5. No department could have any influence over another, except through the king, and there was a copy of it in the cabinet.
6. The king found no difficulty in carrying out what he pleased, and I was ever of opinion, and had always heard, that in a sovereign state the form should be kept as simple as possible: that good principles, and the desire to act well, were the best means to keep a king from abusing his power: and that other difficulties impeded the execution of great and useful plans, without preventing the results of a bad appliance of the authority.
7. All the time I was minister, the cabinet orders were sent to the colleges and heads of departments. The latter could then raise objections especially in cases where such regulations were contrary to the laws and earlier royal resolutions.
8. I thus acquired no personal authority, except in so far as the king granted me his confidence.
9. I thus deprived myself of the means of mis-applying the king's confidence to designs opposed to his interests, and if I had any such designs, of which I am not conscious, however, they can be very easily detected in the copies preserved in the cabinet.
10. As regards the king's signature, several persons, especially Councillor of Conference Schumacher, know what his Majesty thought of it, and that this was the reason why all the cabinet orders were not signed by the king.
Although I have thus declared with the greatest truthfulness the sentiments with which I employed the king's confidence, I do not venture to decide how far, on the whole, the changes that resulted were advantageous or injurious. The result must prove this, and for this the time during which they have existed is too short.
So much, however, I believe I may assert, that the economic arrangements at court, as well as the management of the royal privy treasury, were advantageous, and will produce considerable savings: and further, that the financial system is established on a sound basis, as the price of corn in Copenhagen this winter will prove, how far correct measures were taken in that matter;—that all the expenses of the last year have been paid, and the resources which the extraordinary ones required, were not oppressive for the country;—that the arrangement of the Chanceries and Colleges of Justice is advantageous;—that the persons whom I proposed as officials, three or four excepted, as I might be mistaken about them, possessed the requisite ability for what they were employed in;—and lastly, that there has been no delay in the settlement of business. It was unavoidable that defects should have crept in here and there, which I certainly felt, but could not possibly prevent. If private persons have suffered, the intention always was to employ such persons again, and give them compensation.
If the undertaking has failed through incorrect measures, or want of support, I will confess that I deserve all the reproaches that may be made me in consequence, as it is sufficient that it has not been carried out. The king alone can decide how far my advice has had an influence on his personal comfort, and the examination will prove how far the results have been injurious on the whole. At the beginning I was encouraged by my friends: but when it had grown too late to draw back, I lost them. If it be possible in such a situation as mine was, for a man to act without personal motives and impartially, I tried to do so, and so much the less did I believe that I should deserve the general hatred. On this account I was indifferent to all the menaces that were spread against me in public. I suspected even less, that I should be seriously accused of wishing to sustain myself against the opinion and will of the king, and of entertaining dangerous designs against his Majesty's person. As concerns the first charge, I do not know whether the king ever had the wish, or formed a resolution of discharging me. Everything I could employ to sustain myself in the king's favour was that I strove to be agreeable to his Majesty. Besides this, the influence of the queen was the only thing on which I could calculate. During the last half year, Count Brandt lost the king's confidence. Etats-rath Reverdil had no personal liaisons with me, and would assuredly not have allowed me to support myself in an improper manner. I did not know page Schack personally, before he was attached to the king: the king said but little about Berger, and, besides, all the valets were still attached to his Majesty whom I found there, and they were under very slight or no obligations to me. These persons will know whether I asked of them information as to what the king said, or services to my advantage. If I had wished to prevent his Majesty from forming a speedy decision (about my dismissal) in consequence of insinuations made to him, I could only trust to the repugnance which such a thing would meet with in his mind, because there were countless opportunities, which I could neither prevent, nor attempted to prevent, and at least I ought to have made more certain of the sentiments of the persons who were about the king. Besides, the king had formerly dismissed several persons who were about him, and it would have been very easy for him to find means for doing the same with me, if he had wished it, and how could I have opposed it?