The recall of Count Rantzau-Ascheberg to court on the part of the queen and Struensee was only carried out, in all probability, in order to secure their own position and that of the new household. According to Reverdil, the latter was very badly selected; two ladies of notorious gallantry, Von Bülow and Von Gähler, were appointed in waiting, and the manners of the court were of such a free and easy nature, that even old Rantzau was surprised at it. "When I was extravagant," he said, "everybody else was respectable; now that age has regulated my heart and my conduct, everybody has gone mad. I fell with a great man, and return with a few scamps." Struensee had, in truth, already commenced his deplorable system of rendering the court bourgeoise, and keeping the nobility aloof. He forgot that in this way he increased the number of his enemies. Up to this time, however, the favourite had formed no settled plan of action against the ministry. The queen herself had not the slightest wish to mix herself up in the affairs of government, and even though Struensee possessed sufficient self-confidence, and felt himself strong enough to overthrow Bernstorff and the old noble party in the council of state, he was still uncertain about the consequences of Rantzau's return, as he was well acquainted with his ambition. But long before his appointment at court, Struensee had been prejudiced against the government, and had probably just heard from Rantzau and Brandt reports, in whose trustworthiness he could rely. What he afterwards witnessed in Copenhagen only confirmed what he had heard. The principal charge he brought against the ministers was, that they purposely sought to turn the king against any participation in government business, by producing unnecessarily dry and formal documents, and drawing up the papers laid before him for decision in a diffuse and perplexing manner. They rarely left the king a choice between two alternatives; but persuaded him to sanction the resolution on which they had decided beforehand. All those persons who took an interest in the king and gained his confidence and attachment, were systematically removed from him, and only those whom he disliked retained their posts. The highest offices were given through favour and intrigues to courtiers, whose sole merit consisted in the fact that they had been pages, while appointments of less value were bestowed on the lackeys and domestics of those in authority.[116]