There was one thing, however, that prevented him from acting as he wished, namely, the High Royal Council, which was composed of respectable men, most of whom were children of the country, and all, from youth up, educated and instructed in state science, and knew the constitution, the laws, and the nation. This college must consequently be abolished; and it was done under the excuse that his Majesty was impeded by it, and could not exercise his sovereign power with perfect liberty. But the meaning of this and other things was speedily detected when the _maître des requêtes_ presented himself as privy cabinet minister, and the man whom all the king's subjects, high or low, or whosoever they might be, must obey as the king's representative, and whose orders, with his signature, must be as much respected as the king's. Thus this ambitious man, through greed for gain and that he might fully satisfy his pleasures, dared to undertake the affairs of two kingdoms, and, though inexperienced in the language and laws of the country, alone do that which so many worthy men had divided among them, and had found plenty to do in managing the business of their respective departments. Under the pretext that the council impeded the king, he had the audacity to abolish it, but to assume greater authority than the council ever possessed, as I shall more fully prove. This daring measure taken by him was regarded as the second which would, some day, break his neck, and, by his ruin, put an end to that of the country. A privy cabinet minister was seen to choose people as his advisers from whom not much good could be expected,--partly because they had been educated like him, and understood nothing about what they undertook as statesmen, or in other qualities; partly, because they were selfish projectors and persons who wished to be fattened like him, though not to so great a degree. He regarded himself as the person who was summoned to promote the prosperity of Denmark and Norway and the welfare of the king; but everything must be altered, no matter whether the changes were useful or not, so long as they were made. He and his adherents tried to turn everything topsy-turvy. The official, when he rose in the morning, did not know whether he would not lose bread and office before evening. A proof of his foolhardiness, but also of his intention to strengthen his position, is, that he proposed his brother, who was "Professor Matheseos" at Liegnitz, in Silesia, as a deputy of finances in Denmark and Sweden, a man who may be good enough as a mathematician, though there is no want of natives possessed of the science, but must be as experienced in the management of the finances as a blind man in astronomy. Hence his summons here could have had no other object but, with united strength, to attack and conquer the royal exchequer, in which Struensee made various large and important grasps for himself and his adherents. He did not forget himself and his companions.