He had long resolved on the reduction of this corps, and spoken with several persons about it, most of whom, however, dissuaded him. At length he carried it through, and without his Majesty's knowledge (as the king himself has declared)[14] issued, on December 21, 1771, a cabinet order to the Generalty and Commissariat College, by which the five companies of Foot Guards were to be transformed into five companies of grenadiers, and one company of them be attached to each of the five regiments quartered in Copenhagen.
He allowed December 21, 22, and 23 to pass without telling his Majesty anything about it, although Struensee, on the 23rd, procured the Generalty the royal approbation of the said order of the 21st, because this college required a royal resolution, and refused without it to execute the cabinet order, as it considered the affair of too great importance, and foresaw the consequences that would result from it.
As, however, the Guards on December 24 declared that their capitulation must be kept, and that it was contrary to it to make them serve in other regiments, Struensee found himself compelled to lay the whole matter before his Majesty, and advised that force should be employed, and the Guards compelled to obey. However, a royal order was issued on December 24, by which those guards who would not serve as grenadiers were granted their discharge.
The result of this operation of Count Struensee's therefore was, that his Majesty lost from his military service several hundred brave, faithful, and trustworthy men, who were all natives. Count Struensee's improper and treacherous conduct in this affair is at once seen on comparing the protocol kept about the cabinet orders, with the weekly extract from them, which was laid before his Majesty.
In the protocol we find the said order of December 21, under No. 709, quoted with the correct date. After this, several other cabinet orders were drawn up, to No. 733, on December 22, 23, and 24; but the second cabinet order of December 24 is not found among them, but a space is left open at the very end, in order to book it afterwards. But in the extract from the cabinet orders expedited from December 18 to 25, which was drawn up on December 31, and afterwards laid before his Majesty, we find these two orders of December 21 and 24 quoted together at the end, under the numbers 22 and 23, just as if they had been expedited at the same time and under the same date, while, on the contrary, the cabinet orders issued from December 22 to 23 are omitted from this extract. From this a general idea of the completeness and trustworthiness of these extracts may be formed.
This protocol further proves how Count Struensee—although he had long before sufficiently provided that no one should bring before the king either verbally or in writing anything that might injure him, Struensee—found himself obliged, at the time when the guards were dismissed, to take just precautions. For under date of December 23 he expedited two cabinet orders, one to (the Danish chief postmaster) Etats-rath Waitz, in Hamburg, that the packets for his Majesty sent by post should be addressed to the cabinet, the other to Court-Intendant Wegener, by which all letters and parcels sent to the king, and letters and portfolios that came in from Copenhagen, should not be delivered in the king's ante-chamber, but in the cabinet. One of these orders, though they immediately concerned the king, was entirely omitted in the above-mentioned extract, while the other was quoted imperfectly, so that his Majesty was not at all informed of these regulations.
Just as Count Struensee more and more evinced his distrust of the nation, so the reciprocal hatred of the nation against him increased more and more (and was expressed), in various ways. Thus, in the summer of 1771, various pasquinades were in circulation, and although their contents and style sufficiently proved that they emanated from the common people, still they all displayed the strongest attachment to his Majesty's person, and a readiness to sacrifice life and blood for him, while the bitterness had no other object but the privy cabinet minister and his adherents.
This, and the fact that a few sailors and others who believed themselves insulted, went out to Hirschholm in order to lay their complaints before his Majesty himself, caused Count Struensee such terror, that he made preparations and was on the point of taking flight and running away.
As he, however—probably by the advice of his friends—desisted from this design, it seemed as if he, on the other hand, prepared to maintain himself in his post, and against everybody, in every possible way. This gave cause to various hitherto unknown measures.
When their Majesties came to town, at which times Count Struensee always accompanied them, they were surrounded by an unusual escort; wherever they stopped in town, at the palace or in the theatre, double sentries were posted, &c.