On the same day as the privy commission of conferences sent in its last report on financial matters, a College of Finances was established, and the general Board of Customs abolished. According to the regulations for the new college, it was to consist of four departments (1st, for Denmark; 2nd, for Norway; 3rd, for Schleswig-Holstein; and 4th, for Oldenburg). Count von Holstein, Chief President of Copenhagen, the bürgermeister of the capital, Thyge Rothe, Financial Councillor Oeder, and Councillor of Justice Struensee, were appointed by the king deputies of the College of Finances.
Rothe had been a preceptor to Prince Frederick, but afterwards retired to an estate which he obtained through his wife. Though an esteemed writer in verse and prose, he possessed more imagination than common sense. Charles Augustus Struensee was an elder brother of the favourite, professor of mathematics at the military school of Liegnitz, in Prussia, and was well known as a writer on military subjects, and as translator of the Rêveries of Maréchal de Saxe, when he was appointed a Danish Councillor, on November 13, 1669. Being now summoned by his brother to Copenhagen, where he arrived at the close of April, 1771, he attracted general attention, us the near relative of the all-powerful cabinet secretary.
Even Reverdil is willing to admit that the choice of Oeder and Struensee for their present posts was not improper, except from the fact of the latter's relationship. Both were upright and learned, and both had gained a good deal of information connected with their new duties. Struensee had observed the administration of the Prussian States; Oeder, while travelling to study botany, had greatly reflected on the manner in which countries were cultivated, or the faults connected with the collection of taxes, and the oppression exercised by the officials.
The arts and sciences also became an object of attention to Struensee and his adherents. The Academy for Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture at Charlottenborg, was provided with fresh regulations, of a nature to render it of more practical use. For this purpose, all pupils who wished to devote themselves to the arts obtained a gratuitous education, and the distribution of large and small gold and silver medals, at the public exhibitions, was promised as a reward to encourage merit. In the same spirit, it was ordered that the Academy of Soroe should in future be thrown open to the sons of bourgeois as well as of the nobles. The intentions of the government connected with the latter order were, however, not carried out, because the regulations were in direct opposition to the will of the regenerator of the Academy, the celebrated Danish playwright Holberg.
As regards trade, the principle was laid down, that factories which could not support themselves should not be maintained at the expense of the state. It was therefore resolved no longer to carry on any manufacture on royal account, and several silk mills were closed. On the other hand, the greatest possible extension of trade, by enlarging its liberties, was recognized as a pressing necessity by the government, and many regulations connected with this object were passed.
The government also provided public amusements for the inhabitants of the capital, with the object of inducing other wealthy families to take up their residence at Copenhagen. The winter amusements consisted principally of the theatres. At the court theatre French performances were given every Tuesday and Friday, to which not only men of rank and position, but also respectable citizens, had free admission. After the performance, they played at cards in the queen's rooms, and cold refreshments were handed to them.
The Danish theatre, however, which, as has been stated, was under the direction of Brandt and Capellmeister Sarti, was not only used for the performance of German plays and Italian operas, but also for redoutes and masquerades, for which free tickets of admission were sent out, and on some occasions everybody was allowed to attend, as in the case of the great masquerade of December 18. At the same time there was no lack of public concerts, at which foreign artistes performed, and of performances by travelling posture-masters and conjurors, among whom Brambilla greatly distinguished himself as rope-dancer, pantomimist, and pyrotechnist.
Up to this time, certain portions of the Rosenborg Palace garden had been closed against the public. These gardens, as well as those of the palace of Frederiksberg, adjoining the western suburb of Copenhagen, were thrown open to everybody towards the end of May; and on Sundays and holidays the regimental bands played in the royal gardens and the great market-places.
Rosenborg was the favourite abode of Christian IV. When first erected, it stood outside the capital, and was his summer residence when his royal duties forbade his being at Frederiksborg. At the time when Struensee threw the gardens open to the public, the flower-beds still flourished under the care of an attentive gardener. The hedges were clipped square, the orange trees formed into the shape of balls, and four large fountains threw their jets high into the air, and caught them again in circular marble basins. A buffet was erected in this garden, and the commission was granted to a Mecklenburger of the name of Gabel, a protégé of Struensee, who was afterwards permitted to open a faro bank. The gardens were illuminated with coloured lamps, especially the great grove near the spring and the neighbouring alleys. At times fireworks were let off, and it was a fine sight to see the trees and the old palace illumined by the ascending rockets, which threw a magic brilliancy over these memorials of past ages, to leave them the next moment enveloped in the darkness of the grave. The concerts at Rosenborg were frequently honoured by the presence of the court, and the king and queen were accustomed to take refreshments in the palace, and then mingle with the crowd.[147]