Struensee then walked with hesitating steps the few yards leading to the block, which still reeked with the blood of his dearest friend; a stronger mind than Struensee ever possessed might have been unhinged by the dreadful scene before his eyes. He knelt down, but had great difficulty in placing himself in the proper position. As the executioner raised the axe to cut off his right hand, Münter began slowly pronouncing the words:—
"Remember Jesus Christ crucified, who died, but is risen again."
The first blow fell, and with it, Struensee was attacked by violent convulsions, the result of which was, that the second blow intended to behead the poor wretch, failed. He sprang up convulsively, but the assistant seized him by the hair, and pulled him down on the block by force; even when the head was removed, a portion of the chin was left behind.
The same horrors were committed on his poor corpse as on Brandt's, but I have no heart to dwell on them: let us rather agree with the poet in saying,
"Excidat illa dies ævo: nec postera credantSæcula: nos certé taceamus et obruta multaNocte tegi nostræ patiamur crimina gentis."
"Excidat illa dies ævo: nec postera credantSæcula: nos certé taceamus et obruta multaNocte tegi nostræ patiamur crimina gentis."
"Excidat illa dies ævo: nec postera credantSæcula: nos certé taceamus et obruta multaNocte tegi nostræ patiamur crimina gentis."
"Excidat illa dies ævo: nec postera credant
Sæcula: nos certé taceamus et obruta multa
Nocte tegi nostræ patiamur crimina gentis."
The mangled remains, after they had been thrown into the cart, were conveyed all through the city to the field at the other extremity, where they were to beleft to moulder or be devoured by the fowls of the air. For each, four stout balks were, at equal distances, driven into the earth; a taller pole was fixed in the centre; the entrails, &c., were buried in a hole dug at the foot of the central pole; on the top the head was fixed, the pole being forced up inside the skull, through which a spike was driven to make it fast; the hand was nailed on a piece of board, placed transversely below the head; a cart wheel was fixed horizontally on the top of each of the four posts or pillars, on which a quarter of the body was exposed, made fast to the wheel by iron chains.
The countless crowd, whose curiosity was now fully satisfied, returned to the city, shaken by the scenes they had witnessed, and the deep impression produced by the awful drama could be noticed for a long time. Convicts had to be employed on the next day in removing the scaffold, as no honest man would have a hand in it; but Gallows Hill preserved its decorations for some years, and even in 1775, Mr. Coxe saw Struensee's and Brandt's skulls and bones there.[21]All this was done to satiate the vengeance of the queen dowager. With a telescope in her hand, Juliana Maria had witnessed the whole execution from the tower of the Christiansborg, and when the turn arrived for the special object of her hatred, Struensee, she rubbedher hands joyously, and exclaimed, "Now comes the fat one."[22]
But the queen did not neglect to observe decorum even in this affair, and hence, soon after the execution, sent for Dr. Münter, in order to hear all the details of the judicial murder from this immediate witness of the fearful scene. When he had ended his report, the queen burst into tears; but, as our Danish authority remarks, "it is notorious that a crocodile can weep." Then she said to Münter—
"I feel sorry for the unhappy man. I have examined myself whether in all I have done against him I have acted through any feeling of personal enmity; but my conscience acquits me of it."
After this, the queen dowager gave Dr. Münter a snuff-box of rock crystal, while a similar gift in porcelain was forwarded to Dean Hee.[23]
But the historian, Suhm, who was attached to the court, and was one of the most zealous enemies of Struensee, tells us how far we are justified in believingthe queen dowager's statement. As the queen occupied the upper floor of Christiansborg Palace, whence a view of the Gallows Hill was obtained, Chamberlain Suhm asked her some years later, why her Majesty, who had so many splendid palaces at her service, inhabited these unpretending rooms, and received the answer:—
"And yet these rooms are dearer to me than all my most splendid apartments; for from these windows I saw my bitterest foe exposed on the wheel."
Such was the end of a man whose miserable story is indubitably one of the most romantic episodes of his century; and it only required a Danish Walter Scott, in order to make of it an historical romance of the first class. For such a work the matter is fully sufficient. But for the same reason all efforts must fail to convert Struensee into the hero of a tragedy. Many poets, some of them in the first flight, have undertaken this ungrateful task, but have not attained any success worth mentioning. The reason can easily be found. Struensee was no hero; not even an original: he possessed no distinct character, but was merely a type of his age, and in spite of his undeniable talents, he was an ordinary adventurer after all. Fortune is as much the touchstone of minds as misfortune is. It subjected this man to a trial, and he came out of it badly. Arrogant and unbridled in fortune, he proved himself in misfortune despondent, cowardly, and even worthless. The fortune which he at first did not turn to a bad use, brought aking's sceptre into his hand, and he allowed it to be shamefully torn from him by people far inferior to him in intellect. A queen, young and beautiful as a May morning, supported him, and he betrayed her. He had felt a pride in being an avowed free-thinker, and he died with wailing and gnashing of teeth, as a penitent sinner. No, he was not a tragic hero. Even the genius of a Shakspere would have failed in rendering him one.
It is a fact worthy of attention that Struensee possessed none of the qualities which generally presuppose success at court. He was not an amiable man, in the conventional sense of the term. The English envoy, Gunning, who was not ill-disposed toward him, expressly stated, in a despatch of April, 1770, that Struensee did not at all display in his conversation the liveliness and pleasantry by which other men pave the way to fortune. "His mode of behaving and expressing himself is dry and even unpleasant, so that it was a subject of general surprise how he contrived to acquire such unbounded influence over the king and queen." Further, the envoy allows the favourite "no inconsiderable acquirements," but denies him all statesman-like ability and political tact. At the same time he was deficient in sufficient insight into Danish affairs. He was tolerably free from vanity, but not from an immoderate self-confidence, which not unfrequently degenerated into "impudence." The envoy, however, supplies us with the key to the enigma of Struensee's sudden elevation, when he mentions that he was "boldand enterprising," and such a man is sure to make his way among women.[24]
Still, in spite of Struensee's deficiency and all his mistakes, so much justice must be done him as to allow that he desired the welfare of the state. He originally possessed a not ignoble mind, which was lowered and degraded by his fabulous elevation and sudden fall. Being formed of much softer and more worthless stuff than the metal out of which great, or even second-rate statesmen are composed, he could not endure either fortune or misfortune. An idealist, trained in the school of enlightened despotism, he did not understand that a nation must be raised from the bottom to the top. This was the mistake of the age. The reasons of state of a Frederick the Great or a Joseph II. were, after all, only an improvement of the breed. We have all due respect for those enlightened despots who have so far freed themselves from the swaddling-clothes of the Byzantine ideas about the divine right of kings, as to wish themselves to be merely regarded as the first servants of the state; but, at the same time, we are inclined to say with old Wieland, "May Heaven protect us from the luck of being obliged to live under the sceptre or stick of such first servants of the state." Struensee acted on the principle that, in order to make nations progress, nothing further was required than to realise by edicts the principles of theFrench philosophers and German illuminati. After the fashion of many other world-betterers of the age, he did not know or reflect that it is far more difficult to lead the unjudging masses to what is good, than to what is bad; that the most absurd prejudices of the plebs must be humoured far more than the noblest human privileges; that the coarse diplomacy of pot-house demagogues is sufficient to make the ignorant mob throw away the diamonds of truth and eagerly clutch at thestrassof falsehood and absurdity; and that, lastly, the people in all times are most willing, at the desire of their enemies, to hate, persecute, stone, and crucify their friends.
It is possible, even probable, that, if Struensee had held the power longer, he would have passed from the experimentalising stage to really beneficial results. The beginning of his display of power was not so bad. Denmark had long sighed under the brutal dictatorship which the envoys of Russia exercised. Struensee broke this yoke, and did it so cleverly, that the ambitious czarina in Petersburg was obliged to give way, whether she liked it or not. The management of the foreign policy by Struensee least of all deserves blame, because it was based on the sensible principle that Denmark must live in peace and amity with all states, but not be subject to any one of them. The same praise cannot be afforded to Struensee's home administration. The tendency generally was good and reasonable here, but the execution left much, verymuch, to be desired. We find everywhere hasty attempts, but no thorough carrying through. A despotic theorising, which was followed by no energetic practice, and the most correct designs destroyed and confused by the interference of personal interests, sympathies, and antipathies, characterised the administration.
Struensee's great fault was that he did not, and would not, understand that in statesman-like calculations, not abstract ideas but men are the figures employed in reckoning—men with all their weaknesses, follies, prejudices, and passions. Through mistaking this great fact, he contrived to embitter all classes of the nation. He offended the nobles without winning the peasants; he made the officers, soldiers, and sailors his enemies, without making the citizens his friends. And he did this among a people whose education was behindhand, and to whom he was an object of hatred, from the fact of his being a foreigner.
After his fall, which every one but himself had foreseen—and we may fairly say that he signed his own death-warrant by the maniacal cabinet decree which placed all the authority in his hands—Struensee behaved like a miserable coward and traitor. It has been said that his judges, or, more correctly, executioners, terrified the ruined man by a menace of the torture, and, at the same time, deluded him by the idea that his sole chance of salvation was in compromising Caroline Matilda most deeply. But, for all this, a man would never do, and only a weakling and coward would do what he did, when he confessed,on February 21, that he had been the queen's lover. From this moment he could only lay claim to a feeling of contempt. It would not even excuse him were it true, as has been alleged, that a pretended confession of Caroline Matilda's guilt was shown him.
Still the means employed to get rid of the favourites were most reprehensible. It is true that the queen dowager and Prince Frederick had a right to feel irritated at having no credit at a court where a Struensee domineered, and that they wished to remove him and his partisans. We can understand that Queen Juliana Maria, who had no experience of business, and Prince Frederick, who had scarce emerged from boyhood, should not suspect the extremities to which Guldberg's faction would lead them; and it may be true that it was owing to their generosity that the children of Caroline Matilda were not deprived of their rights. Nor can we positively condemn Guldberg for wishing to tear from Struensee powers which Struensee had torn from others. Perhaps Guldberg possessed more capacity, or a better claim to hold the power than he. But, as to the means employed in gaining the object, we cannot help agreeing with Falckenskjold when he says:
"To make Struensee perish in order to seize on his office, was not this purchasing it very dearly? and especially to add the punishment of the unfortunate Brandt to that of Struensee, and to assail the liberties and fortunes of so many persons who were innocent of the ambition of these two men. And, in order to givea legal appearance to these proscriptions, they do not hesitate to abuse whatever is most sacred in human laws; they convert private intrigues into judicial proceedings; they employ calumnious libels as authentic documents and sentences; they raise the veil and expose to the public the domestic secrets of the king's house! They do not fear violently to break the happy union of the king with his consort; to render doubtful the rights of the issue of that union, by compromising the future tranquillity of the state; and, lastly, to cast on a young queen the affront of a mortal stain, and to condemn her to expire in a lengthened agony!
"Was the post of a principal minister of the King of Denmark so important, or desirable at such a price?"
THE TEN PRISONERS—THE REPORT—LIEUT.-COLONEL VON HESSELBERG—ETATS-RATH WILLEBRANDT—PROFESSOR BERGER—UNJUST SENTENCES—VON GAHLER—FALCKENSKJOLD AND STRUENSEE—SERIOUS CRIMES—THE SENTENCE—THE ROYAL APPROVAL—THE FORTRESS OF MUNKHOLM—THE COMMANDANT—RESIGNATION—THE ORDER OF RELEASE—CURIOUS CONDITIONS—DEATH OF FALCKENSKJOLD.
THE TEN PRISONERS—THE REPORT—LIEUT.-COLONEL VON HESSELBERG—ETATS-RATH WILLEBRANDT—PROFESSOR BERGER—UNJUST SENTENCES—VON GAHLER—FALCKENSKJOLD AND STRUENSEE—SERIOUS CRIMES—THE SENTENCE—THE ROYAL APPROVAL—THE FORTRESS OF MUNKHOLM—THE COMMANDANT—RESIGNATION—THE ORDER OF RELEASE—CURIOUS CONDITIONS—DEATH OF FALCKENSKJOLD.
After the execution of the two counts, the turn came for the other ten prisoners of state to be disposed of. In order to justify in the sight of Europe the sanguinary treatment of the two principal victims, these prisoners must also appear in the light of state criminals, although no actual offence could be proved against a single one of them. Although the grounds for their sentences are of the most paltry description, it is easy to discover in them that, after the removal of their real enemies, the dominant faction wished to affect a display of mercy, probably through fear of public opinion, which was beginning to be loudly expressedboth at home and abroad, about the cruel fate of the two counts.
The court believed it necessary to lay before the nation in print the sentences of Counts Struensee and Brandt, and with them a list of the crimes for which they were tried. This measure, however, had the contrary effect to what was expected. Nothing was seen in this sentence but a desire to prove the counts guilty, and a long series of absurd conclusions, by which it was sought to attain this object: the sentence on Count Brandt, more especially, revolted every one, and the general dissatisfaction was unmistakable.[25]Hence, although it was proposed in the council to lop off one or two more heads, one of the judges, Kofod Ancher, thought it was time to say to the king, as was said to Augustus,siste carnifex. It was therefore decided that the only victim of judicial vengeance should be Falckenskjold, who had dared to be an honest admirer of Struensee, and was really at the same time an enlightened statesman and politician.
On April 21 a royal command was sent to the commissioners to hand in an accurate representation of the offences of all the other persons arrested on January 17, and more especially those who had been guilty of minor crimes. This order was executed in a "most humble" report, dated May 5. The poor wretches had been allowed to pass all this time in prison, suffering from the most painful uncertainty.
Frau von Gähler was placed at the head of the list as the least guilty sinner. She had attracted suspicion—so it was stated in the report—by her intercourse with Struensee, by an uninterrupted correspondence during the Holstein progress with her husband in Copenhagen, by her being selected to be constantly in attendance on the queen, by her and her husband's decoration with the queen's Order of Matilda; and lastly, by the rumour that important papers had been entrusted to her care. As, however, the closest investigation had not produced a tittle of proof against her, and her correspondence with her husband proved to be of the most innocent nature, while other ladies who stood under no suspicion had enjoyed equal favour at court, the commission had discovered nothing that could be brought as a charge against her.
A similar declaration was issued by the commission in the matter of Lieutenant-Colonel von Hesselberg. This officer who—on account of the acquirements he had gained on foreign service, and the intelligence displayed by him while holding an appointment at the Academy of Military Cadets, had been proposed by Falckenskjold as lieutenant-colonel of the king's regiment, because the latter wished to have an efficient representative, while he went on diplomatic business to Russia—had received orders to have an eye on Struensee's youngest brother, who was appointed to his regiment. Such was the state crime brought against this man of honour by the exalted commissioners.
As an example of the condition of the Danish army at that day, the circumstances connected with Hesselberg's appointment will be perused with interest. When Falckenskjold, shortly after his arrival from Russia, was appointed colonel of the king's regiment, the quartermaster delivered to him an account of the state of the regimental chest, according to which there ought to be 25,000 dollars in it. Falckenskjold replied, that he would take over the chest after a committee of inquiry had sat. The quartermaster objected that this was displaying an unusual suspicion, but Falckenskjold stuck to his text, and lo and behold! there were but 95 dollars in the chest. On his threatening to report the affair, 5,000 dollars were produced, and the quartermaster bolted. A close investigation proved that the missing sum had been stolen by frauds, in which the officers were mixed up, and Falckenskjold was at last obliged to let the matter drop, but for this very reason selected Hesselberg, in whom he could trust, as his second in command.
The third ill-used man, against whom the commission could not produce ascintillaof evidence either, was Rear-Admiral Hansen. He had first formed Struensee's acquaintance when he received orders to join the Algerine Committee, and afterwards assumed a special command in the expedition. He had never spoken on any matters but those connected with the navy to Struensee, and yet was kept for months in prison as a dangerous criminal.
Equally little could be alleged against Councillor of Legation Sturtz. His connection with Struensee had never possessed an intimate character, which was proved by the fact, that he had remained attached to Bernstorff. The sole reason for his lengthened residence at Hirschholm, in the summer of 1771, was, that he, as a clever amateur in portrait-painting, had received a commission to take the likeness of the queen and prince royal, and the diamond ring presented to him by the queen for his bride, was only an acknowledgment given him for these works of art, which are still in existence, and said to be excellent likenesses. Nor was anything in the slightest degree incriminating found among his papers.
Lieutenant Aboe, of the navy, was the next prisoner declared to be innocent. When a cadet he had formed the acquaintance of Brandt, and became intimate with him, partly on account of the pecuniary assistance the latter gave him, partly to be recommended to Chamberlain Struensee, through whose application he obtained the interim post of master of the crews at the navy docks, and of adjutant to the Algerine expedition. In the latter capacity he frequently waited on Struensee, and handed in some pretended ameliorations in the administration of the navy, which, however, only proved his ignorance. He had no further connection with Struensee, and was, indeed, offended with the cabinet minister, because the latter did not sufficiently recognise his merits.
The examination had thus proved that five innocent persons had been kept in a state of torturing uncertainty as to their fate, and in cruel imprisonment for four months and a half, while their relatives were exposed to public contumely.
Of Etats-rath Willebrandt it was alleged that he had been so simple and bold as to wish to reform the Admiralty College, without having gained a proper insight of the administration of the navy, much less of the difference in the business of the department during peace and war, as he had solely obeyed the order given him to establish the Admiralty College after the pattern of that of the Generalty. The commissioners, it is true, declared that it was not within their competence to judge the value of a plan which in any case had been approved by his Majesty, and for this reason did not dare to express dissatisfaction with it. Still they thought themselves at liberty to state that which the result proved, that a portion of the plan, owing to Willebrandt's ignorance, produced irregularity and inconveniences, which could only be prevented by alterations and fresh expenses for the king's treasury. After this, an allusion was made to the affair with the enrolled sailors, who marched on Hirschholm in 1771. Willebrandt's offence, therefore—the report went on to say—consisted in his having undertaken to reform things of which he had no thorough knowledge, and he thus produced scenes which might easily have had dangerous consequences. It was not mentionedin the report, however, that the king had given him this order, that Count Haxthausen took part in it, and that both, when they drew up the plan, expressly requested that the new scheme might be previously examined byprofessionalmen.
Professor Berger, the physician in ordinary, also appeared to the commission to have committed an offence. It was true that all the medicines found in his house proved to be innocuous; there was no proof that the steel cure attempted on his Majesty was improper; in the matter of the rearing of the crown prince he had not agreed in all points with Struensee, but rather had been the cause that warmer clothing and better food were granted his royal highness toward the close: it was also true that he expressed his anger at Struensee having acquired a power which he considered prejudicial to the nation; but he had given serious offence by concurring with Struensee, and giving his advice and propositions in reforms of which he probably knew nothing, more especially in things which did not concern his trade as physician, or theres literariægenerally. As a proof of this, it was alleged that he had proposed some persons to fill the places of the dismissed members of the magistracy, and that Struensee requested him to mention a person who would be suitable for the chief post in the navy yards. Still the commission would not venture to judge of the use or disadvantage of such propositions, as the papers found on the accused and the other prisoners, on which their argument must be founded, contained no information about them.
This was everything that could be brought against a professional man, who, in spite of his zealous attention to the king's health, and his well-earned reputation, was dragged to the fortress, and, like a murderer, prohibited the use of knife and fork, and was not allowed to shave himself, or sleep on his own mattress.
If the conduct of the commission had hitherto retained a varnish of justice, the royal resolution, minuted by Councillor of Conference Schumacher, and issued on May 18, was a strange proof of tyranny, which smote truth on the face with open falsehoods. For it was stated in this resolution, that the persons who had been guilty of the "smallest crimes" should be punished in the following way:—
Frau von Gähler would be set at liberty, but must refrain from appearing at court so long as her husband's affair was not concluded.
Rear-Admiral Hansen and Lieutenant Aboe would be discharged from arrest, and report themselves to the Admiralty College, where they would learn the king's commands with respect to them.
Legations-rath Sturtz would also be released from arrest, and ordered to proceed to Holstein. He would retain his pension of 500 dollars, which had been granted him by the royal resolution of January 26, but must expend it away from the court.
Etats-rath Willebrandt, after being discharged, would proceed to one of the small towns in Seeland, where an annual pension of 300 dollars would be paid him.
Professor Berger, lastly, after being set at liberty, would go to Aalborg, in northern Jütland, where a pension of 300 dollars would be paid him, until a post of provincial surgeon became vacant in Jütland.
These decisions the commissioners made known to the persons concerned with the solemn warning that, after the king had pardoned them this time, through special mercy, for their incautious, thoughtless, and criminal conduct, they must be very careful not to give rise to greater suspicion by word or writing, as, in that case, they would be subjected to a further examination, and might expect the king's most serious displeasure.
The sovereign lord over the life and death of his subjects was consequently of a different opinion from the commissioners, who had found the accused guilty of no offence. But it was considered desirable to get rid of those persons most hated, and, in order to convict them, it was requisite to accuse them of offences at the expense of truth.
Lieutenant-Colonel von Hesselberg, who was referred to the Commissariat College, learnt there that the king had appointed him Commander of the 2nd National Battalion of Schleswig-Holstein. This distinguished officer afterwards became colonel of an infantry regimentin Norway, where he died in 1808, a lieutenant-general, and commandant of the fortress of Bergenhuus.
Rear-Admiral Hansen was informed by the Admiralty that he had forfeited his post as deputy of the latter college, but would continue to serve the state. He died a few years after the catastrophe.
Lieutenant Aboe, who also learnt his future fate from the Admiralty, received orders to pass two years abroad, but retained his commission and pay. Eventually, he left the service with the rank of captain, set up as a merchant in Copenhagen, failed, made voyages to the East Indies, and died after many hard adventures in Copenhagen.
The three exiles, Legations-rath Sturtz, Etats-rath Willebrandt, and Professor Berger, in obedience to the royal commands, quitted the capital, and proceeded to their several destinations. When Falckenskjold was recalled from Switzerland by the crown prince in 1788, he found Willebrandt still in exile: Berger was a practising physician at Kiel, but Sturtz had died of grief.[26]
The public of Copenhagen were astonished at this mild treatment of persons who had been kept in such close arrest. Much worse had been anticipated. But three state criminals still remained in prison, and what had been spared their associates, who were punished for having been proved innocent, could be done to them.
Lieutenant-General von Gähler, Colonel and Chamberlain von Falckenskjold, and Justiz-rath Struensee,were still awaiting their sentence. But on May 10 an order had been issued to the commission to lay before the king a full report of the crimes of these men, for his Majesty's most gracious consideration and resolution. In obedience with this command, the commission sent in its report on May 30.
With respect to Gähler, it was alleged that he was mixed up both in the Traventhal league and the abolition of the council. It was true that he had denied both, but, on the first point, the letters found at his house contradicted him. As regards the council, he had not, as his duty ordered, sufficiently represented the value of the council in his answers to the questions laid before him for explanation on Sept. 24, 1770, and there were even strong reasons for conjecturing that he proposed and promoted the abolition of the council, because he was Struensee's principal adviser about this time. In the same way he had recommended to his friend Struensee, the abolition of the verbal reports of the colleges. By this, the general had helped to conceal Struensee's audacious conduct from the king, and given him, Struensee, opportunity for filching all the power and authority. It was allowed that Von Gähler, by his propositions, had no intention of sustaining Struensee in his situation and promoting his autocracy. Still, he ought, and must have noticed Struensee's boundless ambition, when he perceived that the latter "wished to apply the practice of his profession to the state, and began by amputating fromit so important a limb as the council was." General von Gähler ought the less to have attempted to promote Struensee's views, as he was not adapted either by nature or Providence to regulate or remodel a state. He ought not to have furnished Struensee with projects, all the consequences of which he could not foresee. More especially, he ought not to have advised the suppression of verbal reports, but to have always opposed it. But he appeared to have been possessed by a mania for reformation. As a proof, it might be mentioned that he proposed the reform for which was introduced into Norway by the regulation of January 14, 1771, that lands, after ten years' tenure, should become freehold, which no man of perspicuity could have advised.[27]The commission found a second instance in the reform of the two Chanceries, although the division of business, according to provinces, had had the best results.
Before all, however, Von Gähler wished to remodel the navy. It was quite incredible what tricks he employed to get it into his hands, and the commission reports that the misfortune which befel the Algerine expedition gave Von Gähler the desired opportunity for effecting it. Herr von Gähler's crime, therefore, principally consisted in the fact, that he interfered in everything, and wished to reform all the regulationsof the state, without possessing the requisite knowledge and insight, without knowing the advantages or defects of what existed, and without sufficiently pondering over the consequences of his propositions. The commission, however, could find no excuse in the circumstance that Von Gähler's proposed reforms only consisted of ideas and thoughts, whose trial by experiments injured nobody, because most of the affairs in which he interfered in no way concerned him, and the trouble he took in order to obtain a justification for doing so, proved a greater offence; for he had applied to Struensee, a man who was even more ignorant than himself in such things, and blindly followed everything that was proposed to him, especially when such propositions suggested radical changes. The commission, however, would not omit mentioning that the general, since May, 1771, had possessed no special influence over Struensee, because he had joined the opposition against the reduction of the Horse Guards, and besides, he had not commended himself to the cabinet minister, by representing to him how little the power he had appropriated agreed with the royal law. Lastly, the general also displayed firmness when the Foot Guards were disbanded; he had likewise resisted the removal of the two regiments, and in the Generalty represented to Chamberlain von Falckenskjold how improper it was to propose the regiment of the hereditary prince for such a dislocation, without first asking whether this would be agreeable to the prince.
The second of the criminal three was Colonel and Chamberlain von Falckenskjold. According to the opinion of the commission, he was the man who, next to Brandt, stood in the closest intimacy with Struensee. Perhaps, however, Falckenskjold's notorious dislike of the hereditary prince, and his bold and manly behaviour in the presence of the commission, had their share in prejudicing his judges against him, so that they, through personal hatred, behaved in the most unscrupulous way toward a man of honour. Professor Sevel acted as inquisitor, and seemed to find a pleasure in insulting the fallen friend of Struensee by all sorts of cruel questions. We can form an idea of this man's moral value on seeing that Sevel, in his examination, so far forgot what he owed to himself as a judge, as to express his regret that Struensee had not been murdered by the sailors. In their report, the commissioners first made Falckenskjold's intimacy with Struensee a capital offence, and asserted that he had sought to maintain this intimacy so eagerly, because he and Brandt had received the greatest benefactions from Struensee. The latter not only conferred on him offices and honorary posts, but also gave him money out of the royal treasury.
Thus, Falckenskjold, although on May 2, 1771, he had received from the cabinet treasury, in payment of his travelling expenses to Petersburg, the usual sum of 400 dollars, obtained on the 19th of the same month 2,000 dollars more, under the same excuse,from the private treasury, and, after his return, or in a period of three months, a further sum of 3,500 dollars. Of these amounts, Struensee paid him 1,000 dollars under the false allegation that Falckenskjold had spent them on the journey from his private means, while the 2,000 dollars were paid him without the king's cognizance. How he had earned these presents, neither he nor Struensee would have been able to specify, and the assertion that the king had promised to pay Von Falckenskjold's debts by degrees, was only an empty pretext, for the latter had deposited 2,000 dollars with the minister of finances, and therefore could only have had debts to the amount of 400 dollars; and moreover, he never expressed the proper thanks to his Majesty for such large gifts in money. The commission consequently assumed that Struensee desired to acquire Falckenskjold's gratitude, and declared in their report that they had strong grounds for believing that it had been arranged between the couple, that Struensee should be supported under all circumstances, and guarded against any possible surprise, on which Falckenskjold's own fortunes also depended.
In understanding with Struensee, he proposed the abolition of the Chevalier guard, and no other had been more busy than Falckenskjold in setting at work the cabinet order of December 21. If any event occurred, and Struensee believed himself in danger, Falckenskjold was immediately at hand; he had not merely provedhis devotedness to Struensee in this way, but also, for the sake of pleasing the minister, had neglected the reverence due to the hereditary prince, and in this had gone so far that he had furnished proofs of it in the presence of the entire public. Two facts had convinced the commission of this daring sentiment of Falckenskjold, which was based on affection for Struensee, namely, the removal of the prince's regiment, and more especially the occurrence on the walls. The latter event, the commission represented as follows:—
In the spring of 1771, the prince was, one day, riding along the walls at the moment when Colonel Falckenskjold was "exercising" his band, composed of hautboists and fifers; the colonel blocked the road, and marched straight upon the prince. Both majors of the regiment called his attention to the fact, that the prince was coming toward them; but Falckenskjold let his men march on. A groom of the prince's now rode up, and requested room for his royal highness to pass. The adjutant reported it to the colonel, and asked whether the band should not leave off playing, and room be made for the prince? but Falckenskjold answered: "No, not even if the good God were to come along Himself." He allowed the band to continue playing, and the prince, in order to pass, was compelled to ride close to the parapet.
Falckenskjold alleged, in his excuse, that he had orders to let the band play in public places, especially when the king came past, and for this reason there wouldhave been an impropriety in his stopping the band on the arrival of the prince. The colonel also observed that, in France, where he had served a long time, an officer was rarely on guard without hearing the sentinel shout, "Aux armes! le bon Dieu arrive!" when the Catholic priests passed with the host, and hence it had grown into a habit to confirm a negative by saying, "No, I would not do it, even ifle bon Dieuwere to come." The commission, however, considered that this sort of defence contradicted itself, and the colonel ought certainly to have made way for the prince.
Colonel Falckenskjold's crime, consequently, consisted in his having sold himself to Struensee, in having always had an understanding with him, in having advised the reduction of both Guards, in having expressed himself for Struensee's conservation, in having given proofs, on every occasion, how anxious he was that Struensee should escape a surprise, and lastly, in having tried, for the sake of pleasing Struensee, to cause annoyance to his Royal Highness Prince Frederick, and, for this object, having been so audacious as to neglect the respect due to his royal highness. Without dwelling on Falckenskjold's numerous and high services to the king and country, the commission concluded their report with the disgraceful statement, that they could not refrain from seeing in Colonel and Chamberlain von Falckenskjold a foolhardy, detrimental, and the more dangerous man, because he would do anything for money.
The third and last upon whom the commission had to express an opinion was Justiz-rath Struensee. As he had only been released from his chains by special favour, after his brother's execution, it might have been expected that the commission would depict him as a great criminal. It was quite different, however, though through no love of truth and justice on the part of the Inquisition, but in consequence of commands from higher quarters. For Frederick II. of Prussia, who had kept Struensee's place, as professor at Liegnitz, open for him, while he went to try his luck, allowed his minister, Herr von Arnim, whose tutor Struensee had been, to employ his master's name in claiming him.[28]
The report on this prisoner of state, after opening with the statement that Justiz-rath Struensee, though he only possessed a theoretical knowledge of the laws and constitution of Denmark, readily accepted a seat as deputy in the Financial Department, and had the special inspection of the Mint, the Bank, and the course of Exchange—in the hope of obtaining a better knowledge of these branches of the administration by industry and work—acknowledged his irreproachable conduct in the latter respect, and added the remark, that the commission could express this with the greater confidence, as the College of Finances, at their request, had had the matter examined by an authority on the subject. As concerned his functions as deputy of thefinances generally, however, the commission must blame Justiz-rath Struensee for a tendency to foolhardy boasting about services which he had not rendered, and arbitrariness in financial matters, as he wrote to a friend that all the others in the Financial College understood nothing, and eventually strove to becomeContrôleur Général des Finances.
Although, as regarded his official administration as deputy, there were no positive proofs that he had abused his charge to the injury of the king and country for his own interest, yet there was a tolerably strong presumption that, with the help of his brother and his office, he wished to render all the subjects in Denmark tributary to a few Brandenburg partners, who were to hold the salt and tobacco monopolies, in exchange for profits promised to him and his brother. As regards the salt-farming, the commission allowed that the Justiz-rath had accepted no benefit for himself, but annually paid over to the king the 10,000 dollars intended for himself. In the matter of the tobacco-farming, however, some suspicion clung to him that he, contrary to his brother's advice, accepted the two shares offered him to promote the affair. But although, in spite of all Justiz-rath Struensee's allegations to the contrary, the strongest presumptions existed against him and his integrity, the commissioners felt themselves bound to state that it was not his intention to deprive the Danish tobacco-plantersand spinners of their livelihood, as the farming proposition was not carried into effect.[29]
However—thus runs the forced conclusion of the report:—the reports as to the Justiz-rath's former life in Prussia are generally satisfactory, and he is honoured with the distinguished favour of Prince Henry, the brother of Frederick II., who takes a lively interest in him, and considers him incapable of any serious crime. Besides, no traces had been found that the Justiz-rath had intrigued with his brother, and just as few that he had interfered in things that did not concern him. Finally, it could not be alleged as an offence that he received 4,000 dollars from the private treasury, under the title of gratifications, because the first 2,000 were given him with the king's assent, and there was no evidence of his being aware that the other 2,000 were paid him without the cognizance of the king.
After the commissioners, probably with a heavy heart, had closed their report in so mild a way, there followed, on June 12, 1772, a royal resolution, containing his Majesty's "will and commands" respecting the crimes of Lieutenant-General von Gähler, Colonel and Chamberlain von Falckenskjold, and Justiz-rath and Deputy of Finances Struensee. The king had learned from the report of the commissioners that—
Von Gähler generally undertook to remodel andreform the whole arrangements of the state, though he possessed no vocation or knowledge for it; further, that Von Falckenskjold devoted himself entirely to Struensee, was joined with him in a portion of his injurious enterprises, and declared himself in favour of his conservation, and on all occasions furnished proof of this, and displayed a further audacious mode of behaviour; and that, lastly,
Strong presumptions existed against Justiz-rath Struensee and his honest performance of his duties, and that he had not fully consulted with the other persons concerned on matters that came before the College of Finances.
For this reason, the commission would make known to Lieutenant-General von Gähler, that, on account of his thoughtless and improper undertaking, he was dismissed from the king's service, had forfeited the royal favour granted him in the decree of March 26, 1767,[30]and must at once select a spot in the Danish monarchy—Seeland, Fühnen, and Schleswig excepted—where he would permanently reside, and commence his journey to it immediately after leaving the castle. At the same time, the commission would seriously warn him, under threats of the royal displeasure, not to speak or to write about public affairs, as his Majesty, through special clemency, granted him a pension of 500 dollars, and the same to his wife.
The commission would demand of Colonel von Falckenskjold the chamberlain's key and the Russian order, and announce to him that, in consequence of his audacious and detrimental behaviour, he would be conveyed to the fortress of Munkholm, and be imprisoned there for life, half a dollar a day being allowed him from the treasury for his support.
Lastly, the commission would announce to Justiz-rath Struensee that, as he had caused his arrest by his own suspicious behaviour, he was now released from it, but he must leave the country at once, after making a promise, on oath, to reveal neither in writing nor verbally anything he knew about the Danish state affairs, and neither to write nor to speak about the events which had lately occurred in Copenhagen, and he would also begin his journey immediately he was released from the castle.
The fate of the three men was very different. Poor Von Gähler died in exile; Justiz-rath Struensee became Minister of State in Prussia, where he acquired a considerable fortune; he was ennobled in 1789 by the same court of Copenhagen which had his brother's escutcheon broken by the executioner.[31]
As for the third person, he shall tell us his story himself, as it throws such an extraordinary light on the treatment of state prisoners at a period within a hundred years of our own.
FALCKENSKJOLD'SABODE ATMUNKHOLM.
On June 12, 1772, Sevel, accompanied by the commandant of the marines and several officers, entered my prison and told me that the king stripped me of all my offices and the military order of Russia, and that I should be transported to a rock and be detained there for the rest of my days.
The crowd of people who entered with Sevel had so deafened me, that a portion of what he said escaped me.
I begged him to repeat how long I was to remain in detention.
For your whole life, he replied, with a grin which I fancy I can still see.
The commission had doubtless made a report. I requested the communication of it—it was refused me. I was promised a copy of my examination, but was unable to obtain it.
Thus I was deprived of every document that might one day be useful in proving my innocence.
On June 26, I was taken on board a merchant vessel the Admiralty had freighted in order to go to Munkholm, my place of destination; a sergeant and four grenadiers of Prince Frederick's regiment, chosen by Eickstedt, were ordered to guard me on board the vessel; two grenadiers with drawn sabres were to watch me and prevent me from speaking.
I have since learned that the sergeant commanding this guard, had a promise of being made lieutenant if he could induce me to take any step which would cause me to be landed at Munkholm in chains. But the skipper had declared to the Admiralty that he would not allow any one but himself to give orders, and that if he required the guard, he would summon it.
This worthy man contrived to make himself respected, and to protect me from ill treatment.
The vessel touched at Christiansund, where a part of its cargo was to be delivered. A custom-house clerk came on board and wanted to speak with me. He wished to insult me, as he had been dismissed in 1763 from his rank of lieutenant; observe, that I had no part in military affairs till 1771. I heard his conversation on this subject with the master, who saved me this annoyance.
The vessel arrived at Munkholm on August 4th, and I parted, not without regret, from this honest skipper, who had so generously protected me.
The fort of Munkholm is situated on a barren rock four hundred paces in circumference, in the middle of the sea, half a league from Trondhjem,[32]toward the64° of northern latitude. During the winter it is covered with an almost continual fog; the snow hardly remains there eight days in succession; but it freezes there from the beginning of September, and snow falls in the month of June.
The only inhabitants of this place consisted of a detachment of the garrison of Trondhjem, the fort commandant, the officers under him, and the prisoners guarded there.
I was lodged in a low room a little above the ground-floor. Its planks and walls were damp, and the snow fell into it in a fine rain when it thawed. Under the window was a cistern of stagnant water; this lodging, which was also surrounded by the quarters of the soldiers and the prisoners, whose cries stunned me, was assuredly not good; but I was alone in it, had plenty of books, enjoyed the liberty of walking on the ramparts when I pleased, and I felt much less unhappy than in Copenhagen; everything is relative.
I had been warned that the water of the fort was unhealthy, and produced gravel. I asked if I could have any other, and they offered me spirits, the beveragepar excellenceat this spot, but it was worse for me than bad water.
I could not procure good bread; old bread, partly spoiled, was purchased for the prisoners, which cost 12 per cent. less than the ordinary bread. Though the government had confiscated 8,000 crowns belonging to me, it only allowed me half-a-crown a day for my subsistence.
A battalion of the Delmenhorst regiment was in garrison at Trondhjem; I had served in this regiment, and found at Munkholm soldiers of a company I had formerly commanded. They formed a plan for carrying me off and deserting, but not having been able to communicate their plan to me, they deserted without me, and tried to reach Sweden overland; a detachment, sent in pursuit, caught them and brought them back.
The solders, generally, were in a profound state of wretchedness and demoralisation; the spirits and herrings on which they lived diffused a frightful stench, and I had a difficulty in protecting myself against their uncleanliness.
Everything here depended on Lieut.-General von der Osten, grand bailiff and governor of Trondhjem: he was said to be fond of presents, and did not hesitate to ask them, and I had none to offer him. The commandant of Munkholm, on my arrival, had been a servant and woodcutter to a Copenhagen tradesman. He was first a gunner, then non-commissioned officer in the militia, afterwards a spy, captain of a company of guides, inspector of an hospital, and, lastly, commandant of Munkholm. This man, who wasextremely brutal and coarse, was frequently intoxicated; he called himself an atheist, believed himself an engineer, astronomer, tactician, and decided on everything without allowing an answer; he declaimed a great deal, though I could not learn why, against Counts von Bernstorff and St. Germain.
A poor author, a very pious man, who was placed here because he had the simplicity to believe in the freedom of the press, had become, on account of his devotion, odious to the commandant, who used to beat him. He also treated very badly another person who had held a post at court, although the latter made him presents.
The other officers were given up to the most disgusting intoxication.
I took great care to avoid these gentlemen, and only spoke to them when I could not help it. I do not believe it would have been very difficult for me to escape from this fortress, and, perhaps, Guldberg offered me the means by proposing to me a retreat at Vardohuus,[33]under the polar circle. But, I said to myself, what should I go so far to seek? more injustice and persecution!
What had been done to me gave me a sort of disgust for human society. I had wished to render myself illustrious by arms—the perusal of the lives ofcelebrated warriors had inflamed my imagination at an early age. I aspired to become one day the rival of the Löwendahls and the Münnichs. My studies, my reflections, were all directed to this object. On emerging from childhood I took up arms and sought combats—I followed this career successfully. I was summoned to aid in the reformation of my country and the amelioration of its condition. I quit with regret the mode of life I had chosen and loved; I arrive, I consecrate my efforts, all my thoughts to this new task, and persecution, exile and contumely are my reward! No, I will not take a single step to return to society; I was never a man of pleasures, though not at all insensible to the enjoyments designated by that name; I shall, doubtless, learn to forget them. Society has rejected me; they refuse to allow me any part in its joys and honours, and I have been relegated to this rock. Well, then, let us perform our task apart, let us work to render this state supportable, and to depend on others as little as possible.
I daily confirmed myself in these thoughts—a favourite and habitual subject of my reveries—and this has decided the rest of my life.
I should be satisfied if I had a healthy lodging, good water, and if I were not obliged to speak to the people who surround me.
The taste for study is a great resource for me. I read a great deal with a pen in my hand; on themargin of my books I note my souvenirs, my reflections, and trace the details of the campaigns I have been through, and develope the considerations I had sketched about the military condition of Denmark. I still like to occupy myself with society as a simple spectator, though I have no desire to act a part in it. I like to dream awake while walking. The ramparts are the ordinary scene of my promenades.
Thence, when the weather is fine, I perceive the mountainous coasts of the mainland, the rocks, the valleys, the forests, the habitations, which form varied scenes, the islets and shoals with which the coast is studded. Sometimes I discern in the distance a vessel which is, perhaps, bringing me books; more frequently I watch the departure of the fishermen's boats, or else see them return, uttering shouts of joy and triumph, with the booty they have gained by so much fatigue and boldness in the dangerous Northern Seas.
I also take pleasure in contemplating the fury of the waves raised by storms, and which break against the rock on which I am a captive.
In the months of July and August the coast of Norway offers an aspect of magnificent vegetation; the navigation is active; clouds of birds appear to animate the rocks that border the shore; the sky is pure, and the view enjoyed from Munkholm is enchanting. The nights, especially, have a peculiar charm; the air has something unctuous andsuave, which seems to softenmy melancholy reveries; the nights at this period are a species of twilight, for at midnight it is clear enough to read even the finest type.
I have found in an external staircase a spot which has grown my favourite asylum, even when winter has commenced. There I am sheltered against the north winds; there, and in the company of my books, wrapped up in an old bearskin coat, I feel less a prisoner than elsewhere; though the eyes of the sentry plunge into the spot, my presence in it could not be suspected.
Since the commencement of my stay on the island, I have regulated the employment of my time. I rise in summer at daybreak, and in winter at eight o'clock. I employ the first hour of the day in pious meditations; I then occupy myself with readings that require some mental effort; a short walk precedes my dinner; I take a longer walk after the meal. Reading the newspapers, romances, or theatrical pieces, generally ends my evenings. The days on which the public papers arrive are holidays with me. The fort chaplain pays me a visit now and then: the one who held this office on my arrival has been removed to Bergen. His conversation caused me pleasure, and that of his successor pleases me no less; I have found them both enlightened, charitable, disposed to relieve me by consolatory discourses, and by procuring me books. The Danish clergy, generally, are distinguished from the rest of the nation by their virtues and information.
When the weather is bad, I walk in a large room inthe tower of the fortress; this room served as a lodging for Count von Griffenfeldt. He was the son of a wine-merchant, and rose by his merit to the place of grand chancellor of the kingdom and the dignity of count. He governed the state wisely; if he had retained the power, he would have prevented the wars that ruined Denmark under Christian V. His enemies had him condemned to the punishment which the unhappy Struensee underwent; but on the scaffold itself the penalty of death, which had been too hasty, was commuted, as if by mercy, into a confinement on this rock, where he prolonged his wretchedness for nineteen years, and died of the gravel.
"Such," I said to myself, "is the fate which menaces me; but I shall not wait so long for it, for I believe that I can already feel the same malady."
In October, 1774, the marriage festival of Prince Frederick was celebrated, and at this very period a despatch arrived for the commandant of Munkholm. He was recommended greater severity with his prisoners, and especially with me. This letter of General Hauch's was certainly not written with the intention of my seeing it, but it was shown me by the commandant. His attentions to me did not escape my notice; he, doubtless, wished to make me feel them; what did he expect from me?
On March 1, 1775, a lodging was assigned me in another house, which had just been finished. I was given two rooms, but did not gain by the change.The other buildings of the fort, and in particular the one I had inhabited, were sheltered by the ramparts, while the new house, built in the angle of a lofty rock, was exposed to the north, east, and west winds. The beams that formed the walls did not join, any more than the planks of the floor; under my lodging a cellar seemed to breathe an icy blast through the openings in the flooring. The stove intended to heat the room could not protect me from the cold; yet its effect was sufficient when the snow fell to dissolve it into rain in the apartment; and it is in such a habitation, under the 64° of northern latitude, that I write this description, which is not exaggerated.
In November, 1775, I was attacked by an hemorrhoidal colic, which caused me such pain as to draw shrieks from me. The surgeon who attended me evidently thought my condition desperate. The pain grew less, however; I needed rest, and begged the sentry not to let any one enter. I was beginning to sleep, when the commandant arrived; he entered in defiance of my orders, woke me, and said that as I was on the point of death, I ought to make haste, and leave a will in his favour; I evaded this by answering him that I did not intend dying yet. He assured me again that I must believe him, because he was commandant: I made no answer, and he went off growling, and soon after made a frightful disturbance, alleging that an attempt was going to be made to carry me off, and that a boat had been noticed in the neighbourhood.
Early in 1776, the commandant of Munkholm was removed, and Major Colin took his place.
This new commandant, two days after his arrival, sent me a bottle of good water, bread, and fresh butter; this procured me the best meal I had yet had. Under this commandant I enjoyed great tranquility and greater ease. I relieved myself by writing these memoirs, and I fancied that I felt less resentment at the evil that had been done me, in proportion as I wrote the narrative of it.
It is certain that fate has been very contrary to me. I joined to the passion of arms a taste for meditation, study, and retirement. I eagerly desired to acquire glory, but an independence would have been sufficient for me: I could not hope for either now.
Some one once said to Count de St. Germain, that it was surprising he should resolve to quit the service of France, when he had 60,000 livres a year from the king's bounty; he answered, that 100 crowns a year composed his whole patrimony, but he would sooner live on that than endure affronts.
This answer struck me, and I resolved to save all I could, so as to acquire an independence. I possessed, in 1771, 8,000 crowns, which I had entrusted to Schimmelmann, while awaiting the opportunity to sink them in an annuity. If I did not succeed in a military career, I hoped with this resource to procure a retreat in an agreeable country, and in a warm climate.
Now, my money is lost, I have no longer a career to follow, and I am a prisoner for life on a rock in 64° of northern latitude: but how great was my folly in leaving the service of Russia to come to Denmark!
I was making these sad reflections when, on September 25, 1776, I was informed by a note from Lieutenant-General von der Osten, grand bailiff and commandant of Trondhjem, that I should receive a visit from him. I had not recovered from the surprise this note caused me, when Von der Osten himself appeared, followed by the commandant, a surgeon, and his valet. He hurriedly entered my room, shouting,Pardon, pardon, in the king's name!He held in his hand a portfolio full of papers, among which were—
1. An order for my release, addressed to General Hauch, in his quality of first deputy of the College of War: this order was signed by the king, and countersigned by Guldberg, under date, Frederiksborg, August 21, 1776.
2. An order to the same effect, addressed to the commandant of Munkholm.
3. An instruction referring to the engagement I was to sign and seal before obtaining my release.
These three documents were to the effect that his Majesty, on the intercession of his Royal Highness Prince Frederick, his beloved brother, consented to pardon me by liberating me from the captivity inwhich I was at Munkholm, upon the following conditions:—
I. That I should leave Trondhjem by sea, to proceed to the northern coast of France, and thence directly and immediately either to Provence or Languedoc, at my choice.
II. That I would pledge myself never to return to Copenhagen, or the king's states.
III. That I would not leave the country to which I was sent without the king's permission, and that I would not make frequent journeys.
IV. That I would not approach the town of Orange (where Rantzau had taken up his abode).
V. That I would not enter the service of any foreign power.
VI. That I would not act, write, or speak in any way against the king or the royal family.
VII. That I would take no part in affairs of state.
If there was no vessel ready for me to embark, I was allowed to remain at Trondhjem; but I must not leave the town without the governor's permission, or go further than a league from it. The king granted me for my journey 800 crowns of the money which had belonged to me, and hopes were held out of a pension.
The instruction concerning my engagement was very long. Guldberg, who had drawn it up, had interlarded it with a good many religious motives: he even alluded to the efficaciousness of Christ's blood;but, after all, it was probably to him that I owed the amelioration in my fate.
General von der Osten added to the conditions various articles, by which he hoped to pay court to the minister.
I signed what was asked, and though I felt perfectly well the value of an engagement imposed on a man who had not been legally convicted of any crime, I resolved to observe it. When this act was regularly drawn up, the general, in order to give the circumstance greateréclat, had me bled by his surgeon-major, after which he proposed to me a bottle of red wine to restore my senses.
I excused myself by observing that I did not drink, and offered him a liqueur, of which I possessed two bottles.
"I could carry them off," he said, after examining them; "but this commission must be worth more than that."
This was giving me to understand that he reckoned on a goodly portion of my 800 crowns. It may be supposed that my intentions on this point did not at all accord with his.
There was no vessel at Trondhjem destined for France, and I could not expect one for a long time, as from the beginning of September till the end of April the sea is very stormy in these latitudes, and hence I should have to wait eight full months before I could depart.
In this situation I wrote to the court to offer my thanks for the mercy shown me, and to obtain permission to proceed to my destination by land. In the meanwhile I remained at Munkholm, hoping to be less exposed there to the importunities of the general. The court of Copenhagen rejected my request, but allowed me to take ship for Holland.
Three vessels were preparing to sail for Amsterdam, one of which belonged to Trondhjem, and General von der Osten wished me to take passage in it; but I gave the preference to a Danish ship.
The general offered me the services of his valet, to prepare a gold-laced coat; but this offer did not tempt me. I set out with my bearskin pelisse, which composed my wardrobe. I also carried off my 800 crowns, without leaving one for the general.
The three vessels bound for Amsterdam set sail from Trondhjem on October 16; two perished: the one I was on board reached Christiansund, where we remained till February 16. After a stormy navigation, we reached Amsterdam on March 10.
On April 12, 1777, I arrived at Montpellier, where I fixed my domicile.
In 1780, Falckenskjold received permission to retire to the Pays de Vaud, where his friend Reverdil invited him, and he established his home at Lausanne. In 1787, the court of Petersburg proposed to him to re-enter its service; he was offered the post of chief ofthe staff in the army intended to act against the Turks. But, finding himself bound by the engagements he had made, he replied, that he could not accept the offer without the formal consent of the court of Copenhagen; and this court refused its assent, under the pretext that it needed his services. At the same time, it permitted Falckenskjold to return to Copenhagen, and seemed disposed to revoke his order of banishment.
In the spring of 1788 he went to Copenhagen, but his reception there was such that he longed to return to his retreat at Lausanne. He obtained permission to go back, and, having recovered a portion of his property, which the state had seized, he invested it in annuities in the French funds. In the same year, war having broken out between Denmark and Sweden, the Danish government recalled Falckenskjold, conferring on him the rank and pay of a major-general; but when he was going to set out he learned that peace was signed, and he was saved the journey.
His pay and savings enabled him to live comfortably, with such friends as Gibbon and Reverdil; and he kept his health till the last two years of his life, when he was attacked by a gouty rheumatism, the seeds of which he had contracted in his Munkholm prison. He died on September 30, 1820, at the age of eighty-two years and a few months.