STRUENSEE.

1737-1769.

John Frederick Struensee was born at Halle, an old town in northern Germany, on August 5, 1737. His father, Adam Struensee, was a zealous Lutheran minister; his mother was the daughter of a doctor named Carl, a clever man, much given to mysticism, who had been physician-in-ordinary to King Christian VI. of Denmark. The Struensee family was of obscure origin. The first Struensee of whom anything is known began life under a different name. He was a pilot at Lubeck, and during a terrible storm, in which no other man dared venture out to sea, he brought into port a richly laden vessel. In honour of his courageous deed he received from the corporation of Lubeck the name of Strouvensee, which means a dark, stormy sea—a fit emblem of his descendant’s troubled career.

John Frederick Struensee received his early education at the grammar school of his native town. It was not a good education, for the masters were imperfectly educated themselves, but the boy was so extraordinarily precocious, and had such a thirst for knowledge, that he soon absorbed all that his tutors could teach him, and began to educate himself. The wave of mysticism was then passing over northern Germany, and Struensee’s teachers were infected with it, and no doubt communicated their views to their pupil, for Struensee was all his life something of a mystic, or, to speak more correctly, a fatalist. Despite the orthodox Protestantism of his parents, the younger Struensee’s eager and inquiring mind had always an inclination to scepticism, and before he had attained man’s estate he was already a freethinker on most matters of religion. He seems always to have retained a belief in God, or a First Cause, but he never had the conviction that man enjoyed a future life: he held that his existence was bounded by this life, and always acted on that assumption. Side by side with the mysticism which was permeating northern Germany there existed a religious revival. The theory of conversion, whereby a man was suddenly and miraculously converted from his evil ways and made sure of future salvation, was peculiarly acceptable to many, and amongst Struensee’s companions were youths of notoriously loose morals who declared that they had suddenly “found salvation”. As this declaration was not always accompanied by a corresponding change of life, Struensee hastily and unjustly came to the conclusion that all religion was little more than an organised hypocrisy. His father’s long sermons, to which he was compelled to listen Sunday after Sunday, left no impression on his heart, and his sire’s private exhortations to his son to change his life, and flee from the wrath to come, wearied him. His mother, who had inherited her father’s mystical views, and supplemented them with her husband’s hard and uncompromising evangelicalism, also lectured her son until the limits of his patience were exhausted, and he resolved as soon as possible to quit a home where he was unhappy.

Struensee exhibited remarkable abilities at an early age; he matriculated at the university of Halle in his fourteenth year, and he had not completed his twentieth when he received the degree of doctor. Notwithstanding these academic distinctions, he was unable at first to earn money, and his means were so limited that he was forced to remain, an unwilling dweller, in the house of his parents. Even at that early age his enterprising and restless mind and his unbridled ambition began to make themselves manifest; his academic successes he considered merely as steps towards further greatness. His father used to warn him against worldly ambition and intellectual pride, but his exhortations fell on deaf ears.

In 1757, when Struensee was twenty years old, his father received “a call” to become chief preacher of the principal church of Altona, a city situated on the northern bank of the Elbe, within the kingdom of Denmark. This change in the family fortunes was destined to exercise a material influence on Struensee’s future. The young doctor accompanied his father to Altona, and in a few months was appointed town physician, and country physician of the adjacent lordship of Pinneberg and the county of Rantzau. The elder Struensee did not remain long at Altona, for the fervour of his eloquence soon brought him preferment, and he was appointed by the Danish Government superintendent-general of the clergy of the duchy of Holstein, an office equivalent, in influence and importance, to that of bishop. Left to himself, the young doctor bought a house in Altona, and set up his own establishment. He entertained freely some of the principal people in Altona. Struensee was a pleasant host and clever conversationalist, and early gave evidence of those social qualities which afterwards proved useful to him. But his polish was superficial, and concealed his natural roughness and lack of refinement. He would do anything to gain notoriety, and to this end affected the bizarre; for instance, he had two skeletons with candles in their hands placed one on either side of his bed, and by the light of these weird candelabra he read himself to sleep.

As Struensee’s establishment was expensive and his means limited, he invited a literary man named Penning to live with him and share expenses. In 1763 the two started a magazine called The Monthly Journal of Instruction and Amusement. The magazine was not a financial success, and at the end of six months ceased to exist. It did not contain anything very wonderful; perhaps the most remarkable article was one headed “Thoughts of a Surgeon about the Causes of Depopulation in a given country,” which was written by Struensee, and contained ideas on population which he afterwards put in practice. Struensee also published some medico-scientific treatises, but nothing of any great merit. He did not distinguish himself as a writer, but he was without doubt a widely read man; his favourite author was Voltaire, and next to him he placed Rousseau. He was also much influenced by the writings of Helvetius. Struensee was a deep, if not always an original, thinker, and his ideas generally were in advance of his time.

In Altona Struensee soon won a reputation as a successful doctor, and his handsome person and agreeable manners made him very popular, especially with women. The good-looking young physician gained through his lady patients (and it was his boast that women were his best friends) access to the best houses in, and around, Altona. He made the acquaintance of Count Schack Karl Rantzau, the eldest son of Count Rantzau-Ascheberg, one of the most considerable noblemen in Holstein, the owner of vast estates, a Danish privy councillor, and a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. Of Count Schack Karl Rantzau we shall have occasion to write at length later; suffice it here to say that he was already middle-aged when Struensee met him, and had led a wild and disreputable life. Struensee was useful to him in no creditable way, and before long the two became very intimate. They made an informal covenant that if either attained power he should help the other. But at present nothing seemed more unlikely, and Rantzau gave Struensee only promises and flattery, which, however, were enough, for the young doctor was very vain, and moreover exceedingly fond of the society of titled and highly placed personages.

Struensee also visited the house of the Baron SÖhlenthal, who was the stepfather of Enevold Brandt, and thus became acquainted with Christian VII.’s one-time favourite. Struensee had also attended, in a professional capacity, Madame von Berkentin, who was later appointed chief lady to the Crown Prince Frederick; and it was at her house that he said, half in jest and half in earnest: “If my lady patronesses will only contrive to get me to Copenhagen, then I will carry all before me”.

But for a long time he remained at Altona and all these fine acquaintances had no other effect than making his scale of living much higher than his circumstances warranted. He became considerably in debt, and this, added to dislike of his calling, for his ambition soared high above the position of a country doctor, made him restless and discontented. He was on the point of resigning his post, and taking a voyage to Malaga and the East Indies, partly to escape his difficulties, partly on account of his health, when a very different prospect revealed itself to him. The night is darkest before the dawn, and dark though Struensee’s fortunes were at this moment, the gloom soon vanished in the dawn of a golden future.

Christian VII., with a numerous suite, was then passing through Holstein, preparatory to starting on his prolonged tour in England and France. The King’s health was far from strong, and it was necessary that he should have a physician to accompany him on his travels; for this purpose a young and active man who could adapt himself readily to the King’s eccentricities was preferable to the older and staider court physicians, who indeed showed no inclination to undertake the task. Struensee strained every nerve to obtain the post, and was strongly recommended by Rantzau and Madame von Berkentin. The King had heard of the young physician of Altona through Brandt, before the latter had fallen into disgrace. Holck also knew something of him, and said that he would serve. As Holck’s slightest recommendation carried weight with the King, Struensee obtained the coveted post, and was appointed travelling physician. On June 6, 1768, he joined the King’s suite near Hamburg, and entered at once upon his duties.

Struensee at first did not occupy a prominent place in the King’s suite. His profession of itself did not entitle him to be a member of the first three classes who were received at court. His position was a middle one, between the lackeys and those members of the King’s suite who ranked as gentlemen, and it must have been uncomfortable. Some little difficulty arose as to with whom he should travel, but he was finally given a seat in the coach of Bernstorff’s secretary. Struensee was not a man to be content to remain long in an anomalous position, and he proceeded, very cautiously at first, to make his situation better. As the King’s physician he had unique opportunities, and made the most of them. Christian was a hypochondriac, who imagined himself ill when he was not, and often made himself really ill from his excesses; he loved to talk about his ailments, and Struensee listened with sympathetic deference. The King, who was always wanting to be amused, found the doctor a pleasant companion. He discovered that he could talk on a great many matters besides his profession, that he was widely read, and had a considerable knowledge of philosophy and French literature, in which Christian was genuinely interested. He supplied a void which could not be filled by Holck, who cared nothing for literature or abstruse speculations, and whose tastes were purely material.

The King’s suite soon began to remark the pleasure which the King took in conversing with his doctor, but Struensee was so modest, so anxious to please every one, that he did not arouse feelings of jealousy. He was especially careful to avoid political discussions, and never made the slightest allusion to affairs at home. He was also very discreet, and never spoke about his royal master, or his ailments, or made any allusion to the escapades in which the King and his favourites indulged. So far did Struensee carry this caution, that during the King’s tour he rarely wrote home to his parents and friends, and when he did, he restricted himself to indifferent topics. His father thought this apparent forgetfulness was because his son had lost his head in consequence of his good fortune. “I knew,” he said to a friend, “that John would not be able to bear the favour of his monarch.” But Struensee had intuitively learned the lesson that the word written over the gateway of all kings’ palaces is “silence!” His position, though pleasant, was precarious; he was only the travelling physician, and his appointment would come to an end when the King returned home. It was Struensee’s object to change this temporary appointment into a permanent one, and from the first moment he entered the King’s service he kept this end steadily in view. Struensee had another characteristic, which in the end proved fatal to him, but which at first helped him with both the King and Holck. Side by side with his undoubted brain power, there existed a strong vein of sensuality, and he readily lent himself to pandering to the King’s weaknesses in this respect. Struensee had no sense of morality; he was a law unto himself, and his freethinking views on this and other questions were peculiarly acceptable to his royal master.

Struensee had a certain measure of success in England, and through the King of Denmark’s favour, he was invited to many entertainments to which his position would not otherwise have entitled him. His reputation for gallantry was hardly inferior to that of Holck. It is stated that Struensee fell violently in love with an English lady of beauty and fortune, and his passion was returned. He wore her miniature next his heart, and it was found upon him after his death—but this rests on hearsay. What is certain, during his sojourn in England, is that he received honorary degrees, from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and he took riding lessons at Astley’s, and became an expert horseman.

Struensee accompanied the King to Paris, and took part in the pleasures of that gay capital. Struensee visited the gallery at Fontainebleau where Queen Christina of Sweden, after her abdication, had her secretary and favourite Monaldeschi murdered, or, as she regarded it, executed. Soon after he returned to Denmark Struensee told his brother that he had been induced to visit the gallery by a dream, in which there appeared before him the vision of an exalted lady whose name he hardly dared to mention. He meant, of course, Queen Matilda. His brother heard him in ominous silence, and Struensee, after waiting some time for an answer, quoted his favourite maxim: “Everything is possible”.

In January, 1769, Struensee returned to Altona in the King’s suite. The place and time had now come for him to take leave of his royal master, and retire once more into the obscurity of a country doctor—a prospect which, after his sojourn at glittering courts, filled him with dismay. But Bernstorff and Schimmelmann, whose good offices he had assiduously courted during the tour, spoke on his behalf to the King, and Christian appointed Struensee his surgeon-in-ordinary, with a salary of a thousand dollars a year, and as a mark of his royal esteem gave him a further five hundred dollars. Struensee remained at Altona for a few weeks after the King had left for Copenhagen to sell his house, pay his debts and wind up his affairs. He visited his parents at Schleswig to receive their congratulations and take leave of them. His father shook his head doubtfully over his godless son’s rapid rise in the world, and his mother warned him against the perils and temptations of the wicked court. But Struensee, flushed with his success, was in no mood to listen to their croakings. He believed in himself, and he believed in his destiny. “Everything is possible,” he said. The desire of his youth was gratified before he had arrived at middle age. He was going to Copenhagen, and what was more, to court; the future was in his own hands.

Struensee arrived at Copenhagen in February, 1769, and at first seemed to occupy himself only with his duties as the King’s surgeon-in-ordinary. But all the while he was feeling his way, and every week he strengthened his position with the King. It was not long before Struensee set himself to undermine the influence of Holck. He first frightened the King about the state of his health, and then diplomatically represented to him that the immoderate dissipation, in which he had been in the habit of indulging with Holck, was bad for him, and should be avoided. Struensee did not take a high moral ground; on the contrary, he pointed out that greater pleasure might be obtained by moderation than by excess. He also counselled the King to occupy himself with public affairs, and so keep his mind from brooding upon his ailments, and to take outdoor exercise. All this advice was good, and the King followed it with manifest benefit to his health. He stayed less indoors, and drove out frequently, accompanied by the Queen, to the chase, until one day the horses got restive and the carriage was overturned, and threw both the King and the Queen on the ground. Fortunately, they both escaped unhurt, but after this incident Christian became nervous and would not hunt any more.

In May, 1769, the King was pleased to show his appreciation of Struensee by making him an actual councillor of state, which admitted the doctor to the third class, or order of rank,[119] and thus permitted him to attend the court festivities. During the summer Christian’s health became more feeble, in consequence of his epileptic seizures, and Struensee became resident physician. He made use of this privilege to observe more closely the state of affairs in the royal household, seeking always to turn things to his own benefit. He formed the acquaintance of every member of the household, not despising even the valets, and studied their character and peculiarities.

Struensee found that the conflicting elements at the Danish court might be roughly divided into two parties. The party in the ascendant was that of Holck, or rather of Bernstorff, for Holck took no part in politics. But he was supported by the ministers in power, with Bernstorff at their head, who made use of his influence with the King. Behind Bernstorff again was the power and favour of Russia. The other party was nominally that of the Queen-Dowager, Juliana Maria, and Prince Frederick, the King’s brother. This, owing to the unpopularity of the Queen-Dowager, was small, and included chiefly malcontents, who were opposed, either to the policy of the Government, or to the new order of things at court. It was supported, however, by many of the Danish nobility, men of considerable weight and influence in their provinces, and the great body of the clergy, who were a power in the state. In short, it represented the forces of reaction, which had gathered around the Queen-Mother, Sophia Magdalena, before she retired from public affairs. It was also supported by French influence which, since the rise of Bernstorff, had declined in Copenhagen.

Between these two factions stood the reigning Queen. She was neglected by both of them, but, during the spring of 1769, after the King’s return, she asserted herself in a way which showed to a shrewd observer like Struensee that she would not always submit to be treated as a nonentity. The Queen had not yet realised the inherent strength of her position as the wife of the reigning King and the mother of the future one. It was a position which would grow stronger as her husband grew weaker.

Struensee grasped the situation a few months after his arrival in Copenhagen, and with sublime audacity resolved to turn it to his advantage. Neither of the existing parties in the state would ever be likely to give him what he most desired—political power. The party of Bernstorff would help him in little things. If the doctor proved useful to them with the King, he would be rewarded with money, a higher place at court, a decoration, possibly a title. But that would be all. The reactionary party of Juliana Maria would not do so much; they might employ him in their intrigues, but the haughty Danish nobility, who formed its backbone, would never admit a German doctor of obscure birth to terms of equality. But Struensee’s soaring ambition knew no bounds. He determined to win both place and power, and to do this he realised that it was necessary to form a new party—that of the Queen.