About this time the king displayed a remarkable interest in the improvement of agriculture, which he justly regarded as the surest and most natural source of national prosperity. _Motu proprio_, he issued a decree on April 15, to appoint a "general commission for agriculture," which would be dependent on himself. Count Moltke was nominated president of this commission; and though the old gentleman never regained the power he had possessed under Frederick V., still he became once more one of the most influential men in the kingdom. Reventlow took proper notice of this fact; and as he was experienced in court intrigues, he effected a reconciliation with his opponent, and employed his energies exclusively in securing his regained power. Satisfactory, to some extent, though this behaviour on the part of the king was, his private life still continued to be a scandal and offence. Before Reverdil left Christian, he saw the faint traces of morality he had striven to keep up, fade away. Motives of public welfare, respect for individuals, the necessity of being beloved and deserving the love, and even a desire for glory, no longer worked on the king. So soon as Reverdil's influence had expired with his absence, the king indulged in worse extravagances than before. Milady heightened his incipient mania by the excesses into which she led him. He was seen returning one morning, in broad daylight, from her house in a state of intoxication. The people soon recognised him, and pursued him with hootings and insults, until the guards at the palace gates, by presenting arms, offered a melancholy contrast with the preceding scene. This woman led the king on the following nights into the streets, accompanied by one or two persons,--valets or disguised courtiers. They insulted passers-by, and were thrashed several times. They spent a whole night (Milady dressed as an officer, Holck and a fourth person better disguised) in destroying some wretched hovels, when they threw the furniture into the streets, after beating and driving out the nymphs with their sword blades. The watch hurried up to put a stop to it; but, on recognising the actors, they restricted themselves to preventing the mob from defending the oppressed. The crime of the inhabitants of these impure "kips," was having spoken ill of Milady, their rival. The moment was at hand, however, when even respectable persons would not dare take this liberty. Milady induced her lover to buy her an hôtel, create her a baroness, in short, grant her the same distinctions as so many mistresses of his august predecessors had enjoyed. The ministers, at length, resolved to arrest her, and implored the assistance of Schimmelmann and Saldern. The latter accompanied them to the king, and forced from him an order to have her removed. She was sent to Hamburg, where the obsequious senate put her in prison. Eventually, Struensee set her at liberty.[53]