On February 13, however, public notice was given that the king had thought proper to establish a government college under the title of the Privy Council of State. It was the king's will—so the proclamation ran—that in future all matters should be first laid before the college, which would examine them, and then have them decided by men who were well acquainted with the laws and constitution of the country. In consequence of this, he had resolved on establishing a Privy Council of State, and giving it the proper instructions. In addition to Prince Frederick, the council of state would consist of the following members: Count Thott, General Count zu Rantzau-Ascheberg, Privy Councillor Schack Rathlau, Admiral Römeling, Lieutenant-General von Eickstedt, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Count von der Osten, who would wait on the king upon certain days of the week. No other member of the council but the Minister of Foreign Affairs was allowed to be head of a department. Should the king think proper to issue resolutions otherwise than through the council of state, to prevent the confusion which would result from the colleges interested being unacquainted with the contents of such resolutions, the holder of such a resolution would be expected, ere he made use of it, to inform the college interested of it, so that a most submissive report might be drawn up by the latter, and the formal expedition take place through the Secretary of State's office. All requests, representations and reports, with the exception of those relating to the German lands, were in future to be drawn up in the Danish language, and all reports handed in by the colleges be discussed in the privy council of state, where they would receive the royal sanction.
By this restoration of the privy council of state, the at first intended institution of a cabinet council, which too much resembled Struensee's hated government, was avoided; and as the overthrown minister had drawn such odium on himself by despising the language of the country, the new ministers certainly acted prudently and wisely in restoring it. Ere long, they made a further improvement by introducing Danish instead of German in the army drill. The members of the new council of state were also all natives of the monarchy, which would not have been the case had Bernstorff and Moltke been introduced into it.
By the last regulation of the instructions for the future course of business in the council of state, the king's signature was deprived of all force and validity, except in council. It is true that this restriction might be regarded as emanating from the king himself, and be used to avoid any possible forgery of his signature. Still, it was quite certain that, henceforth, the king could undertake no affair of state that had not previously received the sanction of the council. And yet it was regarded as a crime worthy of death in Struensee, that he issued instructions to the colleges in his Majesty's name, and his enemies appealed to paragraphs three and twenty-six of the Lex Regia. These may be as well quoted, once for all, as frequent reference will be made to them:—
Sec. III.—Hence the king shall have alone the highest power and authority, both to issue and explain laws and regulations according to his will, to make them invalid, to pass others in their place, and even to abrogate laws passed by himself or his ancestors (always excepting this royal law, which must always remain immutable and uninjured as the right foundation of the royal authority and a fundamental law). The king can also liberate and exempt any person he pleases from the general law.
Sec. XXVI.—... And as both daily experience, as well as the lamentable examples of other kingdoms, sufficiently prove how injurious and ruinous it is if the clemency and kindness of kings are so misused, that their power and authority are cut away from them almost invisibly by one or the other, and, at times, even by their most privy ministers; and, through this, both the commonwealth and the kings themselves suffer the greatest detriment.... We therefore wish to recommend this earnestly to our successors, the hereditary rulers in Denmark and Norway, that they should take special care to protect their hereditary right and sovereign rule; that is to say, preserve the supreme monarchical power perfect and unlessened, as we have left it to them for an eternal inheritance in this our royal law. And hence we order and decree, for its further confirmation, that if any one, no matter who, should venture to desire or appropriate anything which could be injurious to the sovereign rule and monarchical power in any way, everything obtained in this manner shall be declared null and void, and those who have got possession of such things shall be punished as insulters of majesty, because they have impudently committed the greatest crime against the supremacy of the royal monarchical power.
According to these paragraphs, the writers of the instructions for the new council of state who had extorted the king's signature, and the members of the council who obeyed the instructions, must indubitably be regarded as guilty of high treason, while the instructions, even after the king's signature had been obtained, must be considered null and void, according to the letter of the Lex Regia.
The members of the privy council received in their patents the title of Ministers of State and Excellencies. Count Thott became reporter for the two Chanceries; Privy Councillor Schack Rathlau for the Treasury; Count von der Osten for Foreign Affairs; Count Rantzau-Ascheberg for the Army; and Admiral Römeling for the Navy. Count Thott, as president during the king's absence, had a salary of 6,000 dollars; the other members 5,000. The question was long discussed whether a secretary should not be attached to the council in the person of Chamberlain Suhm, the writer of the famous open letter to the king; but they altered their mind at the eleventh hour, and resolved not to keep any report of the proceedings of the council.
Köller was not taken into the council, because two representatives of the army could not sit in it. On the day when the council was established, however, he was made a Danish nobleman, and an unfurled banner was given him as his coat of arms.
Guldberg, who drew up the instructions, still contented himself with the mere title of Etats-rath, but, for all that, was the most influential man in the government, and esteemed Eickstedt. Rantzau, on the other hand, soon remarked that his authority was departing.