It was all of no use; Reverdil remained under arrest, in his rooms, till the 23rd, when the cabinet secretary, Shumacher, set him at liberty, and said that the king, presuming he would prefer living in his own country, was willing to pay him 1,000 dollars for his travelling expenses. Shortly after, the queen dowager requested an audience of Reverdil. When he entered the room, she said:
"I cannot tell by what mistake you were arrested. I only heard of it yesterday. I had given orders that you should not be; and last Friday, when you came to see me, I said to myself, 'At any rate, he will not be disturbed.' I only wish I could have spared the rest. But the queen had forgotten everything that she owed to her sex, birth, and rank. Still, my son and I should have refrained, had not these irregularities affected the state. The kingdom was in trouble, and going to ruin. God supported me; I felt neither alarm nor terror."
The queen dowager then spoke with some detail about her son's grievances; the insolence the favourites displayed toward him; the impenetrable secrecy he kept before the 17th; and the courage he showed in the execution. Reverdil heard from the queen one of the instances of harsh behaviour toward her son. He was fond of riding on horseback, and this exercise was necessary for his health. In rainy and snowy weather he could only satisfy this taste in the riding school. The palace one was an academy three days in the week; on the other three days it was reserved for the royal family. Queen Matilda and Struensee, since their return to Copenhagen, occupied it on these three days, and had the entrance closed against the king's brother.
Still Reverdil's liberty caused Osten and Rantzau some alarm. They both feared lest, by regaining his intimacy with the king, he might employ his credit on behalf of the prisoners. Count von der Osten, whose principal talent was espionage in the palace and intriguing with the pages and valets, was informed of Reverdil's interview with the queen dowager, and was afraid that he might re-suggest the plan of recalling to court Count von Bernstorff or Prince Charles of Hesse, with whom he maintained a correspondence. Hence Von der Osten advised Reverdil to leave "for his own sake;" and the Swiss, who was only too glad to shake off the dust of a palace, left Copenhagen about a week after.
For a while, Reverdil resided at Nyon, but eventually entered the service of the Helvetic Republic, and died in 1808, the same year when Christian VII., driven by the English out of his capital, ended his wretched existence in Rendsburg. After Reverdil's dismissal, Jacobi, whose mother was bed-chamber woman to the queen dowager, was appointed reader to the king, and Nielsen director of the king's private library.
The number of prisoners was augmented by a few other disagreeable persons, who, however, were nearly all set at liberty again. Among the latter were Gabel, the owner of the destroyed hotel, and his step-daughter. The brother of Chamberlain Falckenskjold, though he had been asleep during the revolution, and was promoted like his comrades, was obliged to put up with several days' arrest at the main guard, because he ventured to make some harsh remarks about his brother's treatment. However, he was soon after set at liberty again, and eventually rose to the rank of colonel in the army.
Legations-rath Sturtz was at first left untroubled. He had lately drawn away from Struensee, and written the latter, shortly before his arrest, a letter, in which he reproached the minister for meditating the recall of Bernstorff's pension, and pointed at the great services of the discharged minister. That Sturtz felt no apprehension on his own account upon Struensee's fall, is proved by the fact that he arranged for his marriage with the daughter of Major Mazar de la Garde to take place on January 24, and placed none of his papers in safety. But as he ventured to suggest the recall of Bernstorff to the new holders of power, he had ere long to pay dearly for this want of caution. On January 20 he was dismissed from his post with a pension of 500 dollars, and ordered to live in a small town of Seeland.
Unfortunately for Sturtz, one of the officers watching Falckenskjold happened to mention his name to the prisoner. The latter asked eagerly, had he been arrested too? No more was required: the question was reported, and armed men were at once sent to Sturtz's house. His door was burst open, his papers were sealed up, and he was himself removed to the main guard, in default of another prison, on the very day of his intended marriage. His father-in-law having been seen under the windows of his prison, bars were placed on it so brutally that Sturtz was attacked by convulsive fits, and became dangerously ill.[53]
I have already mentioned the removal of Colonel von Falckenskjold from the barracks to the Navy prison, only intended for vulgar criminals. This was but a counterpart of the inhuman treatment of the two chief culprits, and a further proof of the revengeful sentiments of the party in power.