5. At least for the first year grant no "characters" and distinctions which were not really connected with the office held.
6. No pensions should be granted except in extraordinary cases, and no alms bestowed at court; but instead of it, the poor should be liberally remembered.
7. Copenhagen could not be made great and prosperous by luxury and an increase of the number of consumers to the detriment of the provinces, but by real industry and promotion of the foreign trade. Rich people must be attracted to the capital by the agreeable mode of life there.
8. Morals cannot be improved by police laws, and such are opposed to the liberty of men, as their moral actions, in so far as they have no immediate influence on the peace and security of society, should be left to education and the lessons and exhortations of the clergy; for the secret vices produced by coercion are frequently the worst, and create hypocrites.
These principles can be employed in forming an opinion how far it was useful or injurious to the king's affairs that his Majesty granted me his confidence. I readily acknowledge that after the time when the council was abolished affairs were not conducted in the proper form. But this was the very thing which some of those who gave advice desired; for it was hoped thus to give the king a prestige if a great many orders were issued from the cabinet, and cabinet orders passed without consulting the colleges. Others, on the contrary (Lieutenant General von Gähler,) were of an opposite opinion, and disapproved of it. The former advisers pleased the king; but I found that the latter were in the right, and hence I tried to draw his Majesty's attention more especially to the regulation of the departments. Equally little could I give my approval to the proposition (especially of Count Rantzau) that the affairs prepared by the heads of departments should be forwarded to the cabinet, and issued thence without making the author's name known. On this head countless insinuations, memoirs, and propositions, were sent in. I tried, as far as I could, to prevent this mode of conducting business, and only those orders emanated from the cabinet which concerned the form of the colleges, or established great general rules. In some cases it was also done in order to please the king's taste, and, as I willingly acknowledge, to give a prestige to the cabinet. Of such a nature were the instructions of Baron von Gyldencrone and Falckenskjold's mission, of which no one knew anything but the cabinet before they were determined on, except that I spoke with the latter officer generally about the affair. If afterwards so many decrees were issued from the cabinet, this had its origin in the ordinary course of business, and the representations of the colleges, or they concerned matters about which a report was requested in the cabinet. It was my wish to regulate the cabinet business after a certain form and rule, and to reduce it. Hence I calculated that no one ought to have any influence over it, except in so far as his office gave him a right, and that this should be effected by the representation of his department, or a direct report to the king. I understood to what confusion it would give rise if I listened to all the insinuations and suggestions laid before the king, and carried them out through the cabinet. I was therefore induced to take great care not to speak with any one about affairs unconnected with his department, and I directed my attention solely to information that reached the cabinet through ordinary channels. This conduct injured me personally, though it might be advantageous to the affairs, for it drew on me a suspicion that I was distrustful and reserved, and unwilling to accept any good advice. By degrees several persons were suspected of exerting an influence over me, but I can declare that no one ever possessed such an ascendancy, and that the only person to whom I gave unlimited confidence was Count Brandt. Still, I can assert that I said but little, even to Count Brandt, about the affairs, and the rest shared my confidence only in isolated instances. In the affairs I had no secrets affecting myself, and the other matters I could not and would not confide to any one but Count Brandt. I wished that persons in business matters should act according to their convictions, and not look to me. For this reason, I believed it requisite for the king formally to declare that his Majesty had entrusted the cabinet business to me, so that it might not appear as if I had usurped it. This occasioned the cabinet decree of July 14, 1771, which is so greatly brought against me, and is said to be opposed to the Lex Regia. I will honestly declare my intentions and principles.
1. I am free to confess that I tried to concentrate the royal authority in the cabinet, in accordance with the above-mentioned form and principles.
2. I had frequently remarked that royal orders were given by persons who had an opportunity to approach his Majesty, without having any other justification for doing so, than the fact that they had spoken with the king on the matter. This might give rise to many abuses, which I tried to prevent by having every direct order copied in a register. The persons who executed them were thus rendered secure, and the king knew who was answerable for the execution.
3. Instead of such orders not being brought under the king's notice, as was formerly the case, his Majesty saw them three or four times.
4. The king signed them in the extract, which was kept in the cabinet, or on the representations of the department, which reported receipt of the order.