The alarm displayed by the three royal personages and their intimate adherents in the theatre, had, however, been too great and too public for them to be satisfied with the above order. Hence, police regulations were made to prevent mobs and street riots. The masters were ordered to keep their apprentices at home at night, or otherwise be responsible that no street disturbance was produced by them. Further, it was prohibited to illuminate the houses henceforth on the birthdays of the king and the prince royal. The order against sitting in pot-houses after ten o'clock, which Struensee had revoked, was again established, and everybody was warned against letting off guns and pistols in the streets, shooting rockets, or throwing crackers. The city gates, which had been left open, were now again locked at night, and this order was soon after extended to the hours of divine service. Lastly, it was ordered that the passports of all persons leaving the city must be issued by the Danish Chancery, and all house owners were requested to give immediate notice to the police of the arrival of strangers and travellers.
The persecution of Struensee's adherents, and the distribution of rewards among near and distant participators in the coup d'état were not interrupted by all these matters, and several of the deposed officials were again placed on active service.
On the days immediately following January 17th, arrests, reprimands, and dismissals occurred in rapid succession. On the 18th, Lersner, the master of the hounds, was arrested, and although he was released again soon after, it was with orders to quit Copenhagen and Danish territory within thrice twenty-four hours. He had hardly reached Roeskilde, when a government courier caught him up with orders to hurry his departure from the king's territory as much as he could.
The minister's younger brother, Lieutenant Struensee, was ordered to leave the Danish states with the same speed. As his name was his sole proven crime, and he was poor, he was given 200 dollars for his travelling expenses, and a pass as a law student, and he quitted Copenhagen at the same time as the master of the hounds. Five years after, he was permitted to reside with his parents at Schleswig, but on the condition that he must not show himself in the Danish portion of the kingdom. He afterwards received an appointment in Prussia, through the interest of his brother, the Justiz-rath, who eventually became the Prussian Minister of Finances.
Captain Charles Düval, of the Norwegian king's regiment stationed in Copenhagen, met with the same fate. As, however, he was able to prove his perfect innocence, he was recalled and given a company in the Borncholm regiment. As we have seen, Brandt employed him to engage actors in Paris for the king's playhouse; and he had been recommended to the cabinet minister as a trustworthy man. By what means the captain succeeded in cleansing himself from the stigma of trustworthiness to his late employer, is not known.
It excited attention that about the same time one of the conspirators received orders from the king to quit Copenhagen. This was the amply rewarded Beringskjold, who was commanded to select as his residence the little town of Wordingborg, at the southern extremity of Seeland, and was told that he must not leave it under the king's most serious displeasure. His offence is stated to have consisted in calling the minister of foreign affairs, Von der Osten, a rogue, because he had intrigued against Chamberlain Kragh being removed from his office of governor of Laaland, so that Beringskjold might take his place. It is probable, however, that a motive of greater weight led to his banishment from the capital. As the reward he received in cash did not satisfy him, he spread a report that he had foiled the plan of excluding the king's children from the succession to the throne, and this statement of his was repeated to the people in authority. For the fact that the queen dowager at first entertained such plans in order to elevate her beloved son to the throne, is as certain as that Guldberg opposed them, for he was sensible enough to see that such a daring scheme would be immediately followed by a protest from the nation and the foreign powers, England at their head.
Of the other arrested persons, General Gude, and the three cabinet clerks, Von Zoëga, Martini, and Panning, were soon after set at liberty, and no further measures were taken against them. Frau von Gähler, who had numerous friends, was removed from the citadel to her own house as state prisoner, while her husband remained in prison. The servants of the two counts, Struensee and Brandt, were set at liberty, as innocent creatures beneath revenge.
On the other hand, the Chief Equerry Baron von Bülow, whose pretty wife was regarded as an intriguing lady, received peremptory orders to quit the capital at once, and as the couple were compelled to stay on the road in Seeland, in order that the lady might get over her accouchement, a second order was sent after them to hurry their journey to Holstein. Herr von Bülow had drawn the hatred of the hereditary prince on himself, by giving the prince's horses a stall separated from the royal stables.