It was in all probability this sermon which caused Münter to be selected to hear Struensee's last confessions and attempt his conversion.
Still, almost immediately after the catastrophe, there were respectable authors who dared unhesitatingly to oppose the zealotry of the clergy, although this was accompanied by double danger at the time. "Religion," so wrote one of them, "is employed as a cloak, for the purpose of deceiving the nation about the events that have occurred. The bought voices of clergymen who deserve punishment, mix up with praises of the Supreme Being the evident lies of calumny. Struensee was to be held up as a regicide, and the deluded people were expected to thank Heaven for saving the king from a peril which had never existed."
But what could these isolated protests effect against the fanatical fury of the priests in a time of universal excitement, when not only the new governing party gave their protection to the worst zealotry, but even other respected men took the part of the revolution in word and writing? Among all these men, none carried matters so far as the well-known historian, Suhm, who was chamberlain to the queen dowager. He published an open letter to the king, whose contents are an everlasting brand on the name of an otherwise esteemed literary man:—
"Long enough," we read in the beginning of this pamphlet, "have religion and virtue been trampled under foot among us; long enough have honesty and integrity been turned away from our frontiers. A disgraceful mob of low people had seized on the person of the king and rendered access to him impossible for every honourable man. He only saw and heard with their eyes and ears—while the country swam in tears, while the Danish land had become a name of shame, and men, when abroad, did not dare express that they belonged to it; while the rich were plundered, the sun of the royal house turned pale, and everything was given up to ignominious robbers, blasphemers, and enemies of humanity. And while all this was going on the king was cheerful and happy, in the belief that the welfare of his subjects was being promoted."
After a fulsome panegyric of the queen dowager and her son (of whom Suhm says in a foot-note: "Theologians will decide whether these names designate glorified angels or angels still living on earth"), the writer proceeds to thank all the patriots "who with firm intention helped to tear the bandage from the king's eyes which prevented him from seeing, who raised up the king and country again, risked their lives to save the land, and restored the king his true and legitimate power." After which effusion of gratitude the zealous chamberlain burst into fresh assertions: that it was the highest time for the work of salvation to be carried out, for the capital would perhaps have become within a few days the prey of the flames—one immense ruin; while Denmark and Norway might have been happy under a king who entertained the most fervent wishes for their welfare.
This famous rubbish terminated with a warning appeal to the king, "to let the blood of so many kings that flowed in his veins warm his heart, and make him look at his people himself. Thus Christian IV. and Frederick IV. had acted. But he must not allow himself to be persuaded by flatterers that he was already what those kings had been, but strive to become as they." Then came a tremendous flourish. "From God and your nation you have received the autocracy: you are, therefore, also responsible to God and the nation for the use you have made of this power. You must set bounds on your own might, by regarding God as possessing a higher authority than your own, and by choosing the worthiest man for your government: the most worthy you have in your brother.[49] You must mercifully chastise those who have some claim to be treated graciously, but punish justly and without mercy the men who have dishonoured the king and the country.... You ought to fear God, love your people, take the government into your own hands, and believe your brother."
One more passage, and I will close this pamphlet.
"Who would not praise and esteem that dangerous but honourable night! Future Homers and Virgils will sing its praises, and so long as there are any Danish and Norwegian heroes left, the glory of Juliana Maria and Frederick will endure, but cannot be augmented, as that is impossible. Sooner shall the world fall into nothingness than their glory pass away."
In such a fashion as this, an otherwise honourable and educated man ventured to address his monarch, to heap up the heaviest charges and most manifest insults on men who were imprisoned but not yet sentenced, and even went so far as to urge on the sovereign who would decide their fate the inhuman request that he should mercilessly punish them. For all that, this public letter was praised by the majority as a proof of patriotic zeal, and of worthy liberality; and Counts Bernstorff and Von Reventlow even thanked the author in writing for his patriotic deed.
Probably encouraged by praise from such high quarters, the same author issued shortly after a second pamphlet, bearing the title, "To my Countrymen: Danes, Norwegians, and Holsteiners." In it he declared that it was only a reasonable feeling "if every body hated Struensee and desired vengeance upon him; for all the nations of Europe would regard a people that allowed itself to be governed by a Struensee, as a vile and cowardly people, and not call the man a barbarian who removed such a monster."