"He spoke of Struensee, and said he was a man without any religion, who, from his infancy, according to his own confession, never had any impression or feelings of it. As to himself, he assured me that, though he had been far from being virtuous, yet he always entertained a secret reverence for religion, and had spoken several times about it to Struensee, in hopes of leading him to better sentiments, but he never would hear him. It appeared to me a little odd that the blind should thus have led the blind; I therefore made no answer, thinking it might, perhaps, be his self-conceit that made him speak so, or that he wanted me to entertain a better opinion of his errors than I had reason for: hence I would not tempt him to support an untruth by defending what he had told me."
Attention was also paid to the state of Struensee's soul. At first he declined to see any clergyman, but when the confession that decided his fate had been drawn from him, his persecutors resolved to send him ghostly counsel even against his will. The choice fell, as has been stated, on Dr. Münter, at that time provost of the German Peter's church in Copenhagen.
This worthy divine has left us an account of Struensee's conversion, which everybody used to read in the last century, but is utterly forgotten now. It is invaluable, however, for a proper comprehension of Struensee's character. In every page we seem to have before us a weak, sensual man, incapable of resisting any persevering pressure; incredulous through levity, purified by misfortune, sincerely converted, feeling the same contempt for the judgment of posterity as for that of his contemporaries; badly guided at the outset by too strict a father, but possessing excellent qualities, full of forgiveness for his pitiless enemies, and perfectly resigned. Over such a character a man like Münter soon gained the upper hand: he was a theologian, but would have made a first-rate lawyer, and at the same time a passionate Christian, who, while he believed that he was only labouring to save a wretch's soul, aided his implacable foes to consummate his ruin.
On March 1, Dr. Münter paid his first visit to Struensee's prison. When the count was informed of the clergyman's arrival, he inquired whether it was ordered, and on being answered in the affirmative, he endured the presence of the doctor. He welcomed him with a sour and gloomy countenance, in the attitude of a man who was prepared to receive many severe reproaches, and with a silence that showed contempt. But so soon as the clever Münter had told him that he was well aware of his obligations toward an unhappy man, and sincerely wished to make the visits he was ordered to pay him agreeable and useful, Struensee quitted his constrained attitude, and his countenance grew more serene. He offered the doctor his hand, and thanked him for the sympathy he took in his fate. The latter, in return, gave Struensee the assurance that he would say nothing that could offend him, and begged that if accidentally in the course of conversation a word might slip from him that appeared offensive, Struensee would overlook it.
"Oh, you may say what you please," the prisoner answered.
Münter repeated his assurance that he had no other design but that of being useful to his hearer, and for that reason requested his confidence, which he (Münter) would return with the most thankful friendship, even though Struensee in the beginning might take him for a weak and prejudiced man.
Struensee was moved by this assurance, and Münter continued:—
"If you desire to receive comfort from me, who am your only friend on earth, do not cherish that unhappy thought of dying like a philosophical hero."
To which the count replied:—
"In all my adversities, I have shown firmness of mind, and, agreeably to this character I hope I shall not die like a hypocrite."