He had a very respectable and considerable salary, which ought to have been sufficient, as he had everything free at court down to the very banquets he gave. He knew, and often enough proclaimed, in what a bad state the public treasury and his Majesty's were from former times.
For all that, after the council was dissolved, and he had become maître des requêtes, he allowed hardly three months to pass ere he, by an abuse of his Majesty's good heart, demanded and received from his most gracious lord a present of 10,000 dollars for himself, and a similar sum for his friend Count Brandt. It might be supposed that so considerable a present for these two persons, of whom one was maître des requêtes, and the other directeur des spectacles, and who both had only held these offices for a short time, would have satisfied their greediness for a while. But, instead of this, we find that it grew and increased, for Count Struensee, after receiving the above mentioned present in February or March, again received in May, or at the end of two or three months, from his Majesty 50,000 or 60,000 dollars, and Count Brandt the same sum, so that these two persons, in the short time of three or four months, cost his Majesty, in addition to their regular salary, 140,000 dollars, or at least 120,000—for which of these two sums is the correct one cannot as yet be stated with certainty, owing to the confusion prevailing in Count Struensee's accounts—and this in addition to the presents which before and after this date they procured for their good friends: such as Justiz-rath Struensee 4,000 dollars, Countess Holstein 3,000, Chamberlain Falckenskjold 3,500 or more, and so on.
That Count Struensee's irresponsible selfishness was duly considered and intended, is seen from the artificial machinery which he formed, solely that he might be able to take these sums without any one detecting it.
For this purpose, he first proposed the abolition of what was called the "Trésor"—which consisted of a sum of money laid by for unforeseen expenses, and that it should be paid into the public treasury. As the Trésor, however, must pass through the cabinet on its way to the public exchequer, he proposed to his Majesty to reserve 250,000 dollars of the same, in order to form a special cabinet treasury which would stand under his control.
In this way Count Struensee obtained a good opportunity for receiving considerable sums, without any one being acquainted with the fact.
He behaved in such a way with this treasury, that after it was established in April, 1771, and at that time consisted of 250,000 dollars, at the end of May only 118,000 dollars remained of the original contents, although the king had no other out-goings but these presents.
The remaining 118,000 dollars would have gone by degrees the same road as the others if Struensee had been allowed sufficient time.
Count Struensee's disgraceful avarice and selfishness are thus rendered so evident, that those persons who proclaimed him as disinterested must fairly confess that they knew him badly, and were not properly informed.[10]