some secret infamy, and not to the two Polish rivals. It is supposed that, having succeeded in attaining a position by the help of Madame Bestucheff, who was a Dane, he eventually committed some signal act of treachery against her husband. It must have been during the period of his favour at Petersburg that Osten obtained the title of Count, for he was not so by birth. At the same period he asked for the order of the Dannebrog, but Bernstorff answered him that he had been a page too recently; and for this refusal Von der Osten never forgave the Danish minister.