ir dupes repeat: "Oh! the wise Government of Denmark!
Oh, what a wise statesman the Danish Minister, Count von Bernstorff!" I
do not deny that the late Count von Bernstorff was a great politician;
but I assert, also, that his was a greatness more calculated for regular
times than for periods of unusual political convulsion. Like your Pitt,
the Russian Woronzow, and the Austrian Colloredo, he was too honest to
judge soundly and to act rightly, according to the present situation of
affairs. He adhered too much to the old routine, and did not perceive
the immense difference between the Government of a revolutionary ruler
and the Government of a Louis XIII. or a Louis XIV. I am certain, had he
still been alive, he would have repented of his errors, and tried to have
repaired them.

His son, the present Danish Minister, follows his father's plans, and
adheres, in 1805, to a system laid down by him in 1795; while the
alterations that have occurred within these ten years have more affected
the real and relative power and weakness of States than all the
revolutions which have been produced by the insurrections, wars, and
pacifications of the two preceding centuries. He has even gone farther,
in some parts of his administration, than his father ever intended.
Without remembering the political TRUTH, that a weak State which courts
the alliance of a powerful neighbour always becomes a vassal, while
desiring to become an ally, he has attempted to exchange the connections
of Denmark and Russia for new ones with Prussia; and forgotten the
obligations of the Cabinet of Copenhagen to the Cabinet of St.
Petersburg, and the interested policy of the House of Brandenburgh. That,
on the contrary, Russia has always been a generous ally of Denmark, the
flourishing state of the Danish dominions since the beginning of the last
century evinces. Its distance and geographical position prevent all
encroachments from being feared or attempted; while at the same time it
affords protection equally against the rivalry of Sweden and ambition of
Prussia.

The Prince Royal of Denmark is patriotic as well as enlightened, and
would rule with more true policy and lustre were he to follow seldomer
the advice of his counsellors, and oftener the dictates of his own mind.
Count von Schimmelmann, Count von Reventlow, and Count von Bernstorff,
are all good and moral characters; but I fear that their united capacity
taken together will not fill up the vacanc