BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HARTWIG ERNST, COUNT VON (1 7 1 2-1 7 72), Danish statesman, who came of a very ancient Mecklenburg family, was the son of Joachim Engelke, Freiherr von Bernstorff, chamberlain to the elector of Hanover, and was born on May 13, 1 7 12. His maternal grandfather, Andreas Gottlieb Bernstorff (164o-1726), had been one of the ablest ministers of George I. He was introduced into the Danish service by his relations, the brothers Plessen, who were ministers of state under Christian VI. From 1744 to 1750 he was ambassador in Paris. Shortly after his return from Paris he became (17 51) foreign minister. He occupied for twenty-one years the highest position in the government, and in the council of state his opinion was decisive. But his chief concern was ever with foreign affairs. A friendly alliance with a relatively weak Sweden was the cardinal point of Bernstorff's policy. But his plans were traversed again and again by unforeseen complications, the failure of the most promising presumptions, the perpetual shifting of apparently stable alliances. During the Seven Years' War he succeeded in preserving the neutrality of Denmark, despite the existence of a subsidy-treaty with the king of Prussia, and the suspicions of England and Sweden. It was through his initiative, too, that the convention of Kloster-Seven was signed (Sept. 1o, 1 7 5 7 ), and on May 4, 1758, he concluded a treaty with France, whereby, in consideration of Denmark's holding an army-corps of 24,00o men in Holstein till the end of the war, to secure Hamburg, Lubeck and the Gottorp part of Holstein from invasion, France, and ulti mately Austria also, engaged to bring about an exchange between the king of Denmark and the cesarevitch as regards Holstein. But the course of the war made this compact inoperative. Austria hastened to repudiate her guarantee to Denmark in order not to offend the new emperor of Russia, Peter III., and one of Peter's first acts on ascending the throne was to declare war against Den mark. The coolness and firmness of Bernstorff saved the situation. He placed the best French general of the day at the head of the well-equipped Danish army. But at this juncture Peter III. was overthrown. Bernstorff recognized the impotence of the French monarchy after the Seven Years' War, and in 1763 exchanged the French for the Russian alliance, which was cemented by the treaty of April 28, 1 7 65, under which Catherine II. undertook to cede the Gottorp portion of Holstein in exchange for the counties of Olden burg and Delmenhorst. For his part in this treaty Bernstorff was created count. On the accession of Christian VII., in 1766, Bern storff's position became very precarious. Though Bernstorff ruled Denmark for twenty years, he never learnt Danish. His last act was a further rapprochement with Russia by the treaty of Dec. 13, 1769, which stipulated that any change in the Swedish constitu tion should be regarded by Denmark and Russia as a cases belli against Sweden, and that in the event of such a war Denmark should retain all the territory conquered from Sweden. This treaty proved to be a great mistake on Denmark's part. Nine months later, on Sept. 13, 177o, Bernstorff was dismissed as the result of Struensee's intrigues, and retired to his German estates, where he died on Feb. 18, 1 7 7 2. Bernstorff was not only one of the ablest but one of the noblest and most conscientious states men of his day. The motto he chose on receiving the order of the Daneborg was "Integritas et rectum custodiunt me" (Integrity and right guard me), and throughout a long life he kept to it.
See Poul Vedel, Den aeldre Grey Bernstorffs ministerium (1882) ; Correspondance ministerielle du Comte J. H. E. Bernstorff, ed. Vedel (1882) ; Aage Friis, Bernstor ff erne og Danmark (1899).