The constitution which the King in this decree stated that his ancestors received from the nation was the Lex Regia, or royal law of Denmark and Norway, promulgated in 1660 by Frederick III. It had its origin in a revolution against the power of the nobles, who had reduced the King to a mere puppet of sovereignty, and formed an oligarchy which governed the country entirely in their interests. Frederick III. freed himself from this thraldom by a coup d’état, and with the consent of the burghers and people, and the enforced sanction of the nobles, he established the Lex Regia. It was therefore a most convenient weapon for Struensee to refurbish and use against the nobles again, for with a half-imbecile monarch, the whole of its tremendous powers would pass to the Minister. Some description of this law may be given to show the power which Christian VII., or rather Struensee the reformer, proposed to gather into his own hands.
THE FREDERIKSBERG PALACE, NEAR COPENHAGEN.
From a Print, temp. 1770.
The Lex Regia consisted of forty articles, which declared, inter alia, that “the hereditary kings of Denmark and Norway shall, and must, be regarded by their subjects as the only supreme chiefs on earth. They shall be above all human laws, and whether in matters spiritual or matters temporal shall recognise no other superior than God.” That “the King only has the supreme right of making and interpreting laws, of abrogating, amending, or superseding them”. That “the King only has the power of conferring office, or removing from office, according to his mere pleasure”. That “all dignities and offices of whatsoever kind are derived from the King, and held at his will”. That “the King alone has the right of disposing of the fortresses and troops of the realm; he alone can declare war, with whom, and when, he pleases; he alone can make treaties, impose taxes, or raise contributions of any kind”. That “the King alone has supreme jurisdiction over all the ecclesiastics of his dominions; he alone can regulate the rites and ceremonies of public worship, convoke councils and synods, terminate their sessions, etc.”. That “all the affairs of the kingdom, all letters and public acts, can only be expedited in the royal name—sealed with his seal and signed by his hand”. That “the King shall not be required to take any oath or form any engagement, whether verbal or written, since in quality of free and absolute monarch, his subjects can neither impose an oath upon him nor prescribe any conditions to limit his authority”. That “the whole realm of Denmark and Norway, its provinces, dependencies, islands, fortresses, rights, jewels, money of every kind, its army, navy, everything now enjoyed, everything that may be acquired hereafter, are the inalienable property of the sovereign alone, and can never be divided or separated from the crown”.
These few quotations from the Lex Regia will serve to show that Christian VII. arrogated to himself by this decree a power which no other monarch in Europe claimed. Not even that most mighty empress, Catherine of Russia, was so great an autocrat as this. In the Lex Regia of Denmark we find the most boundless, irresponsible, unmitigated despotism, without a single provision in favour of the life, substance, or liberty of any subject, high or low. The re-establishment of this despotism in all its nakedness was the essence of Struensee’s policy, for, since the reign of the monarch who promulgated it a century before, it had gradually fallen into disuse.
Frederick III., the author of the Lex Regia, was an absolute monarch in practice as well as theory; he broke the power of the nobles, and nothing stood between him and his imperious will. His successor, Christian V., began his reign on the same principles, but he found it necessary before long to conciliate the nobles, and one of his first acts was to create an order of titled nobility. Previously, all of noble birth had been merely styled nobles, but now they were given the titles of counts and barons—as if to console them for the loss of their authority. Certain other privileges were granted to them, but they still had no share in the government of the country, which the King kept in his own hands. Gradually, however, there was formed a Council of State, or Privy Council, which consisted of the heads of the different departments in the state—such as the minister of foreign affairs, the minister who was responsible for the army, the head of the naval department, and the head of the finance department. These posts at first were filled by the King’s creatures, who relieved him of detail business, but were unable to come to any decision apart from him; but as time went on the nobles gradually crept back into office, and were nominated one by one as heads of departments, until the Council of State assumed more importance. Under the reign of Christian VI. the Council of State was practically a committee of nobles, through whom the King governed; and during the latter part of the reign of Frederick V. (Christian VII.’s father) it usurped the sovereign power, and the King became a puppet in the hands of his ministers. Once more, despite the Lex Regia, the nobles became the rulers of Denmark. Had they used their power wisely, they might have remained so; but great abuses grew up. They filled every post with their creatures; they betrayed the interests of Denmark to foreign countries; the departments of state were badly administered, the national defences neglected, and the people heavily taxed. This was the state of affairs which Struensee was determined to remedy.
Christian VII., who had fretted under the yoke of the Council of State, especially when he first came to the throne (when the ministers who composed it strove by every means to prevent him from governing and to keep the power in their own hands), was quite ready to carry out the daring policy of its abolition, though that policy was dictated to him by Struensee. The King did not see that he was exchanging the tyranny of King Log for that of King Stork. He always wearied of those who dictated to him, whether ministers or favourites. He had wearied of Moltke, he wearied of Bernstorff, and in the same way he wearied of Sperling and Holck; and the time was coming when he would weary most of all of Struensee and Brandt. But at present he was indifferent to everything; he had long since ceased to take the initiative, and only asked to be relieved of the burden of state. Sunk into premature dotage—a listless gazer at the drama of life—so long as he was left in peace to enjoy the few things he still cared about, he recked nothing of his government, his kingdom, or the world. By the abolition of the council he had become in theory the most absolute autocrat in Europe. He had only to speak the word, or sign a paper, for the word and the writing to immediately become law; but in fact he was an imbecile, who let his whole power and authority drift into the hands of another—nominally, into those of the Queen, in reality of Struensee, who greedily snatched at every atom of power. In his muddled brain Christian VII. still clung to the belief that he was rendering himself equal to his great exemplar, Frederick the Great. The King of Prussia had found a way of diminishing the power of his ministers by becoming his own minister, and by signing the decree abolishing his Council of State Christian VII. imagined that he was acting on a similar plan. But, needless to say, there was no resemblance between the two monarchs; Frederick the Great did everything himself, but the Danish King did nothing, and the stereotyped answer he made to everyone at this time was: “Apply to Struensee”. Struensee had become a sort of Grand Vizier.
The day after the suppression of the Council of State a new body was established, called the Council of Conferences, but it had no real power. The members, who were the heads of the different departments of the state, and all Struensee’s nominees, met when commanded to do so by the King, and expressed their views on such business as was laid before them, advised on matters of form, and sent in their reports in writing. As these reports all passed through Struensee’s hands in his new office of Master of Requests, they were very useful to him; they set him right in matters of detail, and gave him the information he required without his seeming to seek it. As that shrewd observer, Gunning, wrote: “This is no ill-timed political scheme for those at the helm, who will, by this method, be able to gain considerable lights without suffering any one to have access to the King, their master, but themselves”.[154]