STRUENSEE, JOHANN FrtrEnfuctr, Count of, a man who, in last century, attracted the attention and excited the sympathy of the whole of Europe, by his elevation and downfall at the Danish court. Strnensee was born Aug. 5, 1737, at Halle on the Salle, where his father, Adam Struensee, the author of the old Halle Hymn-book, was pastor of the Ulrieliskirche. Young Struensee studied medicine, and when scarcely 19 years old passed as doctor. Early alienated from positive Christianity, he zealously embraced the philosophy which had then arisen in France, and became a disciple of Helvetius and Voltaire. When his father removed to Altoaa he accompanied him, and was soon after ward appointed traveling physician to the young king, Charles VIL'of Denmark; and on their return from a tour, physician in ordinary. At first the young queen, Caroline Matilda, sister of George III. of England, looked upon him with mistrust; and it was not till 1770, when Struensee successfully managed the inoculation of the two-year old crown-prince, afterward king Frederick VI., that she came round to him, intrusted him with the education of the prince, and by degrees made Lim the confidant of her unhappy position. Struensee removed the estrangement between the royal pair, which was the work of the favorite Hoick, and, in consequence, rose still higher in favor with both. He was appointed reader to the king, and private secretary to the queen. Since the rev olution of 1650, Denmark hind been under the domination of the nobility, who, as a coun cil of state, governed the country. Struensee saw the disadvantages of this government of the nobles, and formed the ambitions resolve to come forward in this land of his adop tion as an enlightened reformer after the model of Frederick II. To begin with, he• effected the downfall of the favorite lIolck, in whose stead his friend Brandt was appointed royal companion and director of the court amusements. In order to gain the love of the people. Struensce proclaimed the freedom of the press. The council was dissolved. and a proclamation issued .to the effect that the royal power in all its purity, as it had been Landed down from olden times, was to be re-established. These measures amounted in reality to a revolution, and to a declaration of war against the aristocracy. The queen and Struensee, in whose hands the whole power now was, chose new ministers, and excluded the feeble Christian entirely from the management of affairs. In July, 1771, StruenseQ received the title of cabinet minister, with unlimited power. Ile brought several men from Germany, whom he appointed to different offices. This introduction of strangers caused great dissatisfaction among the people. In opposition to the politics of his predecessors, Strueosee endeavored to free Denmark from Russian influence, and to find a natural ally in Sweden. The changes which he undertook in the internal affairs were directed to the advancement of the prosperity of the country, of civil liberty, and enlightenment. He put the finances in order, reduced the expenditure, loosened the fet in which industry and trade had been bound, encouraged education, mitigated the penal laws, and brought order into the administration. An act passed in 1771 to a car min extent abolished serfage. All these reforms, which are in operation in the Danish dominions at the present day, were excellent; but the haste and want of statesmanlike skill with which they were carried out made them appear as the acts of the most vexa tious tyranny. Struensee committed a great mistake, too, in recklessly obtruding his philosophy of enlightenment in the face of the strict orthodox clergy and the pious preju dices of the people.
Struensee had scarcely been in power a year when the symptoms of reaction appeared in all quarters. The queen gave birth to a daughter in 1771, which, in the condition of the king, gave rise to most scandalous reports. The British ambassador, lord Keith,who saw the catastrophe approaching, proposed to Strueusee, by the advice of George III., to take refuge in England; but Struensee declined doing so. At the head of the hostile party was Christian VIL's step-mother, Juliana Maria, princess of Braunschweig-Wolfen butte], who was impatient of the domination of the queen and Struensee. A bold stroke was to precipitate Struensee and ruin the queen, and the night when a court ball was to take place was fixed upon for carrying out the plot. The conspirators assembled at the kings stepmother's, and by a secret door entered the bedroom of the king, and obliged him to make out 15 warrants of arrest, among others for Struensee. Christian was pre vailed upon, but with much difficulty, to write out orders to arrest and convey his con sort the queen to Kronenburg. Struensee and the queen were then taken prisoners, and the former was treated with extreme harshness, put in chains, and brought to the citadel. He was accused of an assault on the person of the king; of the intention to compel Chris tian to abdicate the throne; of criminal intercourse with the queen; of using a fatal sys tem in the education of the crown-prince; and of the usurpation and abuse of supreme power. Not one of these points could be legally proved. In a second examination, how ever, Struensee, with tears, confessed to having had improper intercourse with the queen; lint some of his contemporaries affirm that he made the confession under threat of torture. On this important confession, a second commission was sent to the queen at Kronen burg, from whom, however, not the slightest confession of guilt could be extorted. When one of the commissioners at last remarked that if she made Struensee guilty of falsehood he would be put to a disgraceful death for slandering majesty. the queen seized a pen, and began to sign a paper which contained the confession of her guilt. She had not fin ished when she sunk in a swoon in her chair; and it is said that some one put the pen in her hand, and guiding it, finished the name, " Caroline Matilda." Struensee was found guilty of a great and capital crime, and was sentenced to a cruel death. It was wished by some to proceed further against the queen; but the commissioners were satisfied with the simple separation of the royal pair, especially as the British ambassador threatened the appearance of a British fleet. After the king had confirmed the sentence, not with out being urged by the Russian ambassador, it was carried into execution, April 28,1772, amid the rejoicings of the multitude. In the prospect of death, Struensee is said to have returned to the Christian faith. There is no doubt that he did not deserve his fate, but that he fell a sacrifice to the party of the nobles. The execution of his friend Brandt, which took place at the same time, was a still clearer case of legal murder, as he never took any part in the affairs of government. Struensee's brother would have shared the same fate had not Frederick II. claimed him in a menacing manner as a Prussian sub ject. Queen Caroline Matilda left Denmark in May, 1772, and died of grief in 1775, in the castle of Celle in Hanover. • • In recent times Struensee's history has been recalled to memory in a tragedy by Mich. Beer and Heinr. Laube. See HOst, Count Struensee and his Ministry (1824; Germ. Copenh. 1826); FalkenkeOld, Nemoires (Paris, 1826).